Category: kmiz-local-news

Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) 

Boone Health is suing a Columbia-based cardiology group, alleging breaches of contract, misuse of confidential information and plans to engage in unlawful competition.

The lawsuit, filed in Boone County Circuit Court, targets Missouri Cardiovascular Specialists LLP, also known as the Missouri Heart Center or MO Heart, which has provided cardiology services to Boone Health for more than a decade. According to court documents, a renewed agreement was signed in 2021 covering professional services and management of Boone Health’s cardiology operations.

Boone Health alleges it paid the cardiology group millions of dollars under those agreements for staffing, administrative oversight and revenue cycle management, which included access to sensitive financial and patient-related data. In return, MO Heart and its physicians agreed to noncompete and confidentiality provisions designed to protect Boone Health’s business interests.

The health system claims MO Heart violated those agreements by preparing to launch a competing cardiology practice in the Columbia area, potentially as soon as the contracts expire on May 6, 2026. The lawsuit alleges the new venture would fall within a restricted geographic area and time frame outlined in the noncompete clause, which Boone Health argues is enforceable under Missouri law.

Boone Health also accuses MO Heart of disclosing or misusing confidential information, including billing rates, reimbursement data and strategic business details during its transition to new partnerships with outside organizations. Boone Health alleges in the lawsuit those actions could cause “severe and irreparable injury.”

In addition, Boone Health claims MO Heart obstructed access to critical systems and data. The lawsuit alleges the cardiology group cut off Boone Health’s access to a key billing and patient information platform and stopped sharing necessary data, raising concerns about continuity of patient care.

Boone Health alleged that MO Heart indicated that it intends to operate independently and has taken the position that the noncompete provisions are unenforceable, according to the filing.

Boone Health is asking a judge to rule the noncompete agreements that MO Heart signed are valid, as well as having MO Heart return or destroy confidential information, and delay starting a competing practice until May 2027. 

A jury trial has been requested.

A spokesperson for Boone Health told ABC 17 News that it would provide additional details early next week. 

Dr. James T. Elliott of MO Heart disagreed with allegations in the lawsuit through a written statement.

“For months, we have tried to meet with leadership team at Boone Health to work constructively towards a new, collaborative arrangement that would preserve access to and expand high‑quality care for our patients and for the entire community. Unfortunately, Boone refused to engage with us in any meaningful way. Instead, we have been met with a series of escalating legal threats, culminating in today’s filing,” the statement reads.

“Earlier today Boone Health filed a lawsuit against Missouri Heart Center. We disagree with the lawsuit’s allegations and believe those claims are both legally and factually incorrect. This litigation does not change our commitment to caring for patients.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two men have been charged in connection with the armed robbery at the Isle of Capri Casino in Boonville earlier this week.

Benjamin Michael-Dass Charles, 21, of Columbia has been charged with first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and tampering with evidence. He is being held at the Cooper County Jail on a $1.3 million bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

Charges came out later in the day for Hollis Vanleer Jr., 20, of Normal, Illinois, court filings say.

Vanleer is charged with first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and first-degree assault. He was not listed on the jail roster on Friday afternoon. A $1.3 million bond was set for the warrant for his arrest. The Missouri State Highway Patrol later wrote in a press release that Vanleer’s current location “is not known.”

MSHP wrote in the release that Vanleer “should be considered armed and dangerous. Anyone who encounters Vanleer should immediately call 911 and not approach him.”

The probable cause statement says Charles had help set up the robbery for about a month before it occurred. The two men who went in the casino on Wednesday with guns.

The statement says $1.28 million was taken from the main bank drawer and put into a black duffle bag. A patron at the casino allegedly tackled one of the men who was carrying an AR-15-style rifle, but the second suspect hit the man and the pair were able to get away in a Ford Taurus. The Ford was later abandoned in Howard County.

Law enforcement found a receipt in the vehicle and were able to determine a card used in the purchase belonged to Charles, the statement says.

Charles was identified as an employee of the casino on Thursday by the Missouri Gaming Commission, the statement says.

The money was allegedly sent out of Cooper County, but gave law enforcement the location, the statement says.  He also allegedly claimed to have bought “homemade explosives” from someone to use as a distraction in the robbery.

Vanleer’s court document says security camera footage showed him with Charles buying the items that were listed in the receipt. The statement says Vanfleer “fled the state” and had spoken with someone about creating an alibi.

