Category: kmiz-local-news

Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Police Department is cautioning residents to be aware of the risk around home robbers and package thieves this holiday season.

Lt. Clint Sinclair, with CPD, tells ABC 17 News the holidays create the perfect opportunity for them to commit their crimes. He said people should not leave things, like boxes from big name items, in plain sight for everyone to see.

Sinclair also suggested home lighting, specifically motion lights, as a way to deter criminals.

If someone is not home but they are still recieving packages their door, Sinclar said to ask a neighbor or trusted friend to grab the package and hold onto it. He said leaving a car in the driveway can also help people’s homes look occupied if no one is home either.  

Columbia Fire officials tell ABC 17 News its also the peak time for home fires. Colin Wright, Columbia Assistant Fire Marshal, said the months of December, January and February make up about 40% of all home fires in the country. One of those causes being candle fires. Wright said 12% of all candle fires happpen in Dec. and 10% happen in Jan.

Wright said the candle fires tend to stem from candles mixed with home decorations, or in Christmas trees. He suggested fake or electronic candles as a safer alternative.

Cooking fires also make up between 42% to 48% of all fires in the U.S. with an noticeable increase around the holidays. Wright said CFD responds to at least two to three unattended cooking fires each year during the holidays. He recommends setting timers and staying in the kitchen to best avoid the possibility of a fire.

Wright listed Christmas lights as another hazard, a hazard many people may not even think to look out for.

“Before you put your Christmas lights up, you should be looking over your wires, making sure that everything is intact, everything’s working well,” Wright said. “If you’re still using older incandescent light bulbs, switch to LED lights they don’t produce as much heat as the incandescent bulbs.”

According to Wright, CFD has seen a decrease in Christmas tree fires that they credit to ongoing education. Wright said reports tally about 143 Christmas tree fires each year.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who court documents say is an emergency room doctor was charged Tuesday with four felonies after an alleged sexual and domestic assault in Ashland.

Jeffrey L. Teeter, 46, was arrested early Tuesday at an Ashland address after a woman told deputies that he had slapped her, punched her, raped her and threatened her with a gun, including firing it out a window, according to a probable cause statement.

Teeter was charged with first-degree domestic assault, unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action and first-degree sodomy. He was in the Boone County Jail on Wednesday without bond.

Boone County deputies found a gun and shell casings at the scene that matched the victim’s story, the statement says. The woman also recorded audio of the incident, according to the statement.

The victim went to the emergency room for a sexual assault exam, the statement says.

The statement says Teeter is an emergency room doctor at a hospital in Pettis County. He has a Jefferson City address listed in court records.

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Alison Patton

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jefferson City Salvation Army is wrapping up the final hours of its Red Kettle Campaign on Wednesday, but the nonprofit says it needs even more donations to keep running its current programs.

Spokesperson Melinda Jennings said the goal was to raise $410,000, but as of Tuesday afternoon, the Salvation Army needed $76,000 to reach it.

“If we do not close this gap, we will be forced to make difficult decisions, including potentially reducing or cutting essential programs that support vulnerable families and individuals in our area,” Jennings said.

Salvation Army Major April Clarke said if the goal isn’t met, she might have to consider cutting programs or staff to fit operations into a tighter budget.

“We’re going to have to look at our budget and say, ‘Where can some cuts happen?’ and ‘Where can the biggest impacting with the least amount of felt impact be made?’,” Clarke said.

That could mean letting go of a part-time chef and instead relying on volunteers to help out in the kitchen, Clarke said.

The 2025 Red Kettle Campaign started on the 38th day of the 43-day federal government shutdown.

ABC 17 News spoke with Clarke in November, who said the Salvation Army was seeing an increased need among people who were relying on the free resources before the shutdown, furloughed workers and people who lost SNAP benefits during the shutdown.

On Wednesday, Clarke said people are still feeling that financial strain.

“Many people are living paycheck to paycheck, so even though they’re back to work, they’re not caught up on bills,” Clarke said. “They’re still using our food pantry, they’re still trying to alleviate some of the financial struggle that they encountered.”

The Red Kettle Campaign collections go until 6 p.m. on Wednesday, which is the last day volunteers will be accepting donations. However, people can still donate to the Red Kettle Campaign online and in person at 927 Jefferson St. through Dec. 31.

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CNN Newsource

By Toni Odejimi, CNN

(CNN) — It’s a very happy holiday for a lucky lottery player in Arkansas, who nabbed a $1.8 billion Powerball jackpot on Christmas Eve, according to the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery.

The winning ticket was sold at a Murphy USA gas station in Cabot, Arkansas.

