Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was killed by Columbia police in an officer-involved shooting on Saturday night was charged with murder in Randolph County.

Timothy Turner, 37, of Columbia, was charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Court filings say the charges occurred on Saturday and a warrant was issued on Monday. Moberly police stated this weekend that Turner was the suspect in a homicide investigation.

Randolph County Prosecutor Stephanie Prosecutor Stephanie Luntsford wrote in an email that the charges are in the process of being dropped, following his death. The motion to dismiss has not been processed.

Moberly police had responded to a call on Saturday morning 500 block of North Moulton Street and found a man dead in the bedroom of the home with gunshot wounds, according to the probable cause statement. Police stated on Monday that Donald Gene Hickem, 37, was the victim in the shooting.

A phone registered to Turner was found at the Moberly residence, court documents say. A witness who knew Turner allegedly told police that Turner entered an alley near the home and another person had told him to drop his gun, court documents say.

The witness walked down the alley and heard four-to-five shots, the statement says. The witness went inside a home and came back out to see Turner in a vehicle while pointing a gun at the witness, the statement says.

The statement says Turner had not been at the residence for a month and should not have possessions there. The statement claims that Hickem had sold drugs, which he had bought from Turner. Hickem allegedly owed Turner money, court documents say.

The witness claimed that they heard Hickem tell someone else about three days before the shooting that he thought Turner was going to kill him, the statement says.

The Columbia Police Department assisted MPD in the case and tried to arrest Turner in the 1500 block of Raleigh Drive, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol release.

Turner allegedly had a knife while getting out of a residence at 10 p.m. Saturday. Officers told him to drop the knife, but Turner allegedly refused, MSHP wrote. SWAT members used “less lethal devices” and a K-9 before shooting Turner, the release says. Turner was pronounced dead at the scene.

MSHP’s Division of Drug and Crime Control is investigating the police shooting. CPD Chief Jill Schlude said on Monday night that four officers were put on leave.

Haley Swaino

EDITOR’S NOTE: A charge was corrected in this story.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman who was 17 at the time of her 1984 attack testified Tuesday on the first day of her alleged assailant’s trial.

James F. Wilson was arrested and charged with rape and first-degree assault with a deadly weapon in an attack on a 17-year-old girl. He has pleaded not guilty.

The victim told jurors that she was walking to work in northeast Columbia on March 24, 1984, when a man approached her on the sidewalk. She recalls being somewhere behind Hickman High School walking towards Providence Road when he “came out of nowhere.”

“Something about him kind of made me hold my breath,” the woman said. “The minute I released my breath he grabbed me and I felt a knife in my side.”

She said she could feel the sharp point of the knife grazing her as he forced her to his nearby parked car. She said the man didn’t say anything as he abducted her.

“So quickly that I barely had time to think, ‘Do I run?’” the woman testified.

She told the jury that as he drove she questioned him. She asked him why he was doing it.

“’Because girl’s don’t like me very much,’” she said the man said.

“I just started saying the Lord’s prayer over and over again,” the woman said.

She said that during the drive the man told her to take her clothes off. She said she did as he requested because he was still holding the knife.

When the man stopped the car on a dead-end street, he told her to get in the backseat, the woman said. He then raped her, she testified.

After the sexual assault, he told her to get out of the car, the woman testified. She said he pushed her to the ground and sat on top of her as he repeatedly stabbed her throat.

“I thought that was the end,” she said. She pretended to be dead.

“He cut me once more, maybe two times after that,” the woman testified. She said he left her in a nearby creek. She climbed out after she saw her attacker’s headlights leave and walked to a nearby house to get help.

Retired CPD officer Vance Pitman testified about the injuries he saw when he arrived to a call at that house.

“All the way across the throat between the carotid arteries on both sides. And it went deep into her throat,” Pitman said. “I could see the trachea cut.”

He told the jury that the victim could not speak so she communicated with a pad of paper and pen.

“She wrote, ‘Do you think I’m going to live?'” Pitman said.

The jury trial is expected to last three days at the Boone County Courthouse.

Wilson, 61, of Mooresville, North Carolina, is accused of raping and assaulting the teen in the 4000 block of Wellington Drive in northeast Columbia on March 24, 1984. He lived in Columbia at the time and graduated from Rock Bridge High School in 1981.

According to court documents, the girl was abducted at knife point while walking to work, raped and assaulted.

