Author: KMIZ

Steven Lambson

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jefferson City police arrested a woman on Thursday in connection with a reported knife attack earlier in the day, according to a news release.

Shortly after noon, the release said, officers went to the 200 block of Dover Street, north of Truman Boulevard, for a reported assault. They found a woman with serious injuries, and said she had been assaulted with a knife. Medics took the victim to a local hospital; police aren’t releasing her condition at this time.

Police said the suspect had fled before officers arrived. About a half hour later, police found and arrested the 33-year-old female suspect on Stadium Boulevard and took her in for questioning.

The release said charges recommended to the prosecutor against the suspect include domestic assault and armed criminal action.

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Josie Anglin

COLUMBIA, Mo (KMIZ)

Camden County will install a baby box at the Mid-County Fire Protection District.

State Rep. Jeff Vernetti said the baby box is scheduled to be installed and unveiled this spring.

Baby boxes are safe ways to legally surrender newborns up to 45 days old. An alert is sent to first responders as soon as a baby is put into the box. First responders will also be trained before it’s used for the first time.

Osage County EMS Chief Joshua Krull said the county just got enough money to install a second baby box. The second one will be installed in Linn at the EMS headquarters.

Cole County’s baby box is testing its own box.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Sedalia man was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison on Thursday, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

Cleburn Greene, 51, pleaded guilty on May 22, 2025, to one count of attempted bank robbery, the release says. He was sentenced to three years and one month in prison without parole.

The release says Greene tried to rob a bank on Oct. 1, 2024, when he handed an employee a piece of paper that said, “Give me your money.” The teller asked Greene if he had an account and Greene allegedly replied that he was robbing them, the release says.

“While the teller was typing on his computer to get access to emergency cash, Greene exited the bank and threw the note in a dumpster adjacent to the bank. Investigators later recovered the note.  Surveillance video footage captured Greene flee the scene in a nearby Kia Sportage vehicle,” the release says.

Greene was arrested later that day by Kansas City police.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Cole County judge on Wednesday ordered a mental examination for a Jefferson City man accused of killing his wife last month.

Malang Akbari, 46, is charged in Cole County with first-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child and armed criminal action. He is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond.

Judge Joseph Shetler ordered for the Department of Mental Health to examine Akbari to determine if he is competent to stand trial. The report was ordered to be completed within 60 days.

Akbari is accused of killing Manhaz Akbari by stabbing her to death on Jan. 13 at their East McCarty Street home. Court documents say Malang Akbari suspected his wife of cheating. 

Malang Akbari had claimed last month in court that he had a mental disease or defect. His lawyer claimed last month that Akbari suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from his time serving alongside American armed forces in Afghanistan. The lawyer also argued Akbari may suffer from lead poisoning.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Marshall Police Department wrote in a Thursday social media post that a man and three juveniles robbed a youth at gunpoint on Wednesday afternoon.

The post claims Daylen Bankovich, 18, of Sedalia, and three juveniles met with the victim and later pointed a gun at them and demanded they give up clothing and personal items while at a park. One of the people allegedly hit the victim in their head with the gun before leaving in a vehicle, the post says.

Law enforcement got the vehicle’s license plate number from the park’s camera system and all four people were detained after a chase, the post says.

Bankovich was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault, stealing, unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action and aiding a runaway, the post says. Charges were not filed on Casenet on Thursday afternoon. Bankovich is being held at the Saline County Jail on a 24-hour hold, according to online jail records.

The post says the juveniles are awaiting legal action from the Saline County Juvenile Office.

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Alison Patton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri lawmakers are considering two bills that would require summer and day camps to be licensed and create emergency plans for inclement weather.

The bill was prompted by a deadly Texas flood that killed 27 girls at Camp Mystic in July 2025.

Rep. Cameron Parker (R-Campbell) introduced the legislation in the House, known as the Summer and Day Camp Emergency Response Act, at the end of January, and it has been assigned to a committee.

Sen. Nicholas Schroer (R-St. Charles County) filed a similar bill with the name “Heaven’s 27 Camp Safety Act” on Monday.

