COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Police put up crime scene tape around one of the parking lots of a southern Columbia apartment complex on Friday night. Officers were in the parking lot of The Collective, located on Aspen Heights Parkway. Columbia Police Department spokesman Colin Imhoff told ABC 17 News that police responded to a call of
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Columbia Police Department has named the man it claims stabbed another man on Friday in the Benton-Stephens area. Grant Buxton, 44, was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault, armed criminal action and drug possession, CPD wrote in a Friday night social media post. Earlier on Friday, Columbia police put up crime
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Columbia man has been charged with first-degree assault after he allegedly attacked another man with a railroad spike on Thursday. Colby McKee, 35, is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. A court date has not been scheduled. The probable cause statement says deputies were called to a Hartsburg
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Boone County jury suggested sentencing a Holts Summit woman convicted of murder to up to decades in prison on Friday. The jury deliberated the sentence of Heather Smith, 38, on a change of venue from Callaway County. She was convicted on five criminal counts on Thursday, including felony murder. Smith was
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The trial of a Boone County dog breeder charged with 13 counts of felony animal abuse has now been scheduled for October. Melissa Sanders, 26, had been set to face trial next week in a Boone County courtroom. However, she waived her right to a speedy trial during a pretrial conference Friday,
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Even with hundreds of witness statements, Columbia Police criminal investigator Lt. Matt Gremore says 17 years later that no clear suspect has been identified in the death of 49-year-old Mark Dailey. “To this day, we have no idea who the suspect is or even what the motive was for the killing,” Gremore
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Holts Summit woman has been found guilty of felony murder in the 2025 shooting death of 37-year-old Kara Dills. Heather Smith, 38, was found guilty by a jury on Thursday of second-degree murder, known as felony murder. The jury also turned in a guilty verdict for three counts of unlawful use
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Employees went back inside the Conley Road Walmart on Thursday afternoon after spending close to two hours outside after an apparent threat was made. The Columbia Police Department responded to a reported bomb threat at a Walmart shortly after 1 p.m., prompting a full evacuation of the store and surrounding property. Police
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) On a chilly January day in 2009, a hiker found skeletal remains at a homeless encampment near a trailway behind the Conley Road Walmart in Columbia. Officers began their investigation on Jan. 7. By April 20, with the help of forensic anthropology experts from the University of Missouri, police were able to
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Columbia man was charged on Thursday with multiple felony counts related to child pornography. Paul Piersee, 40, was charged with first-degree promoting child porn and three counts of child porn possession. An arraignment was set for Thursday afternoon. He is being held at the Boone County Jail without bond. Court documents
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A University of Missouri spokesman told ABC 17 News that its Columbia campus on Thursday had received a threat that was deemed to be “not credible.” Spokesman Christopher Ave wrote in an email to ABC 17 News that MU’s police department “received a forwarded call reporting a potential threat to campus. The
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A woman has pleaded guilty to third-degree domestic assault in her husband’s 2024 poisoning in Cole County. Sara Scheffer pleaded guilty on April 13. The plea became public on Thursday. She will be sentenced at 2:30 p.m. Monday, May 11. She was originally charged with attempted murder. Scheffer is accused of trying
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A woman has been charged after she allegedly pulled a gun out on someone on April 10 outside the McDonald’s on Missouri Boulevard in Jefferson City. Tameka Whitfield, of Jefferson City, was charged on Wednesday with unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action and second-degree assault. She was not in custody
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Cole County has sued a company over a July 24, 2023, diesel fuel spill that occurred in a creek near a farm south of Jefferson City. The county is accusing Neumayer Equipment Company, from St. Louis, of breach of contract and negligence. The lawsuit claims that the county hired Neumayer to install
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Former Fulton Assistant Fire Chief Todd Gray has accused the City of Fulton of age discrimination in a lawsuit that was filed on Wednesday in Callaway County. Court documents say that Gray was first a volunteer firefighter for eight years, beginning in 1994, before being hired full-time as a firefighter in April
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) Following testimonies from neighbors and her own children, 38-year-old murder suspect Heather Smith took to the witness stand Wednesday. Smith is accused of the 2025 deadly shooting of 37-year-old Kara Dills at Hunter Lane Apartments in April 2025. She claims the shooting was in self-defense. Smith faces charges of second-degree murder, child endangerment,
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The minor accused of stabbing another youth Tuesday night in central Columbia is in custody, according to the Columbia Police Department. CPD responded to the 200 block of Unity Drive around 5:30 p.m. and found a juvenile victim with a non-life-threatening stab wound, according to the post. The minor was arrested for
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Editor’s note: Updated court documents identify the dog rescue as the nonprofit where Stafford worked. COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A woman has been charged with a felony after she was accused of stealing money from a Jefferson City animal rescue. Stacy Stafford was charged on Monday in Cole County with stealing more than $750. A criminal
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Chinese national pleaded guilty on Tuesday to taking photographs of military equipment and installation without permission, according to a Wednesday press release from the Department of Justice. Qilin Wu, 35, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge. He was originally charged with a felony. He was accused of driving a minivan on Dec.
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COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) A Columbia doctor who was accused of sexual misconduct last fall has been charged in federal court. Dr. Jonathan Morris, who owns Columbia Urgent Care on North Providence Road, is charged with 15 counts of illegally prescribing drugs and 23 counts of health care fraud. He was indicted on April 8 and
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