HAILEY OWENS - 10 yo/ Charged: Craig Michael Wood - Springfield MO

mom_in_il wrote:Red tape. How long does it take to track a license plate and get an address? Couldn't that have happened while the Amber Alert was being processed?

They can find license plate info in a few seconds (like when they stop you for a traffic violation) and could have been at the father's home at least by 5:30 and from there right to the crime scene. I just don't get it.- it's not too often that they have a full license plate and vehicle description so why not a BOL or APB? But the quickest route would have just been to go to the address of truck registration immediately and let someone else fill out the paper work; that should not have impeded the original officers from finding this dear child before 6:00-imho.  

God bless the families, and the officers involved.

Hailey Owens murder case goes to 3rd judge
This time, prosecutors requested a change in judge for the murder case of Craig Wood.

Gene Hartley Gene Hartley, ghartley@schurz.com
POSTED: 06:02 PM CST Mar 04, 2014
UPDATED: 02:11 PM CST Mar 05, 2014

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The murder case against Craig Wood is now in the hands of third judge as it proceeds toward a preliminary hearing. Wood is accused of kidnapping and murdering Hailey Owens, 10, on Feb. 18.

Greene County Associate Circuit Judge Mark Powell is now assigned to the case. He's scheduled Wood's preliminary hearing for April 2. That hearing is when a judge decides whether there's enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial.

A defendant sometimes waives his right to a preliminary hearing because his attorney doesn't see an issue to contest, or because he wants to keep more evidence against him from coming to light before the case goes to trial.

Wood's case was initially assigned to Associate Circuit Judge Dan Imhof. After Wood's first court appearance on the murder and kidnapping charges, Wood requested a change of judge. Associate Circuit Judge Jason Brown then got the case. Prosecutors then requested a change of judge, sending it to Powell's court.

In Greene County, each side in a criminal case can request one change of judge before the preliminary hearing without having to give a reason, and the motion is automatically granted. If the case goes to circuit court for a trial or plea, each side can again request one change of judge without having to give a reason.

If an issue with a judge arises after those automatically-granted requests, a judge holds a hearing to consider arguments for a change of judge, or a judge recuses himself on his own because of a conflict of interest.

Greene County has five circuit judges and five associate circuit judges, although not all of them are always assigned to handle criminal cases.

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/hailey-owens-murder-case-goes-to-3rd-judge/21048998_24803624

Hailey's parents sue man accused in 10-year-old's kidnapping, killing

Mar. 17, 2014 6:35 PM
Written by Stephen Herzog

The parents of a 10-year-old kidnapped and killed last month have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the man accused of murdering their daughter — calling the man’s alleged actions “evil.”

Stacey Barfield and Markus Owens, the biological parents of Hailey Owens, filed the suit in Greene County Friday seeking financial damages against Craig Michael Wood.

The petition says Wood was observed kidnapping Hailey on Feb. 18 and that the girl’s body, with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, was found at Wood’s home on Feb. 19.

The suit says Wood was either negligent in the handling of a loaded weapon or intentionally shot the girl, which is what prosecutors are arguing.

The petition says Hailey’s parents have “suffered severely and in the future will suffer, by reason of the injuries sustained by and from Hailey Owens’ death.”

The suit seeks financial damages to cover costs associated with Hailey’s death, but it also seeks punitive damages to “punish Defendant Wood and to deter him and others from like conduct.”

In making the claim for punitive damages, the petition says “Wood’s actions were grossly negligent, reckless, intentional, and/or outrageous, making no effort to mitigate the damages or avoid the harm to Hailey Owens or (the parents), and acting with evil motive and reckless indifference to the rights of Hailey Owens and her parents...”

The suit does not specify how much money the parents are seeking, only what the court “may deem just under the circumstances.”

Wood is charged with first-degree murder, armed criminal action and child kidnapping in connection with Hailey’s death.

Authorities say that Wood abducted the girl during daylight hours, took her to the basement of his home and shot her in the back of the head.

