A team of Missouri co-workers won the 2026 Booneanza treasure hunt Wednesday afternoon, solving a county-wide series of puzzles that led them to a hidden treasure box containing a 2.53-carat diamond valued at $10,000.

The team, named Smooth Noodles, uncovered the treasure around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday. The hunt kicked off four days earlier on Saturday, April 25.

The community wide-hunt raised money for the Boone County Historical Society, drawing 62 teams and around 300 participants from across Boone County. The competition blended local history, trivia, riddles, codes and problem-solving challenges.

“It was a lot of hard thinking, but also a lot of fun,” team member Chris Barnett said in the news release. “We have a really great team that works well together, and every Smooth Noodle contributed in a big way. We all learned something new about Boone County.”

The final clue led the team to Booneanza creator David Wilson and staff from the Boone County Historical Society, who verified the team’s completion of the hunt.

The event raised nearly $13,000 to support the Boone County History & Culture Center’s mission of preserving and sharing local history, according to the release.

While the grand prize has been claimed, organizers are continuing to offer a lower-cost version of the hunt for community members still interested in participating, according to the release.

Marion County Sheriff Kevin Cripps says missing 13-year-old Hope L. Ballard of rural Salem has been found safe in Branson, Missouri.

Detectives from the sheriff’s department will question a person of interest in the case to learn more about what happened.

Cripps says they used technology, with assistance from other police agencies, to determine where the girl may be located.  Ballard had left her home in the early morning hours of April 30th and is believed to have departed voluntarily.   The sheriff’s department was notified at 8:20 Friday night that she had been found safe.

Ballard was considered an Endangered Missing Person, and at the request of the sheriff’s department, the State of Illinois issued an Endangered Missing Person Advisory.

The girl’s family is now on their way to Missouri to pick her up.

Cripps is thanking all law enforcement agencies involved for their help.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Two people have been charged in connection with a weeks-long Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department investigation of seven drug overdose cases along Prospect Avenue.

According to court documents filed Thursday, first responders were called out on March 13 to an area near 31st Street and Prospect Avenue after receiving word that four people had been hospitalized after overdosing on an unknown drug.

A few weeks later, on April 5, police learned of three additional people who had been hospitalized after overdosing on an unknown drug in the same area.

As detectives worked the case, they identified a house in the area with increased foot traffic at all hours of the day.

On April 29, police learned that a suspect, later identified as Danasia Miller, was likely involved in a transaction to sell fentanyl at a business in the area. Police and SWAT members responded to the business and took Miller into custody.

A second suspect, identified as Myran Mays, was also arrested following the April 29 incident.

A search of a vehicle connected to the April 29 incident recovered 20 grams of fentanyl, 100 grams of methamphetamine, marijuana, phencyclidine and a firearm.

On Thursday, Jackson County prosecutors charged Miller with two counts of felony second-degree drug trafficking and one count of possession of a controlled substance – hydrocodone.

Mays faces three counts of felony second-degree drug trafficking, one count of unlawful possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a controlled substance – hydrocodone.

Both defendants remained in custody Friday at the Jackson County Detention Center on a $50,000 bond.

—

If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.

Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.