Remember me
Insets, clockwise from top: Victim Michael Ryan Burke and murder suspects Alexis Baumann, Kobe Aust and Joseph Crane (Facebook/Boone County Sheriff's Office). Background: Michael Ryan Burke's home in Missouri where he was shot and killed during an alleged Facebook Marketplace "ruse" to steal his iPhone (KRCG).
A Missouri man who was a decorated U.S. Marine and missionary was set up and killed by a group of teens as part of a Facebook Marketplace scam to steal his iPhone, cops say.
Ryan Burke, 42, had agreed to meet 18-year-old murder defendants Kobe Aust, Joseph Crane and Alexis Baumann, as well as a juvenile suspect who has not been named by police due to their age, on Sunday at his residence in Columbia "under the ruse" of them wanting to buy his iPhone 15 Pro, which is valued at about $585, according to a probable cause affidavit.
"I'm here," the juvenile suspect allegedly texted Burke after arriving with the others at his home on the 1400 block of Ridgemont Court.
The group arrived at Burke's house around 8:10 p.m. that night after coordinating the meeting on Facebook. Baumann confessed during police interviews to riding with the teens to Burke's home in her vehicle, with Crane and the juvenile suspect going inside to retrieve the iPhone, according to the affidavit.
"Alexis advised she heard three gunshots from inside," the affidavit says. "Juvenile suspect #1 and [Crane] ran back out to her vehicle, and she drove away from the scene."
Baumann told police that Crane and the juvenile "were both armed with pistols, and once back inside of her car" they admitted to shooting Burke and stealing his phone, "which they sold at the ecoATM at the Conley Rd. Walmart directly after the murder," the affidavit says.
"Hey, I'm dying and I love you," Burke texted his mom and sister after being shot, according to family friend and fraternity brother Jerry Reifeiss, who spoke to local CBS affiliate KRCG about Burke's death.
"He texted them saying that," Reifeiss recounted. "That was just Ryan. 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."
Police say Burke, who reportedly did missionary work in Uganda, also managed to call police after being shot and "reported someone came to buy a phone from him, and the suspect shot him," per the affidavit.
While fleeing, Baumann said that Crane and the juvenile "threw their sweatshirts out of her car window," which Aust corroborated in police interviews as well, according to police. He, too, allegedly said Crane and the juvenile were armed and went inside Burke's home.
The group is accused of going on a robbery spree before killing Burke, during which they targeted at least two others for their phones.
"If you touch me I'll shoot you," the juvenile suspect told one of the victims after swiping her phone "when she showed it to him," the affidavit alleges.
Surveillance footage obtained by police shows the teens allegedly selling the phones they stole at the same Walmart on Conley Road following all three robberies. Detectives were able to track down the group on Monday using Flock license plate cameras to locate Baumann's car. She and Aust were taken into custody and interviewed about what happened, with Crane and the juvenile being arrested later in the day.
All four individuals are charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action. They are being held without bond.