Author: KMIZ

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man on Thursday was charged in Cole County with having child pornography.

Austin Russell, 27, is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says the Boone County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Task Force received a tip on Jan. 3 from an online-based reporting system about multiple child porn files being uploaded. The platform was not identified in court documents.

The statement says that law enforcement received information from an internet provide rabout an IP address registered at Russell’s address.

Russell was interviewed on Wednesday at the Jefferson City Police Department and stated the email address associated with the account was his, the statement says. He also allegedly identified images associated with the account, the statement says. He allegedly sent images to other users he communicated with, court documents claim.

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

The Pentagon made it official Wednesday — the government has accepted a gift of a Qatari plane meant to replace the aging Air Force One.

President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would accept the Boeing 747 as a gift from the government of Qatar was met with strong opposition, including from some in his own party. Opponents point to security worries, Qatar’s history of backing terrorism and whether Qatar will expect something in return for the gift.

Do you think the government should have accepted Qatar’s offer? Let us know by voting in the poll.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Another man has been charged in a child sex crime case in Morgan County.

Jack Chick, 19, of Eldon, was charged on Wednesday with three counts of patronizing a sexual performance by a child and one count of fourth-degree child molestation. He was detained on May 14, but was released at the scene. A warrant was issued on Wednesday and a $50,000 bond was set.

Last week, Matthew Bell, 24, of Rocky Mount, was charged with four counts of sexually exploiting a minor, five counts of child porn possession and four counts of second-degree sodomy.

He is being held at the Morgan County Jail on a $250,000 bond. He appeared in court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. A bond appearance hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 3.

Marie Bell, 50, of Rocky Mount, was charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child. She is being held at the Morgan County Jail on a $50,000 bond. She appeared in court on Tuesday and also pleaded not guilty. She has a hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The new probable cause statement alleges that Chick admitted to multiple people — including law enforcement — of participating in a sexual assault of a child with another man and also watched one of the assaults occur. He also allegedly routinely messaged children as young as 13 on the social media application Discord, the statement says.

Court documents in previous reporting say while law enforcement was at the Bell’s residence, Marie Bell allegedly claimed that Matt Bell and a girl were “in a relationship.”

The youth and Matthew Bell allegedly gave conflicting statements about their living situation before Bell admitted to having sex with the child, the statement says. Bell allegedly repeatedly told deputies that it was “consensual.”

Bell also had child porn saved from the youth on his SnapChat account and showed it to law enforcement, the statement says.

Chick also allegedly told law enforcement that he wanted to obtain legal guardianship of the youth to continue more sexual encounters, the statement says.

Click here to follow the original article.

Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Counties across Mid-Missouri are continuing to take steps to ensure their warning systems work reliably during severe weather.

In Boone County, officials are rolling out a new system that aims to make siren use more precise and reduce what they call “siren fatigue” — the overuse of sirens in areas not directly impacted by storms.

“We knew that the system that we have currently in place where we have the zones, sometimes we are sounding sirens that may be kind of outside that catchment area for a possible tornado,” Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick said. “And we know that every time we sound sirens where it could be more of a blue sky situation for that zone, it creates a possibility for siren fatigue.”

Discussions around the upgrade began during the county’s fiscal year 2025 budget planning, according to Kendrick. Boone County Emergency Management Director Chris Kelley and Joint Communications Director Christie Davis first brought the proposal forward.

The county is now using CommanderOne, a Federal Signal software platform that activates sirens only in areas specifically under a National Weather Service tornado warning or a severe thunderstorm warning with a destructive tag, which includes wind speeds of 80 miles per hour or hail 2.75 inches in diameter or greater.

The system allows sirens to be triggered based on the exact warning polygon issued by the NWS, rather than broader countywide zones. Officials said the upgrade was funded through Boone County’s 911 sales tax.

“Just like any emergency management protocol, we have redundancies built into that,” Kendrick said. “So if CommanderOne, for whatever reason, doesn’t automatically trigger those sirens, then we will have backup joint communications team ready to manually sound those alarms. And should they be caught up in calls and unable to, then our emergency management director, as well as communications director, can log into the system and sound the sirens, too.”

The commission earlier this month also approved implementing three new sirens.  A programming issue led to a siren not sounding in June 2024.

Meanwhile, in Cooper County, officials have been upgrading their siren infrastructure over the last few years. The county replaced a siren in Pilot Grove on Tuesday that had failed during a tornado warning due to a power outage.

“The Pilot Grove tornado, that siren did not have battery backup and the electricity went off. About the same time we were receiving the tornado warning from the National Weather Service,” said Larry Oerly, who is the director of the Cooper County Emergency Management Agency. “So, in other words, the wind or the tornado had knocked out the electricity to the siren prior to us setting it off.”

The new sirens installed in Cooper County all feature battery backups and are triggered via radio signal from the county’s 911 center.

“Our policy in Cooper County is that we set all these sirens in the polygon that we get from the National Weather Service,” Oerly said. “They will show the affected areas.”

