Author: KMIZ

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An Eldon woman was charged on Tuesday in Cole County after she allegedly sold 1,000 ounces – or roughly 62.5 pounds – of someone else’s breast milk that she led a customer to believe it was her own.

Emily Buckley is charged with committing deceptive business practices. Court filings show she posted a pre-set $2,500 bond and her warrant was withdrawn.

The probable cause statement says someone described as “Witness 1” had previously made “donations” to Buckley. A second witness — after speaking to Witness 1 — was allegedly contacted by Buckley, asking if she would like to purchase breast milk, the statement says.

Witness 1 made a social media post about the incident, which the victim saw and led to her contacting law enforcement, the statement says.

The victim told law enforcement that she allegedly bought roughly 1,000 ounces of breast milk from Buckley on March 13 in the 2500 block of Southridge Drive in Jefferson City. The victim reported having “issues” with the breast milk, the statement says.

The victim allegedly had screenshots of messages between her and Buckley that would indicate the victim thought the milk came from Buckley, court documents say. She allegedly paid Buckley $200 through the website PayPal.

“In one message, Defendant stated, ‘I bag after each pump and freeze immediately.’ Victim stated that Defendant led her to believe this was Defendant’s breast milk,” the probable cause statement says.

Police spoke with Buckley over the phone on Saturday, May 23, where she allegedly admitted to selling the breast milk of someone described as “Witness 3” to the victim, the statement says.

“I asked Defendant whether Defendant believed Victim thought the milk was Defendant’s breast milk; Defendant stated that is what Defendant believes people think,” the officer wrote in the probable cause statement.

The officer spoke with Witness 3 that same day, and she allegedly told police that she had donated breast milk to Buckley in March, but told police she thought it was for Buckley’s child.

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Camden County man was pronounced dead after being pulled Wednesday morning from the Little Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks.

The unnamed 82-year-old from Roach, Missouri, fell into the water from a dock at the 3.7-mile marker of the Little Niangua arm for unknown reasons, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report. Rescue and recovery divers found his body in about 8 feet of water, the patrol stated.

The drowning is the fifth in the Patrol’s Troop F region this month, and the fifth of the year.

Click here to follow the original article.

Jazsmin Halliburton

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Supreme Court sided with Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe on Wednesday in a case determining the legality of a special session that was held last year that led to the creation of a new state Congressional map.

The NAACP presented arguments against Kehoe, challenging his authority to call for last year’s special session to redraw Missouri’s congressional map. Attorney representing the group, Sharon Geuea Jones, argued the governor can only call an extraordinary session for emergencies, like following severe weather or in the event legislators don’t pass the state’s budget.

The state’s high court determined the governor was within his rights to call the special session.

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway posted on X shortly after the decision, to call it a win for Missouri and the 2025 congressional map, and a loss for “left-wing lawfare and the @NAACP.”

Gov. Kehoe reposted Hanaway’s and thanked the Attorney General’s Office for their work.

ABC 17 News spoke with Sharon Geuea Jones, the attorney representing the NAACP, after the decision. While the decision is disappointing, she said it has some benefits.

“They [the judges] simply just decided against us based on the merits of the question. So while I’m disappointed, I’m encouraged that they have kept the courthouse doors open to future suits of a similar nature,” Geuea Jones said.

During arguments Wednesday morning, Assistant Solicitor General Joseph Kiernan argued the law authorizes Kehoe to call an extraordinary session anytime outside of the regular session.

“They [the plaintiffs] take these two words ‘extraordinary’ and ‘occasion,’ they cherry-pick modern dictionary definitions of each word, and they offer a multifactor three-part test the governor must meet to exercise his own article four power,” Kiernan said.

He went on to say that the subsection of the law he mentioned shows no indication of any requirements that Kehoe must meet to call an extraordinary session.

“If the framers of our state constitution wanted to constrain the governor, they would have said so,” Kiernan said.

The lawsuit challenges that the governor’s proclamation did not meet the legal requirements to justify an extraordinary legislative session. In February, a Cole County judge ruled that Kehoe did act within his legal authority to call for a special session.

If the Supreme Court justices rule in the NAACP’s favor, then it will overturn both the 2025 congressional map and initiative petition reform. If not, voters are expected to vote in their new congressional districts and approve or deny the initiative petition reform.

Kiernan argues the NAACP is pressing politics, not the law.

“They are asking this court, as a judicial branch at large, to supervise an inherently political decision made by the governor,” Kiernan said.

Geuea Jones argues that the court is being asked to interpret the governor’s constitutional authority to call an extraordinary session.

“It is not a political question; this is very clearly a matter of constitutional verification,” she said. “We are not asking this court to make a policy determination about what the general assembly considered in its extraordinary session.”

To close arguments, Kiernan added it’s too close to the fall elections for these changes to be made ahead of the 2026 elections, and any changes would have to occur afterward.

