Two men charged in 2017 homicide appear in court
Matthew Sanders
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Two Columbia men charged in the 2017 murder of Augustus Roberts appeared in front of a Boone County judge Friday.
Roberts is the son of a former Northeast Missouri judge.
David C. Adams, 44, of Columbia, was arrested Thursday and charged Friday with first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, second-degree murder and illegal gun possession, all felonies. Julius A. Cureton, 37, of Columbia, was also arrested Thursday. He was charged with first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery and second-degree murder.
A probable cause statement says Adams changed his name from McClain in 2020 — three years after the Dec. 11, 2017, murder of Roberts in east Columbia’s Old Hawthorne subdivision.
Police said Roberts was targeted and killed during a home invasion in the 1900 block of Lasso Circle. A Drug Enforcement Administration investigation alleged in 2019 that the homicide was tied to a drug trafficking scheme and that Roberts was selling “high-grade marijuana.”
A witness allegedly told police in 2017 that three masked men tried robbing the home in 2017. Police say the witness told them they escaped the home during the robbery and heard gunshots as they ran away.
Adams and Cureton appeared by zoom from the Boone County Jail on Friday afternoon.
Judge Jayne Pearman read Adams and Cureton their rights and charges. Neither man had legal representation present at the hearing.
Both men are being held at the Boone County Jail on no bond. A bond hearing for Adams is set for Aug. 21 and Aug. 19 for Cureton.
Jeffrey McWilliams, 33, is also a suspect in the case. In 2021, prosecutors charged him with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action. Online court records indicate that he has a hearing scheduled for Sept. 2.
McWilliams allegedly told police during a “proffer interview” last December that Adams and Cureton were with him the night of the killing and that Adams killed Roberts. A proffer interview could mean McWilliams is working on a plea deal with prosecutors.
The probable cause statement in Adams’ case states that investigators found a shirt with tan paint from the crime scene and McWilliams’ DNA on it after the shooting. They also found boxes of marijuana, vape pens and other items inside a U-Haul truck.