Category: kmiz-local-news

Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia woman has been arrested in Tennessee for her role in a deadly Columbia motorcycle crash.

Kyshonda Williams, 30, was arrested Thursday in Tennessee on an arrest warrant for involuntary manslaughter in the second degree.

Ethan Cash, 25, was killed after he was involved in a motorcycle crash with Williams on Nov. 2, accoridng to the Columbia Police Department. He was taken to a hospital, where he died later that week.

Williams was charged with involuntary manslaughter in the second degree, and misdemeanor counts of operating a vehicle in a careless manner and failing to yield while turning left.

Court documents filed on March 6 state that Williams was driving south on Range Line Street in an unregistered 2019 Dodge Challenger.

Police said she failed to yield to oncoming traffic that had the right of way while turning left onto Kennesaw Ridge Road. This is when she allegedly hit Cash on the motorcycle while driving north.

Court documents state that Cash tried to avoid the crash and locked the brakes up on the front of the motorcycle, leaving skid marks.

Police said Williams allegedly ran over the motorcycle and the victim with the back tire of the car.

One witness had a recording of the crash showing that the traffic signals for both the northbound and southbound lanes were green, with the turn lane flashing yellow.

Williams was arrested in Shelby County, Tennessee, where she is currently being held. Court documents state she had ties to the Memphis area.

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Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 20-year-old man has died after a single-vehicle crash in Columbia.

The Columbia Police Department said in a news release that Mohamed Abdalla, 20, of Columbia, died Thursday after a crash earlier in the week.

Police said the crash happened on Wednesday just after midnight on Route B near the intersection of Waco Road.

Abdalla was driving south on Route B when his vehicle crossed the traffic lanes, jumped a median and hit a traffic control pole, according to police. He was taken to the hospital, where he died from his injuries on Thursday.

Missouri State Highway Patrol STARs map reports seven injury crashes near this intersection since Jan. 2025.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Road closures have been reported throughout Mid-Missouri after multiple days of rainfall.

Boone County Joint Communication sent a notification at 3:24 a.m. Friday morning, stating that West Gillespie Bridge Road was flooded at Perche Creek, creating a traffic hazard. The road was reopened by 9 a.m. Friday.

Route CC near Centrailia and Route ZZ in Boone County are still closed as of Friday morning.

According to the MoDOT Traveler Map, in Pettis County, parts of Routes Y, O, and W are closed due to flooding, along with Highway 127.

MoDoT also reports several other road closures due to flooding:

Saline County:

Route VV

MO-127

Outer road of I-70 before S Augusta Ave.

Route P

Route UU from 147th to Lemon Trail

Pettis County:

Highway 127 south of Pleasant Green Road

Route Y

Route O

Route W

Morgan County:

Route BB at Gabriel Creek

Chariton County:

Route E between Highway 5 and Highway 11 S

Route D

Route J around Route MM

Macon County:

Route DD at Middle Ford Salt River

Route HH

Route PP at Middle Ford Salt River

Monroe County:

Route A

The National Weather Service flood gauge reports the Lamine River near Otterville is showing high-moderate levels, along with higher levels from Blackwater River in Cooper County.

Petite Saline Creek near Booneville is also in a flood stage. Minor flooding is reported on the Moreau River in Jefferson City.

According to the CDC, over half of all flood-related drownings happen when a vehicle is driving through flood waters and is swept downstream. When drivers see barriers blocking the roads, do not move or drive around them; the road may have collapsed under the water.

The National Weather Service reports that just six inches of fast-moving flood water can knock over an adult. A foot of rushing water can carry away most cars and two feet can carry away SUVs and trucks.

To report flooded roads, contact your local non-emergency dispatch, local public works or MoDoT.

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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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