Author: KMIZ

Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A crash on North Providence road near Monday night Hickman High School that left a man seriously hurt marked the third crash in Columbia this year that involved a pedestrian.

Statewide crash data shows pedestrian crashes are three times lower in Columbia than by the same point in 2025.

By April 2025, Mid-Missouri had already seen 22 pedestrian crashes across the region. Twelve crashes were reported within Columbia city limits and an additional crash was reported in Boone County.

Through that same data point in 2025, Callaway County was the only place in Mid-Missouri to see a death as a result of a pedestrian crash. Three deadly crashes have been reported around Mid-Missouri so far this year.

In April 2026, Mid-Missouri has seen 12 pedestrian crashes so far. Three of those crashes have occurred within Columbia city limits with one being fatal. An additional pedestrian crash was reported in Boone County.

Randolph and Benton counties each have already had one death as a result of a car hitting a pedestrian so far in this year.

While no arrests or charges have been announced in Monday night’s crash, Cole County’s Prosecutor Locke Thompson spoke to ABC 17 News about the potential criminal outcomes in pedestrian crashes.

“A case where there is injury you might have potentially either assault in the fourth degree if someone is being negligent,” Thompson said. “It might even be assault in the second degree if they’re being reckless and cause serious physical injury.”

Thompson also said law enforcement may look at things like if a driver was under the influence and crash reconstruction as part of a pedestrian crash investigation.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A former part-time teacher who was accused of trying to poison her husband in 2024 has had her attempted-murder charge reduced to domestic assault.

Sarah Scheffer is now charged in Cole County with third-degree domestic assault. The reduction in charges was filed on Monday, court filings show. ABC 17 News has reached out to the Cole County prosecutor.

Scheffer is accused of trying to poison her husband with substances she put in his food, court documents in previous reporting say.

She was allegedly caught on camera grabbing a substance out of a bag called labeled “lily of the valley” and adding it to his smoothies. Lily of the valley is a poisonous plant.

Scheffer was a part-time design and art teacher at Calvary Lutheran High School in Cole County, previous reporting shows.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was accused in the overdose death of a Montgomery City toddler in 2024 has pleaded guilty.

Bryan Danter pleaded guilty on Monday to felony murder, second-degree drug trafficking and illegal gun possession.

He was previously charged with felony murder, second-degree drug trafficking, two counts of drug possession, one count of endangering the welfare of a child, three counts of illegal gun possession and a count of misdemeanor having a defaced gun. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, June 12.

According to the probable cause statement in previous reporting, Danter found his 2-year-old son unresponsive on Sept. 3, 2024. Law enforcement saw the body of the child on the kitchen table near a plastic bag containing “a crystalline substance.”

Pill containers with white residue, capsules with white powder, two scales and another plastic bag containing white powder were found in the home, the statement says. The substances tested positive for fentanyl and methamphetamine, court documents say.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was charged with multiple felonies after he was shot by Jefferson City police officers in February is asking for a change of judge and venue.

Joey Hampton, 40, of Jefferson City, is charged in Cole County with two counts of first-degree assault and single counts of shooting at a vehicle, armed criminal action and illegal gun possession. He is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond. 

Hampton appeared by video from the jail for his arraignment on Monday and pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, assistant public defender Juliana Payne, filed a motion on Monday asking for a change of judge and venue.

The motion says Hampton is hoping for the case to be moved to either Jackson County, St. Louis County or the city of St. Louis and alleges that Cole County residents “are prejudiced against him.”

Payne also filed a motion for Hampton on Monday that asked the state for a mental exam.

Court documents in previous reporting say Jefferson City police officers were trying to contact Hampton on Feb. 26 “in relation to reports that had received that Hampton was involved in the sale and use of illegal drugs, was in possession of a stolen firearm, and had brandished a firearm and/or threatened person(s) with a firearm.”

Hampton allegedly fired shots at the officers, hit a patrol vehicle and officers returned fire. The Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control is investigating.

The names of the officers involved in the shooting have not been released.

The next hearing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Friday.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia woman was charged on Tuesday with disseminating a sexual video of someone without their consent.

Megan Cabaniol, 27, is being held at the Boone County Jail on a $15,000 bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says police were called on Monday after the victim in the case claimed their ex-boyfriend asked her about an explicit video that was showed to him days before by Cabaniol.

