Category: kmiz-local-news

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A sex offender in Fulton was charged with a plethora of child sex crimes on Thursday.

Leslie Lee Rodgers, 65, was charged with two counts of child enticement, seven counts of statutory sodomy of a victim younger than 12 years old, two counts of first-degree child molestation and two counts of tampering with a victim in a felony prosecution.

Rodgers is being held at the Callaway County Jail without bond. A court date has not been set. He was also charged earlier this year with being a sex offender too close to a park. A hearing in that case is set for 9 a.m. Friday, June 27 at the Callaway County Courthouse.

Rodgers was arrested for loitering at one of the victim’s soccer games at a park on April 10, the probable cause statement says.

One of the victims allegedly told their parents that day that they had been sexually assaulted by Rodgers several times, the statement says.

That victim and a second child victim described to law enforcement multiple assaults while at Rodgers’ residence, the statement says. The victims claimed Rodgers gave them money several times and instructed them not to tell anyone because he would get in trouble, court documents say.

Rodgers allegedly told police that he was touched by the victims while he slept, woke up and went back to sleep, court documents say.

Rodgers was found guilty by a Boone County jury in 1996 of two counts of first-degree child molestation and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, court filings show.

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Black drivers were again pulled over at a rate surpassing white drivers in Missouri in 2024, according to an annual report released Thursday.

The Attorney General’s Vehicle Stops Report is due on June 1 each year, but was released early with that date falling on a weekend. The report provides data related to vehicle stops statewide, including an index that measures the rate at which drivers of each race are pulled over in relation to their driving-age population.

Black drivers statewide were 58% more likely to be pulled over than white drivers, according to the index. The disparity was higher in Columbia, with Black drivers more than three times as likely to be pulled over as white drivers. Black drivers made up about a third of all Columbia traffic stops.

Despite the disparity in stops, white drivers had a higher rate of being found with illegal items than Black drivers in Columbia.

Black drivers in Jefferson City were about twice as likely to be pulled over as white drivers, according to population.

Information from the Cole County Sheriff’s Office shows that Black drivers were stopped at a slightly higher rate than white drivers and the contraband hit rate was about the same. The arrest rate for Black drivers was more than twice of white drivers in Cole County and the citation rate was also higher for all minority groups.

The Boone County Sheriff’s Office pulled over Black drivers more than four times the rate of white drivers, and that rate also held true in the resident stop rate. The contraband hit rate was higher for white drivers in Boone County, but the arrest rate for Black drivers was almost twice that of white drivers.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Three people were arrested and charged with misdemeanors after refusing to leave an establishment after a bar fight in Morgan County on Sunday.

Nicole Patricia Kusgen, 50, of Jefferson City, was charged with first-degree trespassing, resisting arrest and disturbing the peace. She posted a $10,000 bond and was release from the Morgan County Jail at 8:30 p.m. Monday.

Katina Kay Arnold, 48, of Plattsburg was charged with first-degree trespassing and disturbing the peace; William Arnold, 51, also of Plattsburg, was charged with resisting arrest, first-degree trespassing and disturbing the peace. They were both released from the Morgan County Jail at 8:30 p.m. after posting $5,000 bonds.

The probable cause statement says that deputies were called on Sunday night to Jolly Rogers in Rocky Mount for “an active fight in progress with a large amount of people.”

A group of people rode away on a boat before law enforcement arrived and staff had locked themselves in a kitchen, the statement says. Court documents say Kusgen was involved in the fight and the group that was still at the bar started the brawl.

The owner of the bar walked over to the group with law enforcement and told them to leave and that they were being trespassed, court documents say. Kusgen allegedly yelled “please do it” and told the deputy to arrest her, the statement says.

Kusgen then allegedly put her hands out as if she was getting handcuffed and asked why she was being arrested, though deputies had not brought out handcuffs yet or say she was under arrest, the statement says. She was asked to leave again and refused, the statement says. She was then told be law enforcement that she would be arrested if she didn’t leave and she told them to arrest her, the statement says.

