Dozens of potential witnesses, but still no arrests made in Columbia homicide after almost 12 years

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

When Rickie Dunn was shot in the early morning hours of Nov. 30, 2014, it's estimated that between 50 to 100 people were around. Nearly 12 years later, the case still remains unsolved.

However, Lead Criminal Investigator at the Columbia Police Department Lt. Matt Gremore said its not that police aren't confident in the evidence they have; it's the absence of a credible witness.

"There's some cases out there that you've done all the DNA testing you can do, you've done all the evidence, forensic stuff that you can work on," Gremore said. "Some cases come down to the only thing that can solve it is somebody coming forward with information."

Police were called just before 2:30 the morning of the shooting to the 1400 block of Illinois Ave., for shots fired out front of Classic Whips, an auto body shop in central Columbia. Officers found two victims, 40-year-old Rickie Dunn and an 18-year-old man. Both were taken to the hospital, where Dunn later died. 

Gremore said police investigated two scenes that night: the shooting outside of Classic Whips, and the place where Dunn was found wounded one street over on Grand Avenue. Gremore said Dunn had tried to drive his car away from the area after getting shot.

"I was one of the first ones here that night," Gremore said. "He was still somewhat conscious, not really talking, but obviously you could tell it was a very traumatic situation going on."

Dunn was wounded in his upper leg. Officers applied tourniquets at the scene to try and stem the bleeding, according to Gremore.

Gremore wouldn't say if the other victim had a role in the incident that night, but did say he doesn't think the man has been fully truthful with police.

"We know that he was there. He's somebody that we would like to get the truth out of, know exactly what he knows," Gremore said.

ABC 17 News found the man's name through a records request and attempted to contact him, but a listed phone number was out of service.

Dunn's father, James Dunn Sr., said he spoke with his son's girlfriend, Reba Newman, at the hospital in the hours after the shooting.

"I talked to a girlfriend and she had told me what had happened," Dunn Sr. said.

Based on that conversation, his understanding of what led up to the shooting starts with Rickie and Newman getting stuck in traffic from the gathering outside of Classic Whips.

The Dunn family said Newman and Rickie were on their way home from a Thanksgiving event in downtown Columbia when he got a call to pick up his daughter. The detour is what brought them to Illinois Avenue that night.

Dunn Sr. said an interaction between Rickie and Newman and a group of individuals at the gathering became confrontational. Dunn Sr. said when the argument went from verbal to physical, someone in the group began shooting.

"I was right in the middle of getting Thanksgiving meats done for the next morning," said James Dunn Jr., Rickie's older brother. "We got a phone call about two something in the morning and I had to go in there and wake my parents up to tell them that my brother's gone."

In a 2021 interview with ABC 17 News, Newman did not have the same recollection of the night.

"I don't remember too much besides trying to get home," Newman said.

Since Newman spoke with Dunn Sr. at the hospital in the hours after the shooting, the Dunn family said she has never maintained the same story.

"She makes it seem like it never happened," said Pamela Dunn Williams, Rickie's sister. "She hasn't said 'hey, let's talk about that night.' It's like she disappeared out of her mind."

Dunn Williams described her brother as a peacekeeper.

"He always said 'squash it' when he always heard people argue because he didn't like the confrontation," Dunn Williams said.

His son Rickie, or Little Rick, described his dad as his first role model.

"Everything he did I always wanted to do," Little Rick said. "How fast he was, how big he was, how courageous of a person he was."

Little Rick was just 10 years old when his dad died.

"My sister came through, like barging through. It just froze me whenever she said that dad got shot," Little Rick said.

Dunn Williams remembered seeing her brother for the last time the day before on Nov. 29. The family was supposed to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday on the 30th.

"I remember telling him, 'Rick, please be on time for Thanksgiving because you know mama is gonna be happy unless you were late. Please be on time,'" Dunn Williams said. "I didn't know that was going to be the last text I sent to him."

Rickie was a standout player at Hickman High School in the early 1990s. His legacy still hits home for his mother, Iona Dunn.

"A lot of times when he make a touchdown, he'd be on his knees like he's saying, 'thank you God'," Iona said. "That's why I don't watch football too much, because Rickie played football."

It's on the field that Little Rick still finds a way to connect with his dad.

"He was my first football coach," Little Rick said. "We was downstairs doing drills about contact stuff like that. It's little seeds he was planting into me that now fully spruced up to a big, beautiful tree."

He believes "street code" culture has kept anyone from coming forward with answers over the last 12 years.

"They was in an area to where it's different groups, people are like intoxicated. So, you never know what you truly see," Little Rick said. "They don't want to be labeled as a snitch, or anything like that."

The rest of the Dunn family said it's time for someone to finally speak up.

"You had long enough to not say anything, now come on we need closure," Dunn Williams said. "I want my parents to be able to see the outcome of what has happened."

Gremore echoed the families sentiments.

"I think that these days there's a fear that you'll get labeled if you talk to the police, but we're talking about somebody that had their life tragically taken. That, to me, is a much bigger deal than anything else that could be happening in society," Gremore said.

Police collected any surveillance video available at nearby businesses in their investigation, but Gremore said the technology in 2014 was not as common or advanced as today.

Gremore did reveal that police have identified several people of interest in this case, but he said it's unknown if the shooter is still in Columbia.

Even though gun violence took his dad's life, Little Rick said it didn't take away his dad's legacy.

"You are soft to have to use a gun to stop somebody. For you to do that, to take away a man from his family who is providing and protecting them, you are a coward," Little Rick said. "Just know that you're not stopping nothing, that his name is going to forever live on."

Watch the latest "Mid-Missouri's Cold Case Files" Wednesday at 6 p.m. on ABC 17 News on KMIZ.