Nadia Thacker – Page 48 – St. Joseph Post Archive

Man confesses to killing wife in northwest Missouri almost 10 years later

Posted on January 12, 2016January 13, 2016

After nearly a decade a Kentucky man had confessed to killing his wife when they lived in northwest Missouri.

Samuel H. Borntreger, 39 was charged Sunday in Harrison County with a felony for first-degree murder stemming from an incident that took place in 2006.

“I got a phone call Sunday from a deputy advising that he had got a phone call from a sheriff’s office in Kentucky about an Amish man coming in and confessing to murdering his wife back in 2006 here in Harrison County,”said Sheriff Josh Eckerson with the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office.

According to court documents Samuel Borntreger admitted to deputies in Ken. to killing his then wife Anna Borntreger sometimes between Nov. and Dec. of 2006.

“Samuel admitted to giving antifreeze in her drinks,”said Sheriff Eckerson. “Samuel admitted to giving Anna battery acid up her rectum twice in one day. Samuel admitted to giving Anna the antifreeze and acid to kill her.”

Anna’s body was exhumed Tuesday from an Amish cemetery in northwest Missouri.

“She was taken down to Kansas City to a medical examiners office where they will run some tests and let us know in fact have any signs of any of that in any of her system. Hair, bone-marrow, any of her tissue,” Eckerson said.

Eckerson said Borntreger recently became a minister.

“He came forward because he said he wanted to get it off his chest, it was weighing heavy on his mind,” Eckerson said.

Prior to moving to Kentucky Borntreger was part of the Amish community in northwest Missouri and was a well-known cabinet maker.

Borntreger is scheduled for an arraignment in Harrison County for Jan. 20.

$50,000 lottery ticket sold at Pappy’s

Posted on January 12, 2016

Someone who bought a ticket at Pappy’s Grill & Pub in St. Joseph is now $50,000 richer.

Pappy’s Co-Owner Michelle Margulies said a Missouri Lottery Official notified the store Monday that someone who bought a ticket for Saturday’s drawing matched four out of five balls and the Powerball to win $50,000.

“We’re just so excited, mostly because we know pretty much everyone that comes in,” Marquiles said.

She said they’re just waiting for someone to come in and whisper that they’re the ones who won it.

The ticket was purchased at Pappy’s sometime between Thursday and Saturday.

As of 9:30 Tuesday morning the winner had not yet come forward.

Northwest and Maryville Chamber team up to offer workplace learning

Posted on January 10, 2016January 8, 2016

MARYVILLE, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University, in conjunction with the Maryville Chamber of Commerce, invites students and employees, as well as the public, to a series of learning opportunities featuring presenters discussing topics such as professionalism, job performance, leadership, unconscious bias, nutrition, customer service and dealing with change.

Northwest will host eight presentations this spring for area professionals. Each presentation costs $25 forMaryville Chamber of Commerce members or $40 for non-members. Registration is available online atwww.nwmissouri.edu/hr/community/.

The presentations are free to Northwest students and employees as part of the University’s Career Pathing program, which provides professional development opportunities to students interested in advancing to new levels of pay and responsibility.

All presentations are 60 or 90 minutes long and take place in the J.W. Jones Student Union Ballroom. More information about each session appears below.

For more information, contact Northwest’s Office of Human Resources at 660.562.1140 or email Paula McLain, coordinator of student employment at Northwest, at [email protected].

“Passport to Professionalism”

Presented by Northwest Career Services
Thursday, Jan. 21: 11 a.m. or 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)

Employers want student employees, interns and new hires to know and understand basic professional workplace skills. While supervisors and faculty genuinely care about their students and employees and want them to flourish, they simply don’t have the time to do the necessary training. Passport to Professionalism offers a solution.

Career Services will introduce Passport’s modules, which are designed around topics of ethical behavior, communication, teamwork, cultural sensitivity, professional etiquette and more.

