Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Waynesville man has been charged in Pulaski County with multiple charges relating to child sex abuse materials.

Johnny Bruder is charged with seven counts of possessing child sex abuse files. A warrant was issued and a $500,000 bond was set.

The probable cause statement says a cybertip was received from the Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force about child sex abuse materials being uploaded to a Google file. Bruder was interviewed at his home on Monday and was asked about a Gmail account

Bruder allegedly told authorities that he purchased a card and received child sex abuse materials that were then uploaded to his Google account, leading to the account to be suspended, the statement says. He then allegedly told the deputy that he had viewed and received child sex abuse files from the messaging application Telegram, the statement says.

A searched of Bruder’s devices revealed “multitudes of files” of child sex abuse material, the statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A class action lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in Boone County against Columbia Orthopaedic Group after claiming it did not do enough to protect patients’ information from a data breach.

Vicki Dixon, of Laddonia, is accusing Columbia Orthopaedic Group of negligence, negligence per se, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment and violating the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

The lawsuit says a “ransomware gang” earlier this month posted on its “dark web blog” that it successfully conducted a data breach of Columbia Orthopaedic’s network and systems. The petition also alleges that personal information of patients have been posted to the dark web.

The petition claims Columbia Orthopaedic did not encrypt or redact highly sensitive information.

The “ransomware gang” was identified as “Lockbit 5” in court documents and claims it provides a “ransomware-as-a-service” model.

A court summons was issued for Columbia Orthopaedic on Tuesday.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

As the first of six FIFA World Cup matches kicked off Tuesday in Kansas City, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is sounding the alarm on drone use near the stadium and celebration events.

Ahead of the games, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed temporary flight restrictions around World Cup stadiums, fan festivals and other events, including those in Kansas City. Flying or landing a drone in these areas isn’t just prohibited; it’s a federal crime.

Those in violation can face up to $100,000 in fines or up to a one-year prison sentence and seizure of their drone. On Monday, the FBI’s Kansas City office said it’s already seized nine drones and had 14 detections of people flying their drones in restricted areas.

The restricted flight area runs a 3-nautical-mile radius around Arrowhead Stadium and up to a 3,000-foot altitude.

The FBI is using counter-unmanned aircraft system capabilities to detect and combat unauthorized drone activity. The technology also helps preserve evidence for potential enforcement action, according to the FBI. 

The Missouri State Highway Patrol spent about $800,000 to counter drones in Kansas City, according to records ABC 17 News obtained.

WORLD CUP DRONE SPENDINGDownload

Some of the big-ticket items include nearly $500,000 spent on counter-drone equipment and hardware from Sentrycs, designed to detect any transmitting drones in real time.

The spending included two 2026 Polaris UTVs totaling nearly $60,000, a nearly $140,000 five-day training course, and about $70,000 was spent to purchase a Ford F-350 truck as well.

The funds came from a federal Department of Homeland Security grant program that totals just over $105 million in available funding. The state of Missouri received $14.24 million for security preparations around the FIFA World Cup.

Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Eric Brown declined to talk about specifics related to the equipment to protect security operations with the World Cup still in full swing. However, Brown said the highway patrol plans to continue using all of the equipment purchased in its normal enforcement efforts after the World Cup events are over.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An Eldon man was charged in Morgan County on Tuesday with multiple child sex crimes after he allegedly assaulted a child on Monday morning.

Ronald Lee Brown Jr., 36, was charged with second-degree statutory rape, two counts of incent and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy. He is being held at the Morgan County Jail on a $300,000 bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

Deputies were called to St. Mary’s Hospital in Jefferson City as the youth was being evaluated by hospital staff after saying they were sexually abused by Brown, the statement says.

Law enforcement spoke with Brown, who allegedly admitted to abusing the youth after taking two ecstasy pills and drinking “half a fifth of tequila,” the statement says. Brown allegedly told deputies he thought the youth was his girlfriend, though that person allegedly lives in Chicago and was not in the home at the time, the statement says.

