Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

No injuries were reported, but one person was displaced from their home after a kitchen caught fire on Sunday afternoon at an apartment in the 800 block of 7th Street in Boonville, according to a Monday social media post from the Boonville Fire Protection District.

The post says firefighters were called at 1:18 p.m. Sunday and saw smoke coming from a second-floor apartment.

The fire was quickly extinguished, but “extensive fire damage in the kitchen and heavy smoke damage throughout the apartment” led to a resident being displaced, the post says.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, the post says.

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Matthew Sanders

PARIS, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two women were jailed in Randolph County on suspicion of hindering prosecution in a homicide investigation that ended with a man shot dead by law enforcement officers.

Lois Armour, 78, and Patty Armour, 51, both of Paris, Missouri, were arrested Sunday night and booked into the Randolph County Jail without bond, according to online jail records. Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. Justin Dunn confirmed the women’s arrests were related to the death of Charles Armour, 57.

Armour was killed in a shootout with deputies and state troopers Sunday afternoon at a home in Paris, Randolph County Sheriff Andy Boggs said in a statement. Armour had been identified as a person of interest in a homicide investigation out of Ralls County.

Boggs said in a statement that deputies and troopers went into the home Sunday after they were invited in to search. That’s when shots were fired.

A Randolph County deputy was hit by gunfire and flown to a hospital. Boggs wrote that the deputy is expected to make a full recovery after several surgeries.

Charges against Louis and Patty Armour were not available Monday in online court records. Courts were closed for the Columbus Day holiday.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

As the federal government shutdown nears the two-week mark, Columbia College is stepping in to support military students by launching a tuition assistance program.

The college announced the creation of the “You Stand For Us, We Stand By You” program in a news release on Monday. The release states that the program is for active service members, reservists and National Guard members.

Military members could miss a paycheck on Wednesday if Congress doesn’t agree on some type of funding for salaries.

Columbia College’s Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Sandra Hamar, reports that around 33% of the school’s student population is affiliated with the military. Between 400-500 undergraduate students and up to 500 graduate students have lost assistance because of the shutdown.

“There’s some [students] that are two classes away from graduating and want to walk across that stage in December, but if they don’t have their tuition assistance, they’re not able to do that,” Hamar said.

She adds that over 100 undergraduate students dropped courses due to the shutdown.

“Service members have stood in harm’s way for us countless times. When they need us, we must answer the call,” Columbia College President David Russell said in the statement. Russell is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel.

The program will provide full tuition for affected military students through the fall semester, which ends Dec. 13. Students will get relief upon verification. New military students who enroll in Columbia College during the shutdown will also be assisted. Students who have dropped courses due to funding concerns will also be supported and can re-enroll.

Columbia College plans to cover $500,000 of students’ tuition. The school does not have a clear reserve for the funds but expects to pull from donors, alumni volunteers and scholarship funding.

Columbia College has historically been a military-friendly institution. According to the release, of the college’s alumni, around 34,000 are veterans, active-duty service members or military family members.

“We’ve served military for 50 years,” Hamar said. “If we could act right now, which we can, and we didn’t, I don’t think we would deserve to call ourselves military-friendly college.”

Students can contact the Ousley Family Veterans Service Center for assistance.

University of Missouri spokesperson Christopher Ave said that the University is currently providing support to veterans, military members and family members who attend Mizzou. The school’s Cashier’s Office has ensured that no late fees will be collected on delayed payments. The school will also provide letters to landlords or other groups to help students explain delayed payments.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A report from the National Transportation Safety Board indicates pilot error was the likely reason for a July 22 plane crash in a cornfield near Centralia.

The report says the pilot failed “to maintain clearance from power lines during low-level maneuvering.”

Wren Johannaber, 31, of Huntsville, suffered serious injuries after crashing a crop duster plane into power lines in July. He was in fair condition the next day, according to previous reporting.

Johannaber allegedly told investigators that “there were no mechanical malfunctions or failures of the airplane that would have precluded normal operation,” the report says. The plane’s last inspection was on July 1.

The crash led to more than 1,200 electric customers losing power in Boone County. The report says there was “substantial damage to the wings and fuselage.”

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Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

President Donald Trump and other world leaders gathered Monday to sign a Middle East peace deal, bringing relief and hopeful reactions to local groups in Mid-Missouri.

George Smith, with Mid-Missouri for Justice in Palestine, is relieved but also concerned following the recent peace deal.

