Category: kmiz-local-news

Matthew Sanders

Gas prices just keep going up.

The average price in Missouri hit $3.578 on Thursday, up from $2.808 just a month ago.

GasBuddy reported prices on Thursday at Columbia stations between $3.39 and $3.49. Meanwhile, oil continued to trade at more than $110 a barrel.

Prices aren’t likely to fall soon — those barrels sold Thursday were marked for delivery in May or June.

Has the sudden surge in gas prices caused you to cut back on driving? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Crews are working to restore the “Rock M” at Faurot Field, Mizzou football shared in a Thursday afternoon social media post.

The photographs shared online showed workers placing rocks in an “M” outline.

The “Rock M” was temporarily moved out of the stadium as the university made upgrades to the north end zone concourse and seating. It has been a part of the stadium since 1927.

The university had stated it planned on retaining the “M” with the new upgrades.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A mother was charged in Boone County after she allegedly refused to take her child with third-degree burns to a hospital.

Elizabeth Moore, 33, was charged with child abuse on Thursday in Boone County. A warrant was served and she was held on a $10,000 bond. She was listed on the Boone County Jail’s 0700 report on Thursday, but was not listed on the jail roster on Thursday evening. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says the child showed up to a Columbia school on Tuesday with severe burns on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Moore was allegedly told by a school nurse – who used to work in a burn unit – during the first day that they needed to be brought to a hospital for second- and third-degree burns. The nurse also allegedly told Moore that ointment that was used would be not be sufficient to heal the child, the statement says.

The child returned the next day with a new bandage wrap that was allegedly stuck to their skin and the nurse claimed the youth needed to get to a hospital to avoid an infection, the statement says. The statement says there was a chance of the youth needing a skin graft to heal.

Moore allegedly told police that someone had spilled boiling water on the youth while they were cooking, the statement says. They were staying at the Welcome Inn in Columbia.

The officer asked Moore why she didn’t bring the youth to the hospital and she allegedly replied with “not everything needs to go to the doctor,” court documents say.

“Moore stated the school made it seem like she needed help to take the kids and stated she does not,” the officer wrote in the statement.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was convicted of murder in the 2022 death of a woman near the Interstate 70/Highway 63 connector in Columbia had his appeal sent back to a circuit court.

Jessie Williams, 33, was found guilty by a jury on May 16, 2024, of second-degree murder in the October 2022 death of Kaylen Schmit. He is accused of pushing Schmit off the Highway 63 bridge near Clark Lane. Schmit, 24, fell 38 feet into a wooded area and died hours later at a hospital.

He was sentenced to life in prison on July 29, 2024, and appealed the decision. The court came to its conclusion on Feb. 24, but the opinion was published on Wednesday.

The appellate court ruled that the circuit court did not make an error in overruling Williams’ attempt to suppress redacted video. The court did rule, however, that the circuit court made a clerical error in logging Williams’ life sentence as “999 years.”  

Williams is being held at Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston, Missouri.

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Camryn Payne

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The University of Missouri Faculty Council voted to approve an artificial intelligence use scale policy.

According to council documents, MU educators are responsible for labeling graded assignments and assessments on a level from zero to three.

Assignments where an instructor allows no AI use are considered a “Level Zero,” but “Level Three” assignments would be assignments where instructors are fine with students using AI to help on larger tasks.

The policy is intended to clearly communicate expectations for the appropriate use of AI in coursework. MU educators to retain the authority to determine whether AI use is permitted, restricted or encouraged in their courses and assignments.

AI use levels will ultimately remain up to each instructor, according to documents used in previous reporting.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Centralia man pleaded guilty to three felonies for a drunken October 2024 crash that killed a man.

Nathan Timpe pleaded guilty on Wednesday to driving while intoxicated that caused the death of another and two counts of DWI causing serious injury.

He was sentenced to 120 days of shock incarceration and can get probation at the end of it. He faces a 10-year prison sentence if he fails to complete the program or violates probation.

Timpe crashed his Jeep Wrangler in 2024 and had a blood alcohol content of .109, court documents in previous reporting say.

Riley Pipes, 19, was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the Jeep. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

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Ryan Shiner

Steven Wolfe

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Phelps County man was arrested and charged after he allegedly yanked off the skin from a woman’s neck on Monday.

Steven Wolfe, 25, of Rolla, was charged on Wednesday in Phelps County with first-degree assault. He is being held at the Phelps County Jail on a $250,000 bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says police were called around 6 p.m. Monday for a report of an assault.

The statement says the victim made dinner for Wolfe and another resident and Wolfe became upset because he claimed the macaroni and cheese “belonged to him.”