Last minute ticket sales in Wednesday’s drawing pushed the jackpot to $1.817 billion – with a cash option of $834.9 million – making it the second-largest US lottery jackpot ever, Powerball said in a statement.

The winning numbers were 4, 25, 31, 52 and 59, with red Powerball 19, and a Power Play multiplier of 2. It was the 47th drawing in this run, a record for the most in a jackpot cycle, and the largest Powerball prize of the year, the lotto said.

“Congratulations to the newest Powerball jackpot winner! This is truly an extraordinary, life-changing prize,” Matt Strawn, Powerball Product Group Chair and Iowa Lottery CEO, said.

Cabot is a suburb of Little Rock with more than 27,000 residents.

While there was only one big winner Wednesday, eight tickets nabbed $1 million to stuff their stockings. Those tickets were sold in California, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Nationwide, 114 tickets won a $50,000 prize and 31 tickets won $100,000, Powerball said.

The Powerball jackpot now resets to $20 million for Saturday’s drawing.

The lottery game has generated some of the largest jackpots in US history, including the record $2.04 billion in 2022.

Multiple jackpots have been won either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, according to Powerball, but none of them have ever reached $1 billion – until now.

Jackpot winners have two options to get paid: either through an annuitized prize plan, with one upfront payment and 29 yearly payments increasing by 5%, or through one lump sum payout. The annuitized prize plan takes interest into account. Most lottery winners take the lump sum.

The drawings are scheduled for every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 ET.

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

In the four years since the death of Boone County Assistant Fire Chief Bryant Gladney, the Boone Co. Fire Protection District tells ABC 17 News its made changes to its training and response procedures.

Gladney was killed when a tractor-trailer slammed into his service SUV on Dec. 22, 2021 as Gladney was working at the scene of a crash. A crash report ABC 17 News obtained indicated the driver of the tractor-trailer broke rules about length of driving time when the crash happened.

Joey Rimel, a Boone County Lieutenant Paramedic, said all Boone Co. recruits are now required to take a traffic incident management course. He also said that all members of Boone Co. Fire got retrained this year on driving and operating the emergency vehicles.

Learning new things and promoting new ideas was a key part of Gladney’s message.

“They have no clue their students of Bryant, but most of our EMS program is made up of curriculum and content by Bryant,” Rimel said.

A message that continues to live on through the Bryant Gladney Foundation.

“Our family started after Bryant’s death in 2021,” said Elizabeth Gladney, Outreach Director for the foundation and Gladney’s daughter-in-law. “We started out as just a scholarship and over the years, we’ve kind of just grown and expanded. So now our mission is to empower future generations of EMS providers to be exceptional caregivers.”

The fire district also implemented a HAAS system following Gladney’s death, a safety alert that caution’s drivers encountering emergency scenes, according to Boone Co. Assistant Fire Chief Gale Blomenkamp.

“It can deviate between northbound, southbound, eastbound, westbound. It won’t alert drivers on the wrong side of the road,” Blomenkamp said. “It’s a very smart system and it’s like a geofence around the incident.”

Shaun Gladney, Bryant Gladney’s son, is a first responder in the Dallas area and is no stranger to dangerous roadways. He tells ABC 17 News that distracted driving still remains a major safety hazard for first responders.

“In the DFW metroplex, I feel like we see a fire truck hit once a week,” Shaun said. “It is terrifying for us as first responders to be on the roadway and I am more scared of being on the road than I am going into a fire.”

Rimel described traffic management as a moving target. He explained its never the same due to factors like road construction or where a response is needed at. Road changes like the I-70 improvement project have brought a unique set of new and ongoing challenges to the fire district, according to Rimel.

“We’re gonna have a lot more accidents that are still in the center of the interstate, which are harder to mitigate and protect our people from,” Rimel said.

Rimel expressed the importance and renewed focus of limiting the road exposure of first responders when responding to a crash, especially on the highway.

“If it’s a non-injury and the vehicles can move, let’s get them off the roads, get them off the interstate, let’s get them to a safe location,” Rimel said. “It’s not just a risk for us. It’s a risk for everybody else that has to be there, even the motorist driving on the highway.”

Blomenkamp said the fire district is looking into special signage and portable light units to promote a safer response for Boone Co. first responders no matter the time of day. Special barriers for highway and road emergency responses called attenuators were being explored, but Blomenkamp said that the barriers were found to not be the best or safest option to protect the first responders.

“Those were really originally designed to protect the motoring public, not the workers,” Blomenkamp said.

