Police still do not have anyone in custody in connection with the death of Kaytlin Root whose body was found Sunday morning at Krug Park.

Capt. Jeff Wilson with the St. Joseph Police Department said Thursday morning that the investigation is ongoing and that there is no new information that can be released at this time.

Authorities started investigating Root’s death as a homicide after her body was found by a runner off of a bike trail Sunday morning around 9:20 a.m.  Root’s mother, Jamie Jaramillo told us the last time she spoke with her daughter was Saturday night.

We are continuing to follow up with authorities on this investigation. Capt. Wilson said there are a lot of moving parts in this case.

“When there is information that is appropriate to be released it will be put out but at this time it’s not,” Wilson said. “It’s all investigative information that’s sensitive to the case.”

Funeral arraignments for Root have been made at Clark-Sampson Funeral Home.  Visitation will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at Clark-Sampson Funeral Home. Funeral Service will be at 3 p.m. Friday at Patee Park Baptist Church.

Family and friends of Kaytlin Root gathered Wednesday night at Krug Park to remember the 17-year-old with a candlelight vigil.

Over 100 people attended to light candles and sent lighted paper lanterns into the sky over the park where Root’s body was found early Sunday morning.

“I want people not to think of this as not so much a sad moment because Kaytlin was so loving, so giving and this is a sad moment and I don’t want anybody to think she’s not worth it,” said Jamie Jaramillo, Kaytlin’s mother. “I loved my daughter more than words could ever express.  I’m angry that this happened.” 

The St. Joseph Police Department started investigating the case as a homicide Sunday after Kaytlin’s body was found by a runner off of the bike trails.

Police are still investigating her death. Currently, no one is in custody in connection with the case.

Pleasant weather is in store for Kansas City and surrounding areas. Clouds will move out of the area today with temperatures only making it into the upper 50s, low 60s. Tonight, low temperatures will approach freezing. As a result, patchy frost is possible early Friday morning, mainly north of Interstate 70. Aside from that, expect mostly clear skies with increasing temperatures as the weekend progresses. Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:

Today: A chance of showers with scattered sprinkles before 9 a.m, then scattered sprinkles between 9 a.m and 11 a.m. Cloudy through mid morning, then clearing, with a high near 59. North wind around 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 36. North northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 63. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph in the morning.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 44. South wind around 6 mph.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 72. South wind 3 to 7 mph.

Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 51.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 73.

Sunday Night: Clear, with a low around 48.

Monday: Sunny, with a high near 72.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 55.

Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 73.

Tuesday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 60. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Wednesday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 72. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

UPDATE (5:40 a.m.) All roads are back open.

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St. Joseph Police are asking residents to avoid the area of 9th and Angelique Thursday morning until a house fire is under control.

According to police, a call came in around 4:15 Thursday morning reporting a vacant house was on fire. The structure is fully engulfed and the fire department is working to keep it from spreading to nearby buildings. 

Ninth street from Sylvanie to Messanie is closed as well as 10th from Messanie to Sylvanie and Angelique from 8th to 10th. Road closures are in place until further notice.

 

A large family was displaced from their apartment after a fire Wednesday afternoon, but an inspector with the St. Joseph Fire Department says it could have been much worse.

Crews responded to a duplex on fire in the 400 block of S. 15th St. Wednesday afternoon.

Inspector Jason Ziph said crews worked quickly to put out the fire but that the second floor of the duplex will need extensive repairs.  “If it had gone any longer it probably would have engulfed the entire upper floor of the house,” Ziph said.

“The lower level is habitable, but the upper level is going to need a complete rehab just because of the smoke damage and smoke staining,” he said.  “No one needs to be breathing all the particulate matter that’s put off by fire and smoke.”

Ziph says there were three adults and ten children in the building when the fire broke out Wednesday afternoon.  The two adults who lived downstairs were able to return to their home, but 11 people from upstairs are getting assistance from the American Red Cross of Northwest Missouri.

Ziph said the fire was caused by unattended smoking materials.  There were no injuries.

 

 

Snapchat may think ballot selfies are protected by the First Amendment but in Missouri and many other states they are illegal.

Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston struck down a 2014 law in New Hampshire which banned voters from sharing photos of their marked ballots and sharing them on social media.  It comes after Snapchat filed an amicus brief earlier this year arguing that ballot selfies are the latest way that voters, especially young voters engage with the political process and that newsgathers, including digital newsgathers such as Snapchat have a First-Amendment interest in sharing voters’ ballot selfies.

There are many states where ballot selfies are not allowed and Missouri is one of them.  Buchanan County Clerk Mary Baack-Garvey said the issue isn’t taking a picture in the polling booth but rather your marked ballot.

“There’s a statute written in our election law book,” Baack-Garvey said. “Basically what it says is if a voter attempts to show how they voted, i.e. a selfie or if they take it with a camera or they show others with their marked ballot it’s an election offense.”

NBC News posted a list of states with similar laws.  According to NBC, lawyers for New Hampshire the law was originally passed to protect the purity and integrity of its elections by thwarting anyone who would try to buy or sell votes or threaten to harm someone who voted the wrong way.

