Latest news with #JeffersonCounty
Washington Post
19 hours ago
- Washington Post
DNA reveals identity of man whose body was found more than three decades ago in Missouri
ST. LOUIS — A man whose body was found in the Mississippi River south of St. Louis in 1994 has finally been identified after authorities exhumed his remains to collect new DNA samples. In the latest cold case to be solved through advances in DNA technology, the sheriff's office in Jefferson County, Missouri, announced Tuesday that the former John Doe was Benny Leo Olson from Edwardsville, a suburb on the Illinois side of the river about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of St. Louis. Officials do not suspect any foul play in the case, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported . After learning Olson had been dead more than three decades, his half-sister Catherine Heston told the newspaper, 'We knew something must have happened, but you never really know.' If alive today, he would be 76. She said Olson was a 'perpetual student,' attending St. Louis Community College-Meramec, Western Illinois University in Macomb and at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. But mental illness also lurked in the background. In 1980, he was charged with trying to pay someone to burn down his stepmother's house. His fingerprints were taken as part of that criminal case, and those prints ultimately helped confirm his identity following a partial DNA match to a distant relative. Olson, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was deemed not competent to stand trial. He spent 11 years at a mental health facility in Illinois before being released in the early 1990s, Heston said. Heston said the last time she heard from Olson would've been about a month before his body was found in the river, when he called during what she described as a 'paranoid delusion.' The family often wondered what happened. Over the years, her mother kept a box full of mementos, including his high school class ring, family photos and other keepsakes. 'This case resolution is a testament to the power of investigative genetic genealogy to give John and Jane Does their names back and provide answers to family,' Alyssa Feller, a forensic genetic genealogist who worked on the case, said in a news release.
Associated Press
19 hours ago
- Associated Press
DNA reveals identity of man whose body was found more than three decades ago in Missouri
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A man whose body was found in the Mississippi River south of St. Louis in 1994 has finally been identified after authorities exhumed his remains to collect new DNA samples. In the latest cold case to be solved through advances in DNA technology, the sheriff's office in Jefferson County, Missouri, announced Tuesday that the former John Doe was Benny Leo Olson from Edwardsville, a suburb on the Illinois side of the river about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of St. Louis. Officials do not suspect any foul play in the case, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. After learning Olson had been dead more than three decades, his half-sister Catherine Heston told the newspaper, 'We knew something must have happened, but you never really know.' If alive today, he would be 76. She said Olson was a 'perpetual student,' attending St. Louis Community College-Meramec, Western Illinois University in Macomb and at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. But mental illness also lurked in the background. In 1980, he was charged with trying to pay someone to burn down his stepmother's house. His fingerprints were taken as part of that criminal case, and those prints ultimately helped confirm his identity following a partial DNA match to a distant relative. Olson, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, was deemed not competent to stand trial. He spent 11 years at a mental health facility in Illinois before being released in the early 1990s, Heston said. Heston said the last time she heard from Olson would've been about a month before his body was found in the river, when he called during what she described as a 'paranoid delusion.' The family often wondered what happened. Over the years, her mother kept a box full of mementos, including his high school class ring, family photos and other keepsakes. 'This case resolution is a testament to the power of investigative genetic genealogy to give John and Jane Does their names back and provide answers to family,' Alyssa Feller, a forensic genetic genealogist who worked on the case, said in a news release.