Wilson allegedly grabbed the victim and forced her into his nearby car with a pocket knife. He then drove the car to a dead-end street where he attempted to remove the victim’s clothing, prosecutors say.

According to the probable cause statement, Wilson had trouble removing her clothing so he forced the victim to remove it. He then allegedly took her outside of the car and raped her.

James Frederick Wilson

After the rape, Wilson took the victim to a grassy area away from the road, pushed her to the ground and slashed her throat repeatedly with the pocket knife, authorities allege. Investigators say he then pushed the victim into a nearby creek where she stayed until she heard his car drive away.

The victim was treated at University Hospital for multiple lacerations that required surgery. Her trachea and vocal cords were damaged, according to court documents. The hospital also conducted a sexual assault examination.

The victim described her attacker as a white man, around 18 to 19 years old, 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weighing about 190 to 200 pounds.

The case was reopened for further investigation in 2020. The sexual assault kit was sent for forensic DNA testing.

A break came when DNA from the crime scene was matched with Wilson’s DNA, according to previous reporting. The Columbia Police Department found that Wilson was living in Columbia when the incident occurred and his 1981 Rock Bridge High School yearbook photo resembled the sketch of the suspect.

CPD notified the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation after learning where Wilson lived, according to previous reporting. The bureau was able to find a disposable razor with hair still in the blades from Wilson’s trash. The razor and other items were sent to CPD, which then sent the samples for DNA analysis. The samples matched the profile from the 1984 rape kit, authorities say.

Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Roger Johnson charged Wilson on Oct. 25, 2022. Wilson was arrested at his home in North Carolina and brought to Missouri, according to previous reporting.

Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA Mo. (KMIZ)

Rep. Bishop Davidson (R-Greene County) presented House Bill 100 to a special committee on tax reform Tuesday in hopes of implementing a flat 4% income tax rate in the state and getting one step closer in fully eliminating income tax.

If HB 100 gets implemented, starting in 2027, the 4% flat tax would be reduced when the revenue grows by at least $1 million and the Tax Reform Fund is at least $120 million at the end of the fiscal year. The plan is for deductions to only happen when there is a surplus in revenue.

During the hearing for the bill, Davidson laid out his plan to expand sales tax to services and cut exemptions in sales tax rates to supplement money lost from cutting income tax.

“None of it utilizes cuts, it doesn’t use replacement, it utilizes growth,” Davidson said during the hearing.

The group Americans for Prosperity held a rally Tuesday morning in the third-floor Capitol rotunda to support the bill and pass flyers to local legislatures before the hearing, urging them to eliminate state income tax.

The Bill joins the dozens of bills filed by other senators and state representatives that plan to set a flat tax in January 2026 with the tax slowly decreasing over the following years to phase out income tax in the state entirely.

“This year has been the most momentum behind it that we’ve seen in a really long time,” AFP Legislative Liaison Camellia Peterson said. “We have a governor who is fully on board with it, we have a coalition of legislators that have really done great work in crafting legislation thoughtfully that can make this happen.”

Missouri has a tax rate of 0.5% for every $1,273 of annual taxable income. This rate caps out at a top rate of 4.8% for annual incomes of $8,911 or greater.

During the hearing, Davidson compared Missouri to the state of Tennessee — an income-tax-free state — making connections between the states’ agricultural strength, tourism rates and large cities, arguing that Missouri can succeed as an income-tax-free state.

“There’s nine other states without income taxes right now, we’re trying to be the 10th,” Davidson said. “If you look at how those states perform relative to the states that have income taxes, they are just doing quite well.”

Supporters of the bill argue that lowering income tax will also sway people considering moving to Missouri.

“Young people that are looking maybe just out of college to settle somewhere, look for a job, they’re going to look for a state with 0% income tax,” advocate for eliminating income tax A.J. Mall said.

Supporters also add that while sales taxes may go up or be added to services, Missouri residents can decide what to purchase on their own and what they can and can’t afford.

Opponents of the bill argue that lower-income residents may not have the ability to choose and that a higher sales tax may turn tourists away from the state.

“It’s going to it’s going to injure lower-income people because they spend most of their money on things,” Missouri Realtor’s Chief Lobbyist Sam Licklider said.

The next step for the bill is for the committee to vote on it, Davidson hopes for this to happen Feb. 11.

Meghan Drakas

NEW ORLEANS (KMIZ)

As the week of Super Bowl 59 kicks off, law enforcement officials are putting years of planning security measures into place.