On Thursday, Parker said she met with two fathers whose daughters died in the deadly Texas flood.

Both bills would require camps to create emergency response plans, which would be approved annually by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Camps would need to make several emergency plans for different scenarios, including:

A lost camper

A fire

Severe injury, illness, accident or death

Water emergency

An epidemic

Unknown person on camp property

Natural disaster

If passed, the bills would require the camp to monitor safety alerts from the National Weather Service, and establish communication procedures with law enforcement, camp staff and parents. Once approved, the camp would also need to instruct campers and staff on how to respond in emergencies.

According to the Campaign for Camp Safety, a group of parents whose children died in the Texas floods, many states either don’t require camps to be licensed or don’t hold camps to school standards.

Blake Bonner’s daughter, Lila Bonner, was among the 27 campers who died during the historic flash flood during the 2025 Fourth of July weekend.

“All we knew at first was the Lila and the other girls were missing, and then, in my case, we found out she had passed,” Bonner told ABC 17 News on Thursday. “My entire world got turned upside down.”

Bonner said he and many other Camp Mystic parents got together after that to prevent a similar tragedy in Texas and other states.

“It became clear almost immediately, once we started doing a little fact-finding, that there is really just a few key tenants to ‘How do you make sure this never happens again?'” Bonner said.

Bonner’s answer is prevention, training, detection and response. Many of those elements are found in Missouri’s proposed legislation.

“Let’s make sure we don’t put our children in harm’s way, I think is the best way to summarize prevention,” Bonner said.

Training teaches people how to use preventive measures, Bonner said.

Bonner said a fire alarm is a good example of detection.

Finally, response is figuring out what to do in an emergency and having a plan in case of the worst.

“What became clear to all of us is that responding in the moment, in the middle of an emergency, is the absolute worst thing to do,” Bonner said.

The bills would also require camps to be licensed if they are caring for more than six children, which is standard for many childcare facilities. The current law doesn’t require camps that are “conducted in good faith primarily to provide recreation” to be licensed.

“Missouri doesn’t really have any type of comprehensive licensing or systems for camps,” Parker told ABC 17 News on Thursday. “So, really, there are no safety requirements in place in statute.”

Parker said after filing the bill, many other representatives from both sides of the aisle have expressed their support.

Parker also met with two parents whose daughters died in the flooding. She said her conversation with them reinforced her decision to file the bill.

“This bill had already been filed before I had even talked to them, and it just kind of drives home the fact that this is needed,” Parker said.  

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A report of shots being heard put five Columbia Public Schools buildings on secure status Thursday in south Columbia.

Columbia police spokesperson Colin Imhoff told ABC 17 News that officers responded to a report of shots heard around 12:30 p.m. around Southampton Drive. Officers did not find evidence of any gunshots being fired, Imhoff said.

The south Columbia schools, Rock Bridge High School, Rock Bridge Elementary School, Gentry Middle School, the Columbia Area Career Center and the Bethel Street Center were all put on secure status, the district said in a text message to families at about 1 p.m.

A follow-up message to families was sent at about 1:30 p.m. and stated that school functions were back to normal.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 24-year-old Columbia man arrested this week in Boone County is wanted for meeting a 13-year-old girl at an Illinois hotel for sex.

Clayton Newlon, 24, was charged Wednesday in Boone County with being a fugitive from out of state. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond.

Deputy Chief Ryan Hurst of the Mattoon, Illinois, Police Department said Newlon was wanted on accusations that he met the girl on Jan. 17 at a Mattoon hotel after talking to her on the social media app Snapchat, and then dropped her off the next day at her home in a neighboring town.

Mattoon is about an hour south of Champaign, Illinois.

The victim and her family reported the encounter to police on Jan. 21.

The affidavit says Newlon was wanted for aggravated criminal sexual conduct, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual assault, grooming and traveling to meet a child.

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Euphenie Andre

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A bill to strengthen protections for children against grooming and trafficking has cleared a Missouri House committee and is now headed to the Senate.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Ed Lewis (R-Moberly and Macon).

