ROWAN FORD - 9 yo (2007) - Berry County/Stella MO

(Rolla, MO) -- One of the men charged in the rape and murder of 9-year old Rowan Ford is expected in court today.
Christopher Collings is scheduled to have a motion hearing in Phelps County this morning.
His trial was moved there on a change of venue.


Police say Collings and David Spears raped and strangled Rowan Ford near a home in Wheaton.
Her body was found in a cave in McDonald County about a week after she was reported missing.
Spears was Rowan's step-father.

* * * *


David W. Spears, 27, of
Stella, and Chris L. Collings, 34, of Wheaton, face the possibility of
death sentences if they are convicted in the Rowan Ford murder case.
The 9-year-old girl was abducted Nov. 3, 2007, from her home in Stella.
She is believed to have been raped and murdered in Barry County. Her
body was found in a sinkhole in McDonald County.
The trial of Spears, Rowan’s stepfather,
has been shifted to Pulaski County, and Collings’ case is pending in
Phelps County on changes of venue.

The original report from 11/2007


STELLA, Mo. — Friends and
family were struggling Saturday to come to grips in the aftermath of
the brutal rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford.
Authorities on Saturday charged the girl’s
stepfather, David Spears, 25, and his friend Chris Collings, 32, of
Wheaton, with one count each of first-degree murder, forcible rape and
statutory rape.
Friends gathered at the home of the girl’s mother, Colleen Spears, on Saturday.
Stella Mayor Bill Alsop, who answered the
phone at the Spears’ home, commented on the charges, saying the town
was trying to cope.
“We all in our hearts knew he (Spears) had something to do with it,”
said Alsop. “But to this extent, we’re all just in shock.”
The village of Stella, with a population of
fewer than 200 people, is in southern Newton County. David Spears’
mother, Myrna Spears, lives nearby, and said Saturday that she was
unsure whether her son could have committed the crime.
“My heart says no, but my brain says
anybody is capable of anything,” she said. “Get enough booze in them
and there’s no telling what they’ll do, even if it’s totally against
their nature.”
Myrna Spears stopped short of saying her
son had a problem with alcohol, which authorities have said may have
played a role in the murder.
“He’d been off booze for about a year,” she said, but
said that her son had started drinking again recently.
Funeral services for Rowan Ford will be at
2 p.m. on Wednesday at Gospel Lighthouse Church in Neosho. A visitation
will be held at Clark Funeral Home in Neosho from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. A
memorial fund has been set up and donations can be made at any Hometown
Bank.
Rowan Ford’s body was found in a sinkhole
near Powell, Mo., on Friday morning by deputies with the McDonald
County Sheriff’s Department.
Later that day, authorities have said that
Collings confessed to the murder. Spears was arrested shortly after
Collings was arrested.
Barry County Sheriff Mick Epperly said an
autopsy showed the girl was “