NEW MADRID, Mo. —Over the last month, we have investigated two separate incidents where prohibited purchasers who live in the city of New Madrid have attempted to buy a gun from a licensed gun dealer in another jurisdiction. In one instance the prospective buyer had a previous conviction for domestic assault; in the other, the man had previously been found to be mentally incompetent. In both cases, the buyers were denied after they failed their respective background checks...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On the afternoon of March 19, officers responded to a house on Davis Street for a disturbance in progress, with one party possibly armed with a gun. When officers arrived it became clear that some type of family dispute had taken place and one subject was possibly having a seizure. The man having the seizure was transported by ambulance to a local hospital and was later found to have facial injuries that were not immediately apparent to the officers...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — Around 11:30 p.m. March 3, the New Madrid Fire Department responded to a home on St. Monica Street for a structure fire. When the first truck arrived on scene, there were already heavy flames showing with fire coming through the front windows and the front door of the home. After several hours the fire was extinguished completely...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On the afternoon of March 5, an officer responded to New Madrid Elementary in reference to a damaged road sign. It appeared that during a little league basketball game the night before, someone had run over a stop sign then left the scene...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — Over the last week, there have been reports of a check scam that may be impacting people locally. At least one report was taken where someone put a check in the mail to their credit card company, only to find several days later that the check never made it to the company. After the victim saw a digital image of the check on their bank statement, it was clear that the check had been altered by someone and deposited into a personal bank account...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - In the late evening hours of Feb. 24, the New Madrid Fire Department was paged to a two-vehicle traffic crash on Highway 61 just north of the New Madrid city limits. The crash occurred when a vehicle that was slowing to make a turn into Evergreen Cemetery was struck in the rear by the car behind it. Four juveniles in the car were injured with one of the children who had serious injuries and was flown to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On Feb. 1, an officer took a report regarding the theft of a truck. The complainant said he had been incarcerated for approximately two weeks and in that time a man that was staying with him had taken his truck and sold it for scrap. The officer contacted several local scrapyards and found where the complainant’s truck had been sold for scrap during the time he was in jail...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — In the early morning hours of Jan. 27, police and fire personnel responded to the 300 block of Powell Street for a residential structure fire. By the time the fire department arrived on scene, the fire had burned through the roof of the house and was threatening the home next door. After spraying water on the house next door to keep the fire from spreading, fire personnel got the fire knocked down and contained to the kitchen of the house...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of Jan. 16, an elderly woman was brought to the police department by two residents who found her stranded in a car near LaForge. The woman’s car had slid off the road, down an embankment and was stuck in the snow at the bottom of the embankment...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On the afternoon of Jan. 10, officers responded with agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration to a house on Main Street in an attempt to find a man with a federal warrant. The home and a camper on the property were searched, but residents said the man had left a short time earlier on foot. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of Dec. 31, the fire department was called for mutual aid to State Highway V near Matthews for a trailer on fire at a job site. Matthews Fire Department initially knocked the fire down, and firefighters from both departments worked for several hours extinguishing fire inside the ceiling and around a heating unit. Fire departments from Matthews, New Madrid and Miner were at the scene for approximately three hours...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On the morning of Dec. 2, an officer responded to a residence in the 400 block of Pinnell Lane for a disturbance. When he got to the house he found that two men who live at the house had been in an argument, and one of them had damaged the inside of the house during the fight...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of November 18, an officer responded to a local business for a panic alarm. When he arrived, an employee said a man had just walked out of the business with several items and left in a black car. The man was identified by the employee and the officer reviewed surveillance footage of the theft. He found that the man was now living in Kennett and contacted the police department there to serve the man with a court summons for theft...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On Oct. 3, at around 4 p.m., officers responded to a business in the Villa Shopping Center for an assault. When they arrived, they found one man bleeding profusely with injuries to his mouth. According to several witnesses, the man who was injured had attempted to get into the locked office of the building. When an employee stopped him from going into the office, the man threatened to assault the employee...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of Nov. 2, officers stopped a vehicle on Highway 61 for a traffic offense. When they approached the car, they found that the driver had a revoked driver’s license and he was placed under arrest. After searching the inside of the truck, officers located several cordless power tools and checked the serial number on each. One of the tools came back stolen from another state, and the driver may have pending charges for receiving stolen property...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - As the weather changes, the call types for the police department and fire department change along with it. As far as the police are concerned, there is one type of call that is on the rise this time of the year: traffic crashes. Between increases in school traffic, inclement weather and deer movement, vehicle crashes rise dramatically in November and continue through February...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - In the early morning hours of June 27, the New Madrid Fire Department was paged for mutual aid at an apartment fire in Howardville. New Madrid and Lilbourn Fire Departments responded and made entry into one of the apartments that was filled with smoke. They found that the fire was caused by wiring inside a wall and after a few hours the fire was fully extinguished...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On the afternoon of June 10, officers responded to St. Anne Lane for reports of a man making threats while armed with a gun. When officers arrived, they found the man in the front yard of his home and he had laid a shotgun in the back of a vehicle. A woman at the home said the man was upset and had been walking around in the front yard saying that no one was leaving the property while brandishing the gun...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of May 23, officers responded to the area of Mitchell Street and Broughton Drive for a disturbance. Two women had gotten in a fight in the Ramey’s parking lot and one of the women was following the other down the street toward her house. The victim said she stopped her car to call the police and when she did, the suspect ran up to the car with a knife yelling for her to get out...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of May 15, officers received a call about shots fired in the 200 block of Tennessee Street. A woman said the driver of a car fired a shot at her while she was standing in her front yard, and an officer at the scene found a spent shell casing in the street. Another officer found the suspect vehicle on Highway 61 and after initiating a traffic stop placed the driver under arrest...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of May 15, I attended New Madrid County Central’s awards ceremony to present the New Madrid Police Department Scholarship for the ninth year in a row. In 2015 we began giving the $1,000 scholarship to a graduating senior from NMCC, with special emphasis on those who would be seeking a degree in criminal justice or some other public service field...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of May 15, I attended New Madrid County Central’s awards ceremony to present the New Madrid Police Department Scholarship for the ninth year in a row. In 2015 we began giving the $1,000 scholarship to a graduating senior from NMCC, with special emphasis on those who would be seeking a degree in criminal justice or some other public service field...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of April 26, an officer took a report for trespassing on St. Virginia Street. The homeowner saw a white male on video, later identified as Tristen Sletten, cutting through her yard dragging a pressure washer. The pressure washer was found a few houses down on St. Virginia, but Sletten had already left the area...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Over the last few weeks, the New Madrid Fire Department has been busy with rescue calls related to vehicle crashes. In the early morning hours of April 6, the fire department was paged to a single-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 61 just north of Kewanee. A car traveling south on 61 struck a deer, then ran off the east side of the road, hydroplaned across a ditch full of water, and landed in a group of trees about 20 yards off the road...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of March 28, officers were called to the area of Happy Lane to check for a man with several arrest warrants. An anonymous caller said they saw the man go into a home on Happy Lane and when the officers pulled up they saw the man crawl out of a back window and run south toward Tasters. After a short foot chase, the man was caught in the Villa Shopping Center...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Over the last few weeks, we have taken several reports about thefts occurring late at night from people’s yards and carports. On the week of March 15, a woman said she saw a man on a bicycle in her driveway on St. Virginia Street at around 4 o’clock in the morning. Nothing had been stolen, but the man was looking through things on her patio...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of March 17, officers received information about possible drug activity on Main Street. Officers found the vehicle the caller described and recognized the driver, who they knew to have a revoked driver’s license. An officer tried to initiate a traffic stop, but the car fled and a pursuit began going east out of town. The driver turned and went north on Route U toward Laforge, but one mile north of New Madrid he lost control of the vehicle and ran into a ditch...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - In the early morning hours of March 12, officers were called to Blades Drive about a disturbance involving a large crowd. When the first officer pulled in at approximately 4:30 a.m. several cars were trying to leave the area, and he was able to block in two of them. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of March 1, officers responded to the old Davis Pharmacy building on Mott Street in reference to property damage. The glass front door of the building had been broken out sometime over the previous two days. Officers searched the building but it didn’t appear that anyone had gone inside...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On Feb. 19, shortly after midnight, officers received a call about gunshots in the area of Old Kingshighway. An officer on his way to the scene saw a vehicle matching the description given by a witness, so he initiated a stop on the car. During a search of the car, a handgun was found inside and the driver was placed under arrest for unlawful use of a weapon...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Over the last week, officers have taken several calls that were initially given out as “change of mental status,” but in reality were related to drug intoxication.  When officers arrive, the person is usually hallucinating, taking off their clothes, and suffering from extreme paranoia. In at least one case, the patient fled the house as the police arrived and had to be restrained to be put into an ambulance. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - The fire departments in New Madrid and Lilbourn have been under an automatic aid agreement for structure fires since at least 2016. This basically means that if a home or business is on fire in either town, both departments are paged to be sure there is plenty of manpower to handle the situation...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On Jan. 17, officers responded to the storage sheds behind the car wash on US Highway 61 for a break-in. The complainants said they had not been at their storage shed in a few months, and when they checked it on Jan. 17, someone had broken in their storage unit. Sometime in the last two months, the lock was cut, items stolen and a new lock put on...

