A shocking crime claimed the life of a decorated Marine officer in Missouri. It involved a Facebook Marketplace scam carried out by a group of teens to steal the U.S. Marine officer’s iPhone. 42-year-old Ryan Burke fell prey to the charade and agreed to meet three 18-year-olds — Kobe Aust, Joseph Crane and Alexis Baumann. They were accompanied by another juvenile accomplice whose age investigators couldn’t immediately confirm.
The teens were scheduled to meet Burke on Sunday at his home on the pretext of wanting to buy his iPhone 15 Pro. The device was valued at about $585. When the teens reached the officer’s house, it was the juvenile accomplice who texted Burke, writing “I’m here.”
The group had arrived at Burke’s home at 8:10 p.m., and it was one of the teens, Alexis Baumann, who had driven them to the location in her car. Their meeting with the officer was already coordinated, so the other two teens, along with the juvenile, went inside the house to retrieve the phone.
In her affidavit confession, Alexis revealed hearing gunshots from inside the house. Before long, the two teens and the juvenile rushed out of the house, and Baumann drove them away from the crime scene. She confirmed that both the teens were in possession of pistols, and once they came back to the car, Kobe Aust and Joseph Crane admitted to killing the Marine officer and stealing his phone. They sold the phone at an ecoATM inside a Walmart just after committing the murder.
Marine veteran fatally shot at Facebook Marketplace meetup, calls 911, family in final moments https://t.co/M4N7OwYRAq pic.twitter.com/dWXLcxiLtB
— New York Post (@nypost) January 22, 2026
In his final moments, the victim, Ryan Burke, texted his mom and sister after getting shot and wrote, “Hey, I’m dying, and I love you.”
The officer’s family friend and fraternity brother, Jerry Reifeiss, spoke to KRCG about Burke’s death. In his words, “That was just Ryan. He always put people in front of him and wanted to make sure people knew how he felt. He didn’t want to go on to the next life and pass away without providing some information to us here that would bring justice to these people and let people know he always loves them.”
The investigators on the case later revealed that after getting shot, Burke made an effort to call up the police. He reported that “someone came to buy a phone from him and the suspect shot him” during the call. One of the culprits, Baumann, confessed that at the time of their fleeing, Crane and the juvenile accomplice threw out their sweatshirts from her car window.
As per the charges levied against the group, they’re accused of going on a robbery spree before they killed Ryan Burke in his home. They had at least two other victims as their targets, from whom they intended to steal phones. The juvenile suspect reportedly pointed his gun at one of the other victims while robbing her phone and said, “If you touch me, I’ll shoot you.”
Marine veteran texted family goodbye after he was fatally shot at Facebook marketplace meetup | New York Postlock these idiots up and toss the key https://t.co/wIsJQ4vdZw
— 1America (@1America6) January 22, 2026
Surveillance footage that was obtained shows the teens selling off all the stolen phones at the same ecoATM in the Walmart store on Conley Road, shortly after the three robberies. Detectives were successful in tracking them down by using license plate cameras. Alexis Baumann’s car was the first one to be tracked, and she, along with Kobe Aust, was taken into custody immediately
The officers interrogated them about the incident, and a day later, the juvenile and Joseph Crane were arrested. The four culprits have been charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery, and armed criminal action. They are being held without a bond.
