State briefs 2/22/16

Person sought after four fire deaths

EDGERTON, Mo. -- Authorities investigating the deaths of four people in a northwest Missouri fire are looking for a 24-year-old man. The Kansas City Metro Squad identified the man Sunday as a "person of interest" and said investigators want to question him in the deaths of three adults and an infant. The fire was reported just before midnight Friday at a rural home south of Edgerton in Platte County. Authorities said Saturday they are investigating the deaths as possible homicides. Sheriff's Capt. Erik Holland said there were "suspicious situations around the burning of the building and the deaths of the four individuals."

Man gets probation after fatal DUI

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A Springfield man who pleaded guilty in October to involuntary manslaughter in a fatal drunken-driving crash will not go to prison. Dylan Meyer, 21, was sentenced Friday to probation for the February 2015 death of 38-year-old Kelly D. Williams in Springfield. Prosecutors said his blood alcohol level after his truck collided with Williams' vehicle was .266, and tests showed the presence of drugs. A probable-cause statement said Meyer's pickup truck was going 95 mph before the crash, and Williams' car was nearly split in half by the impact. Prosecutors had sought a 10-year prison sentence for Meyer. Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson issued a statement calling the probation sentence a "slap on the wrist." Meyer's public defender declined to comment.

Safe rooms in Joplin area nearly done

JOPLIN, Mo. -- Thousands of students and residents in the Joplin area will have shelter during the severe-weather season, thanks to the construction of safe rooms that began after the deadly May 2011 tornado. Local school districts have spent more than $100 million on construction safe rooms since the tornado, which killed 161 people and destroyed thousands of structures. Many of the safe rooms are finished; several others will be ready soon. A few others won't be ready until summer or fall. The final safe room to be built at a Joplin school is nearly finished.

-- From wire reports