Michael Ryan Burke was still conscious after he was shot inside his southwest Columbia home - long enough, police say, to call 911. As he waited for officers and an ambulance, Burke also texted his mother and sister: “I’m dying and I love you,” his longtime friend Jerry Reifeiss told KRCG 13.
Now, three 18-year-olds and a juvenile suspect are at the center of a Columbia case drawing national attention. Investigators say it began as a Facebook Marketplace meetup over an iPhone and ended in a fatal robbery. The three adults - Alexis G. Baumann, Kobe Dale Aust and Joseph Granville Crane - appeared in Boone County Circuit Court on Thursday.
In police probable-cause statements, two of the three adults told investigators the juvenile suspect was the shooter. The third, Crane, described the juvenile pulling a gun on Burke inside the home moments before shots were fired.
Burke, 42, an ex-Marine from Columbia, was shot on a Sunday evening, Jan. 18, at a home on Ridgemont Court. Police say they recovered three spent 9mm shell casings at the scene. Burke was taken to University Hospital, where he died.
Prosecutors have charged Baumann, Aust and Crane with first-degree robbery, armed criminal action and second-degree felony murder. The felony murder count alleges Burke was killed as a result of a robbery - meaning the state does not have to prove a defendant intended to kill, but that the death occurred during the commission of a specified felony.
The juvenile suspect’s case is currently in juvenile court. He appeared before a Boone County judge on Wednesday and remains in custody while an “adult certification investigation” is completed. Another court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
A transaction arranged online, then violence at the door
According to probable-cause statements, Burke had been communicating through Facebook Marketplace about selling an iPhone 15 Pro valued at about $585. Messages on Burke’s phone show a meeting was arranged at his home. The suspect’s final message indicated arrival shortly before the shooting.
Officers were dispatched about 8:10 p.m. Jan. 18 to the 1400 block of Ridgemont Court for a reported shooting. Burke was found with multiple gunshot wounds, according to the filings.
The court documents outline what investigators say happened immediately afterward - suspects fleeing, a vehicle leaving the area, and police later using cameras and records to track the group’s movements and identify the people they say were involved.
Police say the killing capped a short spree of iPhone robberies
Investigators describe Burke’s death as the final escalation in a series of phone thefts that began days earlier. In each incident, a phone sale was arranged through online messages. In each, the suspects arrived intending to take the phone without paying.
The first incident was reported Jan. 16. A victim told police she arranged to sell an iPhone 12 for about $200 through Facebook Marketplace. Two suspects arrived, spoke with her, then grabbed the phone from her hands and ran, according to the probable-cause narrative. Police said doorbell footage captured the theft. Detectives later identified the suspects as the juvenile and Aust, according to the filings.
A second incident was reported the following day in the 2500 block of Northampton Drive. The victim told police she arranged to sell a black iPhone 15 valued at about $330. After she showed it to a male suspect, he began walking away with it. The victim said the suspect pointed a pistol at her and warned her not to touch him, according to the police narrative.
In that case, investigators say the stolen phone was quickly turned into cash at a machine that buys used phones. Police wrote that the iPhone 15 was sold around 6:45 p.m. Jan. 17 at an ecoATM kiosk inside the Walmart at 415 Conley Road - about 10 minutes after the robbery was reported. Detectives said ecoATM provided photos and documents tied to the transaction.
Police said surveillance footage and images associated with the kiosk transaction showed Baumann completing the sale, while Aust and the juvenile were present during the transaction.
A vehicle, license-plate cameras and surveillance footage
The filings describe what investigators say became a major break - identifying a dark gray Toyota Venza that police linked to the robberies and the homicide.
After the Northampton Drive robbery, detectives wrote that license-plate camera information identified the Toyota Venza and showed it traveling north on Highway 63 near Broadway within minutes of the robbery report.
After Burke was shot, investigators again relied on license-plate camera data. Police wrote that the same vehicle was captured near Stadium Boulevard and Providence Road a couple minutes after the shooting was reported.
Detectives also described surveillance video from a gas station on Rangeline Street that they said showed the Toyota arriving about 7:20 p.m. Jan. 18 - less than an hour before Burke was shot. Aust and Crane were observed entering and exiting the store, before leaving in the Toyota. Police later searched an area connected to the vehicle’s suspected route and recovered clothing items they said matched what the suspects had been seen wearing.
Investigators also pursued records tied to the Facebook account they said was used to communicate with the victims. Detectives wrote they sought legal process for Facebook data, including account-creation information and other records investigators said helped them track activity and connect communications to the incidents.