Katina Arnold was also arrested after refusing to leave and her husband, William Arnold, allegedly said “I’m going with her,” the statement says. William Arnold allegedly pushed a law enforcement officer before being detained, the statement says.

Arraignments for all three people are scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Two people charged with first-degree murder in Benton County in a Columbia man’s death appeared in court on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty.

Michael Birnbaum, 28, and Kayley Birnbaum, 35, both of Springfield, Missouri, are charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action. They are being held at the Benton County Jail without bond. A bond appearance hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, June 3.

Cody Garrett, 28, was reported missing on June 21, 2021. Benton County deputies found Garrett’s vehicle and remains off the trails near a bike park outside Warsaw, Missouri. An autopsy showed he had died by homicide.

A probable cause statement says the Birnbaums killed for $50,000 in life insurance money because one of them was the beneficiary.

Garrett had been shot in the hand, arm, body, and head and impaled in the abdomen with a novelty sword, court documents say. Authorities found a bag of novelty weapons, including a sword similar to the one used to impale Garrett, in the Birnbaums’ home. The couple burned some evidence and threw the pistol in the Missouri River before they left the murder scene, court documents say.

Click here to follow the original article.

Marie Moyer

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jackson County Judge Jerri Zhang issued an order vacating her previous rulings that allowed abortions to continue in Missouri.

The action withdraws Zhang’s own prior orders and is procedural with the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday that stopped the enforcement of state abortion regulations. The high court ordered Zhang to end her preliminary injunction and reconsider issuing one under a different legal standard.

While the right to abortion is still active in the state, tight state regulations regarding safety requirements for clinics that allow abortions are still in place, now no longer restrained by Zhang’s preliminary injunction.

“Unqualified medical practitioners, moldy equipment, and a lack of approved complication plans are just some of the many terrible things we predicted would follow in the wake of Amendment 3, ” Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a statement Tuesday. “Today’s decision from the Missouri Supreme Court is a win for women and children and sends a clear message – abortion providers must comply with state law regarding basic safety and sanitation requirements.”

In his statement, Bailey emphasized that state regulations preventing coerced abortions, requiring sterile equipment and clean facilities, ensuring qualified abortion providers and having emergency complication plans were essential protections for women undergoing abortions. For many of them, Bailey claimed that abortion-rights activists were working to remove them.

In the initial preliminary injunction documents, Zhang ruled in favor of Planned Parenthood and blocked several of these regulations, with abortion advocates arguing many of the state’s regulations were too tall an order for abortions to be performed under.

“Attorney General Andrew Bailey and anti-abortion politicians in Jeff City have once again weaponized our political system against Missourians,” Abortion Action Missouri executive director Mallory Schwarz said in a statement Tuesday.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains told ABC 17 News on Wednesday that a letter was sent to Zhang, reassuring her that her initial decision was solid.

In court documents, Planned Parenthood argued that under the state’s current abortion-specific informed consent laws, patients were required to receive state-mandated information and materials that are biased and are meant to sway a patient’s choice in getting an abortion.

In the state’s rule for abortion complication plans during medicinally-induced abortions, Planned Parenthood said that the Department of Health and Senior Services required medication abortion providers to have a written contract with a board-certified or board-eligible ob-gyn who has agreed to be “on-call and available twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”

They argued that it was both difficult to find an ob-gyn who agreed to the terms and claimed the rule was unnecessary if a patient could go to an emergency room during a complication.

Under Missouri’s law that requires abortions to be performed only by physicians, Planned Parenthood argued for allowing advanced practice registered nurses to perform abortions along with physicians to expand access to care. Zhang declined to block this rule.

“That’s not what all of these regulations that have been in place do, they are intended to discriminate against abortion providers and make care harder to access,” Planned Parenthood Great Plains CEO Emily Wales said. “Abortion providers are going through additional hurdles and requirements that weren’t actually making Missourians healthier, they were just limiting where abortions could happen.”