On the morning of Jan. 12, officers responded to a business on Highway 61 for indecent exposure. An employee at the business said a man came through the front door and exposed himself to workers there. When told to leave the man started walking around the counter toward the woman, but then turned around and left...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of Jan. 9, the New Madrid Fire Department responded to a three-vehicle crash at the north New Madrid overpass. The roadway was blocked by the crash and there were injuries to at least one of the drivers. Fire personnel were on scene for about an hour assisting the ambulance crew and diverting traffic away from the accident scene...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - For police officers in Missouri, the end of the year always means that it’s time to ensure continuing education requirements have been met. The Missouri Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) program requires that all police officers in the state complete a minimum of 24 continuing education hours every calendar year. Of those 24 hours, the subjects of racial profiling, implicit bias, de-escalation, and mental wellness must be included...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On the morning of Dec.6, officers responded to an address in New Madrid for a fight in progress. The caller said that one man was armed with a crossbow and threatened to shoot the first officer to arrive. As officers pulled up to the house, they saw the man put the crossbow in a truck then stand next to the open truck door. The man had assaulted a family member before the police arrived and he repeatedly told officers that he was not going back to prison...

On Nov. 10, officers responded to an address on Mott Street in reference to a suicidal subject at the house. When officers arrived, they learned there was already a court order for the woman to be transported for a mental health evaluation. Also, a man at the house said the woman had barricaded herself in a bedroom and was possibly armed with a knife...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On Monday I attended a meeting in Jefferson City with other police chiefs and sheriffs from around the state to discuss the recent school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The speaker, a retired police officer and an instructor with Texas State University, gave a debriefing of the incident and talked about what could have been done better...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Shortly after noon on Oct. 19, a couple reported that their car was broken into while parked near the observation deck on the levee. The couple reported they parked their car across from the museum, then walked the riverfront and went in the museum...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of Oct. 5, officers responded to an address on Mott Street for a domestic disturbance where someone had been stabbed. When they arrived, the victim said she and her adult son had an argument and he stabbed her in the abdomen with a small knife. There was a small puncture wound on the woman’s side that broke the skin, but she refused treatment from EMS...