“It’s a relief to have the actual genocide — as I and many others think it should be referred to as — it’s good to have that genocide stopped,” Smith said. Let us hope that we will not start again because I think that what the agreement has come about now is very is a very short-term agreement,”

According to CNN, at least 67,683 Palestinians were killed in Gaza during the two-year war. CNN reports since a ceasefire took place, 323 deaths have been recorded as bodies have been found underneath rubble.

Rabbi Avraham Lapine, with the Chabad Jewish Center of MU and Mid-Missouri, said the peace deal is a moment of relief and joy for the Jewish community.

“It’s very exciting news for the Jewish community, it’s two years. These hostages were held in captivity in hell, literally, by Hamas. Finally, after two years of being tortured in tunnels, finally free. So it’s really really really very exciting news for the entire Jewish community,” Lapine said.

Humanitarian aid has been a concern, with many aid shipments being halted during the conflict. Smith said there likely could be 600 trucks entering Gaza everyday to bring in aid, but he claims it’s minimal to what the people of Gaza need.

“They will need it but they’re needed at a much higher rate than they have in the past because now something like 90% of the housing stock has been damaged or totally destroyed enough that there’s not nearly enough real housing for the people of Gaza,” Smith said. “They’ll have to have immediate aid, immediate aid to help them live for the time being and also massive scale aid for reconstruction, which is clearly the rubble, I don’t think they even have the machinery for doing that,”

While the deal offers a sense of hope, both Smith and Lapine expressed skepticism about how long the deal will last.

“Israel, especially this government, (is a) pretty right-wing government led by Netanyahu, has been very unwilling to make long-term commitments to peace like this. It’s very unlike them to have, haven’t agreed to as much as they have,” Smith said. “I would be pleased if it carries on in a really significant way. But I would be unsurprised if it doesn’t,”

“I’m concerned that Hamas is not going to really give up their arms and give up control. That the biggest concern that many people have because they’re ready. Just from looking at some articles and things, it looks like they’re not running so fast to give-up control and give up their arms,” Lapine said.

Smith also criticized U.S. involvement in the war.

“I think that it may well be that if Netanyahu’s government openly defies the U.S. government it may even be that the U.S. government will stop shipping arms to them,” Smith said. “Our country is very complicit in this, in this genocide because the genocide is depended on the weapons supplied by the United States,”

As part of the peace deal, Hamas released the remaining 20 living Israeli hostages on Monday and Israel freed nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to national reporting.

“They released people who have blood on their hands, the terrorists that literally are responsible for the death, the murder of Israelis, but they were willing to release those prisoners to get back the Israeli hostages that were taken, who are just regular citizens who are not in any way a prisoner of war or anything.” Lapine added.

At least one person who had ties to Mid-Missouri was killed during the war.

Deborah Matias, an American citizen living in Israel who was born in Boone County, died while shielding her son from bullets fired by Hamas gunmen.

Her son, Rotern Matias, was shot in the stomach but survived.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Board of Education is advocating to change a state law.

During its Monday night meeting, board members discussed their 2025-26 legislative priorities, one of which had to do with superintendent payouts. CPS is now advocating to change the state law, making it so that superintendents are paid no more than one year’s salary upon separation or termination.

The district had a costly separation agreement last school year with former Superintendent Brian Yearwood. CPS paid Yearwood the remainder of his contract year, which was about $667,000.

“There have been several districts that have separated from their superintendents over the last couple of years and who have had similar impacts as what we experienced here,” CPS spokeswoman Michelle Baumstark said.

The district approved the contract for Superintendent Jeff Klein in March, setting his year salary at $255,000. Under his contract, the maximum payout is capped at one year’s salary, if a separation is deemed necessary.

According to documents, CPS wants to “protect taxpayers from undue burden.”

Documents from the Missouri School Boards’ Association 2025 fall delegate assembly, CPS claimed using taxpayer dollars to give six-figure payouts to “failing superintendents is not fiscally responsible.” CPS also wrote that it included language in its contract for Klein due to its expensive agreement with Yearwood.

“We feel it would be beneficial to smaller districts who may not have the draw of a place like Columbia to have a statutory limit to the fiscal risk,” the document says. “Our board discussed that although we are typically in favor of local control in most situations, we could not think of a time that a local board would prefer to pay more money than less to a superintendent upon separation or termination.”

The document also shows MSBA’s Advocacy Committee recommending to oppose the change presented by the Columbia Board of Education.

“It has not gone through a vote of our entire delegate assembly so there has not been a vote one way or another on that proposal from Columbia,” Senior Director of Advocacy Caitlin Whaley said.

The MSBA could vote on the issue during its meeting next week.

Columbia Board President John Lyman told ABC 17 News the district plans to take it back to the MSBA.

