(Update) – A 17-year-old was arraigned Tuesday in connection with a crash that killed four people Friday on the northeast part of St. Joseph.

Skylar Lucas-Cox of St. Joseph was released from the hospital Tuesday afternoon and appeared before Buchanan County Associate Circuit Judge Rebecca Spencer. He is charged with a felony of first-degree involuntary manslaughter.

According to court documents, Lucas-Cox was driving a white Toyota Tundra north on Riverside Road Friday in a reckless manner and was unable to maintain control of the stolen vehicle.

As we previously reported, four of the occupants of the Toyota died in the crash and another sustained life-threatening injuries. Lucas-Cox was hospitalized for treatment of a serious injury. The driver of the other vehicle also received treatment for a serious injury. We asked the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office if the victim’s names would be released and for a status update on those hospitalized. Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins on Monday said no additional information is being released at this time as the investigation is still pending.

Court documents stated Lucas-Cox tested positive for cocaine, marijuana and benzodiazepines.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for May 11 at 2:30 p.m. in Div. 6. Bond continues to be denied. The defendant has applied for a public defender.

Officials have released the name of a woman who was fatally shot over the weekend. Captain Jeff Wilson of the St. Joseph Police Department identified the victim as Destiny D. Orcutt.

The 27-year-old St. Joseph woman died from her injuries after she was shot Saturday night.

As we previously reported, the woman was transported in critical condition to Mosaic Life Care after being found in a vehicle in the 900 block of Ridenbaugh with gunshot wounds.

Capt. Wilson said the woman was pronounced deceased at the hospital at 10:10 a.m. Tuesday.

Police on Monday had reported taking a person of interest into custody in connection with the case. Wilson said they no longer have anyone in custody. No charges have been filed as of 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The St. Joseph School District plans to hold a public meeting this week to talk about how the district is financed.

A session on School Finance 101 will be held Wednesday, April 19, 2017 from 5 to 6 p.m. The meeting will be held at the downtown office, 925 Felix St. in the board conference room.

According to a news release, at the meeting, Superintendent Dr. Robert Newhart and Director of Finance Wes Metz will talk about where funding comes from, how the money is spent, and what financial challenges the district is facing.

This meeting is open to all SJSD parents and community members. The meeting is part of an ongoing community engagement effort the district is conducting to gather feedback from parents, community and staff and have a discussion about the direction of the district.

A second School Finance 101 meeting will be held June 2, from 5 to 6 p.m. It will also be held at the downtown office.

A business has plans for the Sansone Floral building on Ashland Avenue and it doesn’t involve cats. 

In the window of the pink building is a sign reading, “Coming Soon Floyd’s Feline Obedience,” along with a website address listed. If you visit the website, you’ll see a cat video, learn more about the building and that it’s actually Ad Astra Running that’s planning to open a store there later this year.

J. Jenkins, along with Grant Catloth, is Co-Owner of Ad Astra Running. Jenkins said the idea for the cat campaign came from his partner, Mike.

“We had heard that word was starting to leak out in St. Joe that we were coming, so we wanted to get out in front of that so we could introduce ourselves to the community,” Jenkins said. “But we thought that would be a fun way to let people know that Ad Astra was coming to St. Joe.”

Ad Astra has a location in Lawrence, Kansas, and Jenkins said they wanted to bring Ad Astra to St. Joseph because they have connections to the area and learned of a need.

“We know a lot of people in the area, either in St. Joe or right around it, that have been coming to Lawrence to see us to support us over here and get help finding the right pair of shoes and anything else they might need to get running,” Jenkins said. “So we knew people there and knew that they didn’t have the sort of store or necessarily the community focus that we have here in Lawrence so we wanted to bring that there.”

Jenkins said there’s no specific opening date yet. They’re currently in the stages of getting necessary work done on the building.

“When we found out that building was available, that really accelerated our plans to open in St. Joe,” Jenkins said. “We have been open in Lawrence just a year and a half and weren’t necessarily thinking, ‘Wow, it’s time to open a second store,’ but we’ve had so many people that have said, that would be the perfect location for a running store, it’s right on the running path and that’s where people who are already running, they’ll park on that street… So when we found out that building was available, it just seemed like an opportunity was presenting itself to us.”

