Missing Macon man found dead in Boone County
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Boone County deputies found the body of a missing Macon, Missouri, man Wednesday afternoon.
Malik Jones, 25, was reported missing to the Missouri State Highway Patrol by Macon police on Jan. 30. Deputies found his body Wednesday in a wooded area after being called to the 6100 block of Creasy Springs Road North, north of Columbia, the Boone County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
Capt. Brian Leer with the sheriff's office confirmed Thursday morning it is a homicide investigation. Leer said the body was found by community members searching the area for him. Jones' vehicle was found in the Columbia area, Leer said.
The investigation into Jones' disappearance is active and authorities will not release other details, the sheriff's office says.
A missing poster says Jones was on his way to Columbia when he was last seen and was driving a blue Chevrolet Malibu with license plate number TK5D3V.
The family of Jones last week described him as a kind, God-fearing man who knew no strangers. Last Friday, ABC 17 News spoke with the mother of Jones, three days after he had gone missing.
"The most-important thing that everybody should know about Malik is Malik is love and I know everybody says their child is a good child, but Malik really is a good kid. His family loves him very much and he loves his family. but he loves everybody," Malik's mother Shawna Patterson told ABC 17 News last week.
Patterson said Jan. 30 was the last time she saw her son alive. Last week, she told ABC 17 he had left the house just after 4 p.m. to meet someone in Columbia.
"The last communication he had with his girlfriend was about 5:30 and he let her know he was still in Columbia. He texted another friend about 6:58, stating he was going to be heading his way before long he was just waiting to meet up with the guy and that’s the last communication anybody had with him," Patterson said on Friday.
Once Jones was reported missing, the Macon Police Department, the Boone County Sheriff's Office and Columbia Police Department began looking for him. Patterson told ABC 17 News last week the last ping law enforcement got off his phone came a little after 9 p.m. on Jan. 30.
Boone County Joint Communications received a call just before noon Wednesday that a dead body had been found near Creasy Springs Road North.
According to online dispatch logs, first responders were called to the 6100 block of Creasy Springs Road North at 11:55 a.m. Wednesday for a medical response. When deputies arrived they discovered Jones' body in a wooded area near the road.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