Brown allegedly admitted to multiple people about assaulting the child.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 27-year-old Columbia man has been charged with two felonies in a fatal crash that occurred on Friday in Camden County.

Dylan Gibson was charged in Camden County with driving while intoxication that caused the death of another and DWI that caused serious physical injury. He is being held at the Camden County Jail without bond. A hearing was held on Tuesday morning and Gibson applied for a public defender, according to court filings.

The probable cause statement says troopers were called to a crash and found Gibson “throwing alcoholic shooters off the” Niangua Bridge. The trooper wrote that Gibson appeared to be intoxicated.

Court documents say Gibson took an on-site breath test and blew a .233, nearly three times over the legal limit to drive. After attempts to get details of the crash from Gibson, the trooper wrote that he admitted to trying to pass a car and another car hitting his vehicle.

Witnesses allegedly told troopers that they saw Gibson’s BMW “weaving all over the roadway prior to the crash,” the statement says.

The driver of the other vehicle — a 63-year-old Roach man – was pronounced dead at the scene and a 22-year-old passenger in the BMW had serious injuries, a Missouri State Highway Patrol report says. MSHP reports do not name those involved in crashes.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County Emergency Management is continuing its multi-million dollar expansion of radio upgrades after the Boone County Commission and the Columbia City Council passed several Radio Grant Program measures on Monday and Tuesday.

Through the grant, agencies can receive portable, hand-held radios that are similar to walkie-talkies or mobile radios that are mounted and typically used in vehicles. Some agencies also requested pagers.

Tuesday morning, the Boone County Commission approved radios for several agencies. According to county documents, the Ashland Police Department requested 15 portable and five mobile radios valued at around $148,000. Boone Health requested 31 portable and six mobile radios for their ambulance team, valued at around $296,000. The Boone County Courthouse also requested 13 portable radios valued at around $94,000 for the county’s court marshals.

Boone Health spokesperson Christian Basi said the hospital moved to the new system to keep up with the latest technology for when they work with other public safety partners.

“If you have an event where you are looking at, for example, mass casualties, where you have many different people injured, there might be worse than injuries, and you have multiple agencies responding, it’s critical that you have technology that can talk to one another,” Basi said.

The commission previously approved the Hallsville Police Department receiving $116,000 of equipment earlier this month. This includes nine portable and seven mobile radios, according to city documents.

The Centralia Police and Fire Departments were also approved for equipment by the commission in early June. The fire department requested 24 portable and five mobile radios as well as 24 pagers. The police department requested 15 portable and 12 mobile radios.

The Columbia City Council also approved radios for city agencies on Monday, valued at around $3.8 million in total. The police department would receive 237 radios and 119 mobile radios valued at just over $2.5 million. The fire department would receive 71 portable and 55 mobile radios as well as 32 pagers valued at a little over $1 million. The city’s airport would also receive eight portable and four mobile radios as well as two pagers valued at a little over $100,000 dollars.

The Boone County Commission has final approval over the grant money.

Columbia Fire Department Chief Brian Schaeffer reports said the fire department currently relies on a “runner” to share information from inside a building to outside personnel or a telephone from inside the building they are responding to, if it’s not damaged.

“It’s personnel-intensive to do that to move people from an IDLH, or, an immediately dangerous life and health environment, outside to talk to somebody to basically play telephone,” Schaeffer said.

The radio grant program integrates a new radio system across all of its agencies. It is upgrading from “the legacy VHF radio system to a countywide interoperable 800 MHz Project 25 (P25) Phase 2 radio system,” according to Columbia city meeting documents from Monday night.

The new system uses shorter wavelengths when carrying messages and can penetrate through metal and concrete structures.

The BCOEM is also in the middle of getting grant funding for the University of Missouri Police Department, MU Health Care, Southern Boone County Fire Protection District and Boone County Fire Protection District.

The county began saving up for the radios in 2013 through the Boone County 911 Emergency Service Sales Tax. The entire radio program is expected to exceed $11 million. The sales tax was previously used for the construction of the BCOEM building and other technology improvements. The tax is expected to also help pay for the office’s switch to the updated Next Generation 911 system that many agencies are upgrading to across the country.

