Police say they have a second suspect in Columbia homicide

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Police say a juvenile has been detained on a murder charge related to the deadly shooting of a woman in a south Columbia neighborhood.

Detectives identified the juvenile as a suspect in the death of Janet Jago, 72, in the Highlands neighborhood of Columbia. Jago was shot Monday and later died in a hospital.

Police said in a news release that the juvenile had been detained Tuesday. Officers were in an hours-long standoff Tuesday with another suspect, Jermaine M. Burnett, 32, who had a long criminal record and was wanted on felony domestic assault charges.

Police say Burnett died after apparently shooting himself in an apartment at Forest Village in south Columbia.

The juvenile is detained on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action. Other information -- such as the juvenile's name -- was not available because of laws guarding the privacy of juvenile suspects.

Boone County Prosecuting Attorney Roger Johnson said any juvenile facing second-degree murder charges will go through a certification process to determine whether or not they will be tried as an adult.

"In juvenile court, there are certain offenses that the court is required to do a certification review and have a hearing on that. And it includes things like murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, robbery, where there's major offenses. There's a list that the judge is required to consider those, and do a certification review," Johnson said. "The hardest thing I think on handling a juvenile who's been certified as an adult, they're often times cases where very serious offenses have occurred."

Johnson said the juvenile office will eventually schedule a hearing if they want to certify them as an adult. That hearing involves a judge and a juvenile with their attorney. They will then review the evidence before the judge decides whether or not they will be tried as an adult. 

Officers found Jago shot at her home on Tayside Circle after a call of a robbery in progress. Officers performed CPR and Jago was rushed to an area hospital, but police the next day said she succumbed to her injuries. She was married to Art Jago, a retired University of Missouri professor who had unsuccessfully run for Columbia City Council.

The Columbia Police Department said it will conduct an internal investigation of the standoff with Burnett and continue its investigation into Jago's death. The University of Missouri Police Department is conducting an independent criminal investigation into the shots fired that day.

Police say Burnett shot himself after a nearly daylong standoff, hours after a woman and child left the apartment where he was holed up. Officers initially tried to arrest him on domestic charges but police developed probable cause for first-degree murder related to Jago's death after the standoff began.