Check back for updates.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman was arrested and charged with four misdemeanors in Audrain County after authorities say she abused a dog and spit in someone’s face.

Jeane Eisele, of Auxvasse, was charged on Friday with animal abuse, second-degree harassment, fourth-degree assault and resisting arrest. A warrant was issued and no bond was set. A confined docket hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The probable cause statement says deputies were called on Thursday to the town of Vandiver for a reported assault. Eisele allegedly stood in the middle of the road when deputies arrived and resisted while they detained her, the statement says. Deputies wrote that Eisele smelled like alcohol when she was detained.

The victim claimed they saw Eisele be dropped off from a vehicle on East Liberty Street and claimed Eisele started throwing rocking and hitting a small dog “with a pink object,” court documents say.

The victim allegedly asked Eisele if she needed help, but Eisele spit in their face, court documents say.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The eastbound lane of Vandiver Drive in north Columbia was closed near Paris Road on Friday afternoon after a crash.

The closure was announced by Boone County Joint Communications at 2:26 p.m. and was still closed off at 3 p.m.

Several first responders, including EMS, Columbia police, Boone County deputies and Columbia firefighters were at the scene.

An ABC 17 News reporter saw someone go into an ambulance.

Some traffic has been diverted into the Lee’s Chicken parking lot.

Check back for updates.

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Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) –

A candidate for the Columbia Board of Education said he’s fixed issues with his campaign committee that stopped him from properly filing and reporting his fundraising activity.

Dr. Keary Husain told ABC 17 News that the Missouri Ethics Commission did not accept his first filing because his campaign committee did not include his last name. Husain said the MEC told him he also did not put the date of the election on his form.

Husain’s campaign committee and fundraising activity had not been disclosed on the MEC’s website, despite Husain asking for donations and placing campaign signs. Husain told ABC 17 News he filed paperwork with the MEC in December when he filed to run for the board, but the commission apparently never received it. When a reporter at ABC 17 News began asking about the campaign committee last week, Husain said he worked with the MEC during that period to sort out the issue and get it registered.

“They not having the election date on the form was my fault,” Husain said in a text to ABC 17 News. “I just missed that line. And when I sent them further documentation of the committee bank accounts that showed my full name along with my treasurer, they accepted that.”

The MEC published Husain’s campaign committee information, KEARY 4 SCHOOL BOARD, on Thursday.

Husain is one of four people running for three spots on the Columbia Board of Education. Three incumbents, John Lyman, Paul Harper and April Ferrao, are all running for a second term.

Monday is the deadline for April candidates to give updates on their fundraising and spending, the last such disclosure before the election.

As of Friday morning, Ferrao was the only candidate to file an eight-day prior disclosure. Ferrao reported $1,170 on hand, with $535 raised and $128 spent. Lyman last reported any raising or spending in 2023 when his committee had $195 on hand, and has filed “limited activity” disclosures since. Harper reported $407 on hand in February.

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Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Cole County judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging whether the “Missouri First” congressional map approved by legislators last summer is already in effect.

Judge Brian Stumpe ruled on Friday that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue, stating that the action of signing a petition does not give the plaintiffs standing.

The ACLU and two Missouri residents argued that because the petition had been filed by the group People Not Politicians, challenging the maps, it should not be in effect.

The Republican-dominated Missouri General Assembly approved the map amid a White House push to get more Republican House seats in red states. The House breaks up the Fifth District, represented by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver.

Stumpe added that because the signatures for the petition have not been certified by the secretary of state, the issue brought in the lawsuit is still hypothetical. He wrote that the plaintiffs are asking the courts to relieve the secretary of state of the role described by the Constitution.

During the hearing in February, the ACLU argued that previous Missouri secretaries of state and attorneys general followed the signature drop-off rule.

In a statement, the group said this order goes against past precedents.

“This order defies over a century of judicial precedent while rending Missourians’ constitutional right to the referendum process second to the will of the people,” the statement said. “The ACLU of Missouri is committed to our state constitution’s founding principle that all power is derived from the people, not loaned from the government.”

The ACLU plans to appeal the decision.

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway called the ruling “a win on all counts” in a social media post.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man found dead after drowning in a Fulton lake on Thursday has been identified.

The body of Wallace J. Franklin Jr., 39, of Fulton, was pulled from Morningside Lake on Thursday morning. A witness told first responders that a person had been in the water yelling and showed them the location, a Fulton Police Department news release states.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol helped with the investigation and getting Franklin’s body out of the water.

