Post Staff – Page 72 – St. Joseph Post Archive

Police investigate attempted home invasion

Posted on November 7, 2017November 7, 2017

St. Joseph Police are investigating after an attempted home invasion Monday night.

According to Sgt. Steve McClintick with the department, around 10:30 p.m. Monday, a suspect entered a home in the 1100 block of South 11th Street. McClintick said a resident of the house was awake and chased the unarmed suspect out of the house. Another suspect, who was outside the house, fired shots towards the house as they left in what was described as a dark colored car with tinted windows. McClintick said a structure and vehicle in the backyard were hit by gunfire, but no one was injured and nothing was taken from the house.

The suspect who entered the house was described as a white male in his late teens or early 20s and it is believed that there were two more people in the car, in addition to the suspect who shot at the house.

No one is in custody at this time and anyone with information is asked to call the TIPS Hotline at (816) 238-TIPS.

UPDATE: Death of man found in burning NE Kan. home investigated as homicide

Posted on November 7, 2017November 7, 2017

Approximate location of the fire in Douglas County-google map

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Authorities are investigating the death of a man whose body was found in a burning northeast Kansas home as a homicide.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office identified the victim Monday as 34-year-old Joel Wales, of Eudora. He was found Friday after deputies arrived at the home south of Lawrence on Friday night following reports of gunshots.

No one else was inside the home. Authorities are urging anyone with information to come forward.

———–

DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspicions death. Just after 9a.m. Friday, Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the 1100 Block of East 1200 Road to a residential fire with the sound of gunshots, according to a media release.

Due to the fire, deputies were unable to enter the house. Fire crews extinguished the blaze and found the body of a man identified as 34-year-old Joel Wales. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to deputies. There were no others found inside the home.

Deputies have not released his cause of death or what prompted the gunshots or started. Some of the roads in the area were temporarily closed Saturday. The death is considered suspicious.

Deputies released no additional information on Monday.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Douglas County Sheriff’s office.

Mostly cloudy and cool today

Posted on November 7, 2017

Patchy morning drizzle is possible this morning with temperatures 10 to 15 degrees cooler than normal. The cooler than normal temperatures will persist through the end of the week before it looks like things get back to normal. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:

Today: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 45. North northeast wind around 9 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 26. North northeast wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm after midnight.

Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 49. Light and variable wind.

Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 30. Light and variable wind becoming southwest around 5 mph after midnight.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 45. West wind 5 to 8 mph becoming north northeast in the afternoon.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 25.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 47.

Friday Night: A chance of rain after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Veterans Day: Rain likely, mainly before noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

Saturday Night: A chance of rain before midnight. Partly cloudy, with a low around 37. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Sunday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 54.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 36.

Monday: Sunny, with a high near 57.

Judge will decide fate of man convicted of killing Mo. girl

Posted on November 7, 2017

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) – A jury has been unable to reach a unanimous decision about whether to order the execution of a former middle-school football coach convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that jurors heard arguments Monday from prosecutors who urged them to order the death penalty for 49-year-old Craig Wood, whom they had convicted on Thursday of first-degree murder in the February 2014 death of Hailey Owens.

Wood shot Hailey in the back of the head after raping her. Defense attorneys said Wood would actually suffer more if he were given life in prison and had to think every day about the “unthinkable harm” he had done.

Judge Thomas Mountjoy will decide Jan. 11 whether Wood will get the death penalty or life in prison.

Death certificate: Slain NE Kansas man was shot in back by police

Posted on November 6, 2017November 6, 2017

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The death certificate for a black man killed by Topeka police in September says he died from gunshot wounds to his back.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports obtained a copy of Dominique White’s death certificate Saturday. The document isn’t a public record.

Topeka police said initially that White was shot after a struggle and that at least one shot struck his chest.

The department declined to discuss the death certificate Monday and referred questions to Lawrence police, who are investigating the shooting. Lawrence police described the investigation as “ongoing.”

Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay says his office will review the investigative report once it’s completed.

A group demanding to know what happened has been camping since Thursday in front of the law enforcement headquarters in Topeka.

Mexico arrests 2 police officers in killing of Mo. man, resident

Posted on November 6, 2017November 7, 2017

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Prosecutors in northern Mexico have charged two police officers with fatally shooting a U.S. citizen and a U.S. legal resident at a highway checkpoint near Saltillo in the border state of Coahuila.

An official in the state prosecutors’ office confirms that state police initially put out a statement claiming the Americans opened fire on officers after failing to stop at a checkpoint. But the official says contradictions in that version led investigators to test the Americans’ hands for gunpowder and none was found.

The two officers of the SWAT-style police unit are in jail awaiting arraignment on homicide charges.

The official identified the U.S. resident as Edgar Valdes Rodriguez of Kansas City, Missouri. The U.S. State Department identified the dead U.S. citizen as Demetrius Atkins, giving no hometown.