Jenkins said with the history of the building and its well-known pink color, they are considering ways to maintain its legacy while they prepare the building for opening. Jenkins said they’re excited to bring Ad Astra Running to St. Joseph and get involved in the community.

“Our focus is all about community, serving the community and adding to it, developing the community, specifically the running community of course, but the entire community. If we relied just on runners as customers, we wouldn’t be open a month, because there’s at least as many people who come in that are just after comfortable shoes that fit,” Jenkins said. “I think sometimes people get thrown by the name Ad Astra Running, they’ll think, ‘Oh I’m not a runner,’ but we really want to be a store for everyone where they can come get help getting the shoes or the apparel, the accessories, whatever they need so they can be their best selves, they can get out and be active.”

Jenkins said the goal is to open sometime during the summer when people are more active and getting ready for cross country or training for fall races.

A newborn baby was killed and three people were injured in a crash near Chillicothe Monday morning.

The accident happened shortly before 11 am along U.S. Highway 65, about three miles south of Chillicothe at the Roach Lake Bridge.

The newborn was a passenger in an SUV that had stopped in a MoDOT work zone that was hit from behind. A crash report from the Missouri State Highway Patrol identifies the occupants of the SUV as Amanda Nichols, 27, and Warren Nichols, 26, of Springfield, and the newborn Rowan Nichols. The baby was pronounced dead at Hedrick Medical Center. Amanda and Warren Nichols suffered what were described as moderate injuries and were taken to Hedrick for treatment.

The driver of the other vehicle is identified by the patrol as Benjamin Davis, 23, of Chillicothe. Davis suffered moderate injuries and was also taken to Hedrick Medical Center.

(Update) – A 17-year-old has been charged in connection with a crash that killed four people Friday on the northeast part of St. Joseph.

Skylar Lucas-Cox of St. Joseph is charged in Buchanan County with a felony of first-degree involuntary manslaughter.

According to court documents, Lucas-Cox was driving a white Toyota Tundra north on Riverside Road Friday in a reckless manner and was unable to maintain control of the stolen vehicle.

“The suspect crossed into oncoming traffic and was struck in the south lane of Riverside,” said Officer Brendan McGinnis with the St. Joseph Police Department. “The Toyota was occupied by the suspect and (5) other persons.”

As we previously reported, four of the occupants of the Toyota died in the crash and another sustained life-threatening injuries.  Lucas-Cox was hospitalized for treatment of a serious injury.  The driver of the other vehicle also received treatment for a serious injury. We asked the Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office if the victim’s names would be released and for a status update on those hospitalized. Prosecuting Attorney Dwight Scroggins on Monday said no additional information is being released at this time as the investigation is still pending

“The suspect was helped out of the driver seat by a witness and held on scene, after attempting to flee,” McGinnis said. “The suspect attempted to flee the scene, after knowing he had killed friends of his and continued to attempt to flee even after being restrained by a witness.”

Court documents state Lucas-Cox tested positive for cocaine, marijuana and benzodiazepines.

“The suspect’s reckless driving and impaired nature of driving, directly resulted in the death of the four victims,” said McGinnis

Lucas-Cox is scheduled for an arraignment Tuesday.  He is currently being held without bail after bond was denied.

 

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The following is a listing of general highway maintenance and construction work in the Northwest Missouri region planned for the week of April 17 – 23 from the Missouri Department of Transportation. In addition to the work listed below, there may be pothole patching, bridge maintenance, striping, brush cutting, guardrail repairs and other road work conducted throughout the region. Many of these will be moving operations and could include lane closures with delays. All scheduled maintenance and construction projects are subject to change with weather conditions.

