A 24-year-old woman has been charged in connection with the death of Corbin Watts Sunday on I-229 in St. Joseph.

Jacey Grom was charged Friday in Buchanan County with a felony for first-degree involuntary manslaughter.  Court documents accuse Grom of driving while under the influence of alcohol causing the death of Watts by striking him with a vehicle driving in excess of the 55 mph posted speed limit.

“Grom crashed her vehicle into the east side concrete barrier.  At that time, Grom also struck a pedestrian who was walking near the east side concrete barrier,” said Officer Chris McBane with the St. Joseph Police Dept. “Grom continued driving and crashed into the west side concrete barrier.  The pedestrian was thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene.”

McBane said Grom fled the scene on foot walking northbound on I-229.

“Grom admitting drinking alcohol and had bloodshot watery eyes,” McBane said. “Grom provided a breath sample at the law enforcement station of .134.”

The prosecutor’s office said felony class b involuntary manslaughter carries a penalty of 5-15 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole until after 85% of any sentence ordered has been served.

Her bond has been denied.

The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department has launched an inmate look up on its website.

Corp. Sarah Hardin with the dept. said the new feature allows citizens to see every inmate that is currently incarcerated in the Buchanan County jail. It also allows them to see the inmates charges, bond amount, docket number, and other public information about the inmate.

“This new program will provide inmate information faster to our citizens in the community and help alleviate the backed up calls to the booking desk,” said Corrections Captain Jody Hovey.

The link is called Inmate Look Up was launched this week and is located on the home screen of the Sheriff’s Department web page.  To view it CLICK HERE.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol has identified the victim’s involved in a fatal crash Thursday on I-29 near Platte City.

79-year-old Delma George of Platte City was killed after driving her 2007 Chevrolet northbound in the southbound lane of traffic around 12:30 p.m. at the 19 mile marker on I-29.  The report said George drove into the rear of a 2005 Honda driven by 33-year-old Matthew Prince of Omaha and then was struck by two semi-trucks, one driven by 56-year-old Stephen Judd of Kansas City, Kan., the other driven by 58-year-old Russell Johnson of Van Buren.

George was pronounced dead at the scene.  Prince and Judd were transported by ambulance to the hospital with what was described as minor injuries.

Both north and south bound lanes of traffic were shutdown for about three hours while emergency crews were on scene.

Authorities have confirmed an older woman was killed in a crash on I-29 near Platte City that shut down the roadway for several hours.

The road has since re-opened to traffic.

St. Joseph Post’s Rob Horning said the Missouri State Highway Patrol is reporting the woman turned heading south on exit 19 out of Platte City, taking the wrong exit ramp.

“If you take that exit it goes right onto southbound traffic, she was heading north on the southbound exit and she went right onto I-29 and ran into two semi-trucks that were side-by-side.  There was nowhere for them to go, they ran right into her,” Horning reported.

Two other individuals were transported to the hospital with unknown injuries.

Both lanes of the highway were shutdown from around 12:30 p.m. until just before 3:30 p.m.

Sgt. Jake Angle with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said the highway was backed up from the 19 mile marker to the 26 mile marker, just past Camden Point.

Some exaggerated reports from the public may have created unnecessary panic in St Joe Thursday morning. But police and school officials took no chances, and kept students at one elementary school inside.

Commander Eric Protzman says officers were dispatched to the area near the Burger King restaurant on St Joseph Avenue and Highland shortly after 7 a.m. to the report of a juvenile with a gun in the area. Early indications were that the young runaway had fled west on foot in the general direction of Lindbergh School.

But Commander Protzman tells us there was no gun. “Officers were dispatched up there, there was a report of a gun, there was no confirmation that there ever was a gun,” Commander Protzman said. “The runaway was taken into custody.

“No gun was ever displayed. Nobody was ever threatened with a gun, and it would be our indication that there never was a gun involved.”

Protzman says early reports from the public may have been intended to bring police to the scene faster.

“Unfotunately sometimes people will call us with different information to try to expedite a police response, which is not always good. It creates panic throughout the community.”

Based on the earlier, exaggerated reports, officers made contact with officials at Lindbergh Elementary, who agreed to keep students inside. Commander Protzman says they’ve been given the “all clear.”

In a statement, St. Joseph School District spokeswoman Joey Austin also downplayed the situation.

“Police officers are responding to an incident in the vicinity of Lindbergh school. There is no threat to the school or the students, however as a precautionary measure students have been brought inside.”

The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office is investigating human bones that a farmer discovered Monday in a field.

Deputies responded to the area of I-35 and Granite Avenue near Pattonsburg, Monday around 12:41 p.m.

According to a news release, a local farmer had discovered a shotgun and possible human bones in his field. The Daviess County Coroner was called in and when the scene was processed numerous human bones were recovered.

The department said the firearm was confirmed stolen from the Kansas City, Mo. Police Dept.   The incident is related to a stolen Kansas City Police Car that was found abandoned in Daviess County on I-35 near the 75 mm in August of 2014.

As we previously reported, a homeless Kansas City man was charged with robbery and resisting arrest after police said he stole a squad car, led officers on a high-speed chase and abandoned the vehicle on a rural stretch of I-35 near Pattonsburg in Aug. of 2014.   30-year-old Joshua Boyd was charged with stealing the cruiser. Before the theft,  according to probable cause documents Boyd allegedly told an officer he was schizophrenic, off his medication and was afraid people were after him.  Authorities found the squad car but continued patrolling the area in case Boyd surfaced.

The remains found Monday in the field are being forwarded to the Kansas City Crime Lab for DNA testing.

Newly elected St. Joseph School District board of education candidates will be sworn in Wednesday.

Dr. Bryan Green and Tami Pasley won the municipal election last week out of a total of 10 candidates.  Joey Austin, Dir. of Communications for the District said with changes in how candidates apply the district had been prepared for many more than 10.

“I really thought at this first time when we didn’t need anyone to have signatures to sign up, we were prepared for over 30.  We thought it could be anybody and everybody” Austin said. “We had 10 candidates who were very interested in the school district, who had excellent credentials to be on the board.  We had former educators, we had business people, people very tied to the community.  It was tough.  I think it was a very tough decision for the public.”

Green and Palsey will be sworn in Wednesday during a special board of education meeting.

Austin said Judge Dan Kellogg will swear in Dr. Bryan Green and Tami Pasley at 5:30 pm at the conclusion of a work session.  A reception will follow in the rotunda area at the downtown building located at 925 Felix.

Since Wednesday, Austin said the school district has been in contact with the newly elected board members.

“They’re very excited.  Already starting to see the amount of work ahead of them.  They do have some training to go through with the Missouri School Boards Association,” Austin said.  “We also sat down with them on Friday.”

Green and Pasley replace outgoing board members Brad Haggard and Eric Bruder, who was filling a position left by the resignation of former board member Dan Colgan.