“Missouri’s recognized equitable principles support delayed relief, reducing chaos surrounding the quickly approaching upcoming election,” the state argues in a court briefing.

Geuea Jones said there’s still plenty of time to work with the overturned policies.

“Ballots aren’t printed until June 9,” she said. “So if the court rules as they have done on these other cases, very quickly, there’s still plenty of time for the [county] clerks to adjust their rolls and get their ballots printed before the election.”

Wednesday’s appeal of the judge’s decision questions whether challengers had the legal ability to sue because the session had ended and whether the lawsuit is moot or capable of being repeated but evades review.

Keirnan argued the lawsuit is moot because the session has ended and the map passed.

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

It’s challenging to keep up with what’s happening in Iran these days.

On the one hand, President Donald Trump says his administration is close to a deal that would open up the Strait of Hormuz and end hostilities. On the other hand, the United States continues its military strikes on Iran, despite a ceasefire that ostensibly remains in effect.

Do you think a deal is at hand? Let us know by voting in the poll.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

No injuries were reported after an apartment caught fire Tuesday evening in the 1600 block of Amelia Street in Columbia, according to a social media post from the Columbia Fire Department.

The post says crews were called at 7:13 p.m. and found smoke showing from the second story of a two-story apartment building.

The fire was under control within 12 minutes, the post says. No one was inside the residence where the fire started.

The fire was caused by improperly discarded smoking materials, the post says.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

One person was injured and a cat died in a fire on Saturday night in the 1100 block of Mansfield Street in Mexico, Missouri, according to a Tuesday press release from the city’s department of public safety.

The release says crews were called at 9:26 p.m. and found flames coming from the living room of the home. The fire was extinguished in that area, which had significant fire damage while the rest of the home had smoke damage, the release says.

The resident made it out of the house, as did a dog, the release says. The resident was brought to Moberly Regional Medical Center for smoke inhalation and minor burns, the releases says. They were treated and released.

The release says the “apparent cause of the fire was careless disposal of smoking material.”

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Regions Bank on Friday agreed to pay the federal government $4,919,631 to resolve allegations that it received payment it should not have in connection with the bank forgiving a customer’s Paycheck Protection Program loan, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

The bank had been sparring with Greg DeLine, suing the Columbia businessman in March, claiming that his companies had not paid the $1.5 million total remaining on a 2022 loan.

The federal government claimed Regions Bank fully forgave a loan to one of DeLine’s businesses on Aug. 3, 2021. The government alleges the loan was not eligible to be forgiven.

“While we disagree with claims made in this matter, we have settled with the goal of closing this chapter and moving on. Regions facilitated over 75,000 Paycheck Protection Program loans, helping small businesses stay open while keeping hard-working Americans employed during the worst of the pandemic,” Regions Bank wrote in a Tuesday statement. “We are proud of our record supporting small businesses and have resolved this one individual matter regarding one specific loan from that 75,000 total.”

Click here to follow the original article.

Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) 

The City of Columbia saw its average domestic violence reports increase in 2025, with some advocates warning that numbers are continuing to rise.

In 2024, the Columbia Police Department renewed its STOP Violence Against Women Act grant through the Missouri Department of Public Safety. The $195,255 grant helped fund salaries and benefits for two sworn officers and one temporary part-time employee assigned to domestic violence investigations.

The detectives are part of a county-wide Domestic Violence Enforcement Program known as the DOVE unit. The unit’s goal is to decrease the number of incidents in the Boone County area with education, intervention, enforcement, and prosecution. 

CPD has received the grant five times since 2014, with each award funding a one-year contract period. However, when the most recent grant cycle expired in 2025, CPD did not reapply after a mix-up that caused the application process to be missed.

“We did not get an email from the state letting us know the grant was open, so we missed the application period,” Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude told ABC 17 News.  “This did not change anything as far as staffing in DOVE.”

CPD Assistant Chief, Lance Bolinger added there have been no operational changes to the way the department’s domestic violence detectives handle cases. The only change, he said, is administrative, with the salaries of the Domestic Violence Enforcement Unit detectives are now funded through the department’s budget instead of the grant.

According to Columbia’s 2024 Stop WAWA Grant Application, CPD investigated nearly 11,000 domestic violence incidents between 2015 and August 2023, an average of about 1,200 per year. Roughly 4,000 of those investigations were criminal cases, and about 75% involved a female victim.

However, domestic violence reports exceeded that average in 2025. Data obtained from CPD shows officers responded to 1,405 domestic violence reports during the year. Of those, 654 cases, or 46.5%, resulted in an arrest. DOVE handled 165 cases, resulting in 108 arrests, a 65.4% arrest rate.

The entire DOVE unit consists of four prosecuting attorneys, three devoted to female victims and one devoted to male victims, two detectives, and a part-time assistant from CPD, one detective from the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, a victim advocate from True North, three prosecution advocates, two probation officers, a court coordinator and a counselor from the Family Counseling Center. 