On the afternoon of Oct. 2, a couple walking their dog in the area of the New Madrid boat ramp reported finding a car in the Mississippi River just below the ramp. In addition, they found a small bone in the same area as the car. Officers responded and secured the scene then began the process of sifting through what was left of the car for other bones or items that would identify the vehicle...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of Sept. 22, several reports were taken in the area of Ramsey Lane in reference to vehicle break-ins. Overnight someone had gotten into unlocked cars in the neighborhood but few items were reported missing. On Sept. 24, a resident’s camera caught a man walking onto their porch in the middle of the night, and it’s believed he may be involved in the break-ins...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - At around 11:30 p.m. Aug. 29 officers were called to the 400 block of Vandenvender in reference to a possible shooting. When officers arrived, they found someone had fired several shots into a parked car and then fled the scene on foot. The owner of the vehicle had a verbal argument with a man earlier in the night, and it was believed that he was the suspect...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of Aug. 27, two vehicle break-ins were reported in the area of Church Street near Davis Street. Both vehicles were unlocked and the owners reported that change, sunglasses and electronics were stolen. Evidence was collected at both scenes and submitted to the crime lab for analysis on Monday morning...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - For the police department, the summer is usually a slower time of year and things begin to pick up when school is back in session. This may seem strange, but with the beginning of school comes more traffic on the roads, which in turn leads to more traffic accidents and more traffic enforcement...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - In the early morning hours of Aug. 13, officers responded to a parking lot on Dawson Road for a report of shots fired. When the first officer arrived, most of the people had left and a witness said a man in an SUV fired several shots into the air. Shell casings were collected at the scene, and the next day an officer found a SUV matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle...

