Author: KMIZ

Jazsmin Halliburton

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Jefferson City Planning and Zoning Commission is set to meet Thursday evening to go over plans for potential developments in the city.

The P&Z Commission will meet at City Hall at 5:15 p.m. to go over four different requests for builds.

According to the meeting agenda, Lifehouse Church is looking to convert its building into a childcare facility at its location on the corner of Grant St. and Hough St.

The property owner, Vetter Holdings LLC, filed the second request. It’s looking to build 48 housing units at the intersection os Schotthill Woods Dr. and Eastland Dr.

Another request was filled by property owners that are on behalf of McBride Lans Growth LLC to create a 140-Lot residential development on Rock Ridge Road and Route C.

The final request to be discussed is a request filed by Eagle Enterprises LLC. The company is looking to build a storage unit and a building with a warehouse and shop that would be located at the intersection of Eastland Dr. and E. Elm St.

The meeting will be available to stream on the City of Jefferson’s meeting page on YouTube.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Some of Columbia’s top leaders are looking into the possibility of implementing safety ambassadors in the downtown area.

According to records ABC 17 News obtained from the city, the idea was discussed during one of the meetings between city and University of Missouri leaders. The city began having the closed-door meetings after a Stephens College student was shot and killed downtown in September 2025.

Since then, the city has taken steps toward improving safety downtown.

According to downtown Executive Director Nickie Davis, the city began a proposal– called the “Block by Block” proposal in 2023. It is is made up of employees from the downtown district, who typically work cleaning the streets and sidewalks in the downtown area. One of their branches includes safety.

Davis said the district has seen a lot more interest in safety ambassadors since city leaders have increased their push for safety improvements downtown. Davis said the launch of the ambassadors are still in the works and needs to be approved by the Columbia City Council, but she’s hopeful they can be ready to go sometime in April. It does not appear on Monday’s council’s agenda.

Davis said the process can take a long time because it has to go through the university and the city’s legal teams. If approved, six ambassadors would be hired to work Thursday- Saturday from 5 p.m.-3 a.m. and would serve as an extra set eyes for the Columbia Police Department.

“They are unarmed people. We would not have them armed in any way but they would be there to let CPD know, ‘Hey there’s something going on in this corner. We need you guys down here,'” Davis said.

Davis said the ambassadors would have to go through intensive training. She also said they’ll work to ensure all street lights downtown are working properly and that all streets are lit. Davis said the city did a walkthrough with the vice president of “Block by Block” and found that 32 lights were out in the area. Those have all since been fixed, she said.

The ambassadors would also help with permitting for food trucks and carts that are in the downtown area.

“These are what I call nighttime managers of the downtown area. You know, as much as new officers that CPD has gotten which is wonderful, there is still a lot of Columbia that can’t be covered by all of CPD,” Davis said. “These guys will be the touchpoint– the direct go to for CPD should something start going on downtown.”

Davis said they’ll also work as touch points for bars and restaurants downtown, monitoring people who may become too drunk and ensuring they don’t go to another business and potentially start a fight.

“Seeing is believing. When you see people in uniform that are there to keep you safe, make sure that you’re getting into rides safely, then that’s going to be so wonderfully comforting to the people that are out at night,” Davis said.

Davis said the total program would cost roughly $300,000. The cost would be split up between The District, MU and the city. Davis said some of the funding from the CID was budgeted, while others are being taken from reserves.

Davis had previously told ABC 17 News The District was also considering getting businesses “No Trespassing” and “No Concealed Weapons” signs. She said that is currently in the design phase and hopes those will be completed in April and available to buy for any business downtown who may want them.

Records ABC 17 News obtained also show MU and Davis continue to send letters to downtown businesses asking them to sign letters of enforcement. Minutes from an October meeting show MU would work to encourage all 15 large downtown student housing apartment owners to complete the forms by Nov. 15, 2025 if they want to continue to be on the list of preferred housing options for students. December minutes show those letters were sent out.

A city spokesperson told ABC 17 News that the city will be pairing the renewal letters of enforcement with its business license renewal process. The first renewal letters will be sent out in May.

The university did not have additional information on that on Wednesday night.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

University of Missouri students are noticing new, bright-and-yellow signs popping up across campus and on high-traffic streets that are bringing attention to the school’s license-plate reading cameras.