The statement says another person confirmed Cabaniol showed them the video and that police found the video on a couple of pornographic websites.

The victim believed Cabaniol was trying to harass her because their friendship had recently ended, the statement says.

Cabaniol allegedly told police that the victim agreed to let her take the video but denied showing it to anyone or uploading it to any website. She allegedly told police that “someone else must have posted them from her account” on the pornographic websites, the statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The two men accused of robbing the Isle of Capri Casino in Boonville last month have each been indicted by a grand jury.

Benjamin Michael-Dass Charles, 21, of Columbia has been charged with first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and tampering with evidence. He is being held at the Cooper County Jail on a $1.3 million bond. Charles waived his arraignment and pleaded not guilty on Monday. A case review is scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, May 22.

Hollis Vanleer Jr., 20, of Normal, Illinois, is not in custody and is charged with first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and first-degree assault. Law enforcement last month stated that he is to be considered “armed and dangerous.” A $1.3 million bond was set in his case.

Charles was an employee of the casino and allegedly told law enforcement that he helped set up the robbery “for about a month,” court documents in previous reporting say. The pair took about $1.28 million from the main bank drawer, court documents in previous reporting say.

Vanleer is accused of attacking a patron who tried to stop one of the men from getting away, court documents in previous reporting say.

The two got away in a Ford Taurus and abandoned the vehicle in Howard County before getting into another vehicle, previous reporting indicates. Charles was identified after a receipt was found in the first getaway vehicle.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A substitute high school teacher from the state of California has been arrested after he tried to get children from Callaway County to send him nude photographs.

Matthew Bowman, 25, of Los Banos, California, was charged on Friday in Callaway County with two counts of child enticement and two counts of misrepresenting his age to entice a minor for sexual misconduct.

He is currently being held at the Merced County, California, Jail and awaits extradition to Missouri. He was arrested on Monday, according to a social media post from the Los Banos Police Department.

The probable cause statement says that beginning in February, Bowman began “quick adding” young girls in Callaway County on the social media application Snapchat. He allegedly told two girls – ages 12 and 13 – that he was significantly younger than his real age, but changed his age multiple times while talking to them, the statement says.

Bowman allegedly asked for nude photos of the girls, despite knowing their ages, and claimed he had family in Callaway County. He allegedly used a location feature in the app to tell the girls that he knew where they were throughout the day and that he wanted meet them for sex. One of the girls blocked him after taking screenshots of his messages, the statement says.

He also allegedly told another youth listed in court documents that he was thinking of applying for a job as basketball coach at Westminster College. Police from California wrote that Bowman is a coach at the Los Banos Unified School District.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman accused of embezzling money from nonprofits in Boonville and Columbia has pleaded guilty in one of her cases.

Jennifer Waibel pleaded guilty on Monday in Cooper County to stealing more than $25,000. She will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Friday, May 22.

She is still charged in Boone County with stealing more than $750 and two counts of fraudulently using a credit card. A hearing in that case is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Monday, May 4.

Court documents in previous reporting for the Cooper County case say she is accused of stealing $49,661.36 from Unlimited Opportunities by spending the money in several transactions from June 16-Aug. 31, 2023, which included several multi-thousand-dollar purchases at Walmart locations in Boonville, Columbia and in Madison, Georgia.

In the Boone County case, she’s accused of spending $13,650 on gift cards while using 10 company credit cards from Impact Support Services, located on Chapel Hill Road in Columbia, court documents in previous reporting say.

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Hemp Trade Association held a news conference ahead of delivering handwritten letters to the governor’s office opposing hemp regulations.

Watch it in the video player.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An elderly Tennessee man suffered serious injuries in a crash in Boone County on Monday afternoon.

According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, a 78-year-old man from Johnson City, Tennessee, was driving a 2026 Subaru Outback westbound on Interstate 70 at the 136-mile marker in Boone County at 3:28 p.m. Monday.

The crash report states that the vehicle traveling in the left lane veered off the left side of the road during a curve in a construction zone and struck a concrete barrier.

The man was taken to University Hospital via university ambulance with serious injuries.

The driver was wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash.

A second vehicle was included in the report after debris from the Subaru hit the windshield. The 35-year-old driver from San Francisco, California, was not hurt.

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