The county began upgrading sirens in 2022 using grant funding. Since then, new sirens have been installed in Boonville, the Brady Showgrounds and the Fox Hollow subdivision, which had been outside the range of previous sirens. 

The City of Otterville also had it’s siren replaced last year due to “intermittent problems.” Orely says that the Otterville siren also ran on electricity, which presented issues during severe weather. 

“Our policy in Cooper County, they have to be manually triggered from our 911 center. They are all  triggered over radio frequency,” Orely said. “Our policy in Cooper County is that we set all these sirens in the polygon that we get from the National Weather Service when they issue a tornado warning, will have a polygon that will show the affected areas.” 

Officials in both counties stress that sirens are intended to warn people who are outdoors and should not be relied upon as the sole method of receiving severe weather alerts.

“This is one of many ways to receive a warning. Sirens are a mechanical piece of machinery. They can break, they can fail. Always, always have multiple ways of getting weather warnings,” Oerly said. 

Residents are encouraged to use weather radios, mobile apps, and emergency alert systems to stay informed during dangerous weather.

Boone and Cooper County’s efforts reflect a broader push among emergency managers to modernize tornado warning systems and ensure communities are better prepared when seconds count.

Click here to follow the original article.

Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A more than $2.1 million collaborative study between the Columbia City Council, The Loop CID and Great Rivers Engineering to revamp Business Loop 70 is on its way to the US Department of Transportation for approval.

This comes after the Columbia City Council approved several million-dollar infrastructure projects Monday.

The total study cannot exceed $2,623,500, with $500,000 coming from capital improvement program sales tax funds, with the rest being covered by federal funding.

A press release from The Loop says the council approved a $2.13 million contract with Great River Engineering on Monday. The city was initially approved for $2.13 million in federal grant money last year, but funds were frozen on March 10.  

Previous reporting indicates that Business Loop 70 will be studied between Stadium Boulevard and Eastland Circle to find ways to improve safety for motorized and non-motorized users, improving accessible multi-modal operations, providing aesthetics along the corridor and improving economic vitality along the roadway.

Business Loop 70 is maintained by Missouri Department of Transportation.

Great River Engineering will survey the street, collect public input and create engineering plans. Problem areas that will be focused on is stormwater management, bike lanes and adding crosswalks and sidewalks.

“Most exits off of I-70, hit the business loop, and we really want to put our best foot forward there,” Carrie Gartner, of the Business Loop CID, said. “The second thing is, we want to make sure people on the street can get to lunch, or can walk over and get a cup of coffee or can cross the street safely.”

Gartner adds that when the Loop conducted a separate survey of residents, many residents voiced similar concerns.

“As an outside-of-downtown bar, I think a lot of other bars struggle with getting people to just like come in as it’s not a walkable bar, so you can’t be downtown and just go here and there,” Dive Bar front of house manager Jakely Mange said. “I think it’s a great idea, I was like, ‘the loop has been around for so long and the better it can get, why not?'”

Mange added having more accessible transportation options would make the loop more accommodating.

When asked about if adding more sidewalks will increase panhandling from unhoused individuals, Gartner argues that easy and safe walking outweighs potential issues.

“If we’re really looking at people who are homeless, the solution isn’t to remove sidewalks,” Gartner said. “We don’t want to hold back the street because we’re afraid of something happening, we want an attractive and welcoming and easy-to-travel street.”

Once approved by the US Department of Transportation, the Loop CID will host public forums throughout the year and invite residents to come forward with any comments.

Click here to follow the original article.

Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia is working to restore power to damaged equipment at its recycling facility after an EF-1 tornado destroyed the building.

Utilities spokesperson Jason West said demolition is underway and debris removal is going well.

“I believe the process is moving forward at a quicker pace than expected,” West said in an email Wednesday afternoon.

The city hopes to at least get a portion of the recycling program restarted, but West said it depends how much damaged equipment is salvageable.

“The goal is to divert as much material away from the landfill as possible depending on how much of the machinery is usable,” West said.

Once demolition is complete and the city sees how much equipment is saved there may be an opportunity to build a temporary covering for the machinery to help protect it from elements.

On April 20, an EF-1 tornado destroyed the facility off Peabody Road. The destruction caused the city to suspend the collection of curbside recycling materials and drop-off centers. Curbside pickup then resumed at the end of last month, however it is being taken to the landfill.

West said the city made the decision so residents would “maintain the habit” of curbside recycling. Last year the city collected about 11,000 thousands of recycling material, West said.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City woman was charged on Wednesday after she was accused of raping a youth.

Estelle Kerns, 35, was charged with first-degree statutory rape of someone younger than 14 years old. She is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A hearing was set for Wednesday.

The probable cause statement says that a friend of the victim told the victim’s mother about the assaults. The victim allegedly told law enforcement that they repeatedly told Kerns to stop.