The signs feature an image of a security camera and “High-Resolution License Plate Recognition In Use.”

An ABC 17 News reporter found several signs and what looks to be poles with traffic cameras on South Providence Road, College Avenue and University Avenue.

According to MUPD spokesperson Sarah Yoro-Massad, license plate readers have been in place on campus, with signs being added recently.

“The university maintains a number of cameras throughout the campus to enhance safety and security. The new signs are being installed to make the public aware of their use in locations where doing so can help deter crime,” Yoro-Massad said. “MUPD has access to license plate readers on campus. The cameras allow MUPD to identify motor vehicles that may be involved in criminal activity.”

Yoro-Massad aded the cameras are not Flock cameras, which is the brand used by the City of Columbia. Flock Safety cameras use automatic license plate readers to provide real-time alerts to law enforcement. Flock claims the cameras do not capture identifiable images of people or faces. All data is held for 30 days.

MUPD did not confirm if their cameras wipe data after a specific amount of time or when the cameras record. The department also did not disclose the number of cameras used due to security reasons.

Students shared mixed feelings towards the cameras, with some accepting potential privacy trade-offs for safety.

“I haven’t really noticed it, it’s not like it’s not that big a deal, there’s kind of cameras all over anyways,” MU student Miguel Pacheco said.

“Even if they were on 24/7, I’d personally be OK with that,” student Yule Yun said. “I guess individuals responsibility of driving and information being stored for a certain amount of time is less important than the safety and security of the campus that we have here for Mizzou.”

Other students voiced concern about personal comfort.

 “I do think it’s really odd having cameras watching you and your car where you should just feel free to just do what you can do, what you will,” student Sammy Besore said.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Howard County Sheriff’s Office has canceled an Endangered Silver Advisory after a missing man was found safe.

The initial advisory said Douglas Wayne Witmer, 73, left a job site at 403 Reynolds St. in Fayette around 3 p.m. Wednesday. The updated advisory saying Witmer was found safe was sent at 8:16 p.m. Wednesday.

Witmer is 5-feet, 10-inches tall, weighs 230 pounds, has gray hair, brown eyes and may be wearing a baseball hat, a gray hoodie, khaki work pants and tan boots.

The release says he is diagnosed with dementia.

Anyone who sees Witmer is asked to either call the Howard County Sheriff’s Office at 660-248-3605 or 911.

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Ryan Shiner

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A “trail crossing ahead” sign has been posted near the site of a fatal crash that occurred over the summer.

A 9-year-old boy was killed on July 25, 2025, after he was hit by a pickup truck in the 12000 block of Cole County Road 391, previous reporting shows.

The boy was riding a bicycle with friends and family on the Katy Trail – which intersects with the road — when he was hit by a northbound truck driven by a Holts Summit woman, previous reporting shows.

Residents had told ABC 17 News over the summer that they had wanted better signage and vegetation control near the crash site and that cyclists and other pedestrians regularly use the trail in that area.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was wanted for several sex crimes in Illinois has been arrested and charged in Columbia.

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. A mugshot was not available on Wednesday afternoon and a Missouri court date has not been scheduled.

The affidavit shows a warrant for his arrest was filed in Coles County, Illinois, on Jan. 30. The Coles County Sheriff’s Office told ABC 17 News the case was out of Mattoon, Illinois, which is a town near Interstate 57, about 50 minutes south of Champaign.

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.

Newlon does not have an address listed in Casenet, but has Columbia listed as his residence in online jail records.  

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A former teacher from St. James was disciplined by the State Board of Education after he allegedly set the hands of a student on fire in 2022.

A February agenda item for the State Board of Education says Tyler James Glidden – who was a math teacher at St. James High School – “attempted to demonstrate a science experiment by pouring hand sanitizer onto a student’s hands, and lit it on fire.”

Documents in the settlement with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education say Glidden used hand sanitzer that was in the room during his math class and “borrowed a contraband lighter from a different student to light the hand sanitizer on fire.”

The student allegedly suffered first- and second-degree burns and Glidden did not report the incident to school administration, filings show.

The incident occurred on Dec. 2, 2022, and the student showed Glidden the burns they suffered on Dec. 5, 2022.

Glidden was ordered to surrender his teaching certificate, which appeared to have expired in June 2025. He also held a substitute certification that expired in 2024.

