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Friday hearing set for Columbia man charged with throwing woman to her death from bridge

32-year-old Jessie Williams is currently incarcerated at the maximum-security prison in southeast Missouri’s Charleston, for the brutal 2018 attack of an elderly Columbia homeless man (October 2022 file photo courtesy of the Missouri Department of Corrections website)

A Columbia man charged with throwing a woman to her death from the Highway 63 overpass near Clark lane’s Steak ‘n Shake in October will appear in court Friday morning.

32-year-old Jessie Williams is charged with first degree murder for the gruesome October 4th death of 24-year-old Kaylen Ann Schmit. He’ll appear in court virtually tomorrow morning from the maximum-security prison in southeast Missouri’s Charleston, where he’s incarcerated for an unrelated 2018 crime.

His parole was revoked after the October murder.

Williams was homeless at the time of the murder, according to the Columbia Police Department’s probable cause statement. The document quotes two witnesses who allegedly observed Williams trying to throw the victim off the bridge. Both witnesses were motorists on northbound 63, and one saw the victim fighting back and squirming in an attempt to get out of the suspect’s grip.

Court documents obtained by 939 the Eagle say Schmit suffered severe spine injuries and internal bleeding from the fall. One witness tells CPD investigators that he saw Williams and the victim in a nearby homeless camp less than 30 minutes before the incident, and that Schmit was trying to get some belongings back from Williams.