Kerns allegedly admitted to the victim’s mother that the assaults took place over multiple weeks and then blamed the victim, court documents say.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman who was charged with murder in a fatal shooting at a Holts Summit apartment complex last month was indicted by a grand jury on Monday.

Heather Smith, 37, of Holts Summit, was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree child endangerment, armed criminal action and three counts of unlawful use of a weapon.

An arraignment is set for 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 27 at the Callaway County Courthouse. She bonded out of jail last month.

Smith is accused of killing Kara Dills, 37. Court documents in previous reporting say the shooting started with an argument between Smith and Dills at Hunter Lane Apartments. The documents cite nine witnesses to the shooting.

Video surveillance allegedly showed Smith threatening witnesses with a pistol before the shooting. One witness allegedly tried to disarm her after she pointed the gun at several people, but was not successful.

Dills allegedly got a gun and pistol-whipped Smith on the forehead, documents say. The gun went off, grazing a man later identified as Thomas Jones, 71, on his head, according to the probable cause statement. After Dills lowered her gun and started to walk away, Smith shot her in the stomach, the statement says. She later died.

Jones was later charged with fourth-degree assault for failure to listen to deputies. He has a hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, July 18.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two juveniles were arrested in connection with a May 15 shooting in the 4600 block of Rice Road, according to a Wednesday press release from the Columbia Police Department.

The release says a youth was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of first-degree assault, while another was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of first-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.

Police confirmed last week that a youth was shot in the 4600 block of Rice Road, near Meadowvale Court. Police wrote on Thursday that the victim had a gunshot wound and was brought to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Columbia Police Department has responded to several incidents involving youth this year, including other incidents of crime in May. CPD said it detained two juveniles on charges of first-degree robbery and armed criminal action in connection with a May 9 armed robbery.

Two juveniles also escaped from the Juvenile Justice Center in the Prathersville area earlier this month by allegedly climbing a recreation fence. Initial information said the two were being detained for charges of first-degree assault and murder. Two juveniles were also detained after a Downtown shooting in April.

A 16-year-old was also charged with several felonies earlier this year for his alleged involvement in a shooting near the Columbia mall in January. Court documents say Samiyon Myers was seen on security footage displaying a handgun and shooting it at a car with four people inside. Police in January said several juveniles were also detained in connection with the shooting.

According to data provided by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, 132 violent crimes have been reported within the Columbia Police Department’s jurisdiction this year. The largest age group of those arrested are youth ages 10-17 with 70 arrests, with the next-highest being 25-34 year olds with 64 arrests.

Violent crime within the data set includes murder (consisting of murder and non-negligent manslaughter), robbery, aggravated assault and rape. Victims are always individuals and one crime will be counted for each victim

Columbia’s Office of Violence Prevention administrator D’Markus Thomas-Brown told ABC 17 News after Wednesday’s arrest that he believes much of the violence is caused by trauma.

“Some of it is you know, adverse childhood experiences. I mean, all these things…if we’re not informed on what is driving an individual to act out in away that is really inhumane and then even the normalizing…I think as a society, we normalize violence,” Thomas-Brown said.

He said he believes much of the violence seen in youths is due to growing up in an environment where trauma was normalized. That is something his office is working to curb.

Thomas-Brown said mentorship plays a huge part in achieving that, but also said the city needs to look at the availability of firearms and substances. He also said the city needs to focus on looking at developmental trends as the city continues to grow.

Thomas-Brown said much of his work in his nearly two months has consisted of meeting with community and service organizations to figure out collaborative work and looking at what has been successful in other cities.

Education is something he said is key in preventing youth violence moving forward and working to identify gaps.

“Helping to educate the parents, and that’s not me particularly that’s me working in tandem with community-based organizations,” Thomas-Brown said. “That’s working with you know, we’re setting up a meeting with Columbia Public Schools where that’s me getting the permission out to these community-based organizations to focus on trauma informed community oriented system of care.”

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Cole County man was charged with a felony and a misdemeanor after he allegedly followed a teenager at the Jefferson City Target and put a cellphone under their skirt.

Christopher Whittle was charged on Wednesday with first-degree stalking and misdemeanor invasion of privacy. A warrant was issued for his arrest and no bond was set. He was not listed on the Cole County Jail roster on Wednesday afternoon. The probable cause statement lists his address as Eldon, but court records say he lives in Russellville.

Court documents say that police were called on Tuesday about a man taking pictures of a female in the store. The youth told police that she noticed the man standing behind her in the clothing section and saw him holding a cellphone under her skirt when she turned around, the statement says.

A Target employee had Whittle on the phone and Whittle spoke with police, the statement says. He allegedly denied the allegations.

Court documents say video reviewed by police showed Whittle lingering near the victim “for a short period of time before bending down and grabbing something from the bottom shelf with his right hand while reaching his left hand out, holding a cell phone.”

The victim turned around and Whittle pulled the phone away, court documents say video showed. He then put it back under the victim’s skirt when she turned back the other way, the statement says.

Click here to follow the original article.