Category: kmiz-local-news

Matthew Sanders

The Missouri National Guard has a new mission starting Wednesday.

A few Guard members will be used to support the operations of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Missouri, under an order from Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe. Soldiers have been deployed in other areas to support ICE agents, including California.

Do you support using the Missouri National Guard for such a mission? Let us know by voting in the poll.

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Olivia Hayes

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

State lawmakers are reacting to the outpouring response by local leaders and community organizations following a deadly downtown Columbia shooting over the University of Missouri’s Homecoming weekend.

Columbia police responded to a shooting in the 800 block of East Broadway just before 2 a.m. Saturday. Police found three people shot; one woman, Aiyanna Williams later died from her wounds.

Following the shooting, University of Missouri System President Mun Choi publicly called on city and county leaders to crack down on crime and suggested the creation of a task force. He also involved Gov. Mike Kehoe into conversations of crime prevention in the downtown Columbia and campus areas.

Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe then listed actions the city government and Columbia Police Department have taken and wrote she would form a taskforce for crime downtown. She wrote CPD added eight officers to night patrols, a 20% increase in staffing since last summer.

State Rep. Kathy Steinhoff (D-Columbia) said on Tuesday she supports the creation of a taskforce for crime prevention, but called the fallout a political firestorm.

“I was very disappointed in how it was handled,” Steinhoff said. “I think that it did not need to be this public calling out of one entity on how another one is doing their business and then immediately calling for support from the state level.”

The police department has also recently ramped up its enforcement of misdemeanor offenses downtown in an effort to reduce violent incidents. Steinhoff said she feels like it’s a step in the right direction.

“They’re enforcing things like jaywalking and just trying to make sure that our community understands that there are things that we need to do in order to have a safe community,” Steinhoff said.

Former Missouri State Rep. Chuck Basye (R-Boone County) said he also support the idea of a task force, but feels like more police officers would also help.

“Hiring more of these men and women that want to be police officers, maybe bringing back in some retired folks would be a great asset to the community,” Basye said.

However, he said he understands the training process is long and experience is important.

“There’s a lot of, police officers that are that are relatively new, within five years, in the Columbia Police Department,” Basye said. “But we need to do more and I think more law enforcement would be a great first step in the right direction.”

Steinhoff said there’s also a need for stricter gun laws at the state level, a sentiment that was also shared by Buffaloe in her statement.

‘We have some of the loosest gun laws in the country,” Steinhoff said. “There was not a law in place that would have helped that those police, even if they had had an idea that he was agitated, even if they had had an idea he had a gun on him, even if they had the idea that he was among so many people, there was really not a law in place that they could have stopped him from doing what he did.”

Basye said there is not a law that could be passed that would have prevented Saturday morning’s shooting and that the push needs to come from the prosecution and action against crimes.

“A beautiful, young lady lost her life because somebody didn’t care what the law was and acted in a violent manner,” Basye said. “We need to get more aggressive and crack down on these criminal elements.”

Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude made her first public statement on Tuesday acknowledging local concerns of violence downtown. Schlude said her department is prioritizing downtown crime efforts and focusing on reestablishing a unit focused on crime in that area, set to be implemented by summer 2026.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Pavement repairs are scheduled this week for different parts of Highway 54 in Callaway County, according to a Tuesday press release from the Missouri Department of Transportation.

On Wednesday, MoDOT crews will close the driving lane of eastbound Highway 54 that will require closing access to Route T.

On Thursday, the passing lane will be closed, along with the crossover between east- and westbound traffic and the entrance to County Road 176, the release says.

The closures are expected to last from 6 a.m.-4:30 p.m. each day, the release says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The City of Columbia Solid Waste Utility will host a customer input open house next week about the construction of its new recycling facility, according to a Tuesday press release.  

The meeting will be held 5:30-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7 at the Activity and Recreation Center at 1701 Est Ash Street, the release says. There will be no formal presentation.

Curbside recycling pickup has been limited in the city after the recycling center was destroyed on April 20 by an EF-1 tornado.

Demolition for the rest of the building occurred about a month after the building was hit.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man has been charged with four felonies after he allegedly stabbed a woman on Sept. 25.

Richard McCracken, 52, was charged in Boone County with first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action and a count of unlawful use of a weapon. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. An arraignment was held on Monday and a confined docket hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7. A preliminary hearing is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 6.

The probable cause statement says the victim knocked on someone’s door on Tuscany Ridge after getting away from McCracken. The victim was bleeding and had stab wounds on her hand and had blood on her hands and arms, the statement says.

The victim allegedly told police that she knew McCracken from “shelters” and that he offered to pay for a hotel room so she would not be trespassed, the statement says. McCracken had the victim in a vehicle and then choked and stabbed her while she was in the passenger seat, the statement says.

Police later found the vehicle and saw blood in the passenger seat, the statement says.

Court documents say McCracken has been convicted of several crimes, including rape and statutory rape. The statement says McCracken is from California. A Boone County court filing from 2017 shows he was extradited to California that year.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Boone County’s top prosecutor says a Florida man has now been charged with murder in the death of a Stephens College student.

Misael Covarrubias, 23, will be charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of Aiyanna Williams. He is also charged with three counts of armed criminal action, two counts of first-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon.