Shaun Gladney said there is also a need for better public awareness and knowledge on the roads.

“I think people just like don’t really know how to act when first responders are around or they panic,” Shaun said.

Shaun and his wife Elizabeth are planning to continue expanding the Bryant Gladney Foundation. Outside of scholarships, the foundation also promotes continued education to active first responders through its All-Star EMS Conference and webinar videos that highlight Bryant Gladney’s teachings.

Since the Fall of 2022, the foundation has awarded $42,000 in scholarships to 31 paramedic students from 21 different paramedic programs in 17 different states. Eight of those scholarship recipients were students at the University of Missouri or Boone Co. Fire. The foundation has received applications from 42 out of 50 states. In the spring, it will award five more scholarships totaling $7,500. 

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man was charged Monday with arson, burglary and attempted assault for allegedly setting a fire in an apartment where his brother and mother live.

Kyan P. Pious, 20, was in the Cole County Jail on Tuesday without bond on charges of first-degree arson, first-degree burglary, first-degree attempted assault and armed criminal action, all felonies. An arraignment is set for Monday.

Police and firefighters were sent to the apartment at 3400 N. 10 Mile Drive on Friday, where Pious’ brother told investigators that he had put out a fire in his mother’s bed, according to a probable cause statement.

Pious’ family members told police that they had kicked him out after a “disturbance” on Dec. 14, the statement says, and they felt the fire was a targeted attack.

Investigators found a “Molotov cocktail type device” in the bedroom and determined that cooking oil had been used to set the fire, the statement says. Wires had also been ripped out of the apartment’s utility box and a bedroom window and been broken out, with blood left behind.

Pious was arrested and interrogated Monday and allegedly admitted to breaking into the apartment and setting the fire because he had been kicked out.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBI, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Mexico, Missouri, man who allegedly skipped out on his rape trial in Georgia was arrested Monday, authorities in a Georgia County say.

Mark J. Switzer was arrested in Mexico on a failure to appear warrant out of Walton County, Georgia, located east of Atlanta. The Walton County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a news release that the FBI helped Georgia authorities track Switzer down.

Switzer is set to face trial on charges including aggravated child molestation, rape, incest, aggravated sexual battery and drug offenses in Walton County, according to the sheriff’s office.

Kenneth L. Jones of St. Louis was charged with hindering prosecution for allegedly harboring Switzer at the Days Inn hotel in Mexico, according to court documents. Investigators observed the two smoking cigarettes outside the hotel and found a door key on Jones when they pulled him over, court documents say.

Jones denied to investigators that he had been with Switzer, but Switzer was in Jones’ hotel room when law enforcement went inside, court documents say.

Switzer will be extradited to face trial in Georgia.

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Euphenie Andre

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two people are facing felony drug charges after investigators uncovered a large amount of methamphetamine Monday in Columbia, leading to trafficking charges.

On Monday, detectives with the Columbia Police Department’s Vice, Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit worked alongside the North Missouri Drug Task Force, the Boone County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations to investigate meth trafficking in the area, CPD said in a news release.

Police searched a home at 4246 Santa Anna Drive. Inside the residence, officers found 27 grams of methamphetamine and a firearm.

Court documents indicate the investigation began after authorities received a tip about a FedEx package. Upon inspection, investigators discovered the shipment contained 56.21 pounds of ponchos soaked in methamphetamine. According to scholars, drug traffickers soak clothing in liquid meth to avoid detection while transporting narcotics.

The package was handed over to the Columbia Police Department for a controlled delivery. Police said they sent only about 20% of the drugs to Hector Hernandez Medina, 28, of Mexico.

When Medina went to pick up the package, detectives said he arrived in a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Detectives reportedly found a little over half an ounce of meth, 62 grams of fentanyl, 14 grams of blue pills, and $2,158 in the vehicle.

Police later discovered Medina is an undocumented immigrant.

Court records show the package was addressed to Medina but listed 49-year-old Ebonie Lewis’ phone number and home address. Lewis admitted to being a meth user but told authorities she had no knowledge of the delivery.

Neighbors expressed concern for the community, particularly for families with young children.

“I have two young children, and we just bought this house in April,” said Witt. “Just knowing that something like that is going on so close to home, it does bring some concern,” 

Medina is charged with two counts of second-degree drug trafficking. Lewis faces multiple charges, including second-degree drug trafficking, felony drug possession and illegal gun possession.

Medina and Lewis remained in the Boone County Jail on Tuesday without bond. Initial hearings have not been scheduled.