Michele Snodderley, Executive Director of True North of Columbia, said that despite not having the grant, CPD’s relationship with True North and the work they do within the DOVE unit have not changed. 

“We have an amazing relationship with our detectives at CPD,” Snodderly said. “I was a little worried because the police department doesn’t have their DOVE grant anymore.  However, we did get confirmation that those services weren’t going to change, so they’re still assisting us with our healthy relationships training. They come in, we have two  DOVE detectives come in and train with us.” 

However, Snodderly said five months into 2026, True North is already seeing an increase in domestic violence cases compared with previous years.

“We are seeing a rapid increase this year. As a matter of fact, in March of 2025, we provided just over 600 support services, and in March of 2026, we were at 1,184 support services,” Snodderly said. “I thought maybe that was just kind of a fluke, and I looked at May’s [2026] numbers, we did 1,300 support services. It was almost double what we did last year.”

Snodderly said True North anticipated an increase in demand after opening its new advocacy center but was surprised by the magnitude of the growth. In April alone, she said, the organization served nearly 600 people.

“I don’t know if we’re seeing an increase in domestic violence or if we’re seeing an increase in our services because we’re removing that stigma,” Snodderly said. “We’ve been increasing our prevention and education, we’ve been increasing community outreach and awareness, so I’m hoping some of that is just because we are seeing people reaching out and they’re not scared to do so anymore.”

According to Bolinger, the DOVE unit’s responsibilities extend beyond investigating domestic violence cases. In 2025, DOVE detectives wrote 533 supplemental reports related to the 165 cases they handled. The unit provides training to law enforcement officers, probation and parole officers, Children’s Division investigators, and other professionals on best practices for domestic violence investigations.

The DOVE team also works with True North to educate the public about the warning signs of unhealthy relationships. In 2025, detectives taught 11 classes at area high schools, four classes for True North volunteers, and six classes for law enforcement officers, reaching a total of 1,095 residents and public safety professionals.

Snodderly said education plays a critical role in helping people recognize the warning signs of abuse and safely leave potentially abusive relationships.

“I also have heard just recently that somebody asked, ‘You were married 12 years. Why are you leaving now if you’re that scared of him?’ And the individual was like, ‘I took care of the children. I’ve taken care of family members and the home, and I didn’t have my own way to escape,’” Snodderly said. “So it’s really about isolation and withdrawal. I think people don’t realize that. I think their first thought is, ‘Well, somebody hits me, I’m going to leave.  It’s not that easy.  So I think that’s where we need to come in with more education.” 

In addition, DOVE partners with True North each year to distribute drink covers, known as Stop Tops, in downtown Columbia to raise awareness about drink tampering and dating violence. Bolinger estimated the event alone reaches more than 1,000 young adults annually, in addition to the 1,095 people contacted through the unit’s training and outreach efforts.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A new judge has been assigned to a murder case surrounding a 2024 fatal shooting.

Jordan Brantley, 20, is charged with first-degree assault, second-degree murder and armed criminal action. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond.

A trial was scheduled for next month, but it has since been delayed. The defense looked to disqualify Judge Jeff Harris last week because Harris is presiding over cases involving Brantley’s mother.

The court denied the motion on Monday, but Harris still stepped down from the case “to avoid even the appearance of bias in light of the disclosure to the Court last week,” court filings show. Judge Brouck Jacobs will preside over the case.

Brantley is one of three people who were charged in the death of Trevon Ashcraft. Cordero Riley Jr. pleaded guilty last year to unlawful use of a weapon and second-degree assault and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Quanina Lambert pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and child endangerment in 2025. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

According to previous reporting, police allege Lambert was inside a home on Rice Road that was apparently targeted by a group of shooters who pulled up in an SUV. Lambert allegedly gave her gun to a man at the scene. Police found Ashcraft shot in the head and he later died at an area hospital.

Brantley was allegedly part of the group targeting the house and was seen on video wearing a black ski mask, police wrote in the probable cause statement. He was allegedly seen on video shooting down Boyd Lane during the shootout. Police believe he fired the fatal shot, previous reporting indicates.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Eight people died on Missouri roads during Memorial Day weekend this year, according to preliminary results described in a Missouri State Highway Patrol press release from Tuesday.

The reporting period for the weekend lasted from 6 p.m. Friday through 11:59 p.m. Monday.

There were 234 crashes, 99 people with injuries and 107 arrested for driving while intoxicated.

Last year, the patrol says it investigated 203 crashes that resulted in three deaths and 92 injuries. Around the state, there were four deaths, 356 injured and 868 crashes, the release says.

On the waters, MSHP investigated four crashes that resulted in six injuries. One crash involved four children and an adult from St. Joseph.

There were seven people arrested for boating while intoxicated.

Click here to follow the original article.