Category: kmiz-local-news

Mitchell Kaminski

VIENNA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A fire that heavily damaged a Vienna residential care facility in August has been ruled accidental, according to a revised fire investigation report that cites security video showing the Vienna police chief discarding a lit cigarette shortly before the blaze began.

According to state fire marshal records obtained by ABC 17 News, the fire broke out shortly after 1:30 a.m. Aug. 7 at Vienna Pointe Residential Care Center, located at 112 Parkway St. 

When firefighters arrived, they found the single-story building engulfed by fire, with flames venting through the roof and several residents initially unaccounted for. 

No injuries were reported, but strong winds, limited water supply and fire spreading through the attic hampered suppression efforts, according to the Vienna Fire Protection District.

The Missouri Information Analysis Center requested assistance with the investigation, which was led by John Malcolm. Initial findings listed the cause as undetermined due to extensive damage and the inability to identify an ignition source.

However, the investigation was revised on Nov. 5 after insurers provided security video from the night of the fire.

Video footage obtained by ABC 17 News shows Vienna Police Chief Shannon Thompson arriving at the facility just before midnight Aug. 6 in response to an accidental 911 call. The video shows Thompson smoking a cigarette and placing it on a planter near the front entrance before entering the building.

Additional footage shows Thompson returning to the planter a few minutes later, removing the cigarette and appearing to stomp inside the planter before leaving. About an hour and a half later, video shows a small glow developing in the planter, which transitions into open flames and spreads to the building’s entrance.

Investigators concluded the fire was accidental and caused by “the unintended result of an individual placing a burning cigarette near combustible material,” with smoldering material left undiscovered after the cigarette was retrieved.

The Maries County Prosecutors’ Office told ABC 17 News it is still determining whether or not charges will be filed. 

Thompson was later interviewed by investigators and confirmed he had placed the cigarette on the planter and attempted to extinguish the area before leaving. He told investigators it did not occur to him at the time that his actions could have caused the fire. He noted the cigarette brand he smoked, “Exeter Red Kings”, is designed to self-extinguish.

ABC 17 News reached out to Thompson for comment. 

According to the fire report, earlier in the investigation, utilities, including electrical service and propane tanks, were ruled out as possible causes. Investigators also noted the presence of an outdoor cigarette receptacle but said it could not be eliminated as a potential ignition source until the video evidence was reviewed.

Sharon Miller, a staff member who called 911 to report the fire, told investigators she noticed smoke earlier in the night but could not locate its source. She said she later evacuated residents and accounted for everyone, the report says.

The fire was reported at 1:36 a.m., and crews arrived about 15 minutes later to find the structure fully involved. Sprinklers were activated in parts of the building, but were ineffective due to the rapid fire spread in the attic, which lacked fire walls, according to the report.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An 18-year-old man from Sturgeon was charged on Monday after he allegedly fired two shots at a vehicle on Christmas Eve during an alleged road rage incident.

Alexander Ray was charged with two counts of first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action and a single count of unlawful use of a weapon. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond and had a court appearance set for Monday.

The probable cause statement says law enforcement was called at 10:03 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 24 for a reported road rage incident with a weapon near Highway 124 and Old Highway 124 in Boone County.

The victims alleged that someone wearing a ski mask in the rear-passenger side of a silver sedan fired two shots at them, court documents say.

The victims turned off of the road to get away from that vehicle and Centralia police eventually stopped a silver sedan about 12 minutes later, the statement says. Two people in the vehicle claimed Ray fired a pair of shots before getting out of the vehicle, court documents say.

A gun that contained eight bullets in a 10-round magazine was found underneath of the passenger seat in the vehicle, along with another bullet in the center console, the statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man from Bland, Missouri, has been charged with multiple child sex crimes after authorities claim the man had a preyed on a minor.

Chase Branson, 22, was charged last week with second-degree statutory rape, second-degree statutory sodomy, possessing child porn, misdemeanor giving pornographic to a minor and tampering with a victim He is being held at the Callaway County Jail without bond. An initial court appearance was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The probable cause statement says someone described as a witness – who was also a minor – came across a tablet and found an inappropriate conversation between Branson and the 16-year-old victim.  Branson allegedly first tried to pursue the witness — who denied him after disclosing her age – before starting the “relationship” with the victim, court documents say.

Branson allegedly had sex with the victim in October and exchanged nude photographs with the victim several times since September, court documents say. Branson also allegedly showed the victim an application for the tablet that could hide photos that were sent and received, the statement says.

