Columbia Man Gets Life in Northeast Missouri Man’s Death

A Columbia man will likely spend the rest of his life in prison for a shooting death of a northeast Missouri man.

The Moberly Monitor Index reports 36-year-old Jason Lee Lage was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison plus 50 years in the killing of 32-year-old Zachary Dawson.

Lage was found guilty in March of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

Investigators say Lage and 31-year-old Jessica Munoz met Dawson at a Moberly bar and later went to a home Dawson was renovating in Madison.

Prosecutors say Lage shot Dawson after deciding to rob him. Defense attorneys claimed Dawson committed suicide.

Munoz pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and is serving a seven-year sentence.

A medical examiner ruled Dawson could have survived the wound if he had received immediate medical attention.