Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man was charged with a felony on Thursday after authorities claim he possessed child sex abuse materials.

Stephan Jon Sheltmire II, 53, is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. An arraignment was held on Thursday afternoon.

The probable cause statement says authorities received a cybertip on Dec. 12, 2025. The reporting system determined multiple images of child sex abuse were being stored on a Google Drive between Aug. 19-Sept. 25, 2025. The account belonged to Sheltmire, the statement says.

A deputy wrote in court documents that more than 165 images were found on Sheltmire’s account on Jan. 22, 2026 and that Sheltmire included an image of his driver’s license on the Google Drive.

A search warrant was served on Wednesday and Sheltmire allegedly admitted to being the owner of the Gmail account, the statement says.

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Ellyse Edwards

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two new Missouri laws taking effect Friday will give school districts more options for placing armed personnel inside schools.

One law creates a training program known as the “Missouri Rangers.” The other expands who may serve as a “school protection officer.” Participation in both programs is optional for school districts.

The Missouri Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission is required to establish the Missouri Rangers training program, which will focus on preventing and responding to emergencies or violent crises in schools.

The program may include up to 160 hours of training in areas including active-shooter response, firearms, close-quarters combat, de-escalation, behavioral threat assessments, defensive tactics, building security and first aid.

Applicants must pass a criminal background check and meet physical fitness requirements before entering the training program. People who complete the program will receive a certificate and Missouri Ranger badge.

Missouri Rangers must be employed by the school or district where they serve. Districts may hire them as full-time or part-time employees or use them as unpaid volunteers.

Their arrest authority is generally limited to school property, school buses and certain offenses involving firearms or school property. Those restrictions do not apply to active law enforcement officers.

Schools and districts will decide whether Rangers can carry weapons and whether those weapons must be concealed. Rangers who openly carry a handgun must use a special, secure holster.

A separate change to Missouri’s school protection officer law expands eligibility beyond teachers and administrators. Beginning Friday, any employee of a public school district or charter school may request designation as a school protection officer.

The role is voluntary and performed in addition to the employee’s regular job responsibilities. Any additional compensation must come from the local district because the law does not provide state funding.

School protection officers may carry a concealed gun or pepper spray if authorized by their district. An employee who wants to carry a gun must have a valid concealed-carry permit and complete a school protection officer training program approved by the Missouri Department of Public Safety.

Before implementing a school protection officer program, a school board must hold a public hearing and vote on the proposal. Notice of the hearing must be published at least 15 days in advance.

The Missouri Rangers program was created through Senate Bill 905. The expansion of the school protection officer program was included in House Bill 1866.

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Nathalie Jones

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Rock Bridge quarterback Sean Nevills Jr. went “Beyond the Game” with ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones, as the junior is set to lead the Bruins in his second season as the starter.

You can find the full transcript of the interview below.

Nathalie Jones: What’s up, everyone? We’re at Rock Ridge High School, going beyond the game with quarterback Sean Nevills Jr. Sean, Fridays are almost here. Do you have a game day tradition at all? 

Sean Nevills Jr.: I always, before the game, I always walk around the whole field with no shoes on, just socks, and I just listen to Kendrick Lamar. It just gets me going.”

Jones: What kind of zone does that get you in? What kind of mindset?

Nevills Jr.: Especially this year, it kind of calms me down a little bit, not to have too much adrenaline, wear myself out before the game even starts.

Jones: Yeah, I mean, just tell me about this team. What do you like about this group that you have this year for the Bruins?

Nevills Jr.: Man, I’m so excited for it. It’s definitely a younger team, you know, throwing to some of the guys that I played with freshman year. So, seeing them on varsity with me, it’s like it just feels so much more comfortable throwing to them and easy.

Jones: Yeah. What did you learn in your first season as a starter last year that you want to carry into this one?

Nevills Jr.: Just the confidence, you know, like it definitely carried into last Friday, but having that confidence to make those throws.

Jones: Is there a guy on your team that if they had to make a pass to you, who would you trust to make a pass to you on this team?

Nevills Jr.: It’s gonna be really controversial, but I’d say Elijah Morgensen.

Jones: OK. Reasons why?

Nevills Jr.: We did it freshman year a lot, but he’s a lefty thrower, so I know he’s just gonna get it high, and I can jump up and get it.

Jones: Just tell me about expectations for this season. Where do you want this team to go?

