Investigators recovered Amber Simpson’s burned remains from a rural Saline County property after receiving an anonymous tip.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two Missouri men face felony charges after investigators searching rural property in Saline County found the burned remains of Amber Simpson, a 41-year-old Kansas City woman who had been reported missing.
Damon A. Thomason, 54, and Felix L. Watson Jr., 30, are each charged with abandonment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution. The charges concern the handling and concealment of Simpson’s remains. Neither man has been charged with causing her death.
The case began as a missing-person investigation in Kansas City and expanded about 85 miles east to the Nelson area. Kansas City police said Simpson was reported missing June 3 after she was last seen in May. Reports have given different dates for her last confirmed sighting, and investigators have continued seeking information about her movements before her disappearance.
According to probable cause statements described by news organizations, an anonymous tip provided information about Simpson’s death and directed authorities to property owned by Thomason. The tip alleged that Simpson had been killed and her body burned there on May 28. That allegation has not resulted in a homicide charge, and authorities have not announced her cause or manner of death.
Saline County authorities executed a search warrant at the property June 18. Investigators followed tracks toward a burn area behind the residence, where a cadaver-detection dog alerted to possible human remains. Officers found bones in and around the pile, according to accounts of the court documents.
A forensic anthropologist from the University of Missouri helped recover and examine the remains. The anthropologist determined that the condition of the bones was consistent with one fire that burned for an extended period or several fires over time, the probable cause documents said. The Kansas City Police Crime Laboratory later used DNA testing to identify the remains as Simpson’s.
Investigators also reported finding a burned fire poker near the site. News reports differed on whether another item recovered near the remains was a medical identification connected to Simpson or a hospital identification bracelet connected to Watson. The full evidentiary significance of those items has not been established in court.
During questioning, Thomason allegedly told investigators that several people came to the property May 28 and went behind the residence. He claimed Watson had helped burn a body and said Watson later blamed another woman for Simpson’s death, according to an account of the probable cause statement. Authorities have not announced charges against any woman in the case.
Thomason initially denied knowing what was burned, investigators alleged, but later acknowledged seeing what appeared to be a large human bone. He also said he told Watson to clean the area, according to the court documents. Those statements are allegations contained in records supporting the charges and have not been tested at trial.
Watson allegedly told investigators that a man and two women arrived with Simpson but claimed he did not know why they were there. He said he did not pay attention to activity at the burn area and ended an interview after asking to speak with an attorney, according to published accounts of the documents.
Thomason and Watson had been held in the Saline County Justice Center following their June arrests on separate drug allegations. Court information available before their scheduled Aug. 5 hearings did not show pleas entered on the corpse-abandonment and evidence-tampering charges. Attorney information also was not publicly available in the reports reviewed.
Kansas City police have described Simpson’s death as an active investigation. Detectives are working with prosecutors in Jackson and Saline counties to identify other people who may have information and to determine whether additional charges are supported by the evidence.
Author note: Last updated Aug. 5, 2026.