Wolfe allegedly pulled on the victim’s throat, where she had recently had a new tattoo, and left a deep cut, the statement says. Police wrote when they arrived, there “was a copious amount of blood down the front” of the victim’s chest.

Police described the injury as being 3-inches tall “and stretching the entire length of her throat.”

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Ryan Shiner

Editor’s note: Faup’s age was corrected. A source’s error initially listed a different age.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia city employee has been accused of stealing, according to a Thursday press release from the Columbia Police Department.

City Parking Manager James Faup, 38, was arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of felony stealing and misdemeanor stealing, according to the release. Faup appeared on the Boone County Jail’s online roster on Thursday afternoon. Information on the jail’s website say he was released on bond. Charges have not yet appeared on Casenet.

The release says CPD received a tip on Tuesday about someone wearing a Public Works uniform “who was exchanging a large amount of coins at a local business.”

Faup allegedly took coins from parking meters and exchanged them for paper money “for personal use,” the release says. Police wrote that Faup is no longer employed with the city, though he still appears on the city’s website.

A Public Works spokesman said the could not comment on an active investigation.

Check back for updates.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Cole County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Thursday press release that a bus driver was accused of assaulting a student on a bus on Wednesday morning.

The release says a Blair Oaks school resource officer was called by the district’s superintendent “in reference to an alleged assault that occurred on a school bus. The assault was allegedly committed on a bus, by a bus driver, against a juvenile student.”

The bus driver was not named, though the sheriff’s office said in the release that they are accused of fourth-degree assault.

The district had no comment on the matter on Thursday. Superintendent Ben Meldrum said the district uses Durham Transportation Services for its bus services. ABC 17 News has reached out to Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson.

A spokesperson with the bus company told ABC 17 News in an email that the driver was put on leave before being fired.

“We can confirm that we received a report regarding an incident involving our driver and a student and are cooperating fully with law enforcement on their investigation,” Summit School Services spokeswoman Anna Lam wrote. “We take the safety of our students very seriously, and upon learning of the incident, placed the driver on administrative leave and then terminated the employment of the driver.”

Check back for updates.

Press Release 4-2-26 -Fourth Degree AssaultDownload

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County firefighters rescued a father and daughter who were stranded on top of a pickup truck in floodwater on Thursday.

The truck was stranded in water at Perche Creek on Akeman Bridge Road north of Columbia, Boone County Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Gale Blomenkamp said. Emergency radio traffic indicated the vehicle was almost fully submerged.

Crews were dispatched around 1:49 p.m. for a vehicle in floodwater. The two were rescued shortly before 2:30 p.m., and the scene was cleared just before 3 p.m.

Boone County Fire Lt. Ryan Benedict said the truck had been swept about 100 yards off the road.

“That’s one of the reasons why you don’t drive in floodwater,” Benedict said. “Because you don’t know where the road’s at and so even though the water on top of the road isn’t that deep, you know, you drive off the side of the roadway, and it’ll consume your vehicle very quickly,”

The water was over 3 feet deep when they were rescued.

“It’s pretty dangerous whenever you get into floodwater, just because it’s extremely unpredictable,” Benedict said. “You don’t know what’s going on on the roadway underneath you. You know, that’s why we always advise people not to even walk in flood water, let alone drive in it.” 

Officials deployed three rescuers in the water wearing personal flotation devices to reach the victims.

Franky Zuno was on his way to drop off his daughter, Zaira Zuno, at a dentist appointment when their route took an unexpected turn. The pair said they had originally planned to go a different way, but Google Maps directed them onto West Akeman Bridge Road.

“We saw it was flooded. My dad tried to turn around and thought a little water wouldn’t hurt,” Zaira said. “He started to back up, but the current was really, really strong, and it took the back end,”

Both Franky and Zaira recalled the moment as frightening. Franky said as the situation unfolded, he tried to reassure his daughter that everything would be okay.

The two said they had no cell service to call for help. Fortunately, a driver came by and noticed them struggling. That person then drove to an area with better reception to call for help for the father and daughter.

Zaira said a tip she learned on TikTok helped her act quickly and escape the truck before it was fully submerged.

“Immediately, as soon as the water started coming into the truck, I put the window down and I was like, ‘ Dad, we got to get out and so we climbed to the top’,” she said.

Franky Zuno, the truck’s owner, said firefighters told him the truck could remain there for several days before being towed because of more rain in the forecast.

The flooding occurred after storms dumped inches of rain on Mid-Missouri between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. More storms are expected Thursday night and again Friday.

Flooding also prompted a rescue near Versailles. A teen girl was rescued after clinging to a small stream 30 yards downstream from a low-water crossing on Ritchie Road, the Gravois Fire Protection District reported.

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