Author: KMIZ

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 30-year-old Jefferson City man is accused of breaking into the residence of Lincoln University’s president and staying there for two days.

Lamont Batts Jr. is charged with first-degree burglary. He is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond and a court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement indicates that LU President Jonathan Moseley found Batts in the master bedroom of the Jackson Street home around 3:15 p.m. Monday.

Batts allegedly admitted to going into the residence, staying there for two days and “consuming food and alcoholic beverages belonging to another, J.M., including crab legs, spaghetti noodles, garlic bread, and Hennessy,” court documents say.

The statement says Batts was seen on camera opening gates at the residence around 4:20 p.m. Saturday.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman was charged with two felonies in Boone County after she allegedly stabbed someone with a knife on Monday morning in the 4500 block of Rice Road.

Dariell Deshell Smith, 33, of Columbia, was charged on Tuesday with first-degree domestic assault and armed criminal action. She is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A hearing was held on Tuesday.

The probable cause statement says police were first called for an assault call that alleged the victim was stabbed by someone described as a witness.

The victim had a stab wound on their left arm and additional scratch marks, the statement says. The 911 call allegedly included someone identifying themselves as the witness’ name in the stabbing, police wrote.

Smith had claimed she started arguing with the victim before the witness stabbed them, court documents allege. Footage from a doorbell camera allegedly caught video of Smith assaulting the victim outside, the statement says.

Both the victim and the witness had identified Smith as the person who stabbed the victim, the statement says. Smith also allegedly denied any part of the attack occurring outside of the home, the statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Mizzou football player was booked into the Boone County Jail early Tuesday and was charged with a felony.

Jaden Jacobi Bush, 18, of Theodore, Alabama, was charged on Thursday with aggravated fleeing and misdemeanor reckless driving. He was booked into the Boone County Jail at 12:47 a.m. Tuesday. A sheriff’s office spokesman said Bush bonded out at 8:40 a.m. A hearing has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says a Columbia police officer saw a white 2024 Ford Mustang speeding near East Broadway and Old Highway 63 on Monday night. Bush turned west onto East Broadway and the officer turned on his lights for a traffic stop, but Bush kept driving for 24 seconds, the officer wrote in the statement.

Bush had 19-year-old passenger in his vehicle when he was stopped at East Broadway and Old Highway 63 south, the statement says.

Bush allegedly told the officer that he was driving 80-90 miles per hour and that he did not initially pull over because “that’s just how my car is,” he was quoted in the probable cause statement.

The Mizzou Athletic Department confirmed in an email to ABC 17 News that Bush was suspended from the football program indefinitely.

“We are disappointed in JJ’s actions. He is indefinitely suspended from the team as the legal process plays out,” a statement from head coach Eli Drinkwitz says.

Bush is listed on the Mizzou football website as a freshman linebacker.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Boone County Commission is considering adding a sales tax increase to the future ballot, even as county residents might have to vote on tax measures from both the state and the City of Columbia.

Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey brought the increase to the Boone County Commission to help fund the construction of a new Boone County Jail.

“The Sheriff recognizes the need to get ahead of our detainee housing issues,” Capt. Brian Leer of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office said. “As you know, the cost for housing detainees out of county has grown drastically over the last few years, and we think this problem is only going to continue to grow.”

Leer said the office has 392 detainees, and 210 of those are in out-of-county facilities. The office is paying for more than 190 detainees to be housed in other county jails. He said the cost to house out-of-county detainees from January to March this year was around $1.12 million.

Carey has not yet brought a formal proposal for a tax increase to the Boone County Commission. However, Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick told ABC 17 News they anticipate a request to be made within the next month.

The City of Columbia recently tabled a 1% sales tax for public safety during a City Council meeting on Monday. If approved, the proposal would be on the August ballot. All revenue from the tax would go to the Columbia Police and Fire departments. Improvements include staffing several dozen staff for both departments and adding new vehicles. CPD would also like a new headquarters.

This may also cause additional strain on the Boone County Jail if passed.

“Any time that the city of Columbia police makes arrests, that’s going to lead to potentially additional prosecutions, additional people within the jail and there’s potentially different, additional court dates,” Boone County Auditor Kyle Rieman said. “It all kind of has a downstream effect and impact on each other.”

In a news release on Monday, Rieman acknowledged the need for additional public safety funding while also highlighting the rising costs Boone County is facing across the board.

“Tariffs, increased gas prices and growing demand of a tech sector that’s definitely been a growing cost across county governments,” Rieman said.

The release alluded to the general increased cost of living due to tariffs and inflation, as well as Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s initiative to eliminate income tax.

