Food Network ‘Restaurant Impossible’ Participant Arrested For Cold-Case Murder
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A Columbia, Missouri man who once appeared on the Food Network’s Restaurant Impossible show has been arrested and charged with murder in a four-year-old cold case.
Jeffrey McWilliams was arrested Tuesday on charges of second degree murder, first degree robbery, and armed criminal action in relation to the murder of Augustus Roberts in December 2017.
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The Food Network’s Restaurant Impossible sees host Robert Irvine attempt to turn around failing restaurants in two days. He worked with McWilliams on his McLanks eatery in July 2019, giving the place a makeover that prevented the visit from shutting down.
McLanks serves what it calls “American comfort food.” The restaurant was reportedly vandalized shortly after it appeared on the Food Network.
Reports last June indicated that the show was planning a “revisit” episode to guide its reopening after it was shuttered by the pandemic in February 2020.
McWilliams waived his arraignment Wednesday in court after his arrest Tuesday.
Court documents claim McWilliams and two accomplices comitted a home invasion on the Roberts residence. Police said the homicide involved drug use and that the suspects targeted Roberts, who had been indicted on a prior drug trafficking case.
McWilliams is being held without bail at the Boone County Jail. The judge granted a bond investigation, and he will have a hearing on May 18 at 1 PM.
The McWilliams arrest is the second Food Network scandal this year. Previously, Worst Cooks in America winner Ariel Robinson and her husband were arrested and charged with the murder of a three-year-old girl who was under their foster care. She remains in custody, but her husband has been granted bail in that case.
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