In a statement, Planned Parenthood Great Plains confirmed that abortion services were offered at Missouri health centers starting Feb. 15 and ending Tuesday with the Supreme Court’s decision. Wales added that, in Colombia, abortion surgeries were conducted around every other weekend.

Planned Parenthood centers are still open as a resource for birth control, cancer screenings and UTI testing and treatment.

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

EDITOR’S NOTE: The story has been corrected to remove a reference to fighting teens being armed.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A 16-year-old is in custody on suspicion of taking part in a fight that led to a deadly shooting Tuesday just outside Columbia.

The teen suspect and the victim were part of groups that had met up for two youths to fight Tuesday evening in the 1300 block of North Frideriki Drive, according to a Boone County Sheriff’s Office news release. An 18-year-old man was found unresponsive and not breathing outside a home with a gunshot wound and died at the scene, the sheriff’s office says.

Juvenile authorities have charged the suspect on suspicion of second-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon. A hearing is set for 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

Frank Rae, a resident in the Valley Creek neighborhood and said an initial fight broke out around 6:30 p.m. at the corner of Frideriki Drive and Pinehurst lane. The Boone County Sheriff’s Office came and broke out the group.

About an hour later Rae said another fight broke out in front of his mailboxes.

“Two people that were sorta brawling with fists out, then there was 10,11,12 people kinda surrounding them,” Rae said.

A fight among two teenagers had broken out, with other teenagers surrounding the scene, before the shooting, according to the release. One or more guns were displayed during the fight, leading to the 18-year-old being shot and killed, the sheriff’s office says.

“A super loud crack and echo and took off out the back and I saw the victim laying out here,” Rae said.

Cpt. Brian Leer, with the sheriff’s office, said multiple people on scene were armed.

“Multiple subjects on scene, teens, were armed,” Leer said. “The 16-year-old and the 18-year-old victim were not the two that were meeting to fight, they were present during the altercation,”

The boy’s identity is being protected because he is a juvenile. However, his name could be released if the court decides to try him as an adult. The investigation is ongoing.

“This is not a complete investigation at this time, our investigators are still working today and will continue to do so to follow up on any leads.” Leer added.

The shooting drew a large police response.

An ABC 17 News reporter saw members of the Columbia Police Department, Boone County Sheriff’s Office and Missouri State Highway Patrol. Law enforcement had an intersection blocked off.

The reporter saw law enforcement with guns drawn and pointed at a home on Valley Creek Lane.

Police tape went up at 8:14 p.m. at the intersection of Clark Lane and Valley Creek Lane.

Neighbors react to recent crime in the area

Several Columbia residents told ABC 17 News that crime near the area of Clark Lane and Godas Circle is beginning to get out of hand.

Lydia Gunn has lived in Columbia at the Links Apartment Complex on Clark Lane for four years and said it seems crime of all sorts has escalated since she’s moved to the area. Gunn said she’s now reconsidering whether continuing to live on the northeastern part of town in the city is safe.

“I hear gunshots about a couple times a week, sirens every night,” Gunn said. “There’s been a couple instances where the entrance has been blocked off because people have been barricaded inside. And then we also have car break-ins that happen and have been happening the whole time I’ve lived here.”

Gunn said the growing number of “pops” she heard near her apartment led to her and others playing a “game” of whether the noises they heard were gunshots or fireworks. She said that game was short lived.

“It’s never fireworks…, so, yeah we stopped playing that game,” Gunn said.

ABC 17 News scrubbed through both the city and county’s dispatch logs to get a better look at calls to the area. Included in that search were Clark Lane, Valley Creek Lane and Godas Circle.

According to the Columbia Police Dispatch log, between Jan. 1-May 28 of this year, police received two reports of shots fired on Clark Lane, and six reports of shots heard. The remaining streets had not received calls for either of those for CPD or the sheriff’s office, according to both logs.