Nevills Jr.: Got some really high expectations, especially after last year, underperforming and seeing the new group. So, not too many people know what to expect, but we know what to expect, and definitely a district champion, going very far.

Jones: What would people be surprised to know about Sean Nevills Jr. off the football field? 

Nevills Jr.: I’m a chill person. Like, if you come up to me, I’ll say what’s up, but I’m not gonna be too loud. I’ll just be chill.

Jones: Awesome. Well, guys, you just went Beyond the Game with Sean Nevills Jr. Sean, thanks for hanging out.

Nevills Jr.: Thank you.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Several road projects in Columbia and Boone County are set to begin Thursday and Friday.

The exit ramp from Highway 63 to westbound Interstate 70 will close at 8 p.m. Thursday, as MoDOT crews can add temporary barriers. The ramp will reopen “no later than” 6 a.m. Friday, according to a MoDOT press release. MoDOT suggests that during the closure, drivers use alternate routes, such as eastbound I-70 to the St. Charles Road exit 131 to get to westbound I-70.

This work is part of the Rocheport to Columbia portion of the Improve I-70 Project, which will add a third lane in each direction on I-70.

Boone County announced that starting Thursday, 60-80 Broadview Court will be closed for street repair and is expected to reopen Monday.

Beginning at 7 a.m. Friday, contractors for the City of Columbia will start pavement maintenance on 39 city streets, according to a Wednesday press release from the city.

Crews are expected to finish by 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, and will not work Labor Day weekend, the release says.

The contractor will apply Onyx surface treatment to streets that went through chip seal maintenance this year, the release says. The treatment, according to the release, is “a quick-drying asphalt and pavement sealing solution.”

The release says crews will place the signs 24 hours before work begins.

For a full list of the roads being worked on and their order, click here.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Nearly 50 Lincoln University students are being relocated from Anthony Hall after mold was found in the dorm, LU communications announced in an email.

The email stated 49 students and a residential director who lived in the residence hall were relocated after mold was found in a vacant room.

“This will allow facilities professionals full access to thoroughly assess the building and complete any necessary remediation, cleaning or other work without repeatedly disrupting residents,” the email to ABC 17 News states. “Residential Life is communicating directly with affected students and providing moving supplies and assistance as they transition to available rooms in other University residence halls.”

The email did not state how long students would be displaced. A second email stated a “full assessment will take place” to determine the length of time it will take to fix.

The school’s website says Anthony Hall is designated as the university’s honors program residence hall. The first day of classes for LU was held Aug. 17.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Missouri Deputy Attorney General Shaun Mackelprang was found on Wednesday in Wyoming after being reported lost for six days.

The Sublette County Sheriff’s Office announced that Mackelprang was found alive in the Wind River Range near Scott Lake. The Missouri Attorney General’s Office confirmed Mackelprang was located. He was brought back by helicopter, the sheriff’s office wrote in a social media post.

The sheriff’s office wrote that Mackelprang went missing on Aug. 20 after he started is hie from the Green River Lakes Trailhead and planned to reach Gannett Peak. His vehicle was found at the trailhead.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Changes are coming to MU Health Care employees’ paid-time off.

An MU Health Care spokesman confirmed the changes were approved by the Board of Curators during an Aug. 4 meeting. MU Health Care had announced pending changes earlier this summer when it announced a slew of layoffs and the closure of Hy-Vee Quick Cares.

PTO and six holidays will be combined into a single PTO bank, with total annual days reduced by three. Holiday poay will be eliminated by consolidating holidays.

Veterans Day will be retained as a separate holiday, as required by state law and holiday and premium pay will remain for that day.

The maximum accrual will be capped at 1.5X, which is reduced from 2X.  

Changes will be in effect on Jan. 1.

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Mitchell Kaminski

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

U.S Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has launched an investigation into Flock’s AI-powered web cameras. 

On Wednesday, Hawley sent a letter to Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley, demanding answers to what safeguards the company has in place to protect Americans’ data. 

According to Flock, Missouri is one of 49 states using the license plate reader cameras, with more than 3,000 Flock cameras deployed across the Show-Me State. Nationwide, Flock says its network includes roughly 120,000 cameras that scan more than 20 billion vehicles each month.

A release from Hawley says his concerns centered on the vast majority of Americans captured by the cameras being uninvolved in any wrongdoing and the use of artificial intelligence to compile that data into a searchable national database rather than limiting it to specific local investigations.

