Man accused of murder after August assault outside Jefferson City bar now in Cole County Jail

JEFFESRON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A man who was accused of murder after assaulting a man outside of a Jefferson City bar on Aug. 17 was booked into the Cole County Jail on Monday.

Kamari Balton, 26, was charged with felony murder and second-degree assault, according to a Monday email from Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson. He was booked into the Cole County Jail at 5:47 p.m. Monday and is being held without bond, jail records indicate. He was previously being held at the Platte County Jail.

Balton is accused of killing 49-year-old Rafael Ayala, a Friday press release from the Jefferson City Police Department says.

According to the release, police were called to Twisted Chicks in the 2700 block of Industrial Drive at 1:43 a.m. on Aug. 17 and found Ayala unconscious. The owner of the bar told ABC 17 News last week that the assault occurred in a parking lot outside of the building after the bar was closed. Ayala was brought to University Hospital and died from his injuries, the release says.