Police say the body of Hailey was found in two garbage bags inside a plastic storage tote in Wood’s basement, which smelled of bleach.

Wood was arrested at his Stanford Street home a few hours after Hailey was reportedly kidnapped.

The lawsuit was filed, on behalf of Hailey’s parents, by attorney David Ransin.

Ransin last week sent a letter to the News-Leader that he is representing the parents “regarding all matters related to and arising from the abduction and loss of their daughter.”

Ransin said he is representing the family at a lesser fee and donating the fee to a nonprofit fighting child abuse.

“I will use my 32 years of experience representing wrongful death victims and their families to achieve some sense of civil justice for my clients while guiding them through this process,” Ransin said in the letter, adding:

“In recognition that even the largest monetary recovery in the world could never fully make up for the loss of their daughter and all of their suffering, I am representing this family at a significantly reduced fee, and I will donate 100 percent of that fee to Bikers Against Child Abuse.”

Speaking only as an observer, attorney Robert Palmer, of the Law Offices of PalmerOliver in Springfield, said filing this suit during the ongoing criminal case against Wood is “a little unusual, but not completely unusual.”

“I could see myself doing the same thing in the same circumstance,” he said.

Palmer said wrongful death cases have a three-year statute of limitations. Attorneys will usually advise their clients, he said, to allow criminal proceedings to be completed before filing such a suit, but this case is different.

Palmer said he has not spoken with Ransin, but he thinks the family’s attorney may be trying to secure financial assets for the family before they are depleted, which may happen over the course of the trial.

Authorities have said they found evidence of a $1 million trust in Wood's name. But no documentation of the trust has been produced in court or in court filings.

Palmer said Ransin may be trying to put a freeze on those funds. He added that this case will not affect the criminal case against Wood because the civil case, though started, can be put on hold until the criminal case runs its course.

“I hope he’s really successful,” Palmer said. “Cause that guy is an evil person.”

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20140317/NEWS12/303170097/Hailey-s-parents-sue-man-accused-10-year-old-s-kidnapping-killing?sf23953823=1&nclick_check=1

Missouri killing - Amber Alert

Posted on: 9:13 pm, March 18, 2014, by Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ The mid-February kidnapping death of a 10-year-old Springfield girl has led to calls to changes Missouri’s Amber Alert system.

Fourth-grader Hailey Owens was walking just a block from her home when she was abducted. Springfield police responded within 10 minutes of the initial 911 call. But the statewide child abduction alert didn’t go out for more than two hours.

The Kansas City Star reports that a grassroots campaign in southwest Missouri is working to speed up an alert system that requires three-page forms be filled out by hand and then sent by fax.

Middle school football coach Craig Michael Wood has been charged in the girl’s death after police reported finding her body in Wood’s basement.

http://fox2now.com/2014/03/18/amber-alert-changes-sought-after-missouri-killing/

Missouri murder suspect wants statements thrown out


POSTED: 02:34 PM CDT Apr 18, 2014



Craig Michael Wood has been booked into the Greene County, Missouri jail on suspicion of First Degree Murder.  He was taken into custody in connection with the Amber Alert of 10-year-old Hailey Owens.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -

An attorney for a Springfield man suspected of kidnapping and killing a 10-year-old girl want statements he made to police after his arrest to be suppressed.


Attorney Patrick Berrigan writes in court documents that Craig Michael Wood was suffering from intoxication, emotional turmoil and psychological instability when he was arrested in February in the death of Hailey Owens.

The girl was abducted from her neighborhood and found dead hours later in the basement of Wood's house. Wood is charged with murder, armed criminal action and child kidnapping.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that Berrigan contends Wood repeatedly asked police to stop questioning him so he could consult with an attorney.

Greene County prosecutor Dan Patterson said motions to suppress are routine and he would have no further comment.

http://www.kwch.com/news/local-news/missouri-murder-suspect-wants-statements-thrown-out/25553908

Rape charges added in Missouri girl’s death

Posted on: 1:14 pm, April 22, 2014,
by Associated Press,
updated on: 01:21pm, April 22, 2014

SPRINGFIELD, MO (AP) – A southwest Missouri youth football coach accused of kidnapping and killing a 10-year-old girl is now facing rape and sodomy charges.

