Category: kmiz-local-news

Katie Greathouse

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Police are searching for a driver who crashed into a building near Downtown Columbia late Wednesday night.

The crash happened just after 10:30 p.m. at Broadway and Second Street at the Monarch Title building. Sgt. Shawn Claypool told ABC 17 News on scene that the driver that hit the building and another car drove away before officers got there. Claypool said the only damage to the building done was to the gutter.

A witness on scene told ABC 17 News that their father was in the other car hit and was being taken to the hospital for help with his injuries.

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Matthew Sanders

The verdict in the second trial of Karen Read came in on Wednesday, and the jury found her not guilty of killing her boyfriend.

The closely watched trial ended with several days of deliberation before the jurors acquitted Read of killing her boyfriend, John O’Keefe, a Boston police officer. The public has been sharply divided over Read’s guilt, and her first trial ended in a mistrial.

Did the jury reach the right conclusion? Let us know what you think by voting in the poll.

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Jazsmin Halliburton

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Multiple family-friendly events took place across Columbia on Thursday to celebrate Juneteenth, which is considered the longest-running African American holiday.

“They Were Always There” Tribute to Black Veterans was held at 11 a.m. at the Boone County War Memorial Plaza. This event, hosted by the U.S. Exercise Tiger Foundation, featured a wreath-laying ceremony and medal presentation.

Executive Director of the U.S. Tiger Foundation, Walter Dominski he’s honored to help the organization hold the event to recognize African Americans on this day.

“United States Exercise Tiger Foundation is very honored that we can recognize our black veterans and soldiers that took part and that serve and sometimes go unrecognized,” said Domanski.

Veteran siblings Vanessa and Kenneth Bradford were some of the recognized, telling ABC 17 they feel honored to be recognized on Juneteenth.

“I’ve never been out for the Juneteenth celebration. So for this to be an honored day and they honored me, I’m like,  what? You know? So I just felt like that was just so positive,” said Vanessa Bradford.

“I feel outstanding. I am overjoyed. It’s been an honor. But it feels amazing  to be appreciated,” said Kenneth Bradford.

From noon to 4 p.m., Powerhouse Community Development Corporation also hosted its annual Juneteenth event at Cosmo Park in the Burford shelter. This featured live cultural entertainment, educational activities for kids, historical displays, multi-age games, food and drinks.

Powerhouse Committee CEO Charles Stephenson tells ABC 17 how excited he was for Powerhouse to be able to help put this event on for the community to come together in celebration of the holiday.

“It’s exciting that we can celebrate our rich culture and history here in America, here in Columbia,  with other people from all race, creeds and colors,” said Stephenson

Stephenson said that everyone coming out to the event to celebrate shows him that even though in recent light gun violence has affected the city of Columbia, people can come together and help the kids get away from all that and celebrate.

COMO’s Juneteenth celebration and luncheon was also at Douglas Park.

The final event for Thursday is the “Let Freedom Ring” event from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., presented by the Columbia African American Business Alliance at the Urban Empowerment Ministries, 2404 Industrial Drive.

Juneteenth celebrations are set to continue throughout the weekend as well, including the 3×3 basketball tournament for kids grades 3-12 and the Juneteenth parade on Saturday starting at 9 a.m.

All Juneteenth events are free and open to the public.

Additional Juneteenth events taking place this weekend can be found here.

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Nia Hinson

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Finding missing people is getting easier thanks to an important piece of technology: Drones.

Missouri Task Force 1 has 30 drones under its belt that are used throughout Boone County for various missions. Some of those missions include helping local law enforcement, such as the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

The department began flying drones in 2017. Recently, they’ve been required every week. According to IT Division director Jason Warzinik, since Jan. 1, the drones have been flown 240 times for 348 miles. Five of those flights included local fire calls and mutual aid callouts.

Boone County Fire Chief Scott Olsen said they’re also frequently used in structure or wildfires to determine where there’s still excessive fire or heat.

“They’re able to allow us to see things that we’ve never seen before unless we had a helicopter at our disposal,” Olsen said. “It gives us ready situational awareness and situational assessment of what’s going on, but it makes a lot of our operations more efficient.”

Brian Leer of the Boone County Sheriff’s Office said the drones have become a vital tool for the sheriff’s office, especially when it comes search and rescue.

“They’re able to go in locations that it would be very difficult to put a person you know? Think terrain,” Leer said. “Some of the parks that we have, they can get up and figure out where these people are and they can hover there.”

Leer said the capabilities of the drones, including being able to speak and hear, along with features such as a spotlight and infrared, are what help make them so effective. Leer also said the number of drones and the ability to switch out batteries and keep surveillance of an area for the department are crucial.

According to Warzinik, the task force’s quadcopters’ flight time maxes out at about 40 minutes, while larger drones with fixed wings can fly for about 60 minutes to an hour and a half.

Leer said that while the drones help deputies do their jobs better. He said search and rescue missions would take them astronomically longer, and they likely wouldn’t be able to find what they’re searching for without the drones.

GPS technology and the ability to map different layers also help deputies when tracking a person on foot. Heat signatures allow them to pinpoint where a person is in the dark, which came in handy in May when two juveniles escaped from the justice center near Prathersville.

