Springfield Police Department

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The Springfield Police Department said Tuesday afternoon that it's helping the Greene County Sheriff's Department investigate the theft of police equipment, including an AR-15 rifle and a Remington 870 shotgun, possible similar to those in the photographs.  Someone stole the equipment from a Springfield police officer's private vehicle.  The officer thinks the theft was last Saturday or Sunday near the southwest part of the...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Richard Walker, 56, pleaded guilty on Thursday morning for the stabbing death of Angela Baskin in Springfield on July 29, 1982.  Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, Walker likely will get a 20-year prison sentence for second-degree murder. Walker pleaded guilty before Greene County Circuuit Judge Dan Conklin.  Prosecutors say Walker stabbed Baskin outside the Villa Inn Motel on North Glenstone Avenue.  The case remained an open investigation at the Springfield Police Department for 28 years until last fall.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- An elderly man who was hit by a car in downtown Springfield has passed away. The incident happened back in January. The victim had some major injuries. The family of George Earl Wilson, 70, says Wilson died on Friday. Wilson was walking in downtown Springfield at the intersection of Market and Walnut.  A vehicle hit him, breaking several bones from his shoulder down to his ankle. Wilson was also suffering from other health problems, like Parkinson's and diabetes.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- On Monday, investigators with the U.S. Marshals-Southern Missouri Fugitive Task Force located and arrested fugitive Garrett Cleaver.  Cleaver, 26, is charged in Allen County, Kan., with two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.  These charges stemmed from an incident last month in which Cleaver threatened a...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A man from Springfield is charged in federal court with robbing the Assemblies of God Credit Union in Springfield last week.   Paulanthony Rossmann II, 28, of Springfield, was charged with bank robbery in a federal criminal complaint that was filed in U.S. District Court last Friday.  Rossmann was arrested on Saturday and had his initial court appearance on Monday. According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Rossmann stole $4,728 from the Assemblies of God Credit Union, 1455 W. Battlefield Rd., on Jan. 17. The robber passed a teller a note that said, “This is a robbery and I have gun.” After reading the note, the affidavit says, the teller asked if he was serious and robber replied, “This is not a joke.”  The teller took money from her cash drawer and placed it on the counter.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Crime Stoppers and the Springfield Police Department ask for assistance from anyone who has information about a car/pedestrian crash on Jan. 16, 2013.  The car left the scene. The crash was between 7 and 7:30 p.m. at the intersection of Market Avenue at Walnut Street.  The elderly victim was seriously injured. If you were in the area of this incident and saw any suspicious people or vehicles at these times, or if you know the driver or passengers, you can call Crime Stoppers at (417)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Area residents are being advised not to purchase books from a young woman who says she is representing the Ozarks Technical Community College's Culinary Arts program. The woman was reported Tuesday, July 24, to be going “door-to-door” to area homes and trying to sell books for OTC's Culinary Arts program. The woman claims to be raising money for a trip with the OTC Culinary Arts program. Earlier this year, an individual was attempting to sell magazine subscriptions in a similar scam.

SPRINGFIELD --  A suspected drunk driver left his pickup in neutral when he bailed out of it to run from Springfield police; the truck smashed into a patrol car. That's according to the Springfield Police Department. It happened around 1:30 Sunday morning on the 1800 block of east Cinderella. Although the man jumped from his vehicle and took off after he was pulled over, police caught up with him about a block south of the stop and arrested him for DWI and resisting arrest.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Extra officers will be on the roads to find drunk drivers through the New Year's Holiday weekend.  And this year the Greene County Sheriff's Office and Springfield Police Department are getting more help.  A grant through Modot payed for three new S-U-V's, equipped with breathalyzer units.  Authorities say the DWI vehicles will help them get back on patrol faster after they take a drunk driver to jail.  The sheriff says Greene County...