Since Jan. 1, police were also called to Clark Lane and neighboring streets 25 times, 21 times to Valley Creek Lane and eight times to Godas Circle for various incidents.

Dispatch logs show the sheriff’s office has been called to Godas Circle four times within the same time frame, 30 times to Clark Lane and neighboring streets and five times to Valley Creek Lane for various incidents.

Amy Luppino also lives at the Links. Luppino said she lives butted up against a neighborhood where she also frequently hears gunshots and people yelling. Luppino said something she’s noticed since living there, is the lack of working street lights.

“I don’t really go outside at night if I don’t have to,” Luppino said. “People use that walkway there, they cut through the green and people just pop up. I think some light would help. I know I’d feel a little more comfortable.”

Click here to follow the original article.

Matthew Sanders

Gov. Mike Kehoe is calling lawmakers back to Jefferson City. The primary purpose — a public financing package to help keep the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals in Missouri.

Kehoe laid out his plans Tuesday for a special session that will take place next month. The main piece of the session will be legislation to help the Chiefs upgrade Arrowhead Stadium and the Royals pay for a new ballpark in downtown Kansas City.

The governor used economics as his reason for calling the session. The Kansas City professional sports franchises mean big money for the state, making public financing a good investment, Kehoe says.

But others have disputed that argument, saying the government should not use tax money to pay for wealthy owners to build or refurbish stadiums. Still others say research shows such public financing isn’t worth the cost.

What do you think? Let us know by voting in the poll.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An Auxvasse man was charged this week with two counts of second-degree statutory rape.

Taylor Logan Brown, 25, is being held at the Callaway County Jail without bond. An initial court appearance is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Callaway County Courthouse.

The probable cause statement says that the youth was traveling with Brown on May 17 and stopped at his residence in Auxvasse around midnight. The victim was allegedly heading back to Monroe County but Brown convinced them to stay because it was late, the statement says.

Court documents describe a rape allegedly committed by Brown and the victim allegedly told law enforcement on Sunday that he had assaulted them in a similar fashion a year prior.

Brown allegedly denied the allegations to law enforcement and claimed his DNA could have ended up on the victim in another manner “instead of outright denying it,” court documents say. The statement says his residence if fewer than 100 yards away from North Callaway Middle School.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

An inmate who is serving a life sentence for murder was charged with several felonies on Tuesday after he allegedly assaulted two corrections officers in 2023.

James Henderson, 44, was charged in Cole County with first-degree assault, two counts of armed criminal action, two counts of violence toward a Department of Corrections employee and one count of having a weapon at a prison. He is being held at Potosi Correctional Center in Washington County.

Court documents say he assaulted two employees at Jefferson City Correctional Center on Nov. 16, 2023. The probable cause statement says that Henderson hit one of the employees in their face, tried to run away and hit the same employee again when they caught up with him. He then used a “homemade prison weapon resembling a knife” to stab the other employee, the statement says.

The first victim was able to restrain Henderson and call for backup, the statement says. The other officer had stab wounds to their head and forearm, the statement says.

A court date has not been set.

Click here to follow the original article.

Ryan Shiner

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported fewer deaths, crashes, injuries and arrests on Missouri roads over Memorial Day weekend this year compared to 2024.

MSHP wrote in a Tuesday release that from 6 p.m. Friday-11:59 p.m. Monday, there were three fatalities, 182 crashes, 83 people injured and 78 arrests for driving while intoxicated. There were also three boating crashes.

During the 2024 counting period, there were seven fatalities, 275 crashes, 161 people injured, 128 DWI arrests, six boating while intoxicated arrests, seven boating crashes and seven boating injuries. Statewide during the holiday weekend last year, 10 people died and 486 were injured in 1,046 traffic crashes, the release says.

MSHP wrote that statistics could change if other deaths are reported late. None of the fatalities were reported in Troop F’s jurisdiction, which includes much of Mid-Missouri.

Click here to follow the original article.