Greene County prosecutors added the new charges against 46-year-old Craig Michael Wood of Springfield on Monday. Court documents indicate the additional charges in the February death of Hailey Owens stem from newly available autopsy results.

Hailey was abducted while walking home from her best friend’s house, just two blocks from her own home. Neighbors reported watching in horror and unsuccessfully giving chase as Hailey was pulled into a pickup truck that sped away.

She was found dead hours later in the basement of Wood’s home.

Wood is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Thursday. His public defender says he plans to ask for a delay because of the new charges.

http://fox2now.com/2014/04/22/rape-charges-added-in-missouri-girls-death/

Football coach pleads not guilty in 10-year-old Hailey Owen’s death

Posted on: 12:22 pm, April 24, 2014,
by Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, MO (AP) – A southwest Missouri youth football coach accused of kidnapping, raping and killing a 10-year-old girl has pleaded not guilty

Forty-six-year-old Craig Michael Wood appeared Thursday in Greene County Circuit Court in Springfield. A preliminary hearing scheduled for Thursday was delayed until May 22.

Wood is accused of abducted Hailey Owens while she walked home from her best friend’s house, just two blocks from her own home. Shocked neighbors reported watching the abduction and unsuccessfully giving chase as Hailey was pulled into a pickup truck that sped away. She was found dead hours later in the basement of Wood’s home.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that the judge granted a request made by prosecutors earlier this week to add rape and sodomy charges in response to recently released autopsy results.

http://fox2now.com/2014/04/24/football-coach-pleads-not-guilty-in-10-year-old-hailey-owens-death/

'Pornographic' stories admitted into evidence

Amos Bridges and Stephen Herzog, News-Leader
8:42 a.m. CDT May 23, 2014

A federal agent testified Thursday that authorities discovered a folder in Craig Michael Wood's bedroom that included handwritten stories that Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson described as "pornographic." FBI agent Jonathan Tucker said one person in a story was named Hailey.

The evidence presented was enough for Judge Mark Powell to rule there was probable cause to move the case toward trial.

Wood is accused of kidnapping, raping and killing 10-year-old Hailey Owens on Feb. 18. Prosecutors could seek the death penalty.

MORE: Coverage of the Hailey Owens case

A preliminary hearing in the case began Thursday with testimony about the alleged abduction from a west Springfield neighborhood and continued with testimony about the search of Wood's home on East Stanford Street.

The folder allegedly found in Wood's bedroom also contained two documents that included photos and student schedules from Pleasant View Middle School, where Wood worked as an athletics coach and aide.

Wood's attorney, Patrick Berrigan, objected to the stories being admitted because he said there was no proof Wood wrote them.

Patterson cited case law in which a court admitted evidence of incestuous writings in an incest case.

Berrigan argued those were from a child sex case.

"This is a child sex case," Patterson said.

After the stories were admitted as evidence, Patterson said they described raping and sodomizing a 13-year-old.

Tucker told the court the FBI can be called in to a local case if the victim involves a child "of a tender age."

Woman who made 911 call testifies

Family members of Hailey Owens were front and center in the courtroom as evidence was presented.

Hailey's mother, Stacey Barfield, sat in the middle of the front row bench as the hearing began with testimony about the initial call to 911 after the girl's alleged abduction.

The call, played in court, was among the first pieces of evidence submitted by Chief Assistant Prosecutor Todd Myers.

Police say Wood snatched Hailey from a residential street in west Springfield. Authorities say her body was found hours later in garbage bags in Wood's basement, which smelled of bleach.

Neighbor Michelle Edwards testified she saw the girl walking along West Lombard Street when Wood, driving a "tannish-gold Ford Ranger," stopped and grabbed her.