NEW MADRID, Mo. — On the afternoon of Aug. 8, an officer stopped a car with expired tags on Kingshighway near Scott Street. The driver’s license was revoked and also there were warrants for his arrest out of Sikeston and Scott City. He was placed under arrest and transported to Sikeston Department of Public Safety for processing on their warrant. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Over the weekend, officers took a report of a shed break-in on Pinnell Lane. The owner reported a tiller was missing, and possibly some other small items. On the same day, the sheriff’s department took a report just north of the city limits of an ATV being stolen from inside a shop. As of now, no arrests have been made in either case, but evidence was collected at both scenes...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of July 3, an officer attempted to stop a car for expired registration near the intersection of Vandenvender and Main streets. The driver of the car first pulled into Femmer Drive, then got back on Vandenvender and continued east. The driver ran several stop signs and finally pulled into the yard of a house in the 200 block of Pinnell Lane...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - In the early morning of June 14, an officer responded to Happy Lane for a reported burglary and assault. When he arrived, the victim told him her ex-boyfriend had broken in and chased her out of the house into the street. She said the man started punching her, but after some of her neighbors came outside, the man fled from the area...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Over the weekend, I had several calls about loud music being played from sound systems in a couple of the city parks. The current ordinances allow for prosecution for loud or offensive noise from car stereos, sound systems, vehicle/ATV exhaust, etc. However, there are several hurdles to enforcing the current law as it is written...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of May 28, the fire department’s rescue squad responded to a traffic crash just north of the Marston rest area in the southbound lane of Interstate 55. It was initially reported as a motorcycle-vs-vehicle crash, but when the fire department arrived, they found it was a single-vehicle motorcycle wreck. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of May 11, an officer saw a woman driving a truck near Scott Street and Highway 61. Recognizing the driver, he knew her driver’s license was revoked and stopped the truck when the woman pulled out of a gas station...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On May 16, the New Madrid Police Department Scholarship in the amount of $1,000 was awarded to Delaney Cooksey of Matthews. Delaney, the daughter of Jim and Heather Cooksey of Matthews, ended her four years at New Madrid County Central with a 3.7 GPA. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - At around 8:30 p.m. April 30, officers learned of an incident that had just occurred at a truck stop in Matthews where a deputy was injured in an altercation with a truck driver. A New Madrid officer who was parked near the south overpass saw a tractor-trailer traveling south on Interstate 55 that matched the suspect vehicle’s description. The officer activated his lights and siren but the driver refused to pull over and continued south on I-55...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On April 23, an officer took a report from a local restaurant about a woman attempting to pass a counterfeit $100 dollar bill. The cashier noted that the bill felt different than a real one, and when he used a counterfeit pen he confirmed that the bill was fake...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of April 10, officers responded to the area of Pinnell and St. Christopher streets for suspicious activity. A citizen saw a white male try to open the back doors of two houses, then he walked north through some yards near Beverly Drive. A short time later an officer found the man walking between two houses carrying an open beer...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Around 3:30 p.m. April 10, several calls were received about ATV riders in the area of Mitchell and Pinnell streets driving erratically and speeding. An officer found a group of riders on Virginia Street near SEMO Drive and initiated a traffic stop, but the riders split up and fled the scene. The officer pursued one for a short distance then when he recognized the driver he terminated the pursuit due to the danger to public...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of March 22, officers responded to Highway 61 near Mill Street for a report of two white males, one wearing a camouflage jacket, looking in the windows of closed businesses. The officers found men matching that description walking near Highway 61 and Pinnell Street and made contact with them. They admitted to being on property of several closed businesses...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On March 14, officers received information about possible drug activity on St. Thomas in New Madrid. By the next day, a search warrant was served at the house and two people were arrested. Officers found several marijuana plants being cultivated in a bedroom, as well as a small amount of methamphetamine, numerous illegal prescription drugs, and several items of drug paraphernalia...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - The city of New Madrid provides citizens with access to dumpsters that are paid for by the city. The dumpsters are housed on a fenced lot on Bloomfield Road next to the water treatment plant and are emptied by the company weekly. As part of this service there are a few simple rules meant to prevent abuse of the service and keep the area clean...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On Feb. 20 at around 9 p.m., officers responded to a disturbance in the parking lot of Taster’s Restaurant. The 911 caller said that several people were involved and at least one was armed with a gun. When officers arrived, one man had another at gunpoint and both were detained while the scene was secured...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On Jan. 31, officers responded to a house on Vandenvender for a reported break-in. The homeowner had been gone for a couple days and when she returned she found that someone had broken a window and entered the house. Several items were missing and the house had been ransacked...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of Jan. 4, an officer responded to an apartment on Broughton Drive in reference to an ongoing dispute between two people. The complainant said she had been followed home from Sikeston by a woman she has had problems with in the past and she just wanted the woman to leave her alone...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of Thursday Jan. 6, the first winter storm of the season hit the area, causing dangerous travel conditions. At around 8:30 a.m. traffic backed up on Interstate 55 southbound near the south New Madrid overpass. Once that happened, a pileup occurred that stretched nearly all the way to the 52 mile marker, which is the Kewanee exit...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of Dec. 14, a citizen called after watching someone steal from a local grocery store. The witness said a woman went to the meat counter and got meat then walked around the store picking up several other items. She then hid them under her jacket and walked out the front door...