“We’re all committed to ensuring that we have a beautiful and exciting Super Bowl week here in the city of New Orleans,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.

NFL Chief Security Officer Cathy Lanier said Monday that measures surrounding the big game have been in the works for two years.

“The commitment and collaboration over the past few years has been phenomenal and allowed us to put together the security framework that you will see throughout the city on Super Bowl week at all of the venues across the city over the last two years,” Lanier said at an opening news conference.

Following the deadly New Year’s Day attack on Bourbon Street which killed 14 people and injured dozens, Lanier said the NFL has looked at its plans even closer, reviewing them multiple times.

“We went out and issued an executive order in which we created an enhanced security zone in the French Quarter,” Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry said. “Something that has not been done before.”

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke about the strength and resiliency of New Orleans.

“It changed not just the families that tragically and horrifically lost their loved ones, but also the city, the state, and the entirety of our country,” Noem said. “We recognize the importance of making sure that we’re doing due diligence and being prepared for events as proactive as possible and deploying resources in partnership that will help us make sure that these events come off safely and with a focus on security.”

Noem said there will be more than 700 Department of Homeland Security personnel on the ground in New Orleans. As of Monday morning, she said there were “no specific credible threats” against the Super Bowl.

“I think [that] should give us all a sense of security, but also knowing that we will adjust that as needed,” Noem said.

Spicer, Minnesota visitor Ted Anderson said he feels the city has taken the right measures.

“I feel just fine here,” Anderson said. “I think it’s a great city. I love it. I’m not much of a big city person when I travel and I figured I got to go to New Orleans.”

Homeland Security says there are over two dozen federal agencies assisting with Super Bowl 59 including ICE, Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives.

In addition to federal agencies, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said there are well over 2,000 law enforcement members across the city.

“I have a little saying I want the community and our visitors who have come to this event to see a sea of blue,” Kirkpatrick said.

She stated the importance of getting people to say something to law enforcement if something seems out of place.

“We’ve instructed every one of our officers that if they are approached by anyone who sees something and say something to you, it is so we can do something,” Kirkpatrick said.

Officials say this could pertain to a suspicious bag, a person acting erratically or even wearing clothing which doesn’t match their surroundings.

People in New Orleans are encouraged to dial 1-800-434-8007 or the LSP Hotline at 5-1-1 if something seems out of place.

Nia Hinson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

There’s a different feeling in the Kansas City air this year, locals and businesses say.

The Kansas City Chiefs have a chance to become the first franchise in the NFL to win three consecutive Super Bowls, something those who live in the city are taking special pride in.

“I think it (winning a third straight Super Bowl) is just bringing everyone together and I think that’s what we need, especially after what happened last year with the parade and everything,” life-long Chiefs fan Dana Ferrell said.

The Kansas City Power & Light District is preparing for another watch party on Sunday night.

Senior Account Executive Savannah Otto told ABC 17 News via email that this is something the district plans year-round. Those who attend the watch party can expect live performances and contests.

“The energy in Kansas City is very exciting right now, this year feels extra special,” Otto said. “The fans’ passion and excitement are amplified by the team’s historic run and that creates an atmosphere you won’t find anywhere else.”

Tickets for the event are available on Power & Light’s website. Otto says she expects them to sell out quickly.

The Chiefs have become an NFL franchise that many other fan bases have come to publicly dislike on social media after their many years of dominance, making seven consecutive AFC Championship Game appearances and five Super Bowl appearances during the Patrick Mahomes era.

Some fans say they view the criticism as fuel.

“The more you win, the more you’re going to be hated upon,” Chiefs fan Joshua Ybarra said. “You know, we play a hard game. Our boys are tough. We feed off this stuff. You know, we thrive off that negativity.”

Next door to the Power & Light District is Johnny’s Tavern, a business who has also spent the past few weeks gearing up for Sunday night.

Owner Kyle Witherspoon said since the Chiefs have been making a run in the playoffs, he’s chosen to prepare for the large crowds sooner, rather than later in anticipation of the Chiefs making it to the Super Bowl.

He said the Chiefs playing in the Super Bowl brings a different energy to his business.

“This is one of the events where you know, everybody’s rooting for the same team, right?” Witherspoon said. “So, there’s not a college rivalry involved and there’s not a lot of out of town teams who brought their fan base in to play. Everybody’s down here in the red and the gold rooting for the Chiefs.”