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I have enough information to write the brief.This episode covers the 2004 murder of Tamika Huston, a 24-year-old nursing student in Spartanburg, South Carolina, who was killed by an acquaintance/boyfriend, Christopher Lemont Hampton. Hampton pleaded guilty to murder moments before the start of his trial, killing Huston on May 27, 2004 during an argument at his apartment, using a hot iron to hit her in the head. He then went to a friend's house to drink beer and purchased cleaning supplies before burying the body in a wooded area off Tyger River Drive. A key found in Huston's abandoned car ultimately linked Hampton to the crime, and after his 2005 arrest he confessed and led police to her remains.
Hampton pleaded guilty to murder moments before the start of his trial and, as noted on the program, was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He is currently incarcerated in the South Carolina Department of Corrections, with more recent reporting placing him specifically at the Tyger River Correctional Institute in South Carolina, serving a life sentence. There is no indication in available records of a successful appeal, retrial, or exoneration; his guilty plea has left the conviction and life sentence intact.
Huston's case became a landmark example in discussions of "missing white woman syndrome." The phenomenon describes the tendency of law enforcement agencies and news outlets to focus primarily on cases involving white victims while dedicating comparatively little attention to missing people of color. Nearly a year after she disappeared, her case was featured on "America's Most Wanted," largely due to the persistence of her aunt and a journalist drawn to the case because Tamika resembled her. The case has since been revisited extensively, including a new "20/20" episode airing on ABC featuring new interviews with Huston's loved ones and investigators, plus coverage from Crime Junkie podcast and multiple national outlets discussing racial disparities in missing-persons coverage.
Christopher Hampton was convicted (via guilty plea) of murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole — not the death penalty. He remains incarcerated in South Carolina. Since no death sentence was imposed, the "still alive" question regarding execution does not apply; he is alive and serving his life sentence with no parole eligibility.