On Sunday, December 7, 2014, 30-year-old male Benjamin Scott Jester lost his life in a violent incident in Springfield, Missouri. Jester, who had spent part of his childhood in West Africa where his parents served as missionaries, was targeted after visiting a residence in north Springfield. The events unfolded when he was confronted by a man named Jason Kumnick, who had returned home to find Jester in the company of Kumnick's girlfriend.
The confrontation escalated quickly, leading
Kumnick to chase Jester for approximately a quarter of a mile. Jester attempted to flee on a bicycle, but Kumnick pursued him to a driveway on North Main Avenue where he fatally shot him. Following the shooting, investigators collected blood evidence from the scene that was later matched to Kumnick's DNA, contradicting his initial claims to detectives that he was not involved in the death. Although Kumnick’s defense team later argued that the shooting was an act of self-defense against an alleged attack with a wrench, prosecutors presented evidence that Kumnick had pursued the victim for a significant distance before firing the weapon.
In September 2018, a Greene County jury found Jason Kumnick guilty of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Two months later, in November 2018, the 46-year-old Kumnick was sentenced for his crimes. The judge ordered him to serve a life sentence, calculated as 30 years, for the murder charge, and a consecutive 30-year term for armed criminal action. Additionally, he received a concurrent 15-year sentence for the firearm possession charge, resulting in a total effective sentence of 60 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
