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Former President Harry Truman remembered today; it’s a Missouri and county holiday

May 8, 2023 By Brian Hauswirth

Harry S. Truman Presidential LIbrary (file Photo: Jon Kraft / Shutterstock)

Most of Jefferson City’s approximately 14,000 state employees are off today, to celebrate former President Harry Truman’s birthday. It is a state and county holiday, and Jefferson City offices will be closed as well today. Columbia city offices are open today, according to city spokeswoman Sydney Olsen. The Boone and Cole County Courthouses are closed today, due to the holiday.

Harry Truman was born 139 years ago today in southwest Missouri’s Lamar, in 1884. The nation’s 33^rd president was vice president in 1945 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died.

President Truman implemented the Marshall Plan to help rebuild western Europe’s economy after World War II, and he also began the Truman Doctrine. President Truman served as our nation’s 33^rd president, from 1945 to 1953. He fought for health care while in office, and then-President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare bill at the Truman Presidential Library in Independence in 1965.

Truman’s birthday is one of Missouri’s 13 official state holidays.

UPDATE: No bond for Columbia man who reportedly is person of interest in homicide

May 5, 2023 By Brian Hauswirth

28-year-old Deazjon Brown remains jailed without bond in Boone County (mug shot courtesy of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department website)

A Columbia man charged with a March drive-by shooting incident is also a person of interest in another major crime, according to our news partner KMIZ.

ABC-17’s Nia Hinson was at the Boone County Courthouse for 28-year-old Deazjon Brown’s initial arraignment for the drive-by incident, and Nia reports court documents say Brown is also a person of interest in a homicide and “multiple recent shootings.”

Hinson reports the court documents do not indicate which homicide they’re referencing.

Brown is currently charged with unlawful use of a weapon, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm for the March 14 drive-by shots fired incident at Mystic Pine townhomes near Mexico Gravel road.

Columbia’s Menggi Ji murder case profiled in national podcast

April 25, 2023 By Brian Hauswirth

Convicted killer Joseph Elledge is serving a 28-year prison sentence for second degree murder (March 2022 photo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Corrections website)

A popular national podcast has profiled the 2019 Columbia case of a Columbia man convicted of killing his wife and burying her in Rock Bridge state park.

This week’s “Crime Junkie” podcast has profiled the murder of Menggi Ji. 27-year-old Joseph Elledge is serving a 28-year prison sentence for second degree murder, and is appealing his conviction. The appeal is still pending. Ellege is currently incarcerated at the maximum-security Southeast Correctional Center in Charleston, which is south of Cape Girardeau.

The late Boone County prosecutor Dan Knight said this case highlighted his commitment to stopping domestic violence. Defense attorney Scott Rosenblum told jurors this was never a murder case. He describes the death as a tragic accident, not a murder.

The 2021 trial took 11 days, and the jury worked a 17-hour day on Veterans Day. That included the penalty phase. 939 the Eagle News was at the Boone County Courthouse for all 11 days of the trial. The closing arguments were intense and emotional. Prosecutor Knight told jurors that Elledge was a bully and killer and deserved no mercy. Counselor Rosenblum told jurors that Knight had no real evidence.

Guilty plea in high-profile Columbia fraternity hazing case; two felony charges dropped with plea deal

April 25, 2023 By Brian Hauswirth

22-year-old Thomas Shultz of Chesterfield must serve 30 days in the Boone County jail, under Judge Jeff Harris’ April 24, 2023 order (April 2023 mug shot courtesy of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department website)

A former Mizzou fraternity member has pleaded guilty to supplying liquor to former Mizzou student Danny Santulli during a high-profile 2021 incident in Columbia.

22-year-old Thomas Shultz of Chesterfield has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of supplying liquor to a minor or intoxicated person. Boone County prosecutors dropped two felony charges in return for the misdemeanor guilty plea. Those felonies were hazing and tampering with physical evidence. Schultz was taken out of the Boone County Courthouse in handcuffs and then booked into the Boone County jail.

Online court records show Santulli’s family told Boone County Circuit Judge Jeff Harris that they support the plea agreement. Judge Harris has sentenced Shultz to 30 days in the Boone County jail and 100 hours of community service work. Shultz will also be required to complete an in-person alcohol and drug education program.

Santulli’s family members say that he’s blind and unable to walk, after the hazing incident.

Meantime, with less than three weeks to go in Missouri’s legislative session, a bill aimed at keeping something like this from happening again has yet to receive a House hearing. State Rep. Travis Smith (R-Twin Bridges) has filed House Bill 240, which says any person who renders aid to a hazing victim or is the first to call 911 or campus security is immune from prosecution. Representative Smith has told 939 the Eagle that he wants to ensure that a situation like Danny Santulli’s never happens again.

UPDATE: Ameren Missouri clears downtown Columbia gas leak

March 9, 2023 By Brian Hauswirth

Columbia’s fire chief says Ameren Missouri has controlled the natural gas leak that happened on Ninth street this morning.

Fire chief Clayton Farr Jr. tells 939 the Eagle that the leak led the self-evacuations of the Boone County Courthouse and the nearby Roger Wilson Government Center. The chief says both buildings are now re-occupied. No injuries are reported.

THIS IS THE ORIGINAL STORY FROM THIS MORNING:

Columbia’s fire chief says the Boone County Courthouse and nearby Roger Wilson Government Center have both self-evacuated this morning, due to an active natural gas leak on Ninth street.

Chief Clayton Farr Jr. tells 939 the Eagle that the natural gas leak is adjacent to the government building.

Chief Farr says the buildings self-evacuated out of an abundance of caution. He emphasizes that there are no injuries and that no gas has been detected in either building.