Month: December 2025

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man has been arrested and charged after he was accused of raping a woman several times in 2024.

Brendan Proctor, 21, was charged on Thursday in Cole County with first-degree rape and two counts of second-degree rape. He is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says the victim called police on Nov. 24 about three separate sexual assaults by Proctor. He allegedly raped the victim while she slept in May 2024 and was hit by him after she yelled at him to stop, court documents say.

Two similar incidents allegedly occurred in July and September the same year, but the victim did not fight back in fear of being struck by Proctor again, police wrote.

The victim called police after they left the state and felt safe enough to report the incidents, court documents say.

Police wrote that Proctor denied the allegations.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was charged with rape earlier this year and was arrested in St. Louis last month is now in the Boone County Jail.  

Antonio Bates, 58, was charged in June with first-degree rape. He was arrested in late November in St. Louis and was booked into the Boone County Jail at 10:59 p.m. Wednesday, jail records show. Jail records show Bates is from St. Louis, while court records list his address as Columbia.

Court documents state that at 3 a.m. July 24, 2018, police were called to a sexual assault in the 800 block of Ann Street. Police wrote the victim reported being outside near a garden area of an apartment when a conversation started with Bates, whom the victim did not know.

Bates forced the woman to the ground and assaulted her, police say. A sexual assault examination yielded DNA that matched Bates, the statement says.

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Alison Patton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

University of Missouri System President Mun Choi met with Gov. Mike Kehoe on Tuesday to discuss public safety in the city, but some area leaders were absent.

“I was disappointed, not just that I wasn’t there, that’s not a big deal, but that my police chief wasn’t there,” Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe said.  

Choi started asking city leaders to crack down on crime after a Stephens College student was shot and killed in late September.

Columbia crime has gone up by nearly 50% since 2024, but crime against persons is up by 2.4%, according to the Columbia Police Department’s Crime Trends Dashboard.

Buffalo claims the crime data is high because of there’s more CPD officers patrolling and charging people. She said the eight people hired since June are a part of why there are so many charges.

University spokesperson Christopher Ave cited the CPD dashboard in an email to ABC 17 News on Wednesday, saying the Columbia rise in crime is “unacceptable.” In that same email, Ave said city leaders need to step up and do something about it.

Buffaloe said the city and university have a good working relationship.

“I think seeing that a meeting happened where the police department was not invited does not show that this is a two-way street,” Buffaloe said. “I would just like to hope going forward that we will see our police chief or at least command staff involved in the conversations.”

Other city leaders were not invited to meet with the governor.

“I appreciate the concern about crime in Columbia, but these conversations need to include the folks with ‘boots on the ground,'” Ward 6 Councilwoman Betsy Peters wrote in an email to ABC 17. “Chief (Jill) Schlude and Sheriff (Dwayne) Carey should have been there along with the city and county reps as this effort needs continued support in terms of funding and staffing.”

“I’m disappointed that we were left out since we will be the ones responsible for implementing the solution(s),” Ward 5 Councilman Don Waterman also sent in an email.

CPD said they did not receive information for the meeting.

Spokesperson for the governor Gabby Picard said the Missouri State High Patrol and the Missouri Department of Public Safety joined Choi in the meeting.

Columbia’s overall crime is up by about 50% from last year, according to CPD’s dashboard which includes crimes like bad checks and wire fraud.

The ABC 17 News team narrowed the search in the dashboard to crimes against persons–which sorts out nonviolent crimes like bad checks or impersonation, and only includes assault, sexual assault, fondling, rape, human trafficking, incest, intimidation, manslaughter, murder and sodomy.

Last year, there were 82 reported crimes in this category, and 84 this year, according to the dashboard.

Crimes against society are just over 140% up from last year. This category includes weapons, prostitution, drugs and pornography offenses. There were 29 offenses this year compared to 12 last year, with six weapon offenses.

Buffaloe said this category has seen the biggest increase since last year because law enforcement is charging more people for crimes like public urination and jaywalking.

The last category CPD uses is crime against property, which includes vandalism, car theft, larceny and fraud. This category is down 2.2% from last year, with 132 offenses this year compared to 135 last year.

Data reported to the Missouri State Highway Patrol within CPD’s jurisdiction for property and violent crimes shows a decline. Violent crime consists of murder (consisting of murder and non-negligent manslaughter), robbery, aggravated assault and rape.

Through November, MSHP data shows violent crime is down in the city by about 5% from the same point last year (424 in 2025 compared to 444 in 2024). The same data set shows burglary is down by 40% through November (244 in 2025 compared to 411 at the same point in 2024), while motor vehicle thefts are down 53%, fraud is down 4%, arson declined from 29 reported instances in 2024 to 11 this year and larceny is down roughly 11%.

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