ABC 17 News has reached out to the St. James school district.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 39-year-old man with multiple warrants was arrested Tuesday in Jefferson City after a roughly half-hour standoff, a Wednesday press release from the Jefferson City Police Department says.

The release says an officer saw the man at 12:07 p.m. in the 200 block of Lafayette Street and the man ran away to a building. Police used a PA to tell the man to get out of the building, but he did not respond, the release says.

At 12:35 p.m., a SWAT team arrived, commands were made again by police and the man walked out of the building, the release says.

The man’s identity was not released by authorities on Wednesday.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman who was sentenced to probation in 2024 in an infant’s 2019 death is facing a felony charge in a new case.

Lavosha Daniels, of St. Louis, was charged on Monday in Boone County with felony stealing. A warrant was ordered on Monday and a $10,000 bond was set. She was not listed on the Boone County Jail roster on Wednesday afternoon.

The probable cause statement claims Daniels stole four Ninja Slushi machines on Jan. 14 from the Sam’s Club on Conley Road in Columbia. She allegedly stole two machines at 3:37 p.m. that day and came back at 4:56 p.m. to take two more, the statement says. Video allegedly showed her taking the items, court documents say.

Daniels had pleaded guilty on Dec. 16, 2024, to abandoning a corpse and first-degree involuntary manslaughter. She was sentenced to five years of probation along with an 11-year suspended sentence for the charges.

Prosecutors on Monday filed a motion to revoke her probation in light of the new charge filed.

She had originally been charged with corpse abandonment and child endangerment causing death after Samone Daniels, who was 4-5 months old, was found dead outside of a tire store in 2019.

The baby died after allegedly being strangled by Staffone Fountain, who was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Police arrested Fountain and Daniels in 2022 after someone found a note apparently from Daniels addressed to police in a different hotel describing what happened. Prosecutors claimed that Fountain may have struck the child and placed her in an unsafe sleeping position when he put the child in a car seat and placed her in the bathtub.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Federal, state and local law enforcement in Arizona are intensifying their search for Nancy Guthrie, mother of NBC’s “Today” host Savannah Guthrie, who has now been missing for 11 days.

On Wednesday, agents were seen searching multiple roadways near Nancy Guthrie’s home in the Catalina Foothills. Investigators are still looking for other evidence tied to doorbell camera video released Tuesday from the night of her abduction and the person in it.

Authorities released a person early Wednesday morning who was detained for questioning in the case.

In Mid-Missouri, there are currently 619 active adult missing persons cases, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol database. Five are being investigated by the Jefferson City Police Department and the Columbia Police department is investigating 17 active cases.

The Fulton Police Department currently has no active missing persons investigation, but Chief Bill Ladwig told ABC 17 News that regardless of the person’s status or publicity around the case, FPD treats all missing persons investigations the same.

“We would ask for the help of the FBI, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, anybody that could come in and assist us with things, especially electronic data, that we don’t have the capability to do in-house,” Ladwig said of the agency’s process. “That would happen for anybody, whether it is Miss Guthrie or Mr. Smith down the street that went missing.”

Ladwig explained in the missing person cases FPD handles, the person often tends to show back up on their own.

“They’ve just wanted to be gone for a few days and come back and they’re found,” Ladwig said.

He also said typically in missing persons cases, there is not a lot of evidence for law enforcement to go off of, initially.

“You’re looking at their cellphone data, their computers or tablets looking for history,” Ladwig said. “Little breadcrumbs that’ll lead you down the right path in a situation like that.”

Investigators in Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance did not release stills of the suspect in the doorbell camera video or the video itself until 10 days into her disappearance. Ladwig said while the doorbell cameras can be helpful, sometimes they can cause problems in an investigation.

“It can complicate things if there’s not a cloud storage or a DVR that it goes to,” Ladwig said.

Ladwig called multi-agency joint investigations, like the one into Guthrie’s disappearance, a team effort.

“The FBI could come in to Fulton, but they’re still going to need to know things about this municipality and our people that only we are going to know,” Ladwig said. “It’s not so much taken out of somebody’s hands. It just becomes a much larger, more diverse team that’s going to make this work.”

Sgt. Kyle Green, with the Missouri State Highway Patrol, said all missing persons cases are handled by the local jurisdiction unless it asks for assistance. He explained that if MSHP was asked to assist, the Division of Drug and Crime Control for that area would help.

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