“Mind the Gap”

Presented by Karel Murray, motivational humorist, business strategy consultant and author
Monday, Feb. 1: 10 a.m., 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. (60 minutes)
www.karel.com

In Europe, stepping on to a subway is preceded by a recorded warning, “Mind the gap.” This concept is perfect for the process of addressing gaps in performance and information that arises when we become too busy to pay attention to details. Now, more than ever, we are faced with working with a highly diverse range of people and we can no longer afford to operate in an information vacuum and expect to achieve measurable results.

This program is designed to help you confidently bridge the gap between generations by applying that knowledge to your everyday interactions. Create powerful, meaningful connections with the consumer and your peers.

“Think Inside the Box: Leading Change by Leading Perspectives”

Presented by Steven Iwersen, ambition expert, speaker and author
Wednesday, Feb. 10: 11 a.m., 2 p.m. or 4 p.m. (60 minutes)
www.steveniwersen.com

The adventurous, the risk takers, the leaders in our world have little-to-no hesitation when it comes to trying new things. They have a bring-it-on attitude and want the rest of the world to follow. However, the percentage of people who live on the edge is small compared to those who want to play it safe. Push them to do what is uncomfortable or unfamiliar and they will resist change.

This presentation will inspire and encourage individuals and leaders to develop their natural creative abilities and an innovative mindset. Steven Iwersen demonstrates how to avoid popular thinking and activate shared thinking, how confidence is the result of comfort and that personal success starts with what is already in the box.

“Dancing with the Stars Life & Leadership Hacks”

Presented by Brandon White, national motivational speaker and trainer
Tuesday, March 1: 11 a.m., 2 p.m. or 4 p.m. (90 minutes)
www.brandonleewhite.com

Inspirational speaker and professional ballroom dance instructor Brandon White brings his nationally acclaimed program to move the audience both physically and inspirationally. Participants will laugh as they watch brave participants “own” opportunities on stage. Moving stories and practical lessons will help you communicate and lead with confidence. You will even have a chance to learn ballroom dance moves.

This presentations has been seen by thousands of people throughout the country, including Alaska and Hawaii.

“So You’ve Got Something Stuck in Your Teeth? Addressing Unconscious Bias

Presented by Steve Bryant, director of multicultural student success at Northwest
Monday, March 14: 11 a.m., 2 p.m. or 4 p.m. (60 minutes)

That moment when you look in the mirror and realize you have had a giant piece of food stuck in your teeth since lunch, which was four hours ago. Do you become ashamed? Do you feel angry or frustrated that no one told you? How would you have felt if someone had that conversation with you?

We all have experienced this, just as we all experience and exhibit unconscious bias on a daily basis. This session will explore unconscious bias, how it shows up in our lives and how we can become conscious about it.

“What’s the Use: Food Labels and MyPlate”

Presented by Kendra Quick, dietitian for Northwest Campus Dining
Thursday, March 31: 9:30 a.m., 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. (60 minutes)

Multiple nutrition tools have been developed for consumers, based on decades of research. This informational session will help individuals recognize the evolution and developmental purpose of nutrition guides for the public, identify components of a food label with literary and numerical understanding, and discuss the nutritional approach of MyPlate for direct application toward a healthier lifestyle.

“Give the Customer Service You Want to Receive”

Michelle Drake, human resources generalist in Northwest’s Office of Human Resources
Wednesday, April 13: 9 a.m., noon or 3 p.m. (60 minutes)

Ever had a bad customer service experience? Ever walked away feeling irritated and unwanted? There is never another chance to make a good first impression. Learn some of the best customer service tricks to put you on top in the world of customer service.

“Change Happens! How to Deal with Change ( … When You Didn’t Choose It)”

Presented by Kathleen M. Randall and Jack C. Randall, Randall Resources Int’l
Tuesday, April 19: 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)
www.randallresourcesint.com

What used to be an occasional adjustment has now become a daily occurrence. How do you look at change when it’s not your idea? Do you have options when change happens? And do you have a choice to accept or reject it?

Throughout life, you will be required to make decisions regarding change. Those changes will bring reactions and emotions that can cause you to succeed or fail. Do you have the skills to adapt or engage in situations you didn’t choose? And how do you know if a change is an opportunity or a nightmare?