Arrests and what police say the defendants told them
Police said Baumann, Aust and the juvenile were arrested Jan. 19, and Crane was later arrested the same day. The probable-cause statements summarize what detectives said the defendants told police after arrests.
Alexis Baumann
Baumann
Detectives wrote that Baumann admitted she drove the others to the theft, the robbery and the Ridgemont Court meeting. Police said she told investigators the group set up Facebook Marketplace meetings knowing they intended to steal phones, and that the phones were taken to the ecoATM kiosk to be sold. She also told police she used money from the thefts to pay for gas.
As for the homicide, police wrote that Baumann said the juvenile arranged the Ridgemont Court meeting “under the ruse” of buying the phone. Baumann told investigators she drove the group to Burke’s home and stayed in the vehicle while the juvenile and Crane went inside. She said she heard three gunshots, then saw them run back to the vehicle, after which she drove away.
Detectives wrote that once they were driving away, the juvenile admitted to her that he had shot Burke.
Kobe Aust
Aust
Detectives wrote that Aust admitted he was in the vehicle during all three incidents. In the police narrative, investigators said Aust described the group’s activities surrounding the robberies and the homicide.
After the killing, the filing says, Aust told detectives the juvenile disposed of a handgun by throwing it between Aust and Baumann inside the car. Aust later directed detectives to where he said the juvenile discarded additional items, including a phone and clothing.
Joseph Crane
Crane
In Crane’s probable-cause narrative, detectives wrote that Crane admitted he was present at Burke’s home and said he went inside with the juvenile. Police said Crane told investigators both he and the juvenile were armed.
Detectives wrote that Crane described an encounter inside the home in which the juvenile pulled a gun on Burke. Crane said he pushed Burke after the juvenile produced the weapon. The filing attributes to Crane a description of the firearm he possessed - a Ruger P80 - and says Crane told investigators he left the gun at an address on Hardin Street, where detectives recovered it.
Crane’s account, as summarized in the police filing, places the juvenile as the armed initiator inside the home. The narrative does not quote Crane explicitly stating the juvenile fired the shots, but the overall filing ties the shooting to the group’s alleged robbery plan.
Court appearances and what happens next
The three defendants appeared in Boone County Circuit Court on Thursday for initial proceedings, where the court addressed the filing of charges, the defendants’ rights, and scheduling.
In Baumann’s case, her attorney entered an appearance, waived arraignment and entered a not guilty plea on her behalf. Court filings also include a defense request for a home detention study, typically used as part of the bond review process. She’s represented by attorney’s from the Columbia firm Harper, Evans, Hilbrenner & Netemeyer.
In the court schedule, bond hearings and preliminary hearings are set for the coming weeks. A preliminary hearing is an early proceeding where a judge determines whether there is enough evidence to keep the case moving forward. If probable cause is found, the case proceeds toward further felony prosecution steps.
Because the juvenile suspect is in the juvenile system, those proceedings are not publicly outlined in the same detail.
A friend’s account of Burke’s final moments
Reifeiss told KRCG 13 that Burke was a decorated Marine who took part in dangerous missions. He said Burke’s final texts to his mother and sister were consistent with Burke’s character.
“That was just Ryan,” Reifeiss told the station. “He always put people in front of him and wanted to make sure people knew how he felt. He didn’t want to go on to the next life and pass away without providing some information to us here that would bring justice to these people and let people know he always loves them.”
Hundreds of comments from friends and acquaintances on social media have expressed shock, sorrow and outrage over Burke’s death. He was a well-known parishioner at the St. Thomas More Newman Center on the MU Campus, where a funeral mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 30. The funeral will be Thursday, Jan. 29 at Memorial Funeral Home in Columbia. A celebration of life will be held in April.
Marketplace meetups and violent opportunism
The allegations in this case reflect a risk that has become familiar to police agencies nationwide - online marketplaces can create opportunities for robberies when transactions are moved from public settings into private spaces. Investigators in this case describe a pattern - arranging phone sales, showing up in a group, taking the phone, and quickly converting it into cash at a phone-buyback kiosk.
The charges also underscore how prosecutors approach group crimes that end in death. With felony murder, the legal focus is not only who fired a shot, but whether the defendants took part in the robbery that prosecutors allege caused the death. That is why all three adult defendants face the same top-level homicide count even though the filings attribute the shooting most directly to the juvenile suspect.