Naman Shrestha
When 24-year-old Tamika Huston vanished into thin air in 2004, the search for the missing woman involved various twists and turns as the detectives dug deep into the clues and evidence that they found along the way. Their search stopped about a year later when her boyfriend, Christopher Hampton, turned out to be the killer and led them right to her burial site. The news of Tamika’s disappearance and death left the community shell-shocked while her loved ones, especially her father, Anthony Huston, went into a state of grief. In ABC’s ’20/20: The Girl Who Looked Like Me,’ the case is explored in a detailed manner with the help of exclusive interviews with the victim’s family and friends.
Anthony Huston’s Worst Nightmares Came True With the Death of His Daughter
With the birth of Anthony Huston on October 26, 1959, in the Bronx, New York, the lives of his parents, Daniel Huston and Margaret Jackson Huston, transformed for the better as they added a little bundle of joy to their family. While growing up, he was accompanied by his loving sisters — Evelyn Smith, Dannita Jenkins, Maria Bradley, Mary Carson, and Shaunette McCoy. For higher studies, he relocated to South Carolina, where he earned his degree from the Spartanburg Community College. Besides that, he was also a key member of the First Baptist Church of Fairforest.
At some point in his life, he also served in the United States Army. With a smile that could light up the room, Anthony was not only known for his warm and compassionate personality but also for his intelligence, hard-working nature, and the success he earned in his career. During the 1970s, he seemingly got into an intense romantic relationship with an unidentified woman and gave birth to his daughter, Tamika Huston, in 1979. Over the years, he also fathered several other children, including another daughter named Antonia Huston and a couple of sons named Shiquan Freeman and Anthony Huston, Jr.
Later in life, he met a much younger woman named Joanne Brown Huston and tied the knot with her. On the professional front, he was the owner of Economy Electrical Inc. and also associated with the Spartanburg Housing Authority Youth Bill Program at the same time. Meanwhile, his wife worked at Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System until 2014. In 2004, Anthony’s entire life turned upside down when his 24-year-old daughter, Tamika Huston, went missing. For an entire year until her remains were found, he held on to the hope of finding her alive as he left no stone unturned while searching for her, along with the investigators. All his hopes crumbled down when they found Tamika’s remains in 2005.
Anthony Huston Was Found Dead Inside His Moore Residence in 2017
During these difficult times, his close friend Mike Fowler had his back and lent him his shoulder. Mike stated, “I was with him that time, that whole time. We went all over the place. After that, when he found his daughter, he started deteriorating. He didn’t do well after that. There was a vacancy left there.” However, his wife, Joanne, was with her and helped him get his life back on track. Over the next decade, the couple did not seem to have any marital issues until January 9, 2017. Around 8 am, one of the neighbors of the Huston family heard Anthony’s daughter, Antonia, screaming outside her house on Serendipity Lane.
Wasting no time, the neighbor dialed 911, and the authorities rushed to 540 Serendipity Lane near Fairmont Avenue in Moore, where they were greeted by the bodies of 57-year-old Anthony Huston and his wife, Joanne Brown Huston. Upon inspecting the bodies, the detectives learned that both Anthony and Joanne had died of a gunshot wound. While the former was declared dead, Joanne was sent to Spartanburg Regional Hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, even she succumbed to her injuries in the hospital. At the time, she had been studying to get her Master’s degree. According to the authorities, it was a case of murder-suicide by Anthony Huston, but they could not find a motive for the brutal shootings. So, he took the truth about what really transpired that fateful morning to the grave with him.
