Author: KMIZ

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is giving $5.8 million in financial assistance to the City of Fulton for upgrades to its wastewater treatment system, according to a Wednesday press release from the DNR.

The project includes a $4.3 million loan and a $1.5 million grant coming from the DNR’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund. The city will provide $1.5 million of its own funding, the release says.

The DNR expects ratepayers to be saved $1.5 million in principal and $1.8 million in interest during the loan’s 20-year term, the release says.

The project – which is expected to be completed by September 2027 – will increase the city’s wastewater treatment capabilities and better nutrient removal, the release says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man charged with murder in a Gasconade County homicide case was given a bond on Friday.

Henry Lorton, of Owensville, is charged in Gasconade County with second-degree murder and three counts of first-degree assault.

A motion from last week asked the judge to lower his bond to $10,000 and claimed that another man had admitted to stabbing and killing Trey Johnson while being recorded on a Ring camera.

On Friday, the judge ordered for Lorton’s bond to be set to $100,000. A gag order was placed on the attorneys in the case on Tuesday from “disclosing, sharing or in anyway disseminating any information, communications, evidence, or anything allegedly pertaining to the above styled case, to any non-party.”

Court documents in previous reporting say Johnson was stabbed to death after eight people were involved a September brawl in Owensville. Lorton was allegedly identified Lorton through surveillance video from a bar and restaurant near the fight, previous reporting says. Two people were taken to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis.

Lorton allegedly admitted to being in the fight, but denied having a knife or stabbing anyone, court documents say. He allegedly blacked out during the fight and the men were gone when he woke up, previous reporting says.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, Nov. 30.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Eastern District Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a murder conviction of a man found guilty of killing an 88-year-old woman.

Lyle Miller, 68, of Madison, Missouri, was found guilty by a jury on March 21, 2025, of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the December 2021 death of  Betty Hayes, 88. Miller was arrested in July 2023.

Court documents in previous reporting claim a witness told law enforcement that they saw Miller driving quickly away from Madison the night Hayes went missing. Her remains were eventually found in a pond.

Miller is currently being held at South Central Correctional Center in Licking.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Former Missouri Attorney General and former Co-Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew Bailey filed paperwork on Tuesday to form a political action committee that supports a ballot initiative.

Bailey was listed as the treasurer of “Vote Yes On Amendment 3,” which as it the name implies is supporting the passage of Amendment 3, which aims to reinstate an abortion ban that voters overturned in 2024. The amendment would also enshrine a ban against gender transition treatments for minors in the state constitution.

Voters will say “yes” or “no” to that amendment on Nov. 3. Bailey had shown support for Amendment 3 while speaking with the Boone County Pachyderms earlier this month.

Bailey’s PAC joins others PACs supporting the amendment, including Missouri first lady Claudia Kehoe’s Her Health, Her Future PAC. Missouri Students For Life also support its passage.

Stop the Ban and Protect Freedom and Democracy are the two PACs opposing the amendment’s passage.

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Melissa Houston

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Organizers announced the intent to move the Katy Station building earlier this month, and one mover says moving train depots can prove to be a difficult task.

The group Save the Katy Station met with a developer claiming it could move the building to a different location. Moving the building would cost $400,000, and donations will be made through the community.

Zack Hirt, an estimator with Wolfe House and Building Movers, has moved train stations in prior jobs and said the move is a lengthy process.

Prior to the move, Hirt said the movers would go over with the people wanting to move the building about logistics, including the permits they need to get from the city and how to make sure the building is prepped and ready for the move.

“I would say train depots are usually a little bit more challenging than your average house, usually due to size,” Hirts said. “Most times they’re in, you know, a heavily populated area such as like in the middle of town or something like that, instead of, you know, a house down the middle of the country.”

Everything inside and around the building must be removed before the move, according to Hirt. Once the building is prepped, crews start by cutting access pockets into the building’s foundation. Then steel beams are put in the foundation to form a crisscross framework underneath the floor to distribute the building’s weight. Hydraulic jacks will lift the building off the ground, and dollies are installed underneath to move the building to a new location.

“Once the building is actually rigged and ready to move, a lot of these depots are not going far,” Hirt said. “You can’t go far with them because of their size. You’re limited.”

When encountering utility lines, they have to be moved temporarily, trees along the side of the road must be trimmed, signs need to be taken down, and the building has to fit between telephone poles Hirts said.

Previous reporting shows James Roark-Gruender, the organizer with Save the Katy Station, said the group has until between July-October 2027 to figure out where and how the building will be moved.

Hirts said he is familiar with the Katy Station building move. A few weeks ago, someone in the Save the Katy Station group contacted Wolfe for information and expressed interest in moving the building. Hirts confirmed they were not contacted after that.

Jack Maher 3, the owner of the property that Katy Station currently sits on, wrote in a statement to ABC 17 News that “the property remains under contract. Out of respect for the parties involved, we won’t be commenting further until the transaction is complete.”