“As the state and federal governments continue to cut their own tax bases, the programs that support local governments are often the first on the chopping block,” Rieman, a Democrat, said. “Costs are rising faster than dedicated revenue across virtually every part of county government. Affordability is a growing concern, for the city, for the county, and most of all the citizens of Boone County.”

Rieman adds that local departments have also needed to rethink funds due to changes to state funding.

“The state or the fed, they would give assistance through grants, now they are no longer providing those or may not be providing those,” Rieman said. “we’re having to make the decision on whether or not to backfill that with other resources or discontinue providing those services.”

Rieman wrote that, if approved by both the Columbia City Council and Boone County Commission, coordinating when those tax measures will appear on the ballot is key.

“The city and county serve many of the same people, and those people are already feeling fiscally squeezed,” Rieman wrote. “We shouldn’t be sending the voters of our community mixed messages or competing requests in a vacuum from what the state is asking. At a time when trust in government is at historic lows, local leaders owe voters a clear, coordinated plan that takes affordability seriously and a ballot they can understand.”

Kendrick said the Commission has been in communication with the City of Columbia and that talks with city officials and Carey are ongoing.

“We’re going to work over the next few weeks to try and continue to see what the potential impact will be to help inform the county commission as they consider whether or not to put this forth to the voters,” Rieman said.

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Ryan Shiner

CAMDENTON, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Camdenton Board of Aldermen unanimously passed a one-year moratorium on the approval of data centers within its city limits.

Aldermen met on Tuesday to consider the pause on the permits, approval and construction. Columbia is also considering a similar one-year ban.

Meeting documents say the city’s code of ordinances “does not adequately address the unique land use, infrastructure, and utility demands associated with data centers” and brings up concerns around electricity and water usage.

“Data centers are high-intensity users of electricity and water resources and may significantly impact municipal infrastructure, including electric systems, water supply, wastewater systems, land use compatibility, and emergency services,” meeting documents say.

Only 70 people were allowed within the council chambers for fire safety and occupancy reasons, but residents were unified in their support against data centers in the community.

The building and inclusion of data centers have been highly contested around the country, including in Mid-Missouri.

“I have heard a lot of negative things about data centers and have yet to hear very much positive about them,” Camdenton Mayor John McNabb said. “I’m very concerned about that because it’s, it’s our community.

Amazon has sought to build a data center in Montgomery County and saw intense pushback from its residents at several public meetings, which culminated in a lawsuit to attempt to block it from happening. Critics of data centers typically point to excess water usage and increased use of electricity.

Tuesday’s meeting documents say there are concerns about “infrastructure capacity” and say data centers require “extraordinary utility demand.”

“The City’s water and wastewater systems and the electric system for the area are designed for typical residential, commercial, and light industrial uses and have not been evaluated for high-density, continuous-load facilities such as data centers,” the moratorium reads.

Earlier in the meeting, the board also unanimously passed a resolution that rescinds its support for the MO Lake Development project.

The Board of Aldermen has been in talks with the developers of the land in question since the summer of 2021. McNabb said that the plans for this development have changed at least six times since 2022. The developers do not own the property.

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Matthew Sanders

JEFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri House approved a bill on Tuesday that would tighten restrictions on the use of drones ahead of this summer’s World Cup games in Kansas City.

Senate Bill 1421 would add prohibitions on where drones can be flown into state law. Current law states that they can’t be flown over open-air facilities, but the bill would also outlaw flying near critical infrastructure. It also adds bombs and bomb materials as items that are illegal to deliver by drone.

The bill drew debate in the House, where members tacked on dozens of amendments with less than two weeks remaining in the session. The session ends May 15.

The House approved an emergency clause, so the bill would go into effect immediately upon being signed. The bill now goes back to the Senate for that chamber to consider changes made by the House.

Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) successfully added an amendment that would allow convicted criminals in certain rehabilitation programs to get a limited driver’s license when they complete those programs

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man who ran from a crash last week, prompting a multi-day search amid concerns about his safety, has been charged with a felony.

Nathan J. Spencer, 20, was found safe Friday in a wooded area near Capitol View Drive, Jefferson City Police said. He had been missing since that Tuesday after he was involved in a crash on Highway 50/63 westbound. Police began the search because they were concerned that Spencer, who is autistic, might have had a mental health crisis before he ran from the crash scene.

Prosecutors in Cole County charged Spencer on Tuesday with felony leaving the scene of a crash and two misdemeanors — reckless driving and driving without a license.

A probable cause statement alleges Spencer was speeding and swerving between lanes when he rear-ended another vehicle. The statement says Spencer remains at a hospital, where he has been since he was found on Friday.

No hearing has been set.

Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson said cases involving individuals with autism or other mental health conditions are handled on a case-by-case basis, with a focus on whether the person understood their actions at the time.

“It’s always a case-by-case sort of analysis, and I think especially when you’re talking about something like autism, where there’s such a broad spectrum, that can kind of play into it as well,” Thompson said. “But any time you’re talking about a defendant who has or a suspect who has some sort of mental health diagnosis or special needs that are prevalent, you have to analyze whether at the time the crime was committed, they were able to understand and appreciate the nature and the circumstances of the crime.

“If they if they can, then they can still have the required mental state to have committed a crime. If they can’t, then they can’t have committed a crime because they don’t have the required mental state to have done so.”

Thompson added that charges such as leaving the scene of a crash can vary depending on the circumstances, from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class E felony. 

He also said cases involving potential mental health concerns can involve additional steps, including evaluations by the Missouri Department of Mental Health.

“If charges get filed, then the Department of Mental Health may get involved. If there’s a question as to either their competency or whether or not they understood the nature of the crime in the first place,” Thompson said. “Sometimes there are cases where it’s so obviously that sort of situation that the agency or even the prosecutor’s office might make that call and say, ‘You know, there’s no way this person could have understood what it was they were doing at the time they were doing it.’ Sometimes you’ll have enough evidence just off the bat to make that determination.”

Thompson noted that cases involving individuals with special needs or mental health diagnoses are not uncommon in the criminal justice system, though each situation varies widely.

Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson echoed that approach, saying legal outcomes often depend on a person’s mental competency and ability to understand the legal process.

“It depends on the circumstances/is case-by-case,” Johnson told ABC 17 News in a statement. “In some cases, because of a person’s mental condition, they may not be able to understand or participate in the legal process and defense. And if the person is not legally competent they can’t be prosecuted. There is a separate path the case takes. Also, a person may not be able to form the mental state required by the charged offense or they may not be able to appreciate the wrongfulness of their conduct, but those are defenses that the defense has to raise.”

Johnson added that cases involving individuals with special needs are relatively uncommon.

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Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia teenager was charged as an adult with murder, robbery and armed criminal action in a deadly Facebook Marketplace meetup.

Judge Tracy Gonzalez agreed to certify Mikel Jones, 17, as an adult in an alleged deadly robbery in southwest Columbia, minutes before charges were filed.

Columbia police believe he took part in a robbery set up through Facebook Marketplace that led to the death of Michael Ryan Burke on Ridgemont Court.

Jones was charged with second-degree (felony) murder, first-degree robbery and two counts of armed criminal action.

Three 18-year-old suspects — Alexis Baumann, of Hallsville, Kobe Aust and Joseph Crane — had already been charged as adults. Surveillance video places Jones with the three suspects the night Burke was killed, court documents claim.

Court documents filed in the case say that Baumann and the group arranged to buy a phone from Burke. The group had already met with and stolen from at least two other victims in the two days before the confrontation that led to Burke’s death, documents say. Those incidents took place on Claudell Lane and on Northampton Drive.

PC Statement RedactedDownload

A Facebook account with the name Jones set up the exchange, according to a probable cause statement.

Baumann allegedly told officers that the juvenile suspect, later identified as Jones, shot Burke, took his iPhone, then sold it at an ecoATM at the Walmart on Conley Road.

Jones was in county custody on Tuesday without bond.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Jefferson City Council on Monday night unanimously approved a new contract with All Seasons Landscaping for yard waste drop-off.

The new drop-off site will be at 2417 Southridge Drive.

The first year of the new contract will cost the city $231,600 and the city will have the option to renew the agreement for four additional years, which would include a 1% price increase each year.

Operating hours will be:

From April 1-Oct. 31:

10 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday

8 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday

Noon-5 p.m. Sunday

Nov. 1-March 31:

8 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday

Noon-5 p.m. Sunday

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A South Carolina man who is accused of killing a University of Missouri student 26 years ago appeared in court for the first time on Monday.

Sentrell Wilson, 45, of Spartanburg County, South Carolina, is charged with first-degree murder in the 2000 death of Candace Richie, 21.  

Wilson was arrested in South Carolina on Feb. 23 and was held at the Spartanburg County Jail until he was extradited to Boone County last week. He is being held without bond.

Wilson appeared in court Monday by video from the jail without an attorney and was given two weeks to find one. His next appearance is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, May 18.

A bond motion claims Wilson asphyxiated a woman and left her body where it was not found for several days, then fled Missouri.

The Columbia Police Department interviewed Wilson in 2000, but an arrest was not made at the time due to concerns about the ability to establish a clear medical cause of death, previous reporting shows.

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