Arrest warrants detail Atlanta father’s alleged murder of son

ATLANTA — 11Alive has obtained arrest warrants for a man accused of the unsolved murder of his 3-year-old son in 2004.

Christopher Houston Sr. has been charged with first-degree murder and cruelty to children. He is accused of repeatedly hitting his 3-year-old son in the head until he died.

These are not the first charges against Houston Sr. Arrest records also showed a long list of charges against him, including rape, child abuse, sodomy, aggravated child abuse and others.

Christopher Houston Jr. was killed on April 29, 2004. His death, ruled a homicide, was caused by traumatic brain injury. He suffered a displaced left femur, a subarachnoid hemorrhage covering both parietal lobes of his brain, and multiple bruises to his head, back, and arms. The veins connecting his brain to the surrounding tissues were lacerated.

Houston Sr. and his then-girlfriend, Visa Hampton, were both questioned after Houston Jr.’s death. They said the boy was playing outside and then came to lie down because he wasn’t feeling well. When they checked on him two hours later, he was unresponsive, according to the arrest warrants.

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Detective Summer Benton was assigned to the cold case in 2023, according to the warrants. In July 2023, investigators began contacting Houston Jr.’s maternal family. On July 10, 2024, they spoke to a sister of Houston Jr., who had not yet been born at the time of his death. The sister lived with Houston Sr. from 2021 to 2022. She told investigators that one night she asked what happened to her brother, and Houston Sr. responded, “I didn’t mean to do it; I didn’t mean to kill him.”

On July 14, investigators learned from Houston Jr.’s mother that another brother, who was 2 at the time of Houston Jr.’s death, had witnessed the incident and had the first memory of it a few years later. She said Houston Jr. accidentally spilled white powder, which enraged Houston Sr., who then hit the 3-year-old repeatedly in the head and took him to another room. That brother was not available for an interview, but investigators plan to speak with him, the warrants say.

On July 16, investigators spoke with another brother of Houston Jr., who had been notified of his death and who shared the same story about the white powder.