The City of Columbia’s Community Development Director Clint Smith wrote in a statement, “We haven’t received any applications for this property, so we won’t have any statement on the situation from our office at this time.”

Smith was also asked what permits and applications would be needed to move the historic Katy Station, and Smith said, “Once we have an actual application to respond to, we might be able to provide relevant information at that time.”

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Stephi Smith

MOBERLY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Work began on the water system at a Moberly mobile home park Wednesday, several days after residents stopped receiving clean water in their homes.

Residents at Riley’s Mobile Home Park in Moberly have been without running water for about five days. Some say the outage is part of a yearslong pattern of sewer and water problems at the park.

The City of Moberly shut off the park’s water on Friday after discovering contamination. A notice from the park’s management team to residents cited a water line leak. A sign states that the park is run by MillCo Management Co. LLC.

Scott McGarvey, a city spokesperson, said replacement wastewater pumps have been installed. Businesses along the road were expected to have their water service restored Wednesday under a boil advisory, while a contractor hired by the property management company was preparing to begin disinfecting the mobile home park’s water system Thursday morning.

The disinfection process is time-intensive and requires laboratory testing to confirm the results, McGarvey said. The city does not have an estimated date for when water service will be restored to the mobile home park. The contractor will keep residents and the city informed of progress, he said.

Residents told ABC 17 News that property managers stopped by Tuesday evening to distribute bottled water and gallon jugs.

Once repairs are complete, the water system must be disinfected and samples sent to a lab for testing before service can safely resume, McGarvey said.

The city also requested a “detailed report of progress” on the repairs from the property owners.

On Wednesday, contractors were working on water lines in front of the park. One contractor said the company was preparing to flush the lines before restoring water service.

Residents told ABC 17 News that property managers stopped by Tuesday evening to distribute bottled water and gallon jugs.

Paul Brown, who has lived at the park since about 2006, has been helping distribute water to his neighbors. He said the park’s original owner did a good job of maintaining the property and working with residents.

A notice from management states residents will receive prorated rent credits for each day water service is unavailable. It also promises reimbursement for showers at a nearby Break Time.

Brown said he remains skeptical about how long repairs will take and hopes the owners follow through on the rent credits.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Brown said. 

Deanna Goble said the outage has made basic household tasks, including washing dishes and doing laundry, more difficult. On Wednesday, she loaded dirty clothes into her car and went to a family member’s home to use a washing machine and take a shower.

Goble, who has two children and five dogs, estimated her household uses at least 5 gallons of water a day. She said the property owners have not been responsive to her concerns.

“We did get letters two times in a row of them upping rent, stating they were upping it to help improve the park, but they’ve not done nothing to do that,” Goble said. 

Randy Rudkin, who has lived at the park since 2006, said residents have dealt with sewer problems for about three years. He was surprised when the water was shut off and said the lack of running water has made using the bathroom especially difficult.

Rudkin and his son have been collecting water from a nearby body of water and carrying it inside in buckets to flush their toilet.

“When you have to go to the store and get 20 to 30 gallons of water a day just to survive, it ain’t good,” Rudkin said.

MillCo did not respond to requests for comment.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two people were injured – one seriously – in a crash Wednesday morning in Phelps County, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says a 24-year-old Edgar Springs man drove a 2016 Chevrolet 1500 northbound in the 19000 block of Route O.

The truck went off the right side of the road, came back to the roadway and went off the left side of the road, the report says. The truck then hit an embankment and utility pole, per the report.

The man had serious injuries and was taken to University Hospital by ambulance, the report says. A 24-year-old Edgar Springs woman was a passenger in the truck and had moderate injuries, according to the report. She was taken to Phelps Health by ambulance, the report says.

The report says neither person in the crash wore a seatbelt. The truck was totaled.

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Ellyse Edwards

Editor’s note: Some quotes previously attributed to a library spokesperson have been correctly attributed to its executive director.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Public Library sent state Sen. Rick Brattin an 86-page packet of records about its Rainbow Story Time event on Sept. 16, in response to a request under Missouri’s Sunshine Law.

Nearly a month later, the library says it has not heard whether Brattin has questions or concerns about the records. It is also expecting its state aid payment sometime this month, after Secretary of State Denny Hoskins threatened funding over the event.

Missouri’s Sunshine Law generally requires public governmental bodies to make public records available for inspection and copying, with exceptions for records that may legally be closed.

The records show library staff began planning for the July 25 event in May. An email described it as Daniel Boone Regional Library’s first LGBTQ+-themed program for young children and said staff wanted to prepare for possible protesters or counterprotesters.

The event brought condemnation from some on social media and the ire of Republicans Hoskins and Brattin, who is running for Congress in Missouri’s Fifth District.

The Columbia Public Library is overseen by the Daniel Boone Regional Library system.

