A Crane man is being held without bond in the Boone County Jail and is scheduled for arraignment Friday afternoon on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree domestic assault in the death of a Kansas City woman at a Columbia motel.

Nicholas Anthony Ayres, 35, whose address is listed in court records as Boston Mountain Road in Crane, is charged in Boone County Circuit Court with domestic assault in the first degree resulting in serious physical injury and murder in the second degree — charged as felony murder, in which a person dies during the perpetration, attempted perpetration or flight from a felony. Both counts are class A felonies, the most serious classification in Missouri short of first-degree murder. The case is 26BA-CR03641.

A judge in the 13th Judicial Circuit issued an arrest warrant Aug. 13 and ordered Ayres detained pending trial with no bond, finding by clear and convincing evidence that no combination of monetary and non-monetary conditions would secure the safety of the community. The court also found reasonable grounds to believe Ayres poses a danger to the crime victim, the community or another person.

Arraignment is set for 1 p.m. Friday.

The Columbia Police Department identified the victim as Destiny Dunn, 37, of Kansas City, and said her next of kin has been notified. Officers were initially dispatched to the 1300 block of Range Line Street for a cardiac arrest call about 3:22 p.m. Aug. 12, considered the death suspicious on arrival, and later determined it was a homicide, according to the department.

The probable cause statement supporting the charges was written by Columbia Police Officer Teegarden and filed Aug. 13. Dunn's name is redacted in the public version of that filing.

What the statement alleges

According to the statement, Ayres called Boone County Joint Communications at 3:22 p.m. Aug. 12 from a room at the By The Way Motel, 1306 Range Line St. He told the dispatcher Dunn had fallen down after an altercation in the shower and that her lips were blue. He said she had been fighting sleep for two days and described bruising on her body, telling the dispatcher it looked as though he had beaten her but that he had not. The dispatcher walked him through chest compressions.

Columbia officers arrived one minute later and found Dunn deceased with extensive bruising, including severe bruising to her neck and face and swollen, discolored eyelids, the statement says. Ayres was taken into custody at the scene.

Neighbors in an adjoining room told officers they had heard what sounded like a physical altercation around 11 a.m. that day.

In a post-Miranda interview, Ayres acknowledged physical altercations with Dunn on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12 but described them as accidental and said he does not beat women, according to the statement.

Phone evidence cited

Investigators executed a search warrant on the motel room and recovered Ayres' cell phone. The statement describes several files found on it:

  • A video from Aug. 10 at 12:32 p.m. in which the officer wrote he observed no bruising on Dunn's face.
  • A video from Aug. 10 at 11:41 p.m., running just over a minute, that the officer describes as depicting an assault, including sounds of slapping and punching.
  • A photo and a five-second video from 12:06 p.m. Aug. 12 showing Dunn lying in the bathtub, barely moving. The photo appears to have been taken through a gap in the bathroom door from outside the room.
  • A video from 12:08 p.m. Aug. 12, running one minute and 51 seconds, showing Ayres pacing between the motel room and the bathroom. A female voice can be heard groaning. Ayres is recorded saying he was calling 911 because he was "not going down for manslaughter."

Dispatch also logged a 911 call from Ayres at 12:21 p.m. Aug. 12 — roughly three hours before the call reporting the cardiac arrest. He told the call-taker it was an accidental dial and verified his name, phone number and location before hanging up, the statement says.

Officers photographed what the statement describes as defensive wounds on Ayres' left wrist and torso.

What's next

In asking for a warrant rather than a summons, Teegarden wrote that Ayres was a flight risk because he is not from Columbia and was living out of a motel, and that he poses a danger to the community. The court's warrant checked only the danger finding.

Columbia is roughly 200 miles northeast of Crane.

Charges are allegations. Ayres is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Boone County Circuit Court case 26BA-CR03641; CPD case #2026-007673.