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Life in prison for murder of five year old during kidnapping and police chase

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Marcas McGowan
Marcas McGowan

A northeast Kansas man has been sentenced to life without parole for kidnapping his girlfriend’s 5-year-old daughter and shooting the child to death during a police chase.

Thirty-two-year-old Marcas McGowan of Atchison was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison plus a consecutive ten year term. McGowan pleaded guilty in May to kidnapping resulting in death, and to discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.

He declined to address the judge during his sentencing hearing Tuesday in Kansas City, Kansas.

Authorities say McGowan abducted Cadence Harris on July 18, 2014, after arguing with her mother at their home.

During a chase that followed the argument, McGowan fired at police and fatally shot the girl. Authorities pursued him into neighboring Missouri before he crashed through a barricade near Leavenworth, Kansas.

McGowan was injured by gunfire in a gunfight with police. Afterward they discovered the body of the dead five-year-old, who had been fatally shot at close range.

Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson was appointed as a special assistant U.S. attorney to help with the federal case.  Thompson said McGowan was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for the kidnapping charge, and an additional 10-year sentence for the firearms charge.

 

 

 

Water park will permanently shut down Verruckt water slide after boy’s death

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Verruckt at SchlitterbahnsThe Kansas City water park where a 10-year-old boy died this summer in a water slide accident announced Tuesday that it is permanently closing the water slide.

In a statement, Schlitterbahn said once the investigation is concluded and the court grants permission, they will shut down Verrückt.

“Verrückt will be decommissioned – closed permanently and the slide removed from the tower,” the statement said. “In our opinion, it is the only proper course of action following this tragedy. We will, at some point in the future, announce what will be built in its place.”

Caleb Schwab was killed in August at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City after he suffered a fatal neck injury while riding the Verrückt.  The attraction was billed as  “the world’s tallest water slide.”

In the statement, the company said it will continue “…to fully cooperate with investigative teams and work with the families, their attorneys and our staff impacted by this accident.”

Here’s the entire statement from the park’s Facebook page:

“All of us at Schlitterbahn have been heartbroken over the tragedy that occurred on Verrückt. In our 50 years of providing an environment for families and friends to gather, we’ve never experienced this kind of devastating event. The safety of our staff and our guests is our top priority. We are parents and grandparents ourselves and many of us have ridden Verrückt with our own children and grandchildren over the years it operated.

Once the investigation is concluded and we are given permission by the court, Verrückt will be decommissioned – closed permanently and the slide removed from the tower. In our opinion, it is the only proper course of action following this tragedy.

We will, at some point in the future, announce what will be built in its place.

We continue to fully cooperate with investigative teams and work with the families, their attorneys and our staff impacted by this accident. As we move forward, we assure everyone who works for us and the community: we remain wholly committed to our Kansas City park and the original vision of Schlitterbahn – providing a great place to work and an environment for families and friends to gather together.”

Missouri G.M. plant the backbone of highly touted new truck

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gm-wentzville-plant-300x147(Missourinet) – A Missouri General Motors plant is building a vehicle the company is touting as being in a segment by itself.

The Chevy Colorado ZR-2 is being marketed as a pick-up truck which excels in all off-road applications while providing the refinement and comfort needed for everyday commuting.

Jessica Rogers with Chevrolet says G.M.’s Wentzville operation near St. Louis has been instrumental in delivering the popular Colorado to dealerships. “This was a vehicle that nobody saw coming” said Rogers. “People doubted us from the beginning about reentering the mid-size pick-up market. And that team there at Wentzville, they’ve been cranking out every Colorado that they can build. We’re now under a 40 day supply and selling them as fast as we can get them to dealership.”

Early last year, a third shift and 750 new jobs were added to the Wentzville plant to meet anticipated demand for new pick-up trucks. A fourth shift was later added to allow the facility to operate six days a week and on overtime.

Rogers notes the Wentzville plant is the only operation which assembles the popular Colorado model. “We are on pace to build and sell 100,000 Colorado’s this year. When the ZR-2 is added, it will be a portion of that production. We’re planning on judging consumer demand for the take rate on the ZR-2. But right now our estimates are looking to be about ten percent of overall production.”

After the great recession threatened the existence of GM and its Wentzville plant as recently as seven years ago, the facility now employs more than 4,500 people, with about 4,300 of them union assembly line workers. The company invested $380 million in 2011 for the launch of the new mid-size pickup at Wentzville. Including that expenditure, G.M.’s spent a total of more than $600 million on the facility.

Rogers with says the Wentzville operation has been instrumental in the Colorado model’s success. “One of the great accomplishments of that team down there in Wentzville is that they brought home the Motor Trend Truck of the Year as back to back wins for the Chevy Colorado. We’re very thankful to them and very proud of everybody that works there.” The model received the award over the past two years.

G.M. claims the economic impact of the Wentzville plant on Missouri is $425 million in wages and 16.9 million in payroll taxes. It claims its hourly and salaried employees have raised more than $150,000 to support local charities, including an award of $100,000 in Plant City grants to nine community organizations.

St. Joseph woman plans to buy home with lottery winnings and Lathrop family wins $250,000

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Two families in northwest Missouri have won big prizes on scratchers.

The Missouri Lottery said Carolyn Williams, 50 of St. Joseph purchased a winning $100,000 scratcher on Veteran’s Day at Roger’s Green Hills Supermarket in St. Joseph.

“I’ll usually buy a couple of tickets out of the machine as I’m walking out of the store,” said Williams, while claiming her prize on Nov. 14.

Williams purchased two $5 Scratchers tickets, loaded her groceries in her car and played her “$100,000 Bonanza” ticket while still in the parking lot.

