Former Columbia restaurant owner was charged with murder in court Monday

A former Columbia restaurant owner once featured on the “Food Network” will appear in a Boone County courtroom today (Monday) ahead of his murder trial in November.

Jeffrey Edward McWilliams, 32, is charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and armed criminal action in the December 2017 drug-related shooting death of Augustus Roberts in Old Hawthorne Township. This allegedly involved the murder of Roberts and the robbery or attempted robbery of a submarine that contained a large amount of marijuana.

A woman who was in the house before Roberts was shot ran out of the house and said the three suspects were wearing ski masks and demanding money and property.

McWilliams is represented by prominent St. Louis defense attorney Scott Rosenblum. Nick Komoroski is the special prosecutor in this case. Boone County Circuit Judge Joshua Calvin Devine has ordered McWilliams to appear in court in person for his pretrial conference at 10 a.m. this morning. Judge Devine has scheduled a four-day jury trial that will begin November 19 at the Boone County Courthouse.

McWilliams owned the McLanks restaurant on Columbia's Paris Road.