Olsen said the drone captured the heat signature from one of the two juveniles, allowing them to locate him 30 feet up in a tree.

“When you see the technology helping us help people and keep people safe and hold others accountable and apprehend criminals and those that have escaped and of that nature, they’re great tools,” Leer said.

Leer said the drones can also be helpful in vehicle crashes where it’s believed someone may have been thrown from the vehicle.

ABC 17 News takes a look at the way these drones help other agencies across the state in a special report airing Thursday after the NBA Finals on KMIZ.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man was charged on Wednesday in Phelps County with first-degree rape.

Emmanuel Sam, 23, of Rolla, is being held at the Phelps County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled. The probable cause statement says that Sam is from Ghana and is in the U.S. to attend college. A court filing says that he is not from the U.S. “and has a passport that would allow him to leave the country.”

Court documents say the alleged victim had a sexual assault kit done at an area hospital on Tuesday. The victim allegedly met Sam through Facebook’s dating function and went to his apartment. She allegedly told him to stop as he initiated sex, the statement says.

A search warrant was conducted at the apartment while Sam was not there, the statement says. Law enforcement found a used condom and other items, according to court documents.

Sam eventually called law enforcement and allegedly admitted that the victim told him to stop during the encounter, the statement says.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Columbia man pleaded guilty on Monday to multiple child sex crimes.

Tarl Williams pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree child molestation and one count of third-degree child molestation. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was given credit for time served. 

He was originally charged with two counts of statutory sodomy of a child younger than 12 years old and one count of statutory sodomy of a child younger than 14 years old.

Multiple child victims described sexual assaults by Williams in court documents. The children stated the assaults began when they were very young, the probable cause statement says.

Williams was arrested in a Fazoli’s parking lot and initially denied the allegations to police before admitting to the allegations in an interview, the statement says.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Gov. Mike Kehoe has until the end of June to act on Senate Bill 150, a large secondary and higher education bill covering a wide range of topics, including grants for STEM education, degree authorizations and the addition of several student aid programs.

A major part of the bill is the Career-Tech Certificate program. If signed, the Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development would establish a program to reimburse eligible students at two-year community colleges and tech schools for their tuition, textbooks and school fees.

Missouri has student grant programs like the A+ Scholarship and Access Missouri Financial Assistance. Current programs however, focus on students pursuing two and four-year degrees, not a shorter-term licensing process. The certificate program aims to bridge that gap and catch additional students pursuing a trade.

“Being an HVAC repair person or an HVAC installer, getting a commercial driver’s license is a very intensive process,” Mark Jones, the Communications Director for the Missouri National Education Association, said. “It allows students to go into fields that are not necessarily traditionally a two-year college or a four-year college, but do require intense certification and training.”

Eligible higher-education students must be enrolled in a community college or technical school certificate program that participates in the state’s A+ Scholarship Program, have completed the FAFSA and have a clean criminal record. Eligible students must also complete 90% of the required course hours.

During Kehoe’s State of the State address, he pitched building Missouri’s career and technical education opportunities, including $15 million in new funding to career and technical centers across the state.

Director of Ranken Technical College satellite campuses Randy Gooch said that openings in skilled trades have never been higher.

“When you need an electrician, you need an electrician, when you need a plumber, you need a plumber those are things that are very stable but very, very important,” Gooch said. “We realize that the aging workforce that we’re experiencing as they age out, the demand, the need is there.”

According to Advance CTE, a little under 29% of all degrees awarded statewide are in career technical education. The group also found that around 32% of students enrolled in postsecondary career or technical programs come from economically disadvantaged families.

Kehoe’s office did not immediately respond to a request for information from ABC 17 News. Kehoe was in France on a trade mission on Wednesday.

The deadline for Kehoe to endorse or veto the bill is July 1. If he does neither, the bill will still pass.

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Erika McGuire

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Room At The Inn overnight homeless shelter in Columbia is extending its services by adding Saturday operations to fill service gaps in the community.

Starting July 5th, the shelter will be open all day every Saturday to the homeless community.

Executive Director at Room At The Inn John Trapp says the extended hours comes just in time for the summer heat and says a steady increase in Columbia’s homeless population that has left service organizations struggling to keep up.

“We’re getting into the hottest part of the year we want to be prepared for that turning point stepped up and covered Sunday’s so I thought we could step up and cover Saturday,” Trapp said.

Turning Point, Columbia’s homeless day center, is closed on Saturday, which leaves a gap in service and leaves the homeless population vulnerable to weather-related dangers.

Turning Point says being open Saturday making them open seven days a week and it is not feasible.

Right now, Room At The Inn is open year-round nightly, Monday through Friday from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m and operates 90 beds nightly.

“We are full almost every night we often turn people away,” Trapp said.

Room At The Inn created a GoFundMe page asking for $15,000 in donations, but has since reduced its target amount by $4,000 after receiving offline donations. So far the shelter has collected over $5.000 in donations.

“It came from downtown businesses and the faith community,” Trapp said.

The shelter says the donations go directly toward staffing and supplying the shelter for extended operating hours.