“I didn’t win on the first ticket, but when I played the other one I scratched a ‘5X’ symbol. I kept scratching and scratching and saw all those zeros and just started screaming right there in the car,” said Williams. “I about had a wreck driving over to my daughter’s house.”

With her $100,000 prize, the life-long renter said she plans to begin the process of purchasing her very first home.

A family in Lathrop also won big in November on a scratcher.  The Missouri Lottery said Steven Huett, 69 claimed a $250,000 prize on Nov. 14 on a scratcher ticket he bought at the Fast Break, located at 101 Center Street in Lathrop.

“I have three children and eight grandchildren. We are going to have a very merry, merry Christmas,” said Huitt.

Teen arraigned after Sprint Store burglary

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TUT, SEBIT ANTER
TUT, SEBIT ANTER

A St. Joseph teenager made his first court appearance Tuesday in connection with the alleged burglary of a Sprint store.

Sebit Tut, 17 is charged in Buchanan County with a felony for burglary.

According to court documents, officers with the St. Joseph Police Department responded Sunday shortly after 4 a.m. to a burglary alarm at the Sprint store located at 3715 Frederick.

Det. Greg Ogdahl said in the probable cause statement that an officer located Tut running from the area of the alarm.

“The suspect tossed two cell phones that were stolen from the building as he ran from officers,” Ogdahl said. “Entry was gained to the building by breaking a window.”

As we previously reported, officers arrested a 17-year-old and two juveniles in connection with a burglary Sunday morning at the Sprint Store on Frederick.

Tut appeared by video conference Tuesday morning for an arraignment. He’s scheduled for a preliminary hearing for Dec. 9.  Tut is currently being held on $10,000 bail.

 

 

Bankers Crossing down to one lane Wednesday morning

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Bankers Crossing Photo Courtesy Google Earth
Bankers Crossing
Photo Courtesy Google Earth

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – At approximately 7 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016, Bankers Crossing Bridge on U.S. Route 59 south of St. Joseph will be narrowed to one lane as crews work on the northern edge of the bridge.

A traffic signal will be in place to guide motorists through the work zone. The bridge is expected to reopen to two-way traffic around noon that same day.

Domestic assaults lead to 13-year prison term

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Robert Earl Miller
Robert Earl Miller

A 53-year-old Leavenworth man was ordered to serve more than 13 years in prison for a pair of assaults with a baseball bat.

Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson says Robert Earl Miller pleaded guilty as charged to two felony counts of aggravated battery and one count of domestic battery on Oct. 19, 2016, in Leavenworth County District Court.

Judge Gunnar Sundby sentenced Miller to 162 months in prison due to his criminal history and the severity level of the offense.

The Leavenworth County Attorney’s Office filed charges following an incident on March 10, 2016. Officers were called to Miller’s girlfriend’s home after he shoved his girlfriend into a piece of furniture. A friend of the woman responded to the home to help. Miller beat the friend over the head with a baseball bat causing her to need multiple staples in her scalp. Miller also hit a minor with the baseball bat. The minor was uninjured. Miller fled from the scene before officers arrived.

Thompson urges anyone who is a victim of these acts to reach out for help.

Spat escalates over spending of hotel/motel tax funds on downtown CVB facility

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st-joseph-missouri-cvb-logoA spat is escalating over how funds from the city’s hotel/motel tax can be spent.

On Monday, the president of the Hotel Lodging Association of St. Joseph threatened to withhold support for renewal of the tax because the city appears reluctant to help the Convention and Visitors Bureau pay for a new downtown headquarters.

In a letter to the mayor, the city manager and the city clerk, Brandon Lee Wilson asserted that the new CVB facility “will be of significant help in expanding tourism in St. Joseph, in boosting our city’s economic development.”

“It will help our business and it will help our city,” Wilson said in the letter. Wilson is also Director of Sales for the Holiday Inn Express & Suites and the Candlewood Suites.

He pointed out the association’s support in the successful campaign to expand the tax to 6% in 2011. But he added that if the council and administration do not agree on the new facility, there would be no reason for the group to support renewal of the tax when it expires.

“If we receive no benefit from a tax we collect, it would seem logical to oppose continuation,” Wilson said.

The ballot language of the 2011 tax increase stated that revenue would be used for the “purpose of funding the promotion of tourism and convention facilities including capital expenditures.” But opponents argue that the campaign language used to help pass the tax increase urged spending on improvements on the riverfront area.

Council Member Ken Beck supports the Convention and Visitors Bureau’s request for $300,000 to help pay for the new center. He says the ballot language is clear as to how the money should be spent.

There are other requests for funds being considered by the city, including an effort to remodel Felix Street Square. Half of the tax supports the Missouri Theater and the St. Joseph Civic Arena. There are also renewed discussions about moving the casino downtown.

The City Legal Department is looking into the matter, trying to decide if tax funds from outside the downtown area can be used to fund construction of the CVB’s new facility.

Showers and thunderstorms in the forecast

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weather-11-22Several rounds of showers and an isolated thunderstorm will be likely today and tonight. A few light showers may even persist into tomorrow morning. Most areas will receive between one-quarter to half an inch of rain with this system. Temperatures today will range from near 50 across north central Missouri to the upper 50s across east central Kansas and west central Missouri. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:

Today: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 11 a.m, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. Cloudy, with a high near 55. Southeast wind 11 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Tonight: Showers and thunderstorms likely before midnight, then a chance of showers. Cloudy, with a low around 44. Southeast wind 6 to 10 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 46. Northwest wind 9 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 31. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming calm after midnight.

Thanksgiving Day: Mostly sunny, with a high near 53. Calm wind becoming south southeast 5 to 8 mph in the morning.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 34.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 53.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 34.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 57.

Saturday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 40.

Sunday: A chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 58. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Sunday Night: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 36. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 49.

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