Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia Solid Waste Utility will host a customer input open house next week about the construction of its new recycling facility, according to a Tuesday press release.  

The meeting will be held 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7 at the Activity and Recreation Center at 1701 Est Ash Street, the release says. There will be no formal presentation.

Curbside recycling pickup has been limited in the city after the recycling center was destroyed on April 20 by an EF-1 tornado.

Demolition for the rest of the building occurred about a month after the building was hit.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man has been charged with four felonies after he allegedly stabbed a woman on Sept. 25.

Richard McCracken, 52, was charged in Boone County with first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action and a count of unlawful use of a weapon. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. An arraignment was held on Monday and a confined docket hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7. A preliminary hearing is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 6.

The probable cause statement says the victim knocked on someone’s door on Tuscany Ridge after getting away from McCracken. The victim was bleeding and had stab wounds on her hand and had blood on her hands and arms, the statement says.

The victim allegedly told police that she knew McCracken from “shelters” and that he offered to pay for a hotel room so she would not be trespassed, the statement says. McCracken had the victim in a vehicle and then choked and stabbed her while she was in the passenger seat, the statement says.

Police later found the vehicle and saw blood in the passenger seat, the statement says.

Court documents say McCracken has been convicted of several crimes, including rape and statutory rape. The statement says McCracken is from California. A Boone County court filing from 2017 shows he was extradited to California that year.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County’s top prosecutor says a Florida man has now been charged with murder in the death of a Stephens College student.

Misael Covarrubias, 23, will be charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Aiyanna Williams. He is also charged with three counts of armed criminal action, two counts of first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.

Covarrubias was charged on Monday with three counts of first-degree assault, three counts of armed criminal action and a single count of unlawful use of a weapon. Covarrubias allegedly told police that he is from Florida but had been living in Columbia for about five months, court documents in previous reporting say.

Covarrubias is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A confined docket hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7 and a preliminary hearing is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 6.

He is accused of firing 11 shots at 1:42 a.m. Saturday on East Broadway between Eighth and Ninth streets in downtown Columbia. He allegedly hit three people with bullets, including Williams. Williams was pronounced dead on Sunday.

Police initially said Covarrubias was involved in an argument and began firing, though none of the people hit by gunfire were involved in the exchange.

Court documents in previous reporting say Covarrubias reportedly told officers that people ganged up on him, causing him to fire warning shots. Covarrubias initially said the warning shots were fired at the ground, but later admitted to firing with his arm straight out, the statement says.

He then allegedly told officers that he did not know who he was shooting at, and also admitted to consuming alcohol prior, the probable cause statement says.  

The shooting prompted University of Missouri System President Mun Choi to call for action to reduce crime in Columbia and Mayor Barbara Buffaloe to call for a special task force.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man in ICE detention was taken into custody by federal authorities because of convictions for possession of marijuana and cocaine, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Tuesday.

Owen Ramsingh was detained by agents in Chicago after returning from the Netherlands and landing at O’Hare International Airport. He has been in detention since.

“September 27, CBP arrested Owen Romann Ramsingh, a criminal alien from the Netherlands,” Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement. “His criminal history includes convictions for cocaine possession and marijuana possession. This criminal alien is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

“A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused.”

Court records obtained by ABC 17 show Ramingh was charged with drug possession in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1998 when he was 17. He pleaded guilty the next year to attempting to commit a felony.

The following year, records show he was cited for having less than an ounce of marijuana in Nebraska and fined $100.

He also has an expunged 2011 conviction in Boone County for marijuana possession. He has had a green card since 1986, Ramsingh’s wife, Diana told ABC 17 News on Monday.

The last information Diana has is that Owen was being transferred to a detention center in El Paso, Texas. He has a court date in Illinois scheduled for Oct. 15.

Ramsingh is the head of security at The Blue Note and Rose Music Hall and is a property manager at Property Professional Management. 

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield will increase its reimbursement rates paid to University of Missouri Health Care by 3.5% each year under a deal reached this summer.

The deal, which was agreed to in August but took effect retroactively on April 1, was the result of months of negotiations between the insurance giant and the health care provider that left local patients in limbo. The old contract expired on April 1. A new deal wasn’t reached until mid-July.

MU Health Care declined to give out any details of the deal at that time. Records obtained by ABC 17 News through an open records request show that Anthem agreed to a 3.5% increase in reimbursement each year through 2028.

Reimbursement rates had been a sticking point in negotiations. Anthem claimed MU Health Care wanted a roughly 39% increase over three years. MU Health Care leaders said Anthem was offering paltry 1% to 2% increases.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A New Bloomfield man was charged on Tuesday after he was accused of raping a girl in August.