“We are now able to make that promise that we’ve had to the community as well as our partners to get this infrastructure up, get the technology updated, and to be able to provide these radios to our community and our responders,” Boone County Joint Communications Director Christie Davis said.

Davis expects all county agencies to make the switch to the new radio system by March 2027. Schaeffer added that radios for the CFD are expected by Dec. 1, 2026, but adds that the date can be affected by manufacturing delays.

“The taxpayers’ dollars for years have been collected waiting for this day to be able to purchase the equipment, to be able to purchase users, mobiles and portables, station alerting, all of these things are finally coming to fruition, which is great to see,” Schaeffer said.

Davis said the BCOEM has been in close communication with vendors and expects equipment to ship on time.

They know that these purchase orders are coming very soon and they know that we’re hoping to get those to them by the end of this month,” Davis said.

Davis adds that she expects the transition into the new system to begin in October, with plans to have various agencies practice using the system during Mizzou football games at Memorial Stadium following building renovations.

“We will probably start with some of the smaller agencies just to see how the system is working and making sure that we have a burn-in period to make sure we are covered as is expected,” Davis said.

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ABC 17 News Team

By Leah Rainwater

WASHINGTON (KQTV) — A northwest Missouri man is among several being charged with conspiracy to commit murder at the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House last weekend.

Daniel K. Eskridge, 32, was arrested Monday. Eskridge is known to be a resident of the Hamilton, Missouri area, just under an hour east of St. Joseph, Missouri and over an hour northeast of Kansas City.

During the investigation of a plot to carry out an attack at the White House on June 14, the FBI identified a group of conspirators, including Eskridge, who procured weapons and made plans to carry out the attack.

According to recent reports, the group of conspirators came from areas in Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and California.

A federal affidavit revealed the group messaged over the “SimpleX” application, which is an open-source messaging application that operated without using any user identifiers.

Eskridge, who went by the username “FULCRUM,” indicated he was 32-years-old, lives an hour north of Kansas City, Missouri, has a wife and five kids, lives on rural property and more.

The group recruited multiple other conspirators and moved the planning to a Signal group chat.

On June 13, law enforcement executed federal search warrants for Eskridge and his residence.

Law enforcement seized multiple weapons and tactical gear that Eskridge identified in the SimpleX and Signal chats.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman who was sentenced to probation in 2024 in an infant’s 2019 death had her probation revoked on Friday.

Lavosha Daniels, 34, pleaded guilty on Dec. 16, 2024, to abandoning a corpse and first-degree involuntary manslaughter. She will now serve seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections. She is currently being held at District 6 Probation and Parole, according to DOC records.

The baby died after allegedly being strangled by Staffone Fountain, who was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Police arrested Fountain and Daniels in 2022 after someone found a note from Daniels addressed to police in a different hotel describing what happened. Prosecutors claimed  Fountain may have struck the child and placed her in an unsafe sleeping position when he put the child in a car seat and placed her in the bathtub.

The state tried to revoke Daniels bond after she allegedly stole multiple “slushi” machines from a Columbia Sam’s Club on Jan. 14. She is charged with felony stealing and misdemeanor stealing in that case and has an arraignment set for 8:30 a.m. Monday, June 22.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The family of former Mizzou defensive lineman Aldon Smith has hired multiple civil rights attorneys after his death was announced on Saturday, according to a Tuesday press release from Wukela Communications

Smith played for the Tigers from 2009-10 and eventually became a top-10 draft pick in 2011 and earned All-Pro honors in the NFL. He died Saturday at 36 years old.

Tuesday’s press release says Smith’s family hired Harry Daniels, Bakari Sellers and Wayne Kendall for their attorneys.

The cause of Smith’s death has not been released, though the release says the family’s attorneys are “investigating all of the aspects of this tragedy including the potential role CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) might have played given the numerous concussions Smith suffered throughout his career.” 