 

Andrew County

• U.S. Route 71 – From Main Street in Maryville (Nodaway County) to Route B for pothole patching, April 17 – 21
• Route K – CLOSED from Route H to County Road 7 for a culvert replacement, April 20, 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Buchanan County

• Interstate 229 – Sweeping and flushing bridges, April 17 – 20

Caldwell County

• Route N – CLOSED at the Mud Creek Bridge for a culvert replacement, April 17, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• U.S. Route 36 – Eastbound from Business U.S. 36 to Route 13 for shoulder work, April 18 – 21

Carroll County

• Route OO – CLOSED from County Road 244 to County Road 248 for a culvert replacement, April 17, 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
• Route T – Pothole patching, April 19 – 21

Chariton County

• Route TT – From Route 139 to the Linn County line for pothole patching, April 17 – 19
• Route J – From Route MM to Namrash Road for pothole patching, April 17 – 21
• Route Z – From Route M to Dean Lake for pothole patching, April 17 – 21
• U.S. Route 24 – From Route 5 to the Randolph County line for a resurfacing project, April 17 – 22
• Route 139 – From the city limits of Sumner to the Linn County line for pothole patching, April 20 – 21

Clinton County

• Route Y – In the city limits of Plattsburg for chip sealing, April 17. A flagger will be present to direct traffic.
• Route O – CLOSED from U.S. Route 169 to Smith Halferty Road for pothole patching and chip sealing, April 18 – 21, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Daviess County

• I-35 – At the Grand River and Grand River Overflow bridges for sweeping and flushing, April 17 – 20
• Route N – One-quarter mile west of I-35 for drainage work, April 20 – 21

DeKalb County

• Route J – From Route 6 to U.S. Route 36 for a resurfacing project, April 17 – 22.   A pilot car will direct traffic through the work zone.
• Route O – From Route 33 to Route J for a resurfacing project, April 17 – 22.   A pilot car will direct traffic through the work zone.
• Route N – From Route 6 to U.S. Route 36 for a resurfacing project, April 17 – 22. A pilot car will direct traffic through the work zone.

Gentry County

• U.S. Route 136 – From Route F to Route C for pothole patching, April 17

Grundy County

• U.S. Route 65 and Route 6 – Pothole patching and flushing bridges, April 17 – 21
• Route AA – Drainage work, April 19 – 21

Harrison County

• Route D – CLOSED from West 140^th Place to West 150^th Place for a culvert replacement, April 17, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Route D – CLOSED from West 210^th Street to West 220^th Street for a culvert replacement, April 17, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Route A – From U.S. Route 69 to Route B for sealing, April 17 – 21
• I-35 – Northbound from mile marker 93 at Bethany to mile marker 105.3 near Eagleville for pavement repair, April 17 – 22
• Route 46 – One mile east of Hatfield for culvert repair, April 20, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Holt County

• I-29 – Sweeping and flushing bridges, April 17 – 21

Linn County

• Route TT – From the Chariton County line to U.S. Route 36 for pothole patching, April 17 – 19
• U.S. Route 36 – Westbound from Route 139 to Route F for pavement repair, April 17 – 20

Livingston County

• U.S. Route 65 – At the Roach Lake Bridge for maintenance, April 17
• Route 190 – At the Thompson River Bridge for maintenance, April 18 – 20
• U.S. Route 36 – At the Blackwell Creek Bridge for maintenance, April 20 – 21

Mercer County

• U.S. Routes 136 and 65 – Sweeping and flushing bridges, April 17 – 21

Nodaway County

• Route 113 – CLOSED from 220^th Street to 230^th Road for a culvert replacement, April 17, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• U.S. Route 71 – From Main Street in Maryville to Route B (Andrew County) for pothole patching, April 17 – 21
• Route 113 – CLOSED from 240^th Street to 230^th Road for a culvert replacement, April 18, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Putnam County

• Route CC – CLOSED at the South Branch Shoal Creek Bridge for a bridge replacement project. The bridge will be closed through May 2017.
• Route 149 – CLOSED from Elm Street to Orchid Street for culvert repair, April 17, 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Sullivan County

• Route K – Drainage work, April 18

Worth County

• Route C – CLOSED from 188^th Trail to 200^th Road for a culvert replacement, April 18 – 19, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.