Dakota McGuire, 19, was charged in Callaway County with first-degree statutory rape of a child younger than 14 years old. He is being held at the Callaway County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says the girl spoke with law enforcement the day after the assault and a sexual assault kit determined she was raped.

The statement says McGuire spoke with the victim on the social media application Snapchat the morning of Aug. 10 between 3-5 a.m. The victim allegedly told McGuire to go to sleep when he stated he wanted to go to her residence, the statement says

McGuire then allegedly went to the victim’s home and entered it through the victim’s bedroom window and allegedly pressured the girl into sex and raped her, the statement says.

McGuire then denied the allegation to law enforcement, claiming he never went to the home and was asleep at 3 a.m., the statement says. Police wrote that they told McGuire they had records of his conversations with the victim and that they knew he was awake during the period, court documents say.

Police also learned McGuire exchanged nude photographs with the victim prior, the statement says.

Court documents say McGuire eventually admitted to sexually assaulting the victim.

The statement says McGuire had previously been caught looking through people’s windows at their homes in New Bloomfield.

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Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) –

Boone County will buy space at a Jefferson City cemetery to house dozens of unclaimed remains at the medical examiner’s office.

The county commission approved the $6,600 contract with Hawthorn Memorial Gardens at its Tuesday meeting. The contract allows the Boone/Callaway Medical Examiner’s Office to keep unclaimed cremated remains at the cemetery.

Eric Maze, a spokesperson for MU Health, said the office has more than 100 such unclaimed remains in its possession. The contract allows them to make space at the MU Health and School of Medicine campus, while also storing the remains in a more fitting setting should no one ever claim them. The medical examiner’s office will still facilitate handing those remains over to a family member should someone later claim them.

Nick McKague, co-owner of Parker-Millard Funeral Services, said the agreement allows the remains to stay in a secure space and helps the community and medical examiner’s office.

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Haley Swaino

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

EDITOR’S NOTE: The street people will be able to access the baby box from has been changed.

Cole County EMS Chief Eric Hoy said after months of work to decide how to close cost gaps for the Safe Haven Baby Box installation at the Cole County EMS Headquarters in downtown Jefferson City, the county has agreed on a solution.

The Cole County Commission on Tuesday agreed to a plan to spend EMS funds upfront to cover a $4,900 construction cost gap that has stalled the installation of the box. The county will then seek reimbursement from the state.

“The legislature did pass House Bill 121, which does outline $10,000 in reimbursement for the installation of one of these devices,” Hoy said.

The project began before HB 121 was passed. The bill went into effect Aug. 28, 2025.

The baby box will allow people to safely drop off infants instead of abandoning them. The original goal was to have the device installed by fall 2025, but funding gaps were not the only setbacks to the project.

“It’s been a long, unanticipated road,” Hoy said. “As we went through this project and developed some locations in the building of where the box could potentially be installed, we ran into a couple areas of difficulty.”

Hoy said the state did not approve the original location the county proposed near the public entrance to the EMS headquarters because it was up a set of stairs.

“So we kind of had to go back to the drawing board and locate a secondary area,” Hoy said. “That secondary area’s in one of the three-story load-bearing walls of this facility.”

He said there are many factors to consider when deciding where to install a baby box at an EMS station.

“One of the things that the state really wanted is that it had to empty into kind of an environmentally-controlled area. So we didn’t want it to be out in the bay space where you have vehicle exhaust and those other sorts of things,” Hoy said.

That left few exterior walls on the headquarters that met all the state’s requirements.

Cole County EMS decided on an area on the building’s east side, behind the engine truck garages. People can access it from East McCarty Street.

“You can have foot traffic right up the apparatus ramp,” Hoy said. “It meets all the requirements for ADA and accessibility.”

But installing the box in that three-story wall brought unanticipated difficulty.

“The community was very generous through their fundraising program. Initially, we thought we had reached a goal that was far beyond what we would need for construction. However, due to some of those difficulties, there was still a funding gap,” Hoy said.

The community raised nearly $28,000 for the baby box. But the added construction costs have now left about a $4,900 deficit.

Hoy said he’s appreciative of the community support in seeing this project through.

“Over the last couple of months, these devices are being used in our state, and we’re happy to bring this ability and capability to Missouri’s capital counties,” Hoy said.

Safe Haven should deliver the baby box in the next few weeks, and Cole County EMS will then work with its contractor to get the device installed by the end of the year.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude wrote in an email Tuesday that her department is prioritizing downtown crime, enhancing technology to solve cases and collaborating with Boone County, city leaders and the Missouri State Highway Patrol to develop a plan to improve safety in Columbia.

The letter was Schlude’s first public statement since three bystanders were shot downtown over University of Missouri Homecoming weekend. One died.