“As with anyone who dies so suddenly at such a young age, we understand that there is a great deal of interest in and speculation about Aldon Smith’s passing and we intend to get to the bottom of it. To that end, we have taken a number of steps including sending his brain to Boston where medical experts will examine it for CTE as well as other damage caused by years of concussions and additional trauma,” a statement included in the press release says.

Mizzou Football and the San Francisco 49ers each honored Smith on social media after his death was announced.

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Erika McGuire

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

As Kansas City prepares to host six FIFA World Cup matches, officials are expanding public transit and launching shuttle services to help move hundreds of thousands of expected visitors throughout the region.

Argentina and Algeria will play the first match at 8 p.m. Tuesday at Arrowhead Stadium, which is being called Kansas City Stadium for the World Cup.

ConnectKC26 Stadium Direct

For fans attending matches, ConnectKC26 has a direct bus service to Arrowhead Stadium on match days from the FIFA fan festival, the Plaza or designated park-and-ride locations.

Park-and-ride locations include North Kansas City, Independence Center, Graceway and Oak Park Mall.

$15 per rider, per match (round-trip)

Service begins 3 hours before kickoff and runs 2 hours after a match ends

A valid ConnectKC26 pass and valid match-day ticket are required

Exploring the Kansas City Metro area

To explore attractions, dining and shopping in the Kansas City area, ConnectKC26 is also offering visitors a “Region Direct” service. The service offers rides to 15 major attractions throughout the city, including:

North Kansas City

Boardwalk Square

Liberty

Worlds of Fun

Independence Square

Independence Center

Lee’s Summit

3-Trails Transit Center

KC Zoo & Starlight Theatre

Mission

Oak Park Mall

Overland Park Convention Center

Lenexa City Center

Lawerence

The Legends

Rides will run about every 20 minutes, with the Lawrence stop running approximately every 30 minutes, according to ConnectKC26.

1-Day Pass per rider: $5

7-Day Pass per rider: $25

Full Tournament Pass per rider: $50 June 11-July 13

Weekday hours are from Sunday to Thursday, 10 a.m. to midnight. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.

KC StreetCar

Kansas City’s free two-mile route through Kansas City is also a way of getting around the city.

The streetcar provides level boarding and priority seating with several routes running from the River Market to the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The streetcar connects to the River Market, Power and Light District, Union Station and the Country Club Plaza neighborhoods.

Operating hours

Monday-Thursday: 5 a.m. to midnight

Friday-Saturday: 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Sunday: 5 a.m. to midnight

No passes are required.

RideKC Bus

A public bus service that runs throughout the Kansas City metro area is another option available for those wanting to experience World Cup 2026 festivities and matches.

Fares start at $2 for a single ride, with daily and weekly passes available.

RideKC Bus runs daily from 5 a.m. to midnight.

For detailed routes, RideKC recommends downloading the RideKC mobile app or visit the transit app.

One of two RiverRunner rides from Jefferson City to Kansas City is sold out on Tuesday, according to Amtrak.

Fans descended into Kansas City Tuesday to attend the match between Argentina and Algeria with some fans spending $1,000 on a ticket.

But for fan Juana Benito, the journey from Nebraska was worth it after she secured tickets through a World Cup ticket lottery.

Benito said she hoped she would be selected for an Argentina match and that being in Kansas City to watch the defending champions play made the experience even more special.

“Growing up, I have always been a Messi fan and the fact that we got selected to see one of their matches was like I was like please be an Argentina game please and since they won four years ago and obviously that is a very happy experience for me,” Benito said

Other fans came from Mexico, San Francisco and Argentina said they came all the way to the states to see Lionel Messi play.

Many compare the World Cup to the Super Bowl, but fans say the tournament is on another level.

“I feel like the World Cup brings a lot more people together from all over the countries, I feel like football is just here in the U.S. and I feel like more people watch it worldwide,” Benito said.

While Kansas City has expanded transportation options for the tournament, including shuttle services and public transit, many fans said they chose to rent cars or use rideshare services to get around the city.

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