Baack-Garvey said it’s okay to take a selfie at the polling place but it’s illegal to show your voted ballot.

“According to this election law it says they cannot show their marked ballot,” Baack-Garvey said.

And taking your cellphone into the polls is a hot debate in some areas as well.

“It’s up to the clerk,” Baack-Garvey said. ” There are clerks around the state of Missouri that say no cellphones period.  I allow it because how on earth are my judges going to keep track of who has their cellphones and who doesn’t?”

So in Missouri, those casting ballots in the Nov. 8 presidential election are not allowed to take a selfie with their ballot to show who they voted for.

 

 

 

 

 

Ramp work scheduled for Thursday morning will force drivers on 36 Highway to take a different route to get onto I-29.

The ramp from westbound U.S. Route 36 to northbound Interstate 29 will close briefly Thursday morning. Contractor crews working with the Missouri Department of Transportation will close the ramp between 9 and 11 a.m. A message board will be in place to notify motorists on U.S. Route 36 to use the Belt Highway exit as an alternate route.

Rain with chances of thunder returns for some this afternoon, with the best chance being along and south of I-44. At this time, severe weather is not expected north of I-44. Though many of us will not see any rain today, it will be cloudy for most of the day with highs in the upper 60s, low 70s. The rain and clouds move out overnight tonight, leaving Thursday through the weekend with mostly clear skies and temperatures in the 60-70 degree ranges. Here’s your 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 71. East northeast wind 3 to 8 mph.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. North wind around 8 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 62. North wind around 9 mph.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 41. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.

Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 64. Calm wind becoming south southwest 5 to 8 mph in the morning.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 45.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 72.

Saturday Night: Clear, with a low around 52.

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 73.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 49.

Monday: Sunny, with a high near 71.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 56.

Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 73.

Friends and family are inviting the public out to remember 17-year-old Kaytlin Root whose body was found Sunday morning in Krug Park.

A candlelight vigil will be held Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Krug Park near the rocks by the beginning of the hike and bike trails. The St. Joseph Police Department started investigating the case as a homicide Sunday after Kaytlin’s body was found by a runner off of the bike trails.

“She was very different, very outgoing, always put everybody else’s needs before her own,” said Jamie Jaramillo, Kaytlin’s mother. “She went to church, she was baptized, she loved kids, she loved being around babies.  She had friends with a couple of babies and pretty much made herself the kids’s aunt.”

Jaramillo said she is hoping the vigil gives people a chance to remember her daughter.

“I want people not to think of this as not so much a sad moment because Kaytlin was so loving, so giving and this is a sad moment and I don’t want anybody to think she’s not worth it,” Jaramillo said. “I loved my daughter more than words could ever express.  I’m angry that this happened.”

Kaytlin would have turned 18 on Nov. 11. Jaramillo moved to California at the beginning of September but said Kaytlin chose to stay in St. Joseph because she didn’t want to leave her friends.

Sydney Noble said she has been best friends with Kaytlin since sixth grade when they met during an orientation class for Truman Middle School.

“She was like the sun, she would brighten up anyone’s day.  Even if she was down she would make anyone happy,” Noble said. “Her laugh, it was so amazing. It was like you couldn’t stop laughing after you heard her laugh.”

Noble said Kaytlin was staying with other friends in St. Joseph after her mother moved away.

“She didn’t want to leave St. Joe.  She had friends here.  She had me and my mom,” Noble said. “I want people to know who she was who she really was not what people make it out to be and I want justice for her.”

The St. Joseph School District said Kaytlin was enrolled at Central High School for the first semester of the 2015-16 school year then withdrew the second semester to be home schooled and returned to enroll at Lafayette High School for the start of the 2016-17 year and withdrew with a parent on Aug. 31st. Jaramillo said two weeks ago Kaytlin tried to go back to public school but was denied because she was too far behind.

“I’m not sure what happened to her but this town is getting, this is crazy.  That little girl didn’t harm anybody, didn’t hurt anybody didn’t do nothing,” said Stephanie Embrey, Sydney’s mother.  “I just want everyone to come out and just realize this is a girl whose life wasn’t even started yet.  She was supposed to graduate.  They were supposed to do prom, they were supposed to do everything.”

Jaramillo said she has seen a lot of negative things being said recently about Kaytlin.

“I know there are a lot of bad things going around and things that have been said and things that have been posted and I just want them to stop,” Jaramillo said. “Because Kaytlin’s life was worth living.  She wasn’t a bad child.”

Sydney said the last time she saw Kaytlin was Wednesday afternoon. Jaramillo said that last time she spoke with her daughter was Saturday night.  Kaytlin’s body was discovered by a runner around 9 a.m. Sunday.

“I want to thank the jogger that found Kaytlin,” Jaramillo said. “She was missing.  If they wouldn’t have found her who knows how long she would have been there.”

Police are still investigating her death. Capt. Jeff Wilson said as of Tuesday afternoon no one was in custody in connection with the case.