Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia woman who worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of wire fraud, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.

Lakeysha Day, 45, pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining $20,000 from a Paycheck Protection Program loan in 2021. A sentencing hearing has not been set. She faces up to 20 years in prison.

The release says she applied for a PPP loan for a business on March 20, 2021. She claimed she owned a business that had an average monthly payroll of $8,000, the release says.

Day also allegedly submitted documents claiming the business made $114,210 in sales, had $14,685 in business expenses and a profit of $99,525, previous reporting shows. Her tax return in 2019 did not report the income or expenses that were claimed in the loan application, previous reporting shows.

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Matthew Sanders

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces began launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5 p.m. ET today at the Commander in Chief’s direction, in response to yesterday’s downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter. The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian…

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 9, 2026

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The military’s U.S. Central Command said Tuesday that American forces began launching strikes against Iran in response to the downing of an Apache helicopter the previous day.

“The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” the post on X stated.

The two members of the Apache, shot down near Oman, were rescued and were not hurt.

Iran and the United States have been engaged in hostilities for months, with President Donald Trump regularly teasing that a deal to end the war is imminent.

The two sides have been under a fragile ceasefire for two months, though Israel and Iran exchanged strikes to start the week.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUBMIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man was sentenced on Monday after he pleaded guilty to multiple felonies in a February 2025 shooting.

Terrell Fields pleaded guilty on Monday to unlawful use of a weapon, first-degree involuntary manslaughter, tampering with evidence and stealing a gun. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He had been charged with second-degree murder.

Also on Monday, Fields pleaded guilty in a second case to first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle and resisting arrest by fleeing. His seven-year sentence in that case will run at the same time of his 20-year sentence.

He is accused of shooting and killing Kaidynce Payne in a Super 8 hotel room on Feb. 19, 2025, on Clark Lane. Payne, 18, was pronounced dead at the scene.

A witness allegedly told police that Fields was “playing” with the gun when he fired, court documents in previous reporting say. Fields had initially denied any involvement in the shooting, previous reporting shows.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman who is accused of killing a University of Missouri student and burning his body in 2023 is still not mentally fit to stand trial, according court documents filed on Monday.

Emma Adams, 24, of Columbia, is charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action, tampering with evidence and abandoning a corpse in the death of Samuel Clemons.

Adams has been committed since November 2023, but hurdles occurred at the time for a mental evaluation. An evaluation on Jan. 21, 2025, determined that she was not mentally fit to stand trial, as was an evaluation on Sept. 29, 2025. Multiple continue orders for commitment were filed throughout the case.

A mental evaluation on May 27, 2026, determined she is still not fit to stand trial, which lead to Monday’s extended order. A hearing has been scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 25, 2027.

Adams was arrested and charged in January 2023 after an investigation that started at the University of Missouri led to police finding a burned body in a residential area far from campus.

Police initially couldn’t identify Clemons’ body because of its condition. Clemons was 21 years old at the time of his death.

Previous reporting indicates the investigation started when University of Missouri police officers were sent to Hudson Hall at about 5:30 p.m. Jan. 11, 2023, for a welfare check, which led them to the 2400 block of Bentley Court in north Columbia.

Officers found Clemons’ body there and called Columbia police for a homicide investigation. Adams allegedly claimed self-defense in the stabbing and burning.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion after responding to a house fire early Tuesday in Sunrise Beach, according to a press release from the Sunrise Beach Fire Protection District.

Crews were called to a home in the 100 block of Via Cresta Drive at 3:40 a.m. for a fire that led a home to partially collapse, the release says. The first crews arrive by water, but the boat was sent back to dock after a storm rolled in while more firefighters were at the scene, the release says.

No one was home at the time of the fire and the cause is under investigation. A nearby home had exterior heat damage reported.

The fire was considered under control at 6:11 a.m.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A woman who was sentenced last month in a Cooper County embezzlement case was sentenced to probation in her Boone County case on Friday.

Both cases make a combined total of over $63,000 of stolen funds.

