The man charged after an 11-hour standoff at the Motel Six in St. Joseph last year will have to wait until November to have his case heard before a jury.

Roderick Ellis, 44 of St. Joseph is charged with felonies for kidnapping, domestic assault, two counts of armed criminal action and assault or attempted assault on a law enforcement officer. The charges stem from an incident that took place in October. He’s accused of kidnapping a St Joseph woman, forcing her at gunpoint to drive her to the motel, and then, when she cried for help, shooting her in the arm.

Investigators said he then forced the woman into a room at the motel for more than 11 hours. The standoff prompted evacuations and lockdowns, as well as business and highway closures.

A Jury Trial was scheduled Monday in front of Judge Patrick Robb for Nov. 1 at 9 a.m.  Until then Ellis remains behind bars without bond.

An effort to try and prevent traffic fatalities among teens led to a little driving safety education Friday as students at Bishop LeBlond High School got a chance to get hands-on with ER equipment.

Shannon Hutcherson works in the Trauma Department at Mosaic Life Care and said she was on hand Friday to talk to students about being safe behind the wheel.

“We’re providing education to the students regarding wearing their safety belts, distracted driving, driving under the influence and what could happen to them in the instance they choose to do that,” Hutchersons said. “We’ve brought some different education pieces, some equipment we would use in the ER in order to help save their life if something horrible was to happen. Let them get hands-on and see that equipment and ask questions.”

The event was part of an ongoing campaign called “It Only Takes One.” Save Mo Lives said that Traffic Crashes are the leading cause of death for youth age 15 to 20 in Missouri, accounting for nearly 13.2 percent of traffic fatalities during the last three years.

Stephanie Malita is with the St. Joseph Health Department and says for the first time every high school in St. Joseph is taking part in the “It Only Takes One” campaign.

“It used to be known as Battle of the Belt. The focus then was really just on seat belt use and it was a great program but we wanted to expand it in a couple of ways,” Malita said. “We wanted to address more than just seat belt issues and we wanted to make it a longer program. When it was Battle of the Belt it was just a 6 to 8 week long program in the fall. Now that it’s been expanded to ‘It Only Takes One’ it’s throughout the whole school year there are different programs that go on.”

Malita said there are different parts to the program.

“Schools have to sign up through the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety and through MoDOT and part of the program is twice a year. They do a baseline seatbelt check and then after some education has been done go back and do a seatbelt check again,” Malita said. “But in-between you need to do some education and that’s what we’re doing here today.”

Hutcherson said she sees first-hand that the results of individuals who buckle-up and get in a crash are very different then one’s who don’t.

“It is a safety mechanism and it is required to be worn to help save a life,” Hutcherson said. “Make smart decisions, wear your seat belt, don’t text and drive, don’t drink and drive, be smart about it. Driving is a very huge responsibility.”

A man accused of playing a part in the stabbing death of a St. Joseph man found dumped in the Platte River last April entered an unexpected plea of guilty during a jury trial Wednesday.

A murder trial began Tuesday for Primalton Peterson, 23 of St. Joseph.  

Buchanan County Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins said the jury had been selected and witnesses had been scheduled when Peterson unexpectedly indicated to his lawyer that he wished to plead guilty.

Peterson pleaded guilty to all of the charges against him, including the lessor included offense of second-degree murder (correct), armed criminal action, and abandonment of a corpse. This was not a plea agreement.

Judge Daniel Kellogg scheduled sentencing March 7.

Peterson and two others were charged with stabbing Richard Berry to death and dumping Berry’s body in the third fork of the Platte River where he was later found.

Also charged were Kelli Hoard, 44 of Elwood, Kan. and Sean Liechti, 25 of St. Joseph.  Hoard pleaded guilty in October to a charge of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.  Leichti also pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Scroggins said Peterson could face 10-30 or life for the count of first-degree murder with a required 85-percent of the sentence served before he would be eligible for parole, 3 to an unlimited number of years for armed criminal action and one day to a maximum of four years on the charge of abandonment of a corpse.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled is scheduled for March 7th.

The St. Joseph Police Department is promoting an app with the hope of keeping neighborhoods a little safer.

Sgt. Greg Gilpin said he recently started promoting an app called Nextdoor.

“It’s kind of a way for a neighborhood to set up a webpage for just their group.  They get on their address and they literally draw the boundaries for their group and only people who live within those boundaries can join their group,” Gilpin said. “Once they do it’s a way for neighbors to communicate about what’s going on.”

The website claims its app is a way to find a last-minute babysitter, learn about an upcoming block party or hear about a rash of car break-ins.

“It’s just a way for information to get passed around your area,” Gilpin said. “It’s kind of like a Facebook page just for your area.  Because once you get the boundaries set only the people in the boundaries you set are allowed to participate.”

One neighborhood watch group in St. Joseph has already started using the app.

“The Bartlett group, they meet over at the Huffman church,” Gilpin said. “The leader of that group her relatives are actually in law enforcement and they helped her set it up.”

Gilpin adds that residents should still contact police to report a crime but that the app is a great way to stay connected and know what’s going on in your community.

“If they’ve had a recent rash of thefts or some car break-ins and they’ve seen a certain car or person loitering around the area they can put that out to the group,” Gilpin said.

Gilpin said he hopes more neighborhood watch groups will try out the app.

 

One local couple has big plans for shipping and receiving in St. Joseph.

Kim and Rhonda Blaylock are opening up a new store called Goin’ Postal which is a franchise for shipping and receiving.

“We think it’s a business that this city needs,” Kim said. “Where are you going to go and drop off a FedEx package except these boxes that are around town?”

Rhonda said they will offer DHL (international shipping), UPS, FedEx and regular postal services as well as other business related services. They said they will also offer mailbox rentals.

The business is going into 1/3rd of the old Leibowitz building in East Ridge Village.

The Blaylocks said they hope to be open for business by mid-March. Kim said after they open store hours will be Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

A helping hand is being sought by Hillcrest Transitional Housing.

Shannen White is the Director of Hillcrest and said the agency is looking for volunteers to do some handy work.

“We have a huge need right now with people that are just handy and want to do some hands-on volunteering down at the apartments,” White said. “All of our apartments are completely renovated and ready for families and we just have some little maintenance issues in some of them that we need to address and so the need for volunteers right now is vital. Even if you don’t have a lot of maintenance skills this is stuff that can be taught very easily.”

White said the work covers a wide-range of to-do’s

“We have a need for changing furnace filters, for changing out the batteries in the smoke alarms, installing handrails in the bathrooms just some very minor stuff that we need to get done,” White said.

Hillcrest Transitional Housing is a 90 day program that helps transition people out of homelessness.

“We help transition those suffering from severe poverty and homelessness into a state of self-sufficiency which means completely self-sufficient and off of government assistance, working full-time and being a productive citizen of St. Joseph, Missouri,” White said.

Currently, Hillcrest has 21 units, 19 of those units are used for families. White said just in 2015 the organization made a big difference.

“We graduated 22 adults and 33 children from homelessness to self-sufficiency, so the huge impacts that that has on our community of taking families out of poverty and into a position where they’re working full-time, shopping locally and giving back to our community is huge,” White said “Not only that but we’re also decreasing generation poverty where we can actually say we’re breaking that cycle and helping children in the long-term.”

White said she hopes to get a pool of people who can help with maintenance issues by the end of January.

“Just so that we can be at full capacity and be utilizing every single apartment by the end of this month. It’s been a goal of mine personally to get every apartment up and running so we can help more families become self-sufficient,” she said.

If someone wants to volunteer White said to give her a call at Hillcrest at (816) 351-5774.