Branson allegedly admitted partaking in the assaults to law enforcement, as well as knowing the victim’s age and exchanging photos, court documents say.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A convicted sex offender has been charged with multiple child sex crimes in Callaway County, with one alleged incident dating back to 1989, according to court documents.

Roy Barham, 51, of Fulton, was charged last week in Callaway County with second-degree child molestation, statutory sodomy, first-degree statutory sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse. He is being held at the Callaway County Jail without bond.

A hearing was held on Monday and a counsel status hearing was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.

The probable cause statement says a toddler-aged victim was sexually abused by Barham in their sleep on Oct. 10 while they were in Barham’s care. During an interview, the victim allegedly told authorities that they had been repeatedly abused, court documents say.

A deputy wrote in court documents that they reached back out to another victim who had accused Barham of sexual abuse during the summer of 2017 near Auxvasse. Court documents say a 2021 report was made, but charges were not filed because the victim did not participate in a forensic interview, the statement says. The victim gave another statement after law enforcement reached out recently about the abuse, the statement says.

Court documents also state another young victim was abused by Barham between Aug. 1, 2012-June 1, 2013, while they were in Barham’s care. That victim’s 2025 statement was similar to a previous one made eight years ago, the deputy wrote. That instance of abuse had similar details to the previous two victims described in court documents.

Another person described as a victim told law enforcement about assaults that allegedly occurred between July 21-Dec. 31, 1989. The victim was also toddler-aged and described similar instances of abuse as victims previously interviewed by law enforcement, court documents show.

Barham allegedly admitted to having one of his hands in the most-recent victim’s private area, but denied abusing them, the statement says.

The Missouri Sex Offender Registry shows Barham has convictions from 1992 for sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse in Callaway County.

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The state auditor said in a report Monday that Missouri’s budget surplus could be depleted within a couple of years if changes aren’t made quickly.

Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick reported in an analysis of the state’s general revenue fund that a $6 billion deficit in fiscal 2023 will be gone by fiscal 2028 on the current trajectory.

“I applaud lawmakers for making decisions that caused the General Revenue Fund balance to soar to unprecedented levels, but state spending has also increased to an unsustainable level that will rapidly deplete the balance in the fund very soon if it is not brought under control,” Fitzpatrick said in a news release accompanying the report.

A large chunk of the budget surplus came from one-time federal funds awarded during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers voted to spend $960 million of the surplus in fiscal 2024 and $480 million in fiscal 2025, leaving the surplus at $4.3 billion this summer, Fitzpatrick reported. He predicts deficit spending of more than $2 billion this fiscal year if changes aren’t made.

Meanwhile, tax cuts at the federal and state levels will continue to reduce general revenue, Fitzpatrick says. He included those changes in his projections, he wrote.

General revenue analysisDownload

Missouri House Budget Chair Dirk Deaton (R-Seneca) said in a news release that he agrees with Fitzpatrick’s findings.

“His analysis confirms what I have said both in private and public comments over the past year about the long-term condition of the state budget,” Deaton said. “Specifically, the concern about a structural deficit created when ongoing General Revenue spending exceeds what the state collects within a given fiscal year.”

Lawmakers will return to the Capitol next month to start the legislative session. Gov. Mike Kehoe is expected to lay out his budget plan, including the phasing out of income tax, in his Jan. 13 State of the State speech.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was shot by Columbia police on Christmas Day has been charged with several counts, including arson.

Boone County Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Buchanan told ABC 17 News in an email that Marc Lucas has been charged with first-degree trespassing, two counts of unlawful use of a weapon, one count of armed criminal action, two counts of fourth-degree assault and a single count of first-degree arson. Bond has been denied for Lucas.

Court documents and a case number have not yet been shared to Casenet.

The Columbia Police Department wrote in a Friday social media post that Lucas, 31, who is from the state of California, as a possible suspect in two incidents prior to police shooting him on Thursday. Police wrote that Lucas allegedly tried to attack a patron inside of a Break Time in the 3200 block of Stadium Boulevard.

Officers allegedly tried to use a stun gun while detaining Lucas, but Lucas then allegedly tried to attack one of the officers with a knife and he was shot, police wrote. Lucas was hospitalized after the shooting. He was not in the Boone County Jail on Monday afternoon.

