Columbia homicide victim won $4.9 million in 2005 fire

A Columbia art dealer who was found shot to death at his home earlier this month had won a nearly $5 million settlement stemming from a 2005 apartment fire that left him needing the help of a caretaker.

The Columbia Missourian reports 46-year-old Brian Daniels was found dead in his Columbia home April 10 after James Thompson called police to say he had found the victim’s body. The 23-year-old told police he was in a St. Louis suburb at the time of the killing.

Daniels was badly burned in a Sept. 3, 2005, apartment fire in Warrensburg. He sued the apartment’s management company and landlord and was awarded $4.9 million.

Thompson has been charged with first-degree murder. Two others are charged with providing him with a false alibi.