The St. Joseph Public Library is hosting a trivia night later this month to raise funds to buy books.

Saturday, May 20th the 7th Annual Library Trivia Night will be held at 7 p.m. in the Fairview Golf Course Banquet Room, 33rd and Pacific.

The event features ten rounds of questions on general trivia with prizes for the best team after each round. There will also be a silent auction and a 50/50 draw. Prizes and auction items have been donated by numerous local businesses, organizations and individuals.

The cost to participate is $60 per table with teams of up to six people. The first question will be read at 7:10 p.m. Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks will be available for purchase. Participants are invited to bring their own snacks and grill-style food will also be available for purchase.

No need to register, however reserving a table by paying in advance is recommended. Contact Crystal Stuck at (816) 236-2107 to get more information about reserving a table. Proceeds from this event will be used to purchase books for the library.

ST. JOSEPH, Mo – New power lines means a traffic disruption for Interstate 29 traffic in Andrew County this weekend.

Kansas City Power and Light run new power lines over Interstate 29 at Exit 53 in Andrew County. This exit is the U.S. Route 59/Business U.S. 71/ Loop I-29 interchange.

The work will take place from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, May 7. The passing lane of northbound I-29 around Exit 53 will be closed during that time. The southbound lanes and all ramps at Exit 53 will remain open.

There is one exception, however. Between 7 and 7:30 a.m., both directions of I-29 will be stopped for approximately 15 minutes.

All work is weather dependent and schedules are subject to change.

Summer and sunshine will soon be here and a St. Joseph dermatologist urges everyone to take precautions to avoid getting too much sun. 

Dr. Melody Stone is a dermatologist with Advanced Dermatology and Skin Cancer Center in St. Joseph. 

According to Stone, skin cancer is the most common cancer.

“Most people think about breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon,” Stone said. “If you took all those cases in the year here in the U.S. and added them up, none of them would equal the number of new cases of skin cancer we’re going to have in the U.S. this year.” 

Stone said that number will be between 2.5 and 3 million cases of new skin cancer diagnosed.  Stone said the three main types of skin cancer are Basal Cell Carcinoma, Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Melanoma. 

Stone said science and research have come a long way in finding out how sun damages the skin. 

“Sun is really radiation, it’s UV A, B and C radiation that comes through the clouds, strikes the skin and damages the skin cells. It damages the skin’s DNA and its ability to repair and do other repair type processes,” Stone said. “After so many hits by the sun from the radiation to the DNA, the DNA and the skin cells can no longer repair themselves, then that’s when you get skin cancer, which is uncontrolled cell growth.” 

Stone said some tips for helping protect skin from the sun include applying sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or or more before going outside and reapplying throughout the day, doing any outdoor work before 10 a.m. and after 3 p.m. and wearing lightweight clothing such as “sunscreen shirts.” 

Stone said approximately 95% of skin cancer cases are caused by sun exposure, and can therefore be prevented. The other five percent is due to genetics or other non-sun related causes. 

Advanced Dermatology and Skin Cancer Center in St. Joseph will be hosting their annual free skin cancer screening from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 3rd, at their location at 1419 Village Drive St. No appointment is necessary. 

For more information, click here.

The Midland Empire Resources for Independent Living is planning to offer up lawn space for the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse as a fundraiser.

According to a news release, MERIL is offering its location and facilities to those who want to watch the eclipse on Aug. 21, or camp out the night before. MERIL CEO Rob Honan said all proceeds will directly help people with disabilities in northwest Missouri.

“We have a really great location with plenty of open space and accessible indoor bathrooms” Honan said. “Many people are expected to come to St. Joe for the eclipse, and we want to use that opportunity to raise money for the people we serve.”

According to the St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau website, St. Joseph is a prime location for viewing the eclipse, and tens of thousands of people are expected to visit the city to witness it.  In St. Joseph complete totality is expected to last 2 minutes and 38.6 seconds, only 1.4 seconds short of the maximum time possible.

Reservations at MERIL require a minimum donation of $20 per viewing spot or $40 for overnight camping. More information about the event is available at www.meril.org and 816-279-8558.

An emotional hearing ended with an audible, collective gasp of relief as Circuit Judge Daniel Kellogg sentenced Sebastian Dowell to life in prison for the Oct. 2016 murder of Kaytlin Root.

“It’s the only appropriate sentence,” Kellogg said.

Kaytlin’s mom Jamie Jaramillo agreed. “I’m ecstatic,” Jaramillo said. “I got the verdict I wanted. I will be at every parole hearing, every hearing he ever has,” she said.

“His family, they show no remorse, they don’t know what pain is. They didn’t lose a child. They get to go to prison and see their child. I don’t.”

Root was found naked, strangled and stabbed, in a remote area of the Krug Park trails on October 16, 2016. Dowell and co-defendant Amanda Bennett were charged with second-degree murder after an investigation that Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins said was a combination of great luck and great police work. Both suspects have pleaded guilty. Bennett is scheduled for sentencing next week.

During Dowell’s two-hour sentencing hearing Thursday, Scroggins laid out details of the crime that had not been publicly revealed before. One of the lead detectives, Frank Till of the St. Joseph Police Department, described how they linked Dowell and Bennett to the crime. They found part of Root’s damaged cell phone, and later, after a much wider and more exhaustive search, they found the rest of it. Within the phone’s memory they were able to piece together a Facebook Messenger dialogue with Root’s killer. They also found a cell phone photograph of Dowell at a convenience store where they stopped briefly shortly before the murder. From the store’s surveillance video and that cell phone photo, and the Facebook dialogue, they were able to identify the two suspects.

