Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The California Missouri Police Department requested the help of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a call was made over the weekend about someone allegedly trying to “self-deport,” an email from Police Chief Scott John.

California police announced in a Sunday social media post “there were a few ICE agents from Kansas City in California for a few hours.”

“The ICE agents were not here to complete random immigration status checks or neighborhood sweeps,” the post went on to say.

John wrote in the email to ABC 17 News that the investigation involved people staying at a motel on Highway 50. John wrote police received information that caused law enforcement “to suspect criminal activity within the group he was with.”

“Since the entire group (18 people) were non-English speaking and we had reservations about what was reported to us, we requested the resources of ICE. Four representatives of ICE responded and arrived here just before midnight on Saturday, staying for a few hours to assist,” John wrote.

Three men were detained on suspicion of fraud, John wrote. ICE told police agents were heading to the jail to pick up the three men on Sunday and an additional man who was detained earlier in the week, the email says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Camdenton man was charged with several felonies, including arson, on Monday after he allegedly tried to set a garage and tiny home on fire early Friday.

Previn Tauer, 48, was charged in Miller County with two counts of second-degree burglary, two counts of second-degree arson and two counts of first-degree property damage. He is being held at the Miller County Jail on a $100,000 bond. An arraignment was held on Monday. A case review is scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday, July 6.

The probable cause statement says first responders were called at 9:10 a.m. Friday for a fire in a garage and a “tiny home” about 40 feet east of the garage. Tauer’s vehicle was allegedly seen by a tenant at the property and he was seen exiting the garage before driving off, court documents say.

Smoke and flames emerged from the garage minutes later, the statement says. Investigators determined the fire was intentionally started on a tabletop, the statement says.

A second fire was inside the tiny home and it was also determined to be intentionally started, court documents say.

Tauer allegedly made threats against the homeowner the month before, the statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man charged with felony murder in a 2024 shooting at a Columbia White Castle was charged with an additional felony on Friday.

Antione Lamont Armstrong, 26,  is charged with illegal gun possession, second-degree felony murder, two counts of armed criminal action and a count of delivery of a controlled substance in the death of Louis W. Hart on May 17, 2024. The second armed criminal action charge was added after a superseding indictment was filed on Friday.

Armstrong is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond.

Previous reporting and court documents say Armstrong was also shot during an exchange of gunfire. A witness allegedly told investigators that they saw Hart shoot at Armstrong after Armstrong threw a punch, court documents say. After Armstrong went down to the ground, he allegedly then shot back at Hart a few times.

Jayden McGerald, of Columbia, was charged with tampering with evidence in a felony prosecution in connection with the shooting. McGerald is accused of trying to hide Armstrong’s gun. He has a hearing scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 24.

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Sutton Parker

COLUMBIA MO. (KMIZ)

With high temperatures expected to continue throughout the week, officials are warning that vulnerable populations can be affected.

According to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, there were 35 heat-related deaths in the state in 2025. Out of those, five were in hot vehicles, one was occupational and 21 of the people who died also had documented heart disease.

Columbia Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer says when firefighters respond to heat-related calls, illnesses vary.

“There are varying levels of medical problems that someone can suffer from, from heat exhaustion all the way up to an extreme heat crisis. Heat stroke, once you get to the heat stroke level, it is very hard to turn around clinically,” he said.

Schaeffer said vulnerable populations are the ones who are most susceptible to heat-related illnesses.

“The biggest one that i want people to think about is our vulnerable population; unfortunately, we find a lot of folks that are living out their years at home that have painted windows,” he said.

Schaffer added in addition to the elderly, young children are also most susceptible to the high heat.

“Young children might not have the thermoregulation systems in their bodies developed yet. You definitely want to get those kiddos out of the sun,” he said.

Schaeffer said it takes a community effort to protect those most vulnerable from the heat.

“That’s our civic responsibility, so check on your neighbors, check on your friends, check on your relatives that you know in those situations so that we can help,” he said.

With temperatures climbing this week, one group is asking people to be mindful and take care of those with mental health conditions.

According to the National Association of Mental Illness, people struggling with mental illness and those using medications to treat mental health conditions like schizophrenia, depression and anxiety are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat.

Amye Trefethen, who is the Director of Programs at the NAMI Missouri office, said heat makes peoples bodies not be able to adjust to their medication.

“There are some medications that make it harder for you to regulate your body temperature, and that can be antipsychotic medications. In the heat, your stress hormone levels in the body spike, and then our body tries to elevate our internal body temperature,” she said.

Trefethen recommends that people on these medications stay out of the heat and indoors with the air conditioning on and use extra fans to keep rooms cool.

Additionally, the NAMI adds hotter temperatures also seem to worsen the symptoms of mental illnesses and contribute to heightened negative emotions like anxiety and anger. 

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

No injuries were reported in a fire that occurred Monday at a Columbia apartment building in the 1600 block of Hinkson Avenue.

The Columbia Fire Department wrote in a press release that crews were called at 7:32 a.m. and found smoke coming from the second story of the three-story apartment building.