More than 140 cities across the country have since canceled their Flock contracts or deactivated the cameras amid growing concerns over privacy and potential misuse. 

In the letter, Hawley cited several examples, including the St. Charles County Police Department terminating its contract in August after an audit revealed an employee had run Flock searches for personal reasons unrelated to a law enforcement investigation.

“Sadly, my home state is not an outlier. In Milwaukee, prosecutors charged a police officer who allegedly searched his girlfriend’s license plate 124 times and her former boyfriend’s plate 55 times, entering “investigation” as his justification each time. Worse still, the officer was not caught by the company’s audit systems—he was caught because a private citizen looked up his own plate on a public website,” Halwey wrote in his letter to Langley.  

Several local Mid-Missouri law enforcement agencies, including the Columbia and Jefferson City police departments, have touted Flock’s effectiveness, with Jefferson City Police Chief Eric Wilde previously telling the City Council that Flock cameras helped the department solve three homicides.

However, Hawley also raised concerns about potential false positives from the technology. He cited examples of a Florida woman spending 13 days in jail and faced eight felony charges after a Flock camera alert led investigators to the wrong vehicle. Prosecutors ultimately dismissed the charges seven months later after it was determined that investigators had arrested the wrong person based on a search of Flock’s network using a vehicle description.

He also pointed to a report from the Roseville Police Department in California that found that 71% of its Flock alerts were wrong. The Los Angeles Police Department also canceled its Flock contract after an audit found officers had stopped 161 vehicles incorrectly flagged as stolen 

“I want law enforcement to have tools to catch offenders and keep the public safe. But Americans do not surrender their privacy rights when they drive to work, drop their kids off at school, or go to church,” Hawley said in his letter. “The Supreme Court has recognized that a comprehensive, retrospective record of a person’s movements is different in kind from ordinary observation in public. Congress never authorized the network your industry has built. Your company’s internal policies are, in practice, the only safeguards for hundreds of millions of Americans. People across the country are now discovering that fact and demanding answers from their elected officials.”

Hawley’s letter comes as a growing number of residents have begun to express concerns about Columbia’s Flock cameras. On Monday, Dominic O’Connor was arrested by police after protesting Flock on a median. 

Dan Viets, an attorney with the Mid-Missouri Civil Liberties Association, has been one of the more outspoken community members regarding Flock cameras since they were first introduced in Columbia in 2024. He told ABC 17 News on Wednesday that many of the concerns he raised have since come to fruition, and argued that public safety should not come at the expense of constitutional protections.

“If there were no Fourth Amendment, the police could solve a lot more crimes. If they never needed to get a search warrant, if they could invade all of our homes whenever they felt like it. Indeed, they would solve more crimes. It is not worth the tradeoff. It is not worth the sacrifice,” Viets said. “People have a reasonable expectation that when they travel on the streets lawfully for lawful purposes, they’re not going to be placed under surveillance.”

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

U.S. Capitol police announced on its social media on Tuesday that officers had arrested a man who had a guillotine in the bed of his pickup truck.

Capitol police wrote that officers spotted the truck illegally parked in the 100 block of East Capitol Street in Washington D.C. around 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Philan-Tam-Duy Le, 35, of Julian, California, was arrested on suspicion of carrying a dangerours weapon.

Police wrote the man drove to Washington, D.C. from California.

The 100 block of East Capitol Street is near the U.S. Capitol, Supreme Court and the Library of Congress.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City woman has been charged with three felonies after a 3-week-old baby fell and allegedly tested positive for multiple drugs.

Tayvian Brown was charged on Wednesday with three counts of child endangerment. A no-bond warrant was issued on Wednesday and she was not listed on the Cole County Jail’s online roster.

The probable cause statement says Brown left a 3-week-old girl and 3-year-old girl in the care of her 9-year-old daughter on June 17.

The 9-year-old placed the 3-week-old in a seat while she went to use the restroom, and she saw the baby on the floor when she returned, the statement says. The baby had to be brought to MU Children’s Hospital by ambulance. The 9-year-old allegedly told authorities that it was not the first time she looked after those two children, the statement says.

The statement says Missouri Children’s Division conducted a separate investigation of the incident and did a hair drug test on each child. The 9-year-old and 3-year-old allegedly tested positive for THC and cocaine, while the 3-week-old tested positive for amphetamines and cocaine, court documents allege.

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