Scroggins says Dowell will be eligible for consideration for parole in a little over 25 years. This fact figured prominently in his decision to charge the teenager with second degree murder. He told the judge that given the facts, first-degree murder was appropriate. But Scroggins says that if Dowell had been charged and convicted of first-degree murder, given his age, and some recent Supreme Court rulings, the only possible sentence would be life without parole. He says the more appropriate way to ensure a just outcome for an 18-year-old murderer is to let the parole board consider his case in 25 years.

“Despite the awful tragedy of what occurred in this case, I think the more appropriate way in which to actually have a just outcome, is to let somebody take a look at this person 25 years down the road and see who he is then,” Scroggins said. “I think that decision, because of the gravity of it, is better made 25 years down the road, than if it is made today, in the light and the emotion of the crime having just happened.”

Scroggins said the defendants didn’t really care who they killed that night. They sent out Facebook messages to four or five people, and only Root responded. They asked if she wanted to hang out, and she said yes. “That’s very unusual in a homicide,” Scroggins said. “There’s usually some motive connection.”

“The only motive in this case was they wanted to kill someone,” he said, “and didn’t seem to particularly care who it was.” Scroggins says that’s more heinous than a homicide with a motive, and an intended victim, and it deserved a harsher sentence.

Scroggins also said he doesn’t pay a lot of attention to the defendants’ claims that this was part of some ritual sacrifice. The defendants don’t agree on whose idea it was, or which one believed in what was described as “dark religion.” In an interview, Dowell told Detective Till he had “dabbled in” that sort of thing since he was a child. But he said the killing was Bennett’s idea. Scroggins also said it doesn’t really matter which of the co-defendants strangled Root. Each one blames the other in interviews. Till said after strangling Root, the pair took off some of her clothes, cut off the rest, and then stabbed her and slashed her throat. Scroggins said it doesn’t matter who did what, because they had the knives, they had the gloves, and they had the plan. And because she was the one who responded to the Facebook messages, they had Root.

Arranging the meeting at random, via social media, was frightening for Jaramillo. “It is scary to know that she was number four or five, and the rest didn’t comment, but she did,” Jaramillo said.

“But she loved everybody. And social media, it does scare me, because who’s to say there isn’t somebody that says ‘hey you want to hang out?’ and then the next thing you know…”

Jaramillo trailed off, not wanting to describe what happened next to her daughter. She was quick to change the subject.

“I’ve told everybody from day one, I’m thankful that somebody found her, that I got to see her, I got to say goodbye. It might have been her laying in a casket, but I got to see my baby.”

“And they stole my best friend.”

One of two defendants has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Kaytlin Root at Krug Park last fall.

Sebastian Dowell, 18, admitted in March to stabbing Root, but denied strangling Root, as asserted by co-defendant Amanda Bennett. Dowell said Bennett knocked the victim on the ground and began strangling her.

Judge Daniel Kellogg sentenced Dowell Thursday on the charge of second-degree murder.  Judge Kellogg said a life sentence was the only appropriate sentence.

Bennett also pleaded guilty in February. She told a judge that the killing was part of what she described as a demonic sacrifice. Bennett’s sentencing is scheduled for next week.

Root was found by a runner near one of the trails at Krug Park on Oct. 16, 2016.

 

Two people have been arrested in Andrew County while allegedly in possession of a credit card skimming device.

Yasmany Rosas, and Yainier Pena Valera both listed as Florida residents are both charged in Andrew County with a class D felony of Forgery. Velera is also charged with a felony as a fugitive from out of state.

According to court documents, Tuesday shortly before 2:30 p.m. Sgt. M. Wilhoit with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said he stopped a Ford Expedition for speeding on I-29 near the 58 mile marker.

“I made contact with the front seat passenger and identified him as Yainier Pena Velera. The driver claimed to not understand English,” Wilhoit said. “I brought the passenger back and a routine computer check revealed a Felony Warrant for his arrest for Larceny out of Wisconsin.”

Wilhoit said after searching the vehicle a credit card skimming device was found on the front passenger floorboard. Both defendants allegedly possessed magnetic strip cards with fraudulent information in their wallets with someone else’s name.

As we’ve previously reported, a skimming device is a device that is installed inside a gasoline pump and it goes between the card reader and the computer and it captures the data from the card when it’s inserted in the machine

Rosas and Velera are currently being held in the Andrew County Jail on $20,000 cash bail.  A court date was not listed on online documents as of Thursday morning.

Authorities in northeast Kansas are investigating after a man reported being hit in the head and robbed at gunpoint.

Atchison County Sheriff, Jack Laurie said deputies responded around 4 a.m. Monday to the area near 258th and Sherman Road in Atchison, Kan. on a report of an aggravated robbery. A 28-year-old Oak Grove, Mo. man reported he was robbed by two men after going to an ATM and withdrawing money.

“The victim claimed that he was struck in the back of the head with a shotgun and that the suspect(s) fired two shots from the shotgun over the victim’s head, “Laurie said.

Laurie said they do have suspect(s) in the case but that the case is still under investigation.