Join Kathleen and Jack as they discuss understanding the emotions that come with change, identifying your options in the midst of change and learning to see your potential within any change.

Chamber hosts 96th banquet

Posted on January 9, 2016January 9, 2016

The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet was held Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016. The 96th Annual Banquet, which serves as an annual meeting for Chamber members, was held at the St. Joseph Civic Arena and was presented by Commerce Bank. More than 800 attended the event, which had a James Bond theme of “Casino Royale: An Evening in Monte Carlo.”

The Civic Arena was decorated to fit the theme. The Griffey School for the Arts and the Dance Arts Center provided entertainment and gaming tables were provided by Moila Wrecking Crew. The evening was emceed by James Bond, as portrayed by Jeremy Eaton of the Griffey School for the Arts.

The program included a year in review video, which noted highlights from 2015, as well as a brief preview of plans for 2016. Some of the main points from the video include:

· 2015 was a record-breaking year, full of accomplishments and accolades including being named Chamber of the Year by the Missouri State Chamber of Commerce and Industry, receiving 5-star accreditation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the second-straight five year period and adding 300 new members to reach the 1,200 member mark for the organization’s first time;

· The Chamber launched programs focused on concentrated member groups including Cup of Joe for entrpreneurs, Circle of Influence for lead generation and Women’s Leadership Group for female business leaders;

· The St. Joseph economy saw many companies grow and invest in 2015:

Daily’s Premium Meats, a meat processing company, began construction on a a new 100,000 square foot facility. It will hire 212 employees during its first five years of operation. This is a capital investment of $41.5 million to $46.5 million.

Sealed Air announced an investment of $45 million and the future creation of jobs that will pay in excess of $20 an hour.

F&H Food Equipment purchased 2 acres in Eastowne Business Park and began construction on an 8,000 square foot building with an estimated capital investment of $817,000.

Details of all of these projects and more were highlighted in the 2015 Annual Report, which was provided

to all attendees and is on the Chamber’s website, www.saintjoseph.com

To see the Year in Review video, as well as two other videos shown at the banquet, please visit the Chamber’s website and click on the Video Center.

The meeting was the ceremonial changing of the guard for officers. Todd Meierhoffer, of Meierhoffer Funeral Home and Crematory, was honored as the Chairman of the Board for 2015. Stet Schanze, of Gray Manufacturing Co. Inc., is the 2015 Chairman.

Museum offers course on document preservation

Posted on January 9, 2016January 8, 2016

Documents stored in archival safe boxes. Andrew County Museum, Savannah, Missouri. Photo courtesy Andrew County Museum — Documents stored in archival safe boxes.
Andrew County Museum, Savannah, Missouri. Photo courtesy Andrew County Museum

The Andrew County Museum wants to teach people how to preserve their paper histories.

Curator of Collections, Brittany Venturella plans to shares basic information on how to preserve paper documents; that includes information on how temperature and sunlight can impact family treasures.

“Andrew County Museum provides fee-based genealogy and historical research services; in tandem with this service we work to educate people on how to preserve their family documents,” said Cathy Campbell Museum Director. “Visitors are often unaware about how collections are managed, this is a format for the Curator of Collections to bring insight to the public on this topic.”

The presentation will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16th at the Andrew County Museum located at 202 E. Duncan Drive. The course is free and open to the public. Call 816-324-4720 for more information.

Man accused of supplying alcohol to youth in Amish community

Posted on January 8, 2016January 8, 2016

A man has been arrested and charged in Livingston County for supplying alcohol to minors after a large party in July.

Michael Yutzy, 22, Jamesport is charged with two misdemeanors for supplying liquor to a minor.

According to the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office it began an investigation of a large alcohol related youth party in July 2015 that was located in a remote area in northwest Livingston County. The dozens if not hundreds of youth were trespassing on private property and left a large amount of trash behind. Investigation suggested much of the intoxicating beverages were provided by one man who purchased 5 kegs of beer.

Read previous story here.