"It sounded like he asked her where Springfield Street was," said Edwards, who was sitting in her open garage when the incident occurred. "He said, 'Hey, come here a minute' ... (then) he lunged out of his truck ... then grabbed her and threw her in the passenger side of his truck and then took off."

Edwards, who sounded distraught on the 911 recording, pleaded with the operator to "please help her (Hailey)." Edwards testified she did not know the girl but later recalled seeing her walking in the neighborhood.

Edwards told the operator the license plate number of the truck — 1YF-454 — which authorities later traced to Wood's parents in Ash Grove, then to Wood.

She identified Wood in court. Under questioning from Wood's attorney, Berrigan, the witness said police never had her look at a lineup or otherwise try to identify Wood as the suspect. She said the first time she saw his picture was in news reports after he was arrested.

Wood was arrested at his home at 1538 E. Stanford St. a few hours after Hailey was reportedly kidnapped.

Wood had "startled look," officer says

Springfield police Sgt. Steve Schwind testified after Edwards. He said he and two other investigators went to the Stanford Street home about 8 p.m. in search of Wood and the gold truck. The driveway was empty when they arrived, so they parked down the street to wait.

When Wood pulled into the driveway, they pulled up behind him. Schwind said Wood "had a startled look on his face" when they identified themselves as police. The sergeant said Wood was carrying his truck keys in one hand and a roll of duct tape in the other.

"He said 'Hello' ... (and) tossed the roll of duct tape into the bed of the truck," Schwind said. "He was breathing heavy, breathing hard ... his hands were visibly shaking."

Schwind said he asked Wood if he any weapons, and he said no. Under questioning by Berrigan, the defense attorney, Schwind said another detective asked Wood if he knew why police were there and Wood "nodded his head up and down."

In response to another question from Berrigan, Schwind said Wood did not have any visible injuries other than "a cut or some sort of red mark on his lip," possibly a "fever blister or some sort of dried blood."

When officers took Wood to the police station, Sgt. Allen Neal called other officers to the scene and, just before 9 p.m., conducted a "safety sweep" of the home, in which officers check quickly for a person in danger.

Neal testified the back door was "wide open" and that he could smell bleach before he entered the house. Once inside the house, the smell got stronger and led officers to the basement, he said.

He said the stairs leading to the basement, as well as the floor and walls, were wet. He said he observed bottles of bleach, a wet-dry vacuum, a hose and floor drain.

Also in the basement were three blue storage containers, but it wasn't yet known by police that Hailey's body was inside a container. That didn't come until after 2 a.m., when officers executed a search warrant and could do a more thorough search.

Once investigators checked the containers, they found Hailey's body inside, in two garbage bags.

Police radio traffic, 911 calls recorded

Berrigan asked several questions about police radio traffic and what was and was not recorded the night Wood was arrested. Sgt. Schwind said he and an investigator he was riding with did not call dispatchers right away when they pulled up to confront Wood.

An earlier witness, Springfield-Greene County 911 operations manager Rick Chrismas, testified that police radio traffic, and 911 calls, are recorded and should be available to review.

Barfield and Hailey's biological father, Markus Owens, have also filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Wood.

Wood filed a motion in the civil case last month to have it moved out of Greene County.

In the motion, he wrote that "the inhabitants of Greene County are prejudiced against defendant" and that Hailey's parents "have an undue influence over the inhabitants of Greene County given the media coverage of these allegations, and the sympathy, passion and prejudice it has evoked."

The parents' attorney, David Ransin, filed an objection to moving the trial, saying Wood "has given no valid reason why ... the citizens of Greene County would not be just as capable of listening to the testimony and evidence at trial before reaching their own findings of fact, nor has he shown why such jurors from Greene County would be any less able to follow the law and the court's instructions than jurors from any other nearby county."

Timeline

Feb. 18 — Hailey Owens is abducted from her neighborhood. Police say she was killed later that evening, and Craig Wood was arrested at his home.