In a June email, spokesperson Mitzi St. John said the library should promote the story time like any other program and keep Facebook comments open, while monitoring them for violations of the library’s code of conduct. She wrote that turning comments off could anger other patrons and make it seem the library was not serious about its diversity, equity and inclusion goals.

“We sent the records to him on Sept. 16,” Robin Westphal, Executive Director at DBRL told ABC 17 News. She said the library has not heard from Brattin’s office about additional records or concerns. Westphal said the request had been fulfilled and the library had “nothing outstanding” from Brattin, Hoskins or the attorney general.

Hoskins threatened the library’s state funding over the event. Westphal said DBRL typically receives its state aid payment sometime in October.

“If by the end of the month we don’t get it,” Westphal said, “we need to report that we’ve not got the state aid that we are statutorily obligated to get.” She said she believes there is no legal way for the secretary of state to withhold the funding.

Hoskins and Brattin said during a news conference that the library had violated the law and compared the event to sexual grooming.

Westphal said she is concerned about the possibility of losing the aid, but does not regret the library’s decision to hold the event.

“I think we have to be worried,” she said. “But does that mean that I regret making the decision? I don’t regret making the decision.”

Sunshine Records Rainbow Story TimeDownload

The library’s safety and security manager contacted Columbia police on July 17 about social media activity. The email said some comments had been interpreted as advocating violence or photographing children attending the program. The manager wrote that the library had not identified a specific or credible threat, but asked whether a patrol car could periodically circulate nearby before, during and after the event.

Other planning emails outlined event-day procedures, including keeping protest activity clear of walking paths, having security in the youth area and asking attendees not to film during the program. The library planned to offer photo opportunities afterward.

Westphal said the planning process was similar to all of the library’s other story times, with additional preparation because this was a new program.

She said the books used, “RainbowSaurus” and “Big Wig,” are available in libraries, and “RainbowSaurus” had been used in other story times previously.

“There’s nothing in any of the planning that we did that indicates that we were trying to deceive parents about what type of story time we were having,” Westphal said.

Brattin and Hoskins did not respond Wednesday to requests for comment.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A St. James man has now been charged with murder in an Oct. 4 attack in Phelps County.

Stacey Cameron Johnson, 37, is now charged in Phelps County with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and drug possession. Amended charges were filed on Tuesday. He was previously charged with first-degree assault, armed criminal and drug possession.

He is accused of attacking Steffen Harris on Oct. 4 with a fence post. Harris’ obituary says he died on Saturday, Oct. 10.

Johnson is being held at the Phelps County Jail without bond. A motion hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20. A bond review hearing is set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Court documents in previous reporting say law enforcement was called to Dicky Bub Farm and Home in Rolla at 8:40 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4.

The victim had a severe head injury and police noted seeing “suspected brain matter and skull fragments” in the roadway, the statement says. The victim was flown to University Hospital, according to the report.

Multiple witnesses told police they saw Johnson use a metal fence post to attack the victim and video footage allegedly backed up the statements, court documents say. Johnson allegedly sent an apology to the victim’s girlfriend after the attack, court documents say.

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Demetra Alarcon

FAYETTE, Mo. (KMIZ)

Six Central Methodist University football players have been suspended from the team after two of them were charged with assaulting a teammate.

The university told ABC 17 News about the suspensions Wednesday afternoon, after earlier in the day saying two players charged with assault had been suspended. The university did not name the other four suspended players.

Kamarrion Ferguson, 20, and Michael Hourel, 22, were arrested and charged with third-degree assault on Tuesday.

Ferguson has been released from the Howard County Jail on bond.

“The safety and well-being of this student [the victim] is our highest priority. This behavior is unacceptable and inconsistent with our United Methodist heritage and a campus culture grounded in respect and care for others. Identified participants in the incident have been suspended from the football program indefinitely,” the statement said.

The statement says that on Oct. 9, there was an informal “accountability arrangement” among a small group of players where an incident occurred on campus involving members of the football team. It goes on to say that one student-athlete was injured and received medical care at an urgent care facility.

Both men had their arraignments at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Ferguson’s bond was amended to $5,000 with 10% surety, while Judge Mason Gebhardt denied Hourel’s request to change his $10,000 cash-only bond.

Ferguson’s preliminary court date is set for 9 a.m. Oct. 27. Hourel’s bond review is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 22.

In its statement, Central Methodist University said the investigation is ongoing and is taking the matter seriously, adding that CMU will limit further comment during the investigation.

According to the probable cause statement filed with the Howard County circuit clerk, the charges stem from an incident in which both men allegedly assaulted a teammate. The statement said the victim told police that a team rule requires anyone late for practice to fight another player.

The victim said the player he was to fight didn’t want to engage other than “to do ‘body shots,'” at which point Hourel allegedly objected and hit the victim in the face. At that point, others — including Ferguson — allegedly joined in hitting the victim as well.

Ferguson is a junior from Pine Bluff, Arkansas and Hourel is a senior from Andalusia, Alaska.

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