CBS News
2 days ago
- CBS News
Unarmed Alabama man's death ruled a homicide after police officer kneeled on his neck
The death of an unarmed 52-year-old man who died after an Alabama police officer kneeled on his neck was ruled a homicide by a county coroner, according to an official autopsy reviewed by The Associated Press. The finding led lawyers representing Phillip Reeder's family on Monday to compare his death to that of George Floyd in 2020. The report issued by the Jefferson County medical examiner's office concludes Reeder, of Irondale, Alabama, died last August of heart failure "associated with cocaine use and restraint during altercation." Officers in the Alabama suburb 10 miles from Birmingham were dispatched to a local highway just after 5 a.m. on August 6, 2024, after one of Reeder's colleagues called 911 to report a medical emergency, according to Reeder's wife, Sandra Lee Reeder. Phillip Reeder, who owned a construction company, was driving home from a job in Memphis, Tennessee, she said. At the time, police said Reeder was wandering in and out of traffic when they approached him, according to Body camera video of Reeder's death has not been released publicly, but Sandra Lee Reeder and her attorneys said they reviewed it last week. "Phillip is heard clearly not once, not twice, but three times 'I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe,'" Sandra Lee Reeder said at a news conference Monday, CBS affiliate WIAT-TV reported. A 2023 state law that governs release of police recordings says the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency may choose to not disclose the recording if it would affect an active law enforcement investigation. An email seeking comment from the Irondale police chief was sent Monday morning. Sandra Lee Reeder said that the body camera footage shows her husband running from police when they arrived. Police then shocked Reeder with a Taser, placed him in handcuffs and laid him on his stomach, she said. One officer put his knee on Reeder's neck for over three minutes, she said. "If I stand right here and count to 120 seconds — a lot can happen. That's three minutes," the family's attorney Harry Daniels said, according to WIAT. "A knee was on the back of his neck while he was in handcuffs." The autopsy said Reed had multiple non-lethal wounds and bruising from the attempted arrest by the police. Sandra Lee Reeder said she could see he was bleeding from his face in the video. Reeder was unresponsive when the officer rolled him over onto his back, according to the coroner's report. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital just after 6:30 a.m. Daniels, the attorney for the Reeder family, compared the fatality to the death of George Floyd in 2020, which prompted months of protests and widespread scrutiny over police tactics. "This world was captivated and shocked about what happened in 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2024, the exact same thing happened," Daniels said at a news conference outside Irondale City Hall on Monday. Daniels said that the only difference between what happened to Reeder and Floyd is race: Reeder was White and Floyd was Black. Reeder may have committed misdemeanor disorderly conduct by wandering into traffic, but "it is not warranted for a knee in the back - that is deadly force," he said. Reeder's two sons said that they also reviewed the body camera video of their father's last moments this month after almost a year of asking the local police department and state agency for more information. "What I have gone through these past 11 months should not happen to any 19-year-old," Zachariah Phillip Reeder said. WIAT reported the city of Irondale provided a statement after the press conference, which reads in part: The City of Irondale and the Irondale Police Department do not agree with the characterization of events by Ms. Sandra Reeder regarding the death of Phillip Reeder. On 8/6/2024 at approximately 5:10 am, Irondale 911 received several calls regarding a white male subject (later identified as Phillip Reeder) running in and out of traffic on Highway 78 near Old Leeds Road. Officers were dispatched to the area and located the subject who appeared to be under the influence and behaving erratically. Despite multiple commands to comply, Mr. Reeder continued running in the road and shouting. As Mr. Reeder posed a danger to himself and others, a Taser was deployed to bring Mr. Reeder to the ground and assist officers with detaining Mr. Reeder. Even after deployment of the Taser, Mr. Reeder continued to resist and would not follow commands of the officers. Once handcuffed, Mr. Reeder continued to struggle and resist for almost two minutes. Officers did hold Mr. Reeder to the ground using their arms only. No knee was placed in the back of his neck, and no excessive force was used. Mr. Reeder stopped resisting, and the officers realized that he had stopped breathing. They immediately turned him over, checked for a pulse and began CPR until the paramedics arrived.
CBS News
2 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Colorado State Sen. Jessie Danielson enters race for Secretary of State
Vowing to keep Colorado's elections fair, accessible and secure, Democratic State Sen. Jessie Danielson announced she's running to be the state's top election official. A fourth generation Coloradan, Danielson has represented Jefferson County in the legislature since 2015, passing laws to protect equal pay, disability rights, working families and voting access. Before running for office, she was the State Director at America Votes and was instrumental in creating and implementing Colorado's mail ballot election system. She says she will partner with all the state's clerks to protect that system. "There are extremists who very much would like to dismantle our election system and the way that Coloradans vote. I am dedicated to standing up against that kind of thing because we need to protect our democracy, and the accessibility of our polls, and our elections," she said. Danielson says she also plans to make the Secretary of State's Office more transparent and accessible. Jefferson County Clerk Amanda Gonzalez and republicans Cory Parella and Ross Taraborelli are also running for the office.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Ex-Manual coaches Donnie, Ronnie Stoner plead not guilty to child sex charges