Feb. 19 — After obtaining a search warrant, investigators discover Hailey's body in a container in Wood's basement, which smelled of bleach, according to police. Later that day, Wood is charged with murder and other crimes.

Feb. 21 — Search warrant documents reveal police say they found child pornography, multiple guns and notebooks filled with "stories" in Wood's home.

Feb. 22 — About 10,000 people take part in a candlelight vigil and march in remembrance of Hailey.

March 14 — Special public defenders who specialize in death-penalty cases are assigned to Wood's case. The same day, Hailey's mother and biological father, Stacey Barfield and Markus Owens, file a wrongful-death lawsuit against Wood.

March 26 — Wood appears in court in person for the first time, for a motion hearing. Hailey's parents, Jeff and Stacey Barfield, are also in attendance.

April 21 — Charges of rape and sodomy are added to Wood's case.

May 22 — A preliminary hearing, in which the prosecution presents evidence for the first time, results in Wood's case being moved to trial court on all charges.

June 20 — Wood is scheduled to be arraigned in trial court on this date.

http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/crime/2014/05/22/accused-haileys-case-hear-murder-rape-evidence/9443359/

Community Celebrates Hailey Owens' Birthday Monday

By Lynne Roberts. CREATED Aug 18, 2014

Six months after a little girl was kidnapped and murdered in Springfield, friends and family will gather Monday to celebrate her 11th birthday. Hailey Owens would have been in fifth grade this school year.

A birthday party is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the American Legion Hall on South Scenic. Organizers are asking people to turn on their porch lights and wear Hailey's favorite colors: pink and purple.

The man accused of killing Hailey, Craig Wood, 46, will return to court on Tuesday, August 26. He has been charged with murder, kidnapping, armed criminal action, rape and sodomy.

http://www.jrn.com/ktts/news/Community-Celebrates-Hailey-Owens-Birthday-Monday-271634871.html

Murder suspect Craig Wood will be tried by out-of-town jury, trial date is not set

Sara Forhetz Sara Forhetz, sforhetz@ky3.com
POSTED: 10:21 AM CDT Aug 26, 2014
UPDATED: 12:46 PM CDT Aug 26, 2014

Springfield, MO - A man accused of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl in Springfield last February appeared in court on Tuesday for a motions hearing. The defense attorney, prosecuting attorney and judge discussed various motions and procedures, and possible trial dates for Craig Wood, but no decisions or agreements were made, except that a jury from outside Greene County will hear the case.

Wood is accused of killing Hailey Owens, 10. Police found her body at his home in central Springfield a few hours after a man grabbed her off a street near her home, threw her in a pickup and drove away on the afternoon of Feb. 18.

An autopsy found Hailey was sexually assaulted and shot in the head. Prosecutors will seek a death penalty if they get a first-degree murder conviction against Wood.

Greene County Circuit Judge Dan Conklin is hearing the case, but made no rulings on Tuesday morning.

Patrick Berrigan, the defense attorney, wants the trial to be moved out of the Springfield area. Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson hopes to bring an out-of-town jury into Springfield to hear the case here.

Patterson also hopes for a trial next April, but the defense says it is not prepared to move that quickly, as it is still waiting on reports from prosecutors and police.

The judge scheduled another hearing for Oct. 2 on the defense's motion for a change of venue. At that hearing, the judge likely will hear testimony from news directors and editors about their organizations' coverage of Hailey Owens' kidnapping and murder, and the arrest and charging of Wood. Berrigan contends the coverage of the case has been so extensive that Wood couldn't receive a fair trial in Springfield.

Wood was an aide and coach at Pleasant View Middle School on the north side of Springfield. Investigators have not revealed if they found a connection between Wood and Hailey or her family prior to the kidnapping. Hailey attended Westport Elementary School.

Tuesday evening in the news at 5, 6 & 10, you can hear from the family of Hailey about what happened in court.

http://www.ky3.com/news/local/murder-suspect-craig-wood-appears-in-court-no-word-on-trial-date-or-change-of-venue/21048998_27734090