The release did not include information about how Franklin ended up underwater.

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Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 25-year-old man died after a motorcycle crash in Phelps County on Thursday.

Missouri State Highway Patrol reported the crash happened at 3:48 p.m. on Highway D, half a mile north of Interstate 44 near Arlington.

The crash report states the Doolittle man was driving westbound ong Highway D on a 2022 Kawasaki motorcycle. Troopers said he was going too fast while on a curve and went into the opposite lane of traffic.

The other driver, a 49-year-old woman from Dixon, was in a 2017 Toyota 4 Runner when she tried to avoid the crash by going off the right side of the road.

The two vehicles crashed into each other, throwing the man from the motorcycle, according to the report.

The man was reported to be wearing a helmet.

Both vehicles were totaled, according to the report.

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Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo.

The leader of an Amish community in Cooper County was arrested on Wednesday over claims of sexual abuse and forced labor at a rural retreat.

Cooper County Sheriff Chris Class said Sam Shetler, 42, was arrested after a search warrant in the 11000 block of Hidden Valley Court at the Mercy and Truth-Amish and Mennonite Retreat between Boonville and Prairie Home.

Prosecutors filed charges on Wednesday, which were made available on Friday, for two counts of trafficking for forced labor and one county sodomy. Shetler is due in court on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. for a counsel status hearing.

At least three witnesses spoke to deputies in early 2026 about their experiences at the retreat, describing abusive and controlling conditions.

Sam Shetler PCDownload

Court documents show that the sheriff’s office had received numerous tips from 2022 to 2026 about “cult-like” behavior at the retreat in rural Cooper County. Witnesses, many of whom stayed at the retreat when they were teenagers, described working on the property for no pay. Children would be “leased out” for work in town, a witness said, with any pay due going directly to Shetler. Some were made to sleep in the cold or have pepper put in their eyes as punishment.

One witness reported Shetler rubbed oil on them as a means of “healing” prior sexual abuse. The witness said Shetler touched them inappropriately during one encounter. The same witness also allegedly told deputies that they woke on night after taking pills given to her by Shetler to someone holding their legs and arms down, but they couldn’t figure out who it was.

According to court documents, Shetler made at least three women believe they were possessed by demons, and the only way to be healed was through his massages.

“‘Sam would mentally manipulate and mentally torture juvenile females, and young women into believing they were ‘demon possessed’ or that ‘evil spirits’ were present in order to ‘control’ them in exchange for self-gratification,” a Cooper County deputy wrote in a probable cause statement.

Deputies conducted a search warrant on the property after a multi-year investigation.

“The retreat was under the control of one individual who took advantage of his position in the Amish Community to control, coerce, and force vulnerable people for his own profit in different forms,” the sheriff said in a release.

His bond was set at $100,000 cash, according to the release.

Jasper Hoffman is an Amish activist and has a podcast called “The Plain People’s Podast,” where she speaks to Amish women about their experiences with the church and any abuse they might encounter.

Hoffman told ABC 17 News that there are about 70 retreats, like the one in Boonville, in the U.S., that “fly under the radar.”

She said the Boonville case sounds like many of the other retreats.

“It’s very, very typical, like there is nothing that stands out that makes me go ‘Oh my God’ I can’t believe that,” Hoffman said.

Hoffman said standing up to any kind of abuse in the Amish community is difficult, and scary for most women.

“It’s a lot of risk for them, from the inside, to come forward. They’re ostracised, they’ll be cut off from support within the church. That means financial support. Oftentimes, we see a lot of harassment happen with phone calls, driving by, intimidation, and they don’t know that’s illegal,” Hoffman said.

Overall, the retreats are “heartbreaking.”

“Truly, nobody’s really getting the assistance that they need. You know, there’s no therapy there, they’re not really receiving anything, and it’s just further creating harm,” Hoffman said.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

No injuries were reported after a refrigerator caught fire Thursday night at a home in the 500 block of Laurel Drive in southwest Columbia.

Firefighters were called at 8:22 p.m. for a reported house fire, according to an email from Columbia Fire Department spokeswoman Skyler Clark. Crews arrived within five minutes and saw smoke coming from the home.

Firefighters saw flames coming from a refrigerator when they entered the home, the email says. The fire was quickly put out. There was light smoke damage reported on the wall behind the fridge, according to Clark.

The fire marshals battalion is investigating the origin and cause of the fire, Clark wrote.

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