Covarrubias was charged on Monday with three counts of first-degree assault, three counts of armed criminal action and a single count of unlawful use of a weapon. Covarrubias allegedly told police that he is from Florida but had been living in Columbia for about five months, court documents in previous reporting say.

Covarrubias is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A confined docket hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7 and a preliminary hearing is set for 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 6.

He is accused of firing 11 shots at 1:42 a.m. Saturday on East Broadway between Eighth and Ninth streets in downtown Columbia. He allegedly hit three people with bullets, including Williams. Williams was pronounced dead on Sunday.

Police initially said Covarrubias was involved in an argument and began firing, though none of the people hit by gunfire were involved in the exchange.

Court documents in previous reporting say Covarrubias reportedly told officers that people ganged up on him, causing him to fire warning shots. Covarrubias initially said the warning shots were fired at the ground, but later admitted to firing with his arm straight out, the statement says.

He then allegedly told officers that he did not know who he was shooting at, and also admitted to consuming alcohol prior, the probable cause statement says.  

The shooting prompted University of Missouri System President Mun Choi to call for action to reduce crime in Columbia and Mayor Barbara Buffaloe to call for a special task force.

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man in ICE detention was taken into custody by federal authorities because of convictions for possession of marijuana and cocaine, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Tuesday.

Owen Ramsingh was detained by agents in Chicago after returning from the Netherlands and landing at O’Hare International Airport. He has been in detention since.

“September 27, CBP arrested Owen Romann Ramsingh, a criminal alien from the Netherlands,” Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement. “His criminal history includes convictions for cocaine possession and marijuana possession. This criminal alien is in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

“A green card is a privilege, not a right, and under our nation’s laws, our government has the authority to revoke a green card if our laws are broken and abused.”

Court records obtained by ABC 17 show Ramingh was charged with drug possession in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1998 when he was 17. He pleaded guilty the next year to attempting to commit a felony.

The following year, records show he was cited for having less than an ounce of marijuana in Nebraska and fined $100.

He also has an expunged 2011 conviction in Boone County for marijuana possession. He has had a green card since 1986, Ramsingh’s wife, Diana told ABC 17 News on Monday.

The last information Diana has is that Owen was being transferred to a detention center in El Paso, Texas. He has a court date in Illinois scheduled for Oct. 15.

Ramsingh is the head of security at The Blue Note and Rose Music Hall and is a property manager at Property Professional Management. 

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Matthew Sanders

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield will increase its reimbursement rates paid to University of Missouri Health Care by 3.5% each year under a deal reached this summer.

The deal, which was agreed to in August but took effect retroactively on April 1, was the result of months of negotiations between the insurance giant and the health care provider that left local patients in limbo. The old contract expired on April 1. A new deal wasn’t reached until mid-July.

MU Health Care declined to give out any details of the deal at that time. Records obtained by ABC 17 News through an open records request show that Anthem agreed to a 3.5% increase in reimbursement each year through 2028.

Reimbursement rates had been a sticking point in negotiations. Anthem claimed MU Health Care wanted a roughly 39% increase over three years. MU Health Care leaders said Anthem was offering paltry 1% to 2% increases.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A New Bloomfield man was charged on Tuesday after he was accused of raping a girl in August.

Dakota McGuire, 19, was charged in Callaway County with first-degree statutory rape of a child younger than 14 years old. He is being held at the Callaway County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled.

The probable cause statement says the girl spoke with law enforcement the day after the assault and a sexual assault kit determined she was raped.

The statement says McGuire spoke with the victim on the social media application Snapchat the morning of Aug. 10 between 3-5 a.m. The victim allegedly told McGuire to go to sleep when he stated he wanted to go to her residence, the statement says

McGuire then allegedly went to the victim’s home and entered it through the victim’s bedroom window and allegedly pressured the girl into sex and raped her, the statement says.

McGuire then denied the allegation to law enforcement, claiming he never went to the home and was asleep at 3 a.m., the statement says. Police wrote that they told McGuire they had records of his conversations with the victim and that they knew he was awake during the period, court documents say.

Police also learned McGuire exchanged nude photographs with the victim prior, the statement says.

Court documents say McGuire eventually admitted to sexually assaulting the victim.

The statement says McGuire had previously been caught looking through people’s windows at their homes in New Bloomfield.

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Lucas Geisler

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) –

Boone County will buy space at a Jefferson City cemetery to house dozens of unclaimed remains at the medical examiner’s office.

The county commission approved the $6,600 contract with Hawthorn Memorial Gardens at its Tuesday meeting. The contract allows the Boone/Callaway Medical Examiner’s Office to keep unclaimed cremated remains at the cemetery.

Eric Maze, a spokesperson for MU Health, said the office has more than 100 such unclaimed remains in its possession. The contract allows them to make space at the MU Health and School of Medicine campus, while also storing the remains in a more fitting setting should no one ever claim them. The medical examiner’s office will still facilitate handing those remains over to a family member should someone later claim them.

Nick McKague, co-owner of Parker-Millard Funeral Services, said the agreement allows the remains to stay in a secure space and helps the community and medical examiner’s office.

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