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31-year-old Montez Lee Williams of Columbia is currently jailed without bond in Boone County (November 15, 2022 mug shot courtesy of the Boone County Sheriff's Department)

UPDATE: Charges pending against Columbia murder suspect

31-year-old Montez Lee Williams of Columbia is currently jailed without bond in Boone County (November 15, 2022 mug shot courtesy of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department)

Columbia Police are seeking first degree murder charges against a probationer suspected of killing a woman in a domestic violence incident. Detective Maggie Franks of CPD’s domestic violence enforcement unit says police are also seeking armed criminal action and child endangerment charges against 31-year-old Montez Lee Williams, who’s jailed without bond.

Williams is suspected of shooting April Joann Brooks to death. The 42-year-old Brooks, who’s from southern Missouri’s Cuba, was found shot to death inside a vehicle Monday morning in the 2700 block of Blue Ridge road.

CPD investigators are thanking everyone who’s come forward with information and video evidence, saying that helped in their investigation. They’re not elaborating on what that video evidence involves.

Columbia Police emphasize that many of the recent homicides investigated by CPD have included elements of domestic violence. They encourage anyone who’s in an abusive or unsafe relationship to contact True North at 1-800-548-2480.  Just last weekend, 35-year-old Cadilac Derrick allegedly killed a woman and her grandmother in an apparent domestic violence incident. Derrick is charged with two counts of second degree murder.

As for Williams, online court documents indicate he pleaded guilty to a felony count of possession of controlled substance in May. He was given probation for five years, after that guilty plea. Williams was sentenced to seven years in prison, but that sentence was suspended and he was placed on five years probation by Boone County Judge Joshua Calvin Devine.

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