“Next week is our MSBA conference. We’ll have a delegate assembly there where we’ll be able to go. Our four delegates will go and vote on different topics, and the opportunity is there to potentially present that on the floor and get the discussion going,” Lyman said. “We’re going to reach out to MSBA to kind of talk to them about what their initial thoughts were, what the pros and cons and make adjustments.”

State Rep. David Tyson Smith (D-Columbia) also told ABC 17 News in a text message on Monday that he would support the change.

“Since we are dealing with tax payer dollars, I think a year or a year and a half contract is reasonable,” Tyson Smith wrote.

A list of the board’s legislative priorities can be viewed below.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man accused of trying to set a house on fire in Northeast Columbia will make an appearance in front of a judge at the Boone County Courthouse Tuesday morning.

Brandon Butchkoski, 47, will be in front of Judge Benjamin Miller at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday for a bond review hearing.

Butchkoski was arrested in July on charges of possession of a controlled substance and first-degree arson in connection with a fire on June 29. Police said officers responded to the 1500 block of Paris Road to assist firefighters.

Investigators learned Butchkoski allegedly tried to set a single-story house on fire when a backpack with gas in it was thrown on the roof. Minor property damage was reported.

Earlier this month, Butchkoski was charged in another case for first-degree arson and second-degree murder after he was accused of setting another house on fire in June on Paris Road.

He is accused in the death of Donovan Baylis. Baylis was burned in a fire that was set at his home and died about a month later at a St. Louis area hospital.

Police said in a statement that they gathered enough evidence to arrest Butchkoski for the June 29 arson before they had enough evidence to recommend charges for the June 15 fire. Butchkoski, who is homeless, was denied bond, according to court records.

A court date has not yet been set. Butchkoski is currently being held in the Boone County Jail on no bond.

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Madison Stuerman

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Cole County Prosecuting Attorney Locke Thompson said Tuesday two victims in a Jefferson City shooting have died.

Thompson said in a news release that charges against Michael A. Davis, 40, of Jefferson City, will be upgraded from assault and domestic assault to first-degree murder.

“The number of shots or stab wounds or something like that could be indicative of maybe some reflection, or the ability to reflect, and therefore first-degree versus second-degree,” Thompson said in an interview with ABC 17 News.

Davis is accused of shooting and killing Shawna Davis, 39, and Sofie Mulcahey, 31, both of Jefferson City. A vigil was held Friday for Mulcahey.

The probable cause statement says Jefferson City police were investigating a crash in the 1800 block of Highway 50/63 East when they heard multiple shots being fired. Shawna Davis and Mulcahey were found in the 1100 Block of Cordell st. with life-threatening injuries in a vehicle in a wooded area.

Thompson said in a release that both were taken to University Hospital, where they died.

A first-degree murder conviction could result in either the death penalty or life in prison for Davis.

In a statement to ABC 17 News, Tanya Bohlkin, Mulcahey’s aunt, said her family is grateful the prosecutor’s office upgraded the charges to allow for the most serious conviction available.

Megan Stone, Mulcahey’s best friend, told ABC 17 News she hopes the state pursues the death penalty.

“He’s a coward and I hope he’s reminded of every single day,” Stone said of Michael Davis. “She went to go save her friend and he shot 30 rounds into her car.”

Police found roughly 30 shell casings following the shooting in the 900 block of Harding Street, and Davis was detained shortly after, the statement says. Stone said she grew up with Mulcahey in Harrisburg and that they met in kindergarten.

“Twenty-six years together,” Stone said. “She was my very, very, very best friend and I hope everybody gets a best friend like her.”

She said Mulcahey was trying to help Davis get away from a domestic violence situation.

“I urge everybody, every woman in that situation, to just leave because no man who loves you would ever, it’s just not worth it,” Stone said. “Sofie just went to go get her friend and didn’t come home.”

Thompson said the state has not officially decided whether it will pursue the death penalty. He explained what could make a case qualify.

“Whether it was multiple victims, whether others were placed in danger of being killed,” Thompson said. “Things like if the person had a history of violent offenses or a prior murder conviction.”

Michael Davis is also charged with one count of felony unlawful use of a weapon and three counts of armed criminal action.

Michael Davis has an arraignment for the new charges scheduled for Friday.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 29-year-old Wellsville man was seriously hurt after a crash in Montgomery County just before midnight Monday, according to a crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

According to the report, the man was driving a 2002 Saturn LS south on Highway 19 at Harness Dr. when he went off the left side of the road, hit a ditch and flipped the car.

The man was taken by ambulance to University Hospital with serious injuries. The report states he was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. The Saturn had extensive damage.

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