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Police are looking for the person or persons who made a small meth lab that officers found outside of an apartment complex.  Officers discovered it Thursday morning in the 600 block of South Jefferson Avenue at Monroe; that's just blocks away from the Missouri State University campus. Officers found a two-liter plastic bottle bubbling with chemicals outside the building.  Two apartments were evacuated.  They called the bomb squad to diffuse the explosive threat.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.  -- It's a record that no city wants to set, but this year is a record one for Springfield for the most murders.  The homicide on Friday in the northeast part of the city was the city's 14th in 2012. A witness told police it started out as a drug deal when Marlo Hodges shot James Davis because they previously had an argument over a $20 debt.  Davis died; Hodges is still on the run. People who live around the intersection of Brower Street at Rogers Avenue said, at one time, they couldn't envision this kind of crime happening in their neighborhood.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson announces that on August 1, 2012, a jury convicted Jeremy E. Zapata, 36, of Springfield, Missouri, of four counts of statutory sodomy in the first degree involving a child less than 12 years old. These charges stemmed from events occuring between May 14, 2008, and January 24, 2010, at 2301 N. National, Springfield, Missouri. The defendant, who was the boyfriend of the victim's mother, began to sodomize the child at five years of age. The jury trial was presided over by The Honorable Thomas E. Mountjoy.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A retired Springfield police officer received a prison sentence of nearly 20 years on Thursday for sexually exploiting a minor by secretly videotaping her in order to produce child pornography.  Jack Van Matre, 55, worked in the Springfield Police Department from 1986 until his retirement in 2006. Van Matre received a sentence of 19 years and seven months in federal prison without parole.   Last June 1, Van Matre pleaded guilty to secretly using a girl to produce child pornography on two separate occasions in his home between Aug. 1 and Oct. 7, 2011.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Police identified the bicyclist who was killed in a collision with a tractor-trailer just after 10:10 Tuesday evening.  Police say Eric Floyd, 32, of Springfield, died when he was struck by a tractor-trailer that proceeded on a green light at the intersection of Cherry Street at Glenstone Avenue. Police say the truck stopped in the northbound lane of Glenstone to wait for the traffic light to turn green. The driver then moved forward through the intersection on a green light and did not see the bicycle coming from the west.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- There is a possible break in the case of the three women who disappeared from Springfield 20 years ago.     A man in prison in another state, who is being interviewed in another cold case, gave a McDonald County detective what she believes is "good information" in the case.  Detective Lorie Howard says she is waiting for Springfield police investigators to call her back to investigate the possible suspect. Besides the cold case in McDonald County, this convict also is being investigated for a cold case in Indiana.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A man from Springfield received a 17-year prison sentence on Friday for sexually abusing his girlfriend's daughter.   David Besaw Jr., 28, subjected the victim to oral and anal intercourse for several years. Prosecutors say the victim made a delayed disclosure because she had been warned by Besaw not to tell. The victim finally told authorities at her school because the rest of her family was going on a long-term vacation and she was going to be left alone with Besaw for that entire time.

   Springfield, Mo. -- Interstate 44 traffic will be detoured around the southern part of Springfield for several hours beginning at 10 p.m. Friday, September 21st.  Details follow in a news release from the Missouri Department of Transportation.   I-44 CLOSED at West Bypass In Springfield                                              Sept. 21-22 For Bridge Demolition                        Greene County -- Interstate 44 at West Bypass (Route 160)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- Meals out on Tuesday can directly benefit the Springfield Police and Fire departments. CreAsian restaurant on Chestnut & Campbell will donate half of its gross sales on September 11th to the departments. Proceeds will benefit SPD's crime prevention and neighborhood watch programs, as well as the fire department's education and prevention efforts. Restaurant co-owner Kiki Hu says her husband Johnny Tang came up with the idea because he wanted to give back to the community.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- City police want to arrest a man for a homicide last Saturday east of downtown.  Police identified him as Carlos Tureaud, 28, who is also wanted on a warrant for a suspected parole violation.  Police released two photos of Tureaud, who was not charged with the homicide as of Thursday afternoon. Someone shot Marcus Wells, 24, multiple times about 3:30 a.m. Saturday at the Alexandria Apartments at 1230 E. McDaniel St., just east of National Avenue.  Wells died at a hospital.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A man is under arrest following gunfire and a standoff near downtown Springfield overnight. Police responded to witness reports of several shots fired in the 500 block of east Cherry Avenue, near Kimbrough Street, around 11 p.m. Sunday. When they arrived, the shooter holed himself up inside an apartment with his girlfriend for about an hour while negotiators tried to talk them out. "[It was] just the process of getting things set up to where we could communicate with them.