Two accused of killing Columbia man for insurance money in 2021
BENTON CO, Mo. (KMIZ)
Two people were arrested in Springfield, Missouri, on Sunday and charged with murder in connection with the 2021 death of a Columbia man.
Cody Garrett, 28, was reported missing on June 21, 2021. Benton County deputies found Garrett's vehicle and remains off the trails near a bike park outside Warsaw, Missouri. An autopsy showed he had died by homicide.
Kayley and Michael Birnbaum were arrested Sunday after new evidence was discovered, according to a Benton County Sheriff's Office social media post. Charges were not available in online court records Tuesday afternoon.
“We received a call from the family making an inquiry as to what the status of the investigation was. The family was disappointed that so much time has passed and that we didn't have any additional answers for them, so much so that it piqued our interest to pull that case file and put another fresh set of eyes on it,” Capt. Kelly Lowe, of the Benton County Sheriff’s Department, said. “In doing so, we put a set of eyes on it that was unaware of the case, whatsoever. And as he went through the information that we had gathered, he identified a couple of areas that he believed he could establish some additional information on. And in the process of that, and over the period of about a week, we got two people in jail for for the murder of Mr. Garrett.”
According to authorities, the sheriff’s office conducted new interviews, investigated digital evidence and sent previously untested items to crime laboratories. About a month after Garrett’s family contacted the sheriff’s office, arrests were made. The Birnbaums are accused of planning the killing and carrying it out. The two were arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
A probable cause statement says the Birnbaums killed for $50,000 in life insurance money because one of them was the beneficiary. Garrett had been shot in the hand, arm, body, and head and impaled in the abdomen with a novelty sword. Authorities found a bag of novelty weapons, including a sword similar to the one used to impale Garrett, in the Birnbaums' home. The couple burned some evidence and threw the pistol in the Missouri River before they left the murder scene.
Kayley Birnbaum told investigators that she and Michael Birnbaum researched remote spots where they could kill Garrett unnoticed; did reconnaissance at the site before the killing; researched cleaning supplies; planned to kill Garrett on a day before a rainstorm to destroy evidence; and lured Garrett to the spot.
“About 150 man hours, if not more, of a single deputy working every lead, every possible avenue that this case could take. This took him out of town, of course, because all of the people involved at the time and the names that he needed to get in touch with are no longer in the area of Benton County. So, a lot of traveling back and forth, a lot of attempts to dig up old information and turn it into new and identify where people were and how to get a hold of them,” Lowe said.
Michael Birnbaum called police on Sunday and turned himself in at the Springfield Police Department. He gave officers a handwritten statement saying he had shot and stabbed Garrett, according to the probable cause statement.
“The Springfield Police Department was outstanding in their assistance with us. Once Detective Johnson identified what he needed to accomplish and what his objectives were, he reached out to them and they provided us not only with assistance, but with additional manpower people to take us around where we didn't know areas, and they were just astronomical in helping us come together,” Lowe said.
The Benton County Sheriff’s Office explained that the investigation’s progress was slowed because they only had one homicide detective handling multiple cases.
“Any homicide investigation is tough because you have everything from evidence to facts to theories to it just you're going every direction. I think a lot of it at the time was that the staffing levels that we had, the call volume that we had, and then we had just moved into the building. So there was a whole lot of things going on,” Lowe added.
The Birnbaums were in the Benton County Jail on Tuesday with no bond. No hearings had been set in their cases. The sheriff's office says the investigation is ongoing.