Schlude acknowledged local concerns of violence downtown. She added that Saturday’s shooting that left two people injured and killed one woman marked the fourth, fifth and sixth uninvolved people shot downtown since March 2024.

Chief Response to DowntownDownload

Schlude said there have been 58 confirmed shootings in Columbia so far in 2025, about half the 105 reported during the same period in 2024. She said police have started four death investigations this year, compared to 10 during the same nine-month span last year.

According to the letter, after a shooting downtown in June that left one man injured, the department focused on launching a downtown enforcement initiative to focus on misdemeanor crimes as well as recruitment and officer training.

The department is focusing on reestablishing a unit focused on downtown crime, set to be implemented by summer 2026, the letter states. CPD is also working to improve investigation technology and work with the University of Missouri and local government and law enforcement departments to make a plan for community safety, Schlude wrote.

ABC 17 News reached out to Chief Schlude for an interview, but was told she was away at the city retreat and was unavailable.

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Gov. Mike Kehoe said Tuesday that he has authorized the Missouri National Guard to help at ICE facilities in Missouri.

The mission will begin on Wednesday, Kehoe’s office wrote in a news release.

“This decision comes in response to a request for assistance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to the Department of War (DOW) to ensure the resources and personnel needed to effectively enforce immigration laws and maintain operational control of the border,” the release states.

Guard members will help with administrative, clerical and logistical duties at ICE processing facilities, the statement says. The governor’s office told ABC 17 News that 15 Guard members will be deployed.

Homeland Security would have information about where they will be used, the governor’s office said.

“Public safety, keeping Missourians safe, and upholding the rule of law is our administration’s top priority,” Kehoe is quoted in the news release. “The Missouri National Guard is uniquely equipped to provide this essential administrative support, and we are confident their contributions will be invaluable to immigration enforcement efforts. Missouri is proud to join in the Trump administration’s efforts to keep our state and nation secure.”

State Rep. John Martin (R-Columbia) expressed support for Kehoe’s decision, claiming border security reflects the will of the American people.

“The American people in the election of Donald Trump very clearly said they want to secure borders,” Martin said. “So our governors willingness to assist in secure borders is good for every state across our nation, as illegal immigration can bring crime and bring issues that affect every state in the union.”

State Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) disagrees and criticized the governor’s move.

“It’s complete insanity and this needs to stop. This is about Donald Trump and Gov. Kehoe normalizing troops being everywhere,” Tyson Smith said. “This isn’t a border city, this isn’t El Paso, we don’t need the military, the National Guard enforcing ICE regulations. There’s not an epidemic of people committing crimes in this area.”

Tyson Smith also said the use of the National Guard with ICE is a waste of taxpayer resources and takes away from other services the National Guard is known to help with.

“It’s a waste of resources, Budgets already tight, budgets are already thin. Why are we spending money to have the National Guard enforce ICE regulations. to help with logistics,” Smith said. “This takes away from much needed services, I mean look at this I mean, we’ve got grocery prices that are through the roof.”

State Rep. Ray Reed (D-St. Louis) echoed Smith’s comments and accused Republican leaders prioritizing their loyalty to Trump over the needs of Missouri residents.

“They will do everything they can to just please their king, Donald Trump. We’ve seen it over the last few weeks with this redistricting effort,” Reed said. “We’ve seen it with them bending the knee at every single executive order, the president puts out and now they’re going out of their way to please him over the next red state.”

Reed also criticized the decision to deploy the National Guard for immigration enforcement, pointing to the lack of Guard support after a devastating tornado hit the St. Louis area on May 16. He called the move disrespectful to people in his region.

“Every minute that a National Guard member spends on a desk doing clerical work for ICE is the minute that they’re not going through trainings and preparations for the next natural disaster in the state of Missouri.” Reed said.

Martin disagreed.

“No, I don’t think that’s a bad use of resources , it’s a need that’s been requested by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of War,” Martin said. “You know maintain the rule of law and our immigration policies and so they need assistance, I think that’s a good step, the governor making a good step in the direction.”

Missouri does not have any designated ICE facilities in the state, but county jails in Montgomery and Ozark counties serve as housing for detainees.

ABC 17 News has reached out to ICE to learn where the 15 guard members will be deployed.

Trump has used National Guard in multiple cities in he says is an effort to crack down on crime and assist with immigration enforcement. He has also discussed sending in troops to cities such as Chicago, Memphis, Tennessee, and Portland, Oregon.

Kehoe has also joined U.S. Sens. Eric Schmitt and Josh Hawley (R-MO) in calling for ICE agents to be trained at Fort Leonard Wood in Pulaski County.

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