Firefighters found a fire on a balcony in the back of the building and had the fire under control within three minutes, the release says.

The release says the most-probable cause of the fire was “improperly discarded smoking materials on the deck area.”

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Melissa Houston

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

With the FIFA World Cup taking place in Kansas City, Columbia was described by some as being a “satellite city” as games occur within the state.

However, local restaurants are not seeing it affect their business as they originally anticipated.

With local bars and restaurants participating in “Kick it in COMO,” a citywide effort to bring the community together to celebrate the World Cup.

The Heidelberg, a popular downtown restaurant, has seen a slight bump in customer traffic compared to the typically slow summers, but it still sees empty chairs during some games.

“It’s summertime; we’re on campus, so it’s not usually a busy time of the year,” said Richard Walls, co-owner of the Heidelberg. “It’s a great time to come visit with extra parking and fewer people out, but you know, there has been some impact.”

Walls said the USA games are bringing in the most traction for his restaurant, and the business has also seen some decent turnouts for Germany, the team it chose to “adopt” for the tournament. Seven businesses were assigned a World Cup team for the “adopt a team” initiative.

“We did have a Germany vs. Ivory Coast game,” Walls said. “We had fans from both sides watching, which was fun. It wasn’t, wasn’t a huge crowd but, there was extra seating. People enjoyed it, they had a good time”

Even with less-than-expected traction, Walls said there is still some for more interest in the matches as the World Cup progresses.

“It’ll be interesting to see as the US and the games get more interesting as we get them in the Round of 32, Round of 16, and on down. So I think there’ll be some, hopefully some growth in the interest,” Walls said.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Fulton man was charged on Wednesday with multiple child sex crimes.

Justin Stegeman, 33, was charged in Callaway County with sexual misconduct involving a child younger than 15 years old, fourth-degree child molestation and second-degree statutory rape. He is being held at the Callaway County Jail without bond. A bond hearing is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

The probable cause statement says the victim spoke with police at Capital Region Medical Center on June 19 while a sexual assault exam was being conducted. The victim was allegedly assaulted on June 12 and June 18 at Stegeman’s residence, the statement says.

Stegeman allegedly first exposed himself to the youth on June 12 in a pool before attempting to rape them, the statement says. Stegeman allegedly “apologized” to the victim, court documents allege.

Stegeman had called the victim’s parent on June 18 to ask if they would head over to his residence to swim again and claimed his children would be there, the statement says. When the victim arrived, Stegeman’s children were not there, the statement says.

Stegeman allegedly then raped the youth after swimming, court documents say. The child texted their parent to pick them up, but Stegeman drove the victim back to just short of their residence. The parent noted Stegeman “dropped V1 off at the top of the road which was strange,” the probable cause statement says.

Law enforcement interviewed Stegeman on June 24 and he allegedly admitted to inappropriately touching the youth on June 12 and apologized for the June 18 incident, court documents say.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two women from Higbee were seriously injured in a crash on Monday afternoon on Route A in Howard County, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The report says one of the women drove a 2024 Honda SXS700M Side-By-Side northbound when the UTV went off the right side of the road, overturned and hit a tree.

Both women were bought to University Hospital in Columbia by ambulance. Neither woman wore a safety device in the vehicle, the report says.

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 29-year-old Rolla woman died in a crash on Sunday in the 21000 block of Route J in Phelps County, according to a Missouri State Highway crash report.

The report says the crash occurred when a 2005 Toyota Camry – driven by a 21-year-old Rolla man – was heading southbound when it went off the right side of the road.

The driver overcorrected, causing the vehicle to go off the left side of the road, the report says. The driver overcorrected again and went off the right side of the road, causing the Toyota to hit a fence and tree, the report says.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:40 p.m. by the Phelps County Coroner, the report says. Neither person in the vehicle wore a seatbelt, according to the report.

The man had serious injuries and was brought to Phelps Health in Rolla by ambulance, according to the report. The woman’s body was brought to Rolla Cremation and Memorial.

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Phelps County coroner announced in a Monday social media post that a car that was left running in a garage on June 19 led to the deaths of five people.

Four men and a woman were found dead that day in a home in the 11000 block of Village Circle in Rolla, the post says.

“Autopsies and toxicology’s have been completed and we are waiting on those results. We know there has been a lot of rumors out about this tragic event, we can say yes there was a car left running in the garage, which was the source of the carbon monoxide, yes, there is 4 males and one female all adults, these are the facts, all other information that has been put out is simply not true,” Monday’s social media post says.

Another person was critically injured, someone in the other side of the duplex had moderate injuries and a deputy was exposed to carbon monoxide, according to previous reporting.

Monday’s post says three of the victims were Honduran nationals, one was a Mexican national and another was a Guatemalan national. Four of the victims’ bodies are being transported to their original country and the coroner’s office wrote it is “working diligently to make sure the final victim’s disposition, and destination is achieved appropriately and expediently as possible.”

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