Former eastern-Kan. county jailer accused of sex crimes

Posted on November 6, 2017November 6, 2017

ANDERSON COUNTY – A former corrections officer of the Anderson County Jail was arrested by Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) agents Monday.

In a media release, the KBI reported Lexington J. Laiter, 27, was arrested at approximately 6:30 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 6, at his residence in Garnett. He was arrested for 11 counts of unlawful sexual relations and two counts of attempted unlawful sexual relations. The incidents are alleged to have occurred while Laiter was an employee at the Jail.

In January of this year, the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office requested KBI assistance to investigate allegations against Laiter. He was hired as a Jail employee in February of 2013 and was fired in December of 2016.

Following his arrest, Laiter was booked into the Osage County Jail.

Missouri woman dies after collision with deer on I-470

Posted on November 6, 2017

LEE’S SUMMIT, Mo. (AP) – Authorities say a woman has died after hitting a deer on a suburban Kansas City highway.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol identified the victim as 37-year-old Mindy Jacobs, of Blue Springs. The patrol says Jacobs’ car began to skid after she hit the deer Sunday morning on Interstate 470 in Jackson County. The patrol says the car struck a guardrail twice and overturned.

Jacobs wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was ejected. She was rushed to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Proposition 1 up for vote on Tuesday (AUDIO)

Posted on November 6, 2017November 7, 2017

The day to cast a vote on the proposed tax levy is Tuesday.

As previously reported, the St. Joseph School District Board of Education approved language for a $1.15 tax increase. The levy was placed on the November ballot without a sunset clause.

The move comes after the district’s special task force, 1Vision recommended the increase which includes a 63-cent operating levy and 52 cents via the Prop-C rollback.

Groups on both sides of the issue say they desire a healthy school district but have differing ideas on how to achieve that.

Kristi Arthur and Pat Dillon are part of Move St. Joseph Forward, a group in support of Proposition 1.

“Hopefully people realize this is happening because the 63 cents sunset several years ago,” Arthur said. “So to get that back into the operating dollars and then we’re adding 52 cents to be able to plan for the future and add teachers and do some air conditioning for some of the schools and one-to-one technology. There’s a lot of really good information in the 1Vision plan that you can find so.. Look at the 1Vision plan and you can find out what the money is going to be going to.”

Chris Danford and Eric Bruder are two former St. Joseph School District Board of Education members. Danford and Bruder are part of Support A Better SJSD, a group in opposition to Proposition 1.

Danford said a no vote is not against students or the school, but against the current plan. Danford said if Proposition 1 does not pass on Tuesday, the next step is to go back to the drawing board and come up with another plan.

“We can get there (to having a healthy school district) if we’re intentional about how we’re going to get there. This plan is very vague. Let’s be intentional, let’s focus on student achievement… We need to address teacher’s salaries, we need to address those class sizes, we need to look at that operating expenses, what is truly needed, it isn’t $1.15,” Danford said. “We need to look at pulling those capital expenses out but then you have to have a facilities plan. That doesn’t happen overnight, it’s going to take some time.”

Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. For more information about Election Day and to view sample ballots, click here.

Find the full interviews with 680 KFEQ’s Barry Birr on the Hotline below:

Police: Kan. man admits he was responsible for racist graffiti on his car

Posted on November 6, 2017

This image shows only a portion of the graffiti Photo courtesy Andrew Hammond

MANHATTAN, KAN. – Law enforcement authorities released new details in the case of racist graffiti found on a vehicle in Manhattan.

On November 1, police were called to the 2200 block of Claflin Road regarding a parked vehicle in an area apartment complex that had been defaced with racist graffiti and a threat.

During the course of the investigation, the owner of the vehicle, Dauntarius Williams, 21, of Manhattan, admitted to investigators that he was responsible for the graffiti.

This admission led to a series of conversations between the Riley County Police Department Director Brad Schoen and the Riley County Attorney Barry Wilkerson.

Director Schoen and County Attorney Wilkerson concluded that despite having filed a false report, the filing of criminal charges against Williams for having done so would not be in the best interests of the citizens who comprise the Manhattan community.

For his part, Williams was genuinely remorseful and expressed sincere regret that his actions had resulted in the negative media attention that resulted.

“I would like to deeply apologize to the community. The whole situation got out of hand when it shouldn’t have even started. It was just a Halloween prank that got out of hand. I wish I could go back to that night but I can’t. I just want to apologize from the bottom of my heart for the pain and news I have brought you all,” Williams said.

RCPD recognizes the difficulties this case created in the community and the emotions that matters of this nature bring to the surface. While the community response to the incident was warranted based on the information available at the time, the facts are now different than previously reported. We want to encourage everyone to take a moment to reflect on this new information. We hope the community will remain vigilant, engaged and concerned for the safety and wellbeing of our fellow citizens.

“While Williams’ mistake had a decidedly negative impact on the community, please recognize that he, like many of us when we were young, is a young man who made a mistake and is now doing his best to own up to it,” Director Schoen said.