Fiery Newspaper Owner, 98, Gives Kansas Cops a Piece of Her Mind During Raid on Her Home, One Day Before She Died From ‘Stress’

The 98-year-old co-owner of the Marion County Record, was seen in surveillance footage confronting officers during a police raid on her home.

An August 11 search of Joan Meyer’s home was conducted by the Marion County Police Department under a search warrant granted by Magistrate Laura Viar to investigate an identity theft allegation.

The warrant was later withdrawn by the county attorney, according to a report from the Daily Mail.

“Don’t you touch any of that stuff,” Meyer may be heard on video yelling at officers. “This is my house. You assh**e!”

Joan Meyer is repeatedly recorded asserting her rights and expressing displeasure at the police searching her home.

“I don’t want you in my house,” the nonagenarian repeatedly said.

Eric Meyer, her son, claimed his mother, a dedicated lifelong journalist, was deeply affected by the raid.

Meyer claimed in a report published by the Marion County Record that the trauma from the raid of her home caused her death the following day.

The newspaper, under Meyer’s leadership, was reportedly investigating allegations that police chief Gideon Cody had retired from his previous position to sidestep potential repercussions over claims of sexual misconduct.

Police also raided the newspaper’s office and the residence of one of its reporters. Essential equipment, including computers and phones, were confiscated during these raids, according to Mr. Meyers.

In the released footage, the elderly woman is seen challenging officers, asking one, “Did your mother ever love you?”

“Get out of my house,” Meyer yelled at another officer. “You’re trespassing.”

She reportedly refrained from eating, sleeping, or drinking after police invaded her home and died August 12 from sudden cardiac arrest, according to a coroner’s report.

The Marion Police Department’s chief defended the raid, citing concerns about “identity theft.”

Many observers believe the true motive behind the raids was the newspaper’s investigation into Gideon Cody, though.

Cody had joined the Marion, Kansas, force as its chief in late April, after 24-years with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, which he left amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Co-publisher Eric Meyer said the Record was contacted by Cody’s former colleagues, who revealed the claims of sexual misconduct, according to a report published on The Handbasket, which is on Substack.

The six-plus anonymous sources never agreed to speak on the record and reporters couldn’t obtain Cody’s personnel file, so no report of the claims were published before the raid.

“We didn’t publish it because we couldn’t nail it down to the point that we thought it was ready for publication,” Eric Meyer told The Kansas City Star.

The initial raid was sparked by leaked documents about local businesswoman Kari Newell, owner of Kari’s Kitchen, which could have jeopardized her application for a liquor license.

Meyer chose not to publish the story about Newell due to doubts about the source and instead informed the police about the received information.

Newell subsequently accused the newspaper in a criminal complaint of obtaining her personal data illegally.

Viar, appointed late in the year to fill a judicial vacancy despite two arrests for drunk driving, approved Cody’s application for a warrant to search the newspaper’s office and the publisher’s home.

Following public outcry over the raid, the search warrant that authorized the raid on the newspaper’s headquarters and Joan Meyer’s home was withdrawn.

All items taken from the Marion County Record were returned to the newspaper’s attorney five days after the police department’s confiscation, the Daily Mail reported.