This investigation involved several in the area Amish community and the LCSO worked with the Daviess County Sheriff and the Amish community elders. Evidence was collected and submitted to the Missouri State Highway Patrol Crime Lab and a report was recently returned to the LCSO.

Detective Jay Cooksey submitted reports to Livingston County Prosecuting Attorney Adam Warren for review. On January 07, Detective Cooksey and the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office located and arrested Michael Yutzy, 22, Jamesport, on Livingston County arrest warrant for Supply Intoxicants to Minor(s). Mr. Yutzy was incarcerated in the Daviess Dekalb County Regional Jail in lieu of $1,000 bond.

Man accused of throwing chainsaw at officer

Posted on January 7, 2016January 7, 2016

A St. Joseph man is accused of throwing a chainsaw at a St. Joseph Police Officer who was trying to arrest him.

Justin Patrick Rivera, 36 is charged in Buchanan County with a misdemeanor for assault on a law enforcement officer.

According to court document on Dec. 24 around 2:30 p.m. Officer Aaron Beene with the St. Joseph Police Department attempted to arrest Rivera for outstanding state warrants in the area of 34th and Jackson streets.

“Justin threw a chainsaw still in the case at officer Beene striking him in the chest,” said Officer Aaron King with the St. Joseph Police Department.

King said Rivera then ran from the scene on foot and refused to stop for officers.

“Justin jumped a fence and officer Beene followed. Officer Beene struck his left thigh on the fence causing minor injury,” King said. “Officer Beene missed a day of work from striking the fence attempting to arrest Justin.”

Rivera was reported to have had two active state warrants at the time of his arrest.

A court appearance has not yet been scheduled.

Scammers anticipated to increase extortion efforts in 2016

Posted on January 6, 2016January 6, 2016

The potential for people to be swindled out of their hard-earned money isn’t going to lessen this year according to the St. Joseph Police Department.

“We will see an increase in it because it’s easy and it’s very easily done and quite frankly it’s very hard to catch,” said Detective Richard Shelton with the St. Joseph Police Department. “There will be an increase in scams and an increase in new scams.”

2015 was a year that also saw an increase in scams. Shelton talks about some of the big ones in the St. Joseph area.

“We saw several of the ‘Grandma Scams’ in which someone pretends to be a grandson or a granddaughter mostly a grandson and calls their grandmother and the grandmother thinks they’ve been in another country or an accident and that they need money and they need the money wired or sent to them,” Shelton said. “If I call you up and I say with kind-of-a-cutting-out-background and say this is such-n-such and she says ‘Billy is that you?’ Then you become Billy really quick and Billy’s in trouble, Billy’s in jail, Billy had an accident, Billy needs money. Then another caller may say ‘I’m Billy’s attorney and I need money.'”

Also a top one in the area in 2015, Craig’s List scams.

“That’s probably one of our hottest items here,” Shelton said. “People get on Craig’s List and they’re either taken by trying to buy something or they’re trying to sell something and someone wants to send them a check. They have it on Craig’s List for $200 and someone sends them a check for $1,200 and then they cash the check and they wire the money back to the person of $1,000 and they think they’ve done really well until they find out the check that they cashed was counterfeit and then they owe the place that cashed that check.”

Asphalt and roof coating scams were still an issue last year.

“People are walking around in Spring and Fall and still falling for coating of roofs and coating of asphalt,” Shelton said. “When you have an asphalt driveway put in it’s pretty expensive but when you do it for a few hundred dollars and you think you’re really getting a bargain but you really didn’t get a bargain and you really didn’t get a driveway then you’ve been scammed.”

Then there were the phone and email scams.

“People open emails and they don’t even know who this person is or where they’re coming from,” Shelton said. “There are so many scams that you can deal with it’s hard to figure out which are the top.”

A majority of the scams originate in foreign countries.

“Some of them still believe them especially our seniors. They still believe they’re going to win the big bucks, they’re going to win the lottery, that there’s money out there to be had,” Shelton said. “When we tell them that that money is being used to support war efforts against our nation they still don’t get it. Most of those scams originate in a country where we do not even have extradition with. Once they go outside the city limits of St. Joe we can’t go out and arrest them.”