Check back for updates.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The ACLU of Missouri sued the Missouri Attorney General and Secretary of State on Tuesday, claiming they have evaded the state constitution’s rules on the referendum process.

The group, representing two Kansas City voters, is asking the Cole County courts to suspend House Bill 1, a bill passed during a special session that redrew the state’s congressional map mid-decade. The group argues a law is suspended when a referendum on it starts.

The voters are “concerned, they’re like, ‘I think that I’m in this district, I’m not sure,’ It was hard to find a searchable feature for them to figure out what district they lived in,” Tori Schafer, director of policy and campaigns at the ACLU of Missouri, said Tuesday. “They really want to understand, ‘Who am I? Who am I voting for? What is the primary election going to look like?'”

ACLU – Petition for Declaratory JudgmentDownload

According to court documents,”‘[O]nce a referendum petition has received sufficient signatures to be placed on the general election ballot, the referred measure is placed before the people for their consideration as an original proposition; the prior action by the General Assembly and the Governor on the referred measure is suspended or annulled, and has no further legal effect or consequence.'”

“Previous Secretaries of State and Attorneys General have agreed with the established precedent that referred legislation is suspended upon receipt of the referendum petition,” Schafer said in a statement Tuesday.

The suit comes after the state claimed activist group People Not Politicians inaccurately announced Missouri’s new congressional district map was frozen after sending in more than 305,000 signatures to the Secretary of State Denny Hoskinson for a petition to put the new congressional map to a vote.

According to court documents, “‘Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway issued a statement saying the new House districts took effect Tuesday and will remain in place unless Hoskins determines the referendum petition is constitutional and contains sufficient signatures.'”

The Attorney General’s office claims the ACLU and People Not Politicians are promoting the false narrative, arguing that the freeze only happens when the signatures are validated by the Secretary of State. The office claims that at this time, it has not been confirmed that enough signatures have been submitted. Referendum petition signatures must equal to five percent of legal voters in each of two-thirds of the congressional districts in the state to pass.

“It does not matter how many total signatures have been submitted. All that matters is how many valid signatures have been submitted in each congressional district,” The office said in a statement Tuesday. “Until the Secretary of State confirms that the proposed referendum has enough valid signatures to qualify, the Missouri First Map will remain in effect.”

The office adds that if legislation is suspended at the receipt of signatures, “anyone [can] freeze duly-enacted state laws by dropping off boxes of unverified signatures.”

If active, the new congressional district map splits Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Fifth District in Kansas City into three. This will merge it with more rural and Republican areas, likely removing Cleaver’s seat and giving the Republican Party a boost in the next election.

The new districts will also affect candidate filing on Feb. 24 for the upcoming 2026 midterm election, with candidates needing a clear map to know what districts to file for and who they are representing.

“What they are doing is trying to eliminate the public from a public forum, what they are saying is, ‘we are the people who operate the state government and we don’t want these pesky citizens of the state of Missouri to cross over what we do when we do it.'” Cleaver said.

Cleaver adds that the uncertainty of the map is leaving voters concerned.

“They don’t know who they’re going to vote for, so they don’t know who to consider, they don’t know what kind of research they would do,” Cleaver said.

Cleaver also questioned the legality of redistricting, with the move falling in the middle of census years. Which was previously argued by a group of voters in a separate Cole County suit. The judge ultimately denied the voters’ arguments.

U.S. Rep. Mark Alford (R-Raytown) represents District 4, which will also be redrawn in the new map. In a statement on Monday, he reestablished his commitment to Missouri voters.

“Regardless of where the final lines fall, we will win the Fourth District,” Alford said.

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A St. Charles man was charged with felony stalking and harassment last week after allegedly threatening Gov. Mike Kehoe and his family on the social media platform Facebook.

Daniel N. Mertz was charged Friday in Cole County with first-degree stalking and first-degree harassment. He was arrested the same day in Daytona Beach, Florida.

A warrant has been issued for his extradition.

Investigators say Mertz posted the threats on Facebook between Dec. 1 and Dec. 18. Mertz posted threats that included pictures of the Kehoe family between Dec. 10 and Dec. 18, according to a probable cause statement.

“I would have snuck up on your families [sic] home and slayed you all with my bare hands … but I promised a veteran I would not get violent, and you sir are about to see just how hard gods [sic] vengeance hits back,” one post read, according to the statement.

The governor’s office thanked law enforcement for its work on a case in a statement to ABC 17 News.

“Violence and harassment, including through social media, are not acceptable,” the statement says. “Threats against elected officials and their families must be taken seriously.”

Mertz was in the Volusia, Florida, County Jail without bond on Tuesday.

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