Jennifer Waibel, 53, of Boonville, pleaded guilty on Friday in her Boone County case to stealing more than $750 and two counts of fraudulently using a credit card. She was sentenced to five years of probation along with a suspended sentence. The judge also gave her a suspended imposition of sentence, meaning if she completes probation, the charges will not show up publicly.

She is currently serving 30 days in the Cooper County Jail after she pleaded guilty to felony stealing in Cooper County. She will also serve five years of probation for that case, which will run at the same time as her Boone County term. Jail records show she was booked into the jail on Monday.

She was also ordered to pay more than $5,000 in restitution.

In the Boone County case, she’s accused of spending $13,650 on gift cards while using 10 company credit cards from Impact Support Services, located on Chapel Hill Road in Columbia, court documents in previous reporting say. Spending took place during March 2025.

Cooper County Judge Jeff Mittelhauser, overseeing one of the cases also ordered Waibel “shall not work for any agency which receives public funds,” according to court documents.

“We are glad this conviction will ensure this individual is barred from working in this field or with other vulnerable populations moving forward,” Julie Allen, chief operating officer of Impact Support Services, wrote in a statement to ABC 17 News. “Our goal from the beginning was to protect the community, which is why our agency took immediate action to report this matter to the proper authorities.”

Court documents in previous reporting for the Cooper County case say she is accused of stealing $49,661.36 from Unlimited Opportunities by spending the money in several transactions from June 16-Aug. 31, 2023, which included several multi-thousand-dollar purchases at Walmart locations in Boonville, Columbia and in Madison, Georgia. Allen was working as the group’s executive director at the time.

ABC 17 News has reached out to Unlimited Opportunities.

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Gabrielle Teiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A bridge in Glasgow reopened Tuesday after being shut down for inspection.

According to a Monday night Facebook post from Howard County Joint Communications, the Missouri Department of Transportation closed the Missouri River bridge on Highway 240 to investigate possible damage to the bridge caused by two loose barges hitting a pillar on an adjacent railroad bridge.

The bridge reopened Tuesday morning after an inspection that cleared it to carry traffic, MoDOT spokeswoman Marcia Johnson said.

Glasglow Chief of Police TJ Livermore said that he was dispatched around 8:15 p.m. last night and was able to see two barge directly hit one of the pillars of the railroad bridge.

“It struck the bridge, turned the barges counter clockwise, and then continued going south down the river.” He said.

MODOT around 10:50 then decided to close the car bridge next to it due to concerns that it was struck as well.

He said that the two barges were empty and did not have a tough boat attached.

“There was not any damage as far as I understand” He said.

The bridge was then reopened Tuesday morning around 11:00 a.m.

The United States Coast Guard Upper Mississippi Command Center says they were made aware of the barge strike. The command center says that the company that owned the barges sent tough boats out to get them once they were made aware.

ABC 17 was not able to confirm what company the barges belonged to but Cheif Livermore said that believes the barges could have floated from as far as Miami.

He also said that with the the fast flowing Missouri river from rainfall over the past few days could have played a role in thev barges getting loose and floating downstream.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 42-year-old traveling nurse was charged Monday with sexually assaulting a patient in the Phelps Health hospital emergency room.

James H. Todd, 42, was in the Phelps County Jail on Tuesday on a no-bond warrant for two counts of first-degree sodomy, one count of first-degree rape and a count of first-degree sexual abuse. An initial appearance was set for Tuesday morning.

Court documents state that Todd assaulted an intoxicated woman who was in the emergency room for low potassium Thursday night. Todd forced the woman to perform sex acts and touched her inappropriately, the statement says.

Todd denied the accusations in an interview, but security video captured the assault on video, the statement says.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Roads are starting to reopen Tuesday after flooding forced multiple closures in Mid-Missouri.

 N. Route E is back open Tuesday between W. Wilcox Road and W. Driskel Road after flooding Sunday night into Monday morning.

W. Wilcox Road is still closed.

Strawn Park Road is back open after being closed for flooding. Strawn Park at 801 N. Strawn Road is currently still closed.

Gillespie Bridge Road is still closed after the Boone County Joint Communication sent out an alert that the road was closed at 6:57 a.m. Monday.

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