Once someone plays into a scam many times their name gets put on a list.

“I had one gentleman last year who lost over $60,000 in scams with people just mailing things to him and him playing along on the phone,” Shelton said. “Once their name gets out there it’s in all these rooms in these small countries up on a board. Those people their whole job all day long is to call these numbers and get some sort of scam to get money, and they do it and they’re very successful at it.”

He said the best thing to do is hang-up.

New scams that hit St. Joseph in 2015 was a warrant scam where an individual pretended to be a law enforcement officer calling residents to inform them they have a warrant out for their arrest unless they pay-off a fine. Another, a utility shut-off scam where the scammer calls businesses and tells them if they didn’t pay a supposedly overdue utility bill the power was going to be shut-off.

Shelton said this year he expects scams to continue to increase and change.

“We will see new scams that we’ve never seen before and somebody will come up with something new and it will work for awhile until we get the broadcast out on it and people get tuned-in and then they’ll create another new one. So it’s just kind-of an ongoing vicious cycle of new scams,” Shelton said.

SJSD Board candidate list growing as deadline approaches

Posted on January 6, 2016January 6, 2016

The list of candidates declaring their intentions to run for a spot on the St. Joseph School District Board of Education is growing with less than two weeks left to file.

A total of five people have declared candidacy for school board as of 12:03 p.m. Wednesday.

Those individuals are Teresa Simmons, the newest submission, Eric Bruder, Maggie Elder, Michael Dulcan and Tami Pasley.

There are two positions available with a three-year term.

Bruder filled the vacant spot in April left by the resignation of Dan Colgan whose term was set to expire in 2016. Board President, Brad Haggard’s term is also up in 2016.

Individuals interested in running can file at the superintendent’s office located at 925 Felix St. during regular businesses hour from now until Jan. 19 at 5 p.m.

The Final Certification Date is January 26, 2016. Candidates in the running for a position with the school board will be placed on the April 5, 2016 election.

CLICK HERE for information on School Board Filings.

Charges filed in December police pursuit

Posted on January 5, 2016January 5, 2016

MILLER MICHAEL PAROLE VIOL NO BOND — MILLER MICHAEL

Charges were filed Thursday in connection with a mid-December police pursuit in St. Joseph involving spike strips.

Michae Miller, 25 is charged in Buchanan County with felonies for stealing a motor vehicle, and resisting arrest stemming from an incident that took place Dec. 15, 2015.

As we previously reported, Miller was arrested on a parole violation on Dec. 15 after a police pursuit and charged with theft/stealing stemming from an incident court documents said took place Nov. 12.

However, charges on the Dec. 15 incident were just filed last week.

Court documents said that officers responded to 3961 Sherman Ave. on a possible burglary in progress call on Dec. 15 around 2:53 a.m.

“According to police reports when officers arrived in the area a Maroon Toyota truck took off at a high rate of speed without headlights going through a grassy area onto the parking lot of Progressive Community. The Maroon Toyota truck failed to stop for the stop sign at Oakland Avenue and the Belt Highway. At one point Officer Bever advised that the maroon Toyota Truck was traveling East on Faraon the wrong way,” Det. Richard Woodley said in court documents. “Officer Copeland advised that the vehicle was in her driving lane still going East on Faraon and she had to make an abrupt maneuver to avoid a head on collision.”

Police said after that the truck swerved to avoid a police vehicle in front and almost hit another police vehicle in the process.

“Officer PettyJohn was deploying spikes on Frederick Blvd when the Maroon Toyota truck swerved at her causing her to dive for cover. The vehicle lost control and spun around striking Officer Copeland’s police vehicle in the 3500 block of Frederick Blvd,” Woodley said. “The driver exited the driver side after the vehicle crashed. The driver fled on foot and was capture after a short foot pursuit.”

Police determined the vehicle used in the chase had been taken without permission and a stolen vehicle report was made.