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of Dec. 1, officers responded to an address on Kingshighway for an assault. A man at the address said his brother had assaulted him, then grabbed a knife and threatened to kill him with it. The officers found the man’s brother in a bedroom of the house and he was arrested without incident...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of Nov. 22, officers investigating an assault that had occurred over the weekend received information about a subject who was wanted out of Ohio. When the officers learned the man’s identity they found that he had a warrant for parole violation and escape from custody after walking away from a halfway house in Ohio...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of Nov. 10, an officer responded to an apartment on Byrd Drive in reference to an assault that occurred on Russell Street. The complainant said she was on private property at the intersection of Russell and Riley streets. She said she was talking to someone when she was approached by another woman and hit from behind, knocked to the ground. The victim said the woman then pulled her hair and hit her several times...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of Nov. 7, an officer responded to an apartment on Blades Drive for a domestic disturbance. When he arrived the officer spoke to both parties and both agreed that it was only verbal altercation. Neither wanted to press charges...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of Sunday, Nov. 7, an officer responded to Missouri Street in reference to a domestic disturbance. The 911 caller said one of the parties involved was armed with a gun. When the officer arrived he made contact with the man and woman in the front yard of the house. The woman had obvious marks on her neck and said she had been choked nearly unconscious by the man. She also said he threatened her with a gun and said several times he was going to kill her...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - In the early morning hours of Oct. 25, a strong storm system pushed through New Madrid, damaging two homes and several utility poles. At around 1:30 a.m., dispatch received a call that the roof had been lifted from a house on Main Street and debris from the roof had damaged a house next door. Officers responded to the scene. Luckily everyone made it out of both houses with no injuries...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - In the early morning hours of Oct. 14, officers responded to the 400 block of Vandenvender for a burglary. The homeowner saw a truck leaving his house when he came home from work. When he got home, he found that the house had been broken into and several items had been taken...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of Sept. 28, a theft was reported at a local shop building where someone had stolen a refrigerator that was outside next to the building. The property owner had surveillance footage of the suspect stealing the refrigerator the night before. The suspect was driving a single cab Ford F-250...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - ​Since school has started back and corn harvest is starting, traffic on local roads has picked up, especially in the mornings. On Sept. 15, officers responded to the south New Madrid overpass where a car was struck by a grain truck. The driver of the car initially got off the interstate, then attempted to cross Highway 61 to get back on the interstate. A grain truck traveling south on Highway 61 struck the back of the car and spun it around in the roadway...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - At around noon Sept. 1, New Madrid County deputies responded to Howardville, Mo., where a shooting had just taken place. The 911 caller said a man in a blue Ford Mustang had fired several shots at someone in another car. The assailant then fled the scene...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of September 24, deputies with the New Madrid County Sheriff’s Department and an officer from the Police Department were serving a civil order in the 400 block of Vandenvender Street in New Madrid. While they were serving the order a man walked across from Femmer Drive and confronted the police, then began questioning them about why they were there. ...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of Aug. 22, an officer responded to the area of Edwards Drive where a man was threatening several people. When the officer arrived, a man was standing in the parking lot screaming at several women. When he told the man to stop yelling and put his hands behind his back, the man initially refused. When told again to put his hands behind his back, the man complied and was handcuffed until the officer could find out what was going on...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On Thursday, Aug. 5, at around noon, officers received a call about a car coming into town on Route U where a man and woman were fighting inside. An officer found the car on Dawson Road and made a traffic stop. The woman in the car said the man had assaulted her in Lilbourn and the man admitted that he had grabbed the woman’s hair...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of July 29, a teenage girl walked into the lobby of the Sheriff’s Department and said she had been assaulted by her mother. The girl had visible injuries to her mouth and said her mother had hit her in the face with a piece of wood from a broken bed. The girl’s mother showed up a short time later and denied the allegations...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On July 16, officers responded to the 400 block of Vandenvender in reference to a disturbance in progress. When they arrived they couldn’t find anyone fighting, but several people pointed them to an apartment in the complex. They made contact with the man and woman who live there and although they could tell the woman was visibly shaken, she repeatedly said that nothing happened...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the morning of July 13, officers responded to an apartment on Blades Drive where a 911 caller reported a woman was being choked by her boyfriend. When officers arrived, a woman was walking through the parking lot with two small children and she had obvious wounds to her face. She said that she and her boyfriend got in an argument and he started punching her. She stated he then got her on the ground and started choking her...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On June 29, officers responded to a business on Main Street for a subject who was making threats toward the employees. The man indicated that if he did not get money from them that he thought he was owed, he would do physical harm to someone there. He then told them that if he saw a particular police officer, calling the officer by name, he would shoot him in the head...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of June 28, officers responded to Blades Drive in reference to a domestic assault. The caller said she and her boyfriend were arguing when he grabbed her by the throat and started choking her. She said the man then got on top of her on the couch and choked her until she finally broke free...