The bill passed the full House on Monday with a 148–2 vote. Rep. Lewis described the two representatives who voted against it, Michael Davis and Bryant Wolfin, as “misguided.” According to Lewis, both lawmakers said they believe the bill has merit but argued on the House floor that it is unconstitutional and should be divided into separate pieces of legislation.

The bill will the measure would allow survivors of child sex trafficking to file lawsuits up to 20 years after turning 21, rather than the current 10-year window. It would also increase criminal penalties for child trafficking and for purchasing sex from minors.

According to attorney Jill Harper, civil recovery in child sexual abuse cases is often difficult because offenders are frequently incarcerated, deceased, or lack insurance coverage for intentional misconduct, making it hard to collect damages. Successful civil cases typically involve institutions, such as schools, churches, or agencies that failed in their duty to supervise, where negligence claims and insurance coverage may apply.

“We do handle childhood sexual abuse cases, but they are complex, fact-intensive, and often emotionally difficult for survivors. While statute-of-limitations analysis is sometimes a key component of the case, identifying a viable source of recovery is usually the central issue on whether or not it will be successful.” Harper said.

Included in the proposal is a provision known as the “Evie and Sophie’s Law,” which would establish a specific criminal offense for grooming a minor in Missouri.

According to Representative Ed Lewis, Evie and Sophie are sisters from Southwest Missouri who were groomed by their Taekwondo instructor. Law enforcement later discovered more than 17,000 emails sent from the abuser to the sisters.

Under current Missouri law, lawmakers said prosecutors were unable to pursue charges related specifically to grooming. The proposed legislation aims to close that gap. If passed, grooming a minor would be classified as a Class C felony. However, if the offense involves sexual activity, sexual performance, or a commercial sex act, the charge would be elevated to a Class B felony.

Anyone convicted under the law would be required to serve at least five years before becoming eligible for probation, parole, or any conditional release.

Lewis said that he supports positive role models in children’s lives, including coaches, teachers, and family members. However, he said the bill was written carefully to avoid misinterpretation or unintended consequences.

“Someone might construe some of the behaviors in a negative light. So we have to be specific enough,” Lewis said. “You don’t want to write laws and have unintended consequence and so we we’ve been very careful,”

Under the bill, a person 21 years or older could be charged if they knowingly and intentionally engage in ongoing behavior that includes at least one clearly sexual act or communication directed at a minor. The behavior must be such that a reasonable person would believe the intent is to prepare, condition, or manipulate the minor for sexual activity, sexual performance, or a commercial sex act.

Missouri does not have a specific law that makes grooming a minor a standalone crime, but Illinois does. On Wednesday, a Columbia man was charged in Boone County in connection with several alleged sex offenses committed in Illinois, including grooming.

“We want to see if we can prevent some of that. Sextortion and grooming are the pieces that would be even perhaps in front of that,” Lewis said.

According to Safe Home data from 2024, Missouri had 26,294 registered sex offenders, ranking among the states with the most registered offenders per 100,000 residents. The data also shows 91 child sex abuse victims per 100,000 children in the state.

Lewis said he would not be surprised if the number registered sex offenders increased five times more if the bill is approved by the Senate.

National Human Trafficking Hotline data indicate that the number of minors identified as trafficking victims in Missouri has slightly decreased in recent years but remains steady at around 100 cases annually:

2020: 102 cases

2021: 102 cases

2022: 102 cases

2023: 106 cases

2024: 94 cases

Lawmakers said their goal is for the bill to be the first approved by the Senate, which Lewis hopes will happen after spring break.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 75-year-old woman was pronounced dead at University Hospital on Wednesday after a crash on Highway 63 in Randolph County.

The woman, from Jacksonville, was driving a 2002 Buick LeSabre when she traveled into the path of a 2022 GMC Yukon at Highway 63 and Route K in Cairo a little before 7:30 p.m., according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report. She was taken by ambulance to University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

A 15-year-old girl in the car was flown to University Hospital by helicopter with serious injuries.

The Yukon driver, a 56-year-old woman from Green Castle, Missouri, suffered minor injuries. A passenger, a 59-year-old man also from Green Castle, suffered moderate injuries. Both were taken by ambulance to University Hospital.

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