In a Facebook post, the shelter said the $15,000 goal will go toward two staff members working eight hours for $20 an hour would cost $320 a day.

The $15,000 would operate 37 Saturday’s helping to bridge the gap until the Opportunity Campus opens for full operations next year., according to Trapp.

Lunch is also included in the potential Saturday operations, with the shelter feeding about 90 people each weekend at a cost of $2 per meal, adding $170 per Saturday. They also factor in $60 in transportation costs.

“The population has outgrown their abilities to serve them so we’re going to move Saturday cafe here, the downtown churches will still come in and donate and prepare food they’re jut gunna serve it here instead of downtown,” Trapp said.

In total, Trapp says it cost about $430 to operate each Saturday.

The shelter says if it surpasses its goal by 50%, it will add all-day Sunday operations before winter begins.

Patrick Steward, who is homeless, says having an extra place to go during the weekend can make a big difference.

“Keep off the streets and you know they doing the right thing building that new facility, you keep em out of the heat, keep em out of the rain and keep em out of the library,” Steward added.

Room At The Inn will close Sunday’s at 8 a.m.

In 2023, the Columbia City Council allocated $450,000 in the city’s fiscal 2024 budget to keep the shelter open year-round. Previously, Room At The Inn only operated during the winter months and closed at the beginning of April.

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Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop A announced in a Tuesday evening social media post that the MSHP Division of Drug and Crime Control is investigating an officer-involved shooting in Saline County.

The trooper was taken to an area hospital with minor injuries and has since been released.

According to a MSHP press release, just after 6:15 p.m., troopers were notified that the Concordia Police Department was pursuing a motorcycle driven by a suspect wanted for an out-of-state homicide.

Officers lost sight of the suspect, but just before 8 p.m., Highway Patrol troopers in the area saw the suspect on 115th Rd. heading toward Belmont Ave.

The suspect crashed the motorcycle into a trooper’s patrol car near the intersection of 115th Rd. and Belmont Ave., running away on foot.

The trooper ran after the suspect, who was armed with a handgun. The suspect shot at the trooper, hitting the trooper’s bullet-resistant vest.

The trooper returned fire, shooting the suspect. The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene.

The names of the troopers and the suspect involved were not immediately available.

The reports from the investigation will be forwarded to the Saline County prosecutors.

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Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia City Council is looking into creating a new homeless transportation program following Monday night’s council meeting.

The idea was posed by Ward 4 Councilman Nick Foster in March when he requested a report from the Department of Public Health and Human Services exploring a possible “ride home program.”

Presented on Monday, the report breaks down how the program would impact the city and its social service providers, and what resources it would need to run.

“Overwhelmingly, we heard that there is a need for this type of assistance and there are very limited-to-no resources currently available,” Rebecca Roesslet, director of the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services, said during the meeting.

According to Roesslet and Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude, the cause of people from outside of town becoming homeless is mainly caused by people being sent into town for medical and legal reasons or being arrested across county lines.

“The Boone County Jail can really benefit from this as well,” Schlude said. “They have a lot of folks, if you get arrested on an out-of-count warrant, and you bond out from the jail, you might not have a way to get back to Montgomery City or Sedalia, or wherever it is, and so they have people on a regular basis asking their staff, ‘I don’t have anyone to come get me,’ a bondsman is not going to come drive them to Mexico.”

The project is based on a policy from the city of Lawrence, Kansas. That city’s homeless solutions division reaches out to contacts provided by the homeless person to get the person back to their place of origin.

The people being moved are given temporary housing for three days as travel is organized. The city verifies that there is someone or a local shelter at the place of origin before a ticket is purchased. A team will also follow up with the person to make sure they arrived.

“The policy has been extremely helpful to preserve our resources that we do have that are pretty limited and to really focus and single in on the actual Douglas County residents,” Lawrence Homeless Solutions Division Director Misty Bosch-Hastings said. “We can do some verification and then give them that bus ticket, $78 to get them to their home, compared to a $30 a night in a bed here, with them having to rebuild a life just doesn’t make sense.”

Bosch-Hastings added the Missouri State Highway Patrol often brings people who break down on the highway to the nearest city, with the Homeless Solutions Division being the only way for people to get home.

Bosch-Hastings reports the division bought around 75 tickets in 2024.

Columbia Room At The Inn Director John Trapp said the shelter has been giving out bus tickets since the group’s creation. RATI similarly has to confirm that the person has a place to go, but they also add that people who use a bus ticket are restricted from returning to the shelter for six months.

Trapp adds that nonlocal homeless people are becoming more common, and the program would be a good idea for the city to join.

“A lot of folks come from out of county and go to MUPC (Missouri Psychiatric Center), then are released to the streets, many of them are just trying to get back home, that’s probably the most common thing,” Trapp said.

The City Council memo predicts tickets would range in cost from $30-$300. Roesslet also suggested tapping into $300,000 of the city’s remaining ARPA funds to begin a year-long pilot program for the project. Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe added that the pilot program’s findings may also be used to get federal funding for an established project.

The Columbia City Council plans to review possible funding and coordinate with the funding departments before a project is created. A date for this update has not been set.

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