Month: June 2025

Meghan Drakas

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad continues to help out local law enforcement agencies 60 years after its formation, lending resources to the most high-profile investigations.

“It’s comprised of a bunch of detectives from different agencies to make a criminal investigation division of their own,” Columbia Police Department Lt. Matt Gremore said. “If you have a big incident, they’ll activate the Major Case Squad [where] multiple detectives from different agencies come in.”

Gremore said typically, the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad is activated for homicides and the number of people asked to join the investigation depends on the amount of work for each case.

According to prior reporting by ABC 17 News on the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad, the group was formed in 1965 and is made up of 11 sheriff’s offices, 13 police departments and agencies including the Missouri State Highway Patrol and the FBI. These agencies include the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, Audrain County Sheriff’s Office and Columbia Police Department.

Agencies included in the highlighted cities signify involvement in the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad.

The group continues to be used to help solve cases, particularly in smaller communities.

In late February, a man was charged in connection with the shooting death of 17-year-old Mason Sheets in Fulton. Earlier in the month, the Fulton Police Department said the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad followed up on more than 250 leads. Authorities said this led the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad five days later to identify other possible suspects, who were juveniles from outside Fulton.

Capt. Brian Leer with the Boone County Sheriff’s Office said he believes the last time the department had a full activation of the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad was in 2010 for the investigation into Aletha Turner’s murder. Leer said the sheriff’s office has had other “partial activations” where it asked for a couple of people to assist on some cases.

In 1994, the squad was activated for the Virginia “Ginger” Davis homicide on Patsy Lane in west Columbia. Police say Davis was found dead inside her home on June 6, 1994, with a bag over her head and marks on her arms and legs.

Photo of Virginia ‘Ginger’ Davis on an unknown date (Columbia Police Department)

“I believe that there were several factors there,” Gremore said. “She had blunt force trauma to the head as well as the bag. My theory would be that the bag was absolutely a weapon that was used. I don’t know if that was the only thing that was used to cause [her] death.”

The Boone County Coroner’s Office determined Davis suffocated to death, but Columbia Police believe strangulation and injuries to her head may have also played a part.

After the death was ruled a homicide on June 7, 1994, Columbia asked for assistance from the Major Case Squad for at least June 9 and June 10 due to “an increase in calls from individuals giving us information that needs to be checked ASAP.” A news release also stated that police received “information from numerous individuals requiring follow-up investigation.”

According to the 1994 CPD release, the Mid-Missouri Major Case Squad provided two additional investigators. This brought the total number of investigators on the case to 12 people. Columbia Police were unable to say how long the additional two investigators worked on the Davis case.

“The amount of information that they were receiving on this case I think is significant compared to some of our other homicides,” Gremore said.

Thirty-one years later, Columbia Police have yet to make an arrest in connection with the 43-year-old’s death.

Watch the latest “Mid-Missouri’s Cold Case Files: The Case of Virginia ‘Ginger’ Davis” at 10 p.m. Tuesday on ABC 17 News.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The defense attorney for a Columbia man charged with first-degree murder claims the man acted in self-defense.

The jury trial for 35-year -old Kimo Spivey began Monday morning, launching the start of what’s expected to be a four-day jury trial.

Spivey is charged with first-degree murder, illegal gun possession, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of armed criminal action. He’s accused in the death of Melvin Hooker III outside Plush Lounge in Columbia in 2023.

During Monday’s opening arguments, Spivey’s attorney Joseph Flees claimed he acted in self-defense and had no intent to kill Hooker.

“There’s no deliberation. No intent to harm, no evidence here in this trial that he was trying to work together with the others,” Flees said.

However, Assistant Boone County Prosecutor Tony Gonzalez said Spivey, along with the other two men involved in the case are felons and should have never been in possession of a gun.

“There was no reason for these men to do what they did,” Gonzalez said. “They started the situation. They were the aggressors.”

Monday’s trial began at 8 a.m. with a panel of 92 potential jurors filing into the courtroom just after 9 a.m. The prosecutor, judge and defense attorney on the case then began asking a series of questions to jurors, geared toward wielding down the jury pool to 12. A jury was selected around 4 p.m. Court adjourned at 5 p.m.

Several questions included whether potential jurors were a victim of a violent crime or knew someone who was, and if they had strong opinions toward gun use and possession.

There was also inquiry about whether the jurors would feel comfortable viewing photos and videos from the homicide scene.

Several jurors stated they couldn’t confidently say they wouldn’t allow their personal beliefs toward guns allow them to be fair toward both parties, if selected on the jury. Some potential jurors also expressed uneasiness toward viewing graphic scene video.

Shortly after the court went into recess for lunch, the defense, prosecuting attorney and judge agreed upon dismissing several potential jurors from being selected. A handful of people in the jury pool were also dismissed early-on in Monday’s trial due to various personal reasons.

Court is expected to reconvene Tuesday at 8 a.m.

Columbia man Samuel Moss Jr. pleaded guilty in April 2024 to unlawful use of a weapon and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Justin Lamar Simpson, 42, was charged with second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon, two counts of armed criminal action and illegal gun possession. His next court date was not listed on Casenet.

Court documents in previous reporting say a witness allegedly told police Hooker was involved in an argument with a group of people and then went to the passenger side door of his car to get a gun.

In previous reporting, Moss and Spivey reportedly approached Hooker and shot at him while Simpson shot from Plush Nightclub’s doorway. A witness also allegedly told law enforcement that they saw “Spivey shoot and kill hooker.”

Spivey is also charged in another case for second-degree domestic assault, third-degree assault, three counts of delivery of a controlled substance and a count of drug possession. A pretrial conference in that case is set for Monday, Sept. 8.

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Matthew Sanders

The United States has entered the fray against Iran, using B-2 stealth bombers from Missouri to drop the world’s biggest conventional bombs on nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran over the weekend.

President Donald Trump said in an address to the nation Saturday night that the strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capabilities. But with the secretive Middle Eastern regime’s underground facilities, it’s hard to know what was left after the smoke cleared that Iran can work with to rebuild.

Trump left the possibility of more strikes on the country open. But opinion is sharply divided about whether the United States should be stepping into the conflict between Israel and Iran in the first place.

Do you think we should continue strikes against Iran? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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