With their accusers sitting in the courtroom behind them, two former Jefferson County Public Schools coaches listened as an attorney entered not-guilty pleas for both on child sex abuse charges. Donnie and Ronnie Stoner, who last worked at duPont Manual High School and previously worked and coached at other schools within JCPS, were then placed on home incarceration July 21 by Jefferson Circuit Judge Mitch Perry. A Jefferson County grand jury indicted the twin brothers July 18 on over 50 combined counts related to child sex abuse charges related to four minors, identified by the initials A.S., A.F., A.J. and A.C. The counts span from May 2005 to July 2023. Zach Kilgore, also named in the case, did not appear in court. Perry scheduled a bond hearing in the case for July 29. The case was originally set for Circuit Judge Julie Kaelin's court until she recused herself because of a conflict of interest. She told the court she formerly represented a co-defendant of Kilgore's. The case was reassigned to Perry's case within an hour of the Stoner brothers' original arraignment. Donnie Stoner pleaded not guilty to 35 total counts of child sex abuse charges related to the four minors, including: 12 counts of sodomy; 11 total counts of rape (nine counts third-degree, two counts first); 8 counts of sexual abuse; 2 counts of unlawful transaction with a minor; 1 count of tampering with physical evidence; 1 count of conspiracy to commit unlawful transaction with a minor. Ronnie Stoner pleaded not guilty to 21 total counts of child sex abuse charges related to the four minors, including: 6 total counts of sodomy (three counts in the third degree, three counts in the second degree); 6 total counts of rape (three counts in the third degree, one count in the second degree and two counts in the first degree); 4 counts of sexual abuse; 3 counts of unlawful transaction with a minor; 1 count of conspiracy to commit unlawful transaction with a minor; 1 count of incest. Kilgore was charged in the indictment with one count of first-degree rape. "It's like the first step of any accountability for 20 years, so we're very happy such a robust indictment was filed," said one of the accusers who attended the hearing. "... Emotions are really high." The Stoner brothers walked out of the courtroom with three bailiffs and onto the elevator. They were not made available to reporters by attorney Rob Eggert, who represented both in the arraignments. Eggert is the legal representation for Donnie Stoner. Ronnie Stoner is still working to obtain legal representation. From 2005 to present Personnel files for both Donnie and Ronnie Stoner obtained by The Courier Journal through Kentucky's Open Records Act show the brothers ― formerly known as LaDon and LaRon ― first began coaching at Evangel Christian in 2005, the year the counts in the grand jury indictment began. Donnie Stoner's JCPS tenure began in 2010 as a paid freshman football coach at Fern Creek, where Ronnie would eventually join him as an assistant football coach. By 2013, Donnie Stoner became an assistant junior varsity football coach. By 2015, he began at Newburg Middle School. And by 2015, he was named varsity assistant football coach. In 2017, he moved to duPont Manual as varsity assistant football coach until 2022, when he became the head coach there. There are charges that relate to different minors throughout this time period, too. On July 13, 2023, JCPS "temporarily removed" Donnie Stoner from his coaching duties. He was arraigned 18 days later on rape, sodomy and child sex abuse charges of a Manual student. That trial is set for Aug. 26, which was delayed from March 11. Following a court hearing in February, JCPS confirmed Donnie Stoner was still working for the district in a position that had no contact with students. On July 18, JCPS confirmed he was no longer employed by the district, but spokesperson Mark Hebert wasn't sure when the change took place. An open records request for Stoner's resignation or termination letter has not yet been fulfilled. Donnie Stoner has an active criminal case regarding child sex abuse with a former Manual student. Ronnie Stoner and Kilgore have not faced previous child sex abuse charges related to this group of minors. Donnie Stoner is also facing a civil suit. That suit, originally filed under seal because of a state law, was filed in September 2024. The student, who is no longer a minor, filed a motion to unseal the case. That motion was granted in January 2025. The civil suit also names Ronnie Stoner, as well as Manual principal Michael Newman and athletic director David Zuberer, claiming they "knew or should have known" about Donnie Stoner's conduct and were negligent in his hiring, training, supervision and retention. In response to the suit, Ronnie Stoner denied the allegations due to a lack of "sufficient knowledge," according to court documents. In response to the lawsuit, JCPS claimed governmental immunity. It's a common claim by school districts across the commonwealth used to avoid liability in child sex abuse cases, The Courier Journal found as part of its series, Silence & Secrets, which discovered at least 80 Kentucky middle- and high-school coaches were alleged to have engaged in sexual misconduct in the last 15 years. Stoner's case was one of the more prominent cases profiled in "Silence & Secrets." At the time of its publishing, there were at least three former JCPS coaches on trial for charges related to child sex abuse. One of those coaches, Christopher 'Ro' Morris, has a trial starting this week for charges related to the alleged child sex abuse of two former athletes he coached at two JCPS middle schools. Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter. Reach her at skuzydym@ or on social at @stephkuzy. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Ex-coaches Donnie and Ronnie Stoner plead not guilty to sex charges Solve the daily Crossword