The two officers who fired at Lucas during the encounter were placed on administrative leave while the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigates, previous reporting shows.

According to Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Show Me Crime data from 2021 for the CPD, there were 361 reports of aggravated assault so far in 2025. This is around a 16% decrease from 2021, when there were 434 reports. In that dataset, non-firearm assaults saw around a 28% increase with 122 in 2025 and 95 in 2021.

Arson overall was uncommon, with 12 reports so far in 2025. The highest number of reports between 2021 and 2025 was 30 cases in 2024.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An embattled restaurant whose owner has been accused of arson has officially moved out of its south Columbia location.  

Workers were seen emptying Casa Maria’s at 1305 Grindstone Parkway on Monday. The restaurant had announced on its Facebook page that Sunday would be its last day, but indicated it could reopen at another location and as a food truck.

“While we are stepping away for now, it doesn’t mean that’s the end. Come see us at our food truck,” the Saturday social media post says.

Court documents in previous reporting say Grindstone Plaza Development issued Crystal Umfress and Marion Spence a notice of default on June 18 and a notice to terminate the lease on July 24 after rent had gone unpaid for months. Documents show the landlord declared the lease terminated the next day.

A Boone County judge ruled in favor of Grindstone Plaza Development earlier this month in its motion for default against Umfress. A writ of possession order filed on Dec. 17 says the restaurant was ordered to vacate the property after owing $120,750.04 in unpaid rent and $8,926.61 in fees and costs.

Umfress is charged with felonies in two cases. The first of which she is charged with second-degree arson after she was accused of hiring Kerry Raymond to burn down Lupita’s Mexican Restaurant in 2023 in Dunklin County.

In another case, she is charged with two counts of filing false documents and three counts of forgery after she was accused of impersonating county officials and restaurant owners.

A jury trial is scheduled in both cases for 8 a.m. Monday, Feb. 2, 2026, in Butler County, with a pretrial conference set for 1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 13.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two men were seriously injured in a Monday morning crash on Highway 63 in Phelps County, about three miles south of Edgar Springs, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol report.

The report says a 2018 Ford Focus – driven by an 18-year-old Plattsburgh, New York – was heading southbound when it crossed the center line and hit a 2004 Chevrolet Silverado head-on. The Chevrolet was driven by a 48-year-old man from West Plains, Missouri, according to the report.

The New York man wore a seatbelt, while the West Plains man did not, the report says. The driver from New York was flown to Cox Hospital in Springfield, while the West Plains man was flown to University Hospital in Columbia, according to the report.

MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office has agreed to resume publishing the “disparity index” with its annual vehicle stops report after reaching a settlement with the state NAACP.

The NAACP sued the attorney general’s office in May, alleging the office broke the law by not publishing the index in the yearly reports. The disparity index is a measure of how much drivers of a particular race or ethnicity are stopped compared to their white counterparts.

Nimrod Chapel, president of the Jefferson City NAACP, said Monday that the attorney general’s office agreed to start publishing the index again, including adding it to the 2023 and 2024 reports.

The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is required by law to publish the vehicle stops report each year by June 1. The office stopped publishing the disparity index in the 2023 report under then-Attorney General Andrew Bailey, saying it was of “limited analytical value.”

Chapel said that dealing with new Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, a former state House speaker, is a “breath of fresh air.”

“It’s important to know that there’s integrity in that office, and I believe that to be the case,” Chapel said of Hanaway’s leadership.

Chapel said the NAACP’s lawsuit against the University of Missouri, alleging open records violations related to the vehicle stops report, is ongoing.

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Matthew Sanders

AUXVASSE, Mo. (KMIZ)

Three people were hurt, one seriously, when a vehicle pulled into the path of another at a Callaway County intersection.

A 42-year-old Mexico, Missouri, woman suffered serious injuries and was taken by ambulance to University Hospital after the crash just before noon at Highway 54 and Country Road 1408 near Auxvasse. The Missouri State Highway Patrol initially reported a helicopter had been called to the scene, but no patients were flown from the crash.

The woman was driving a Dodge Ram that pulled into a Chevrolet Impala’s path, according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report. The truck driver, who was not wearing a seat belt, suffered serious injuries. A passenger in the car, a 22-year-old Fulton woman, was wearing a seatbelt and suffered only minor injuries, the report states.

The Impala driver, a 72-year-old woman from Fulton, was taken to University Hospital for moderate injuries. She was not wearing a seatbelt.

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