NEW MADRID, Mo - On May 20, a woman brought her daughter to the police department and reported that someone was sending her daughter lewd photos. The suspect, an adult female, was attempting to get property from her ex-boyfriend by sending lewd photos of the man to different people, including the teenage girl. Officers found the woman and she admitted that she sent the photos...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the night of May 22, officers responded to a domestic disturbance in the 300 block of Pinnell. While one subject was gathering his belongings to leave, an officer checked both the man and woman for warrants. He learned that the man had a New Madrid city warrant for failing to appear in municipal court. Once the warrant was confirmed, the man was placed under arrest and taken to the police station for booking...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of May 24, officers responded to Hunter-Dawson Park for a report of suspicious behavior. A woman at the park with a young child was making statements to other people at the park that made them fear for the child’s safety, so they called the police to be sure the child was not in danger...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On May 8, a woman came to the police department to report that she had been assaulted by her boyfriend. She stated that he had pushed her down, punched her and stole her cell phone before running from their house. An officer took the woman’s statement and completed a report. Later in the day, the officer went to a house on Pinnell Lane where he found the suspect...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of May 3, an officer took a report about vandalism on Main Street. The botanical society had put plants in all of the planters on Main Street earlier in the day, and by late in the afternoon someone had pulled out all of the plants and thrown them in the street...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Recently I’ve been speaking with other police chiefs and sheriffs in the area about how we can better serve our citizens as well as our employees and several of them have mentioned their chaplain program. Law enforcement chaplains serve a variety of roles in a police organization, from counseling employees and community members, to assisting in death notifications and critical incidents...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On April 20 at around 7:30 a.m., an officer was called to Femmer Drive for found property. The officer found a black and yellow ATV parked in the backyard of an empty residence with no one around. He ran the serial number on the ATV, got the registered owner’s name, and made contact with him over the phone...

On the night of April 16, officers with the police department served a search warrant in the 1400 block of Mill Street after receiving several reports about drug activity in the area. When the officers approached, one of the residents tried to run but was caught before he left the property. Inside the house officers located over a half-pound of methamphetamine, four handguns, and numerous other items of drug paraphernalia...

​On the night of April 12, just after midnight, officers responded to an address on Main Street for a domestic disturbance. When they arrived, they found that the back door to the house had been kicked in but the suspect had already left. A woman at the house said her ex-boyfriend kicked in the door, assaulted her and fled the area before the police arrived. Officers checked the area for the suspect but he was not located...

On the morning of March 30, a Portageville officer was transporting a prisoner to the New Madrid County Sheriff’s Department. The prisoner became combative and requested an ambulance, so the officer pulled in to the New Madrid Police Department parking lot to call an ambulance...

On the morning of March 29, we learned of the passing of David Simmons, a retired police officer with the city of New Madrid. David devoted over 30 years to the city, working the majority of that time on night shift. In addition, he served as the interim police chief from 2013-2014 after the retirement of Chief Claude McFerren until the time I started in April of 2014...

On the afternoon of March 17, a report was filed about a subject who was violating the conditions of his bond by contacting the victim in the case. The man, who is on bond for burglary and domestic assault, was driving by the victim’s house repeatedly and trying to contact her by phone...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – A former New Madrid, Mo., firefighter will go to prison after stealing money from a fundraiser meant to benefit the community’s late fire chief. Jennifer S. Newton, 47, was sentenced March 4 to six months in prison on each of two counts of wire fraud by United States District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. The sentences are to be served concurrently...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - On the afternoon of Feb. 22, officers responded to an address in the 600 block of Mott Street in reference to a burglary in progress. A woman reported that her estranged boyfriend was attempting to force his way into her house. By the time officers arrived the man had left, but the door facing was broken and it was clear the man had partially made it through the door...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - Just after 6 p.m. Feb. 8, officers responded to the area of Blades Drive where a 911 caller said several people were shooting at each other. When officers arrived, they found that an apartment building had been hit by several bullets and there several shell casings on the ground. Throughout the night officers collected evidence at the scene and interviewed witnesses. Also four handguns were seized as evidence...

NEW MADRID, Mo. - At approximately 3:45 p.m. Jan. 29., officers responded to the 400 block of Vandenvender for a large fight in the courtyard of a public housing complex. When officers arrived they found a man with a small wound to his head, but later found that he was the aggressor in the incident. He and a family member had assaulted a man after an argument broke out over a child in the complex...

On the afternoon of Jan. 21, officers responded to an address in the 600 block of Mill Street in reference to an assault in progress. When they arrived on-scene they found a woman standing on the sidewalk with an injury to her head. The woman said she had been assaulted by her boyfriend, who had forced the front door of the apartment open and punched her in the face during an argument...

On the afternoon of Jan. 11 an officer took a report about a stolen farm truck. The truck was actually found by the owner on a parking lot on Main Street before he knew it had been stolen. After reviewing camera footage and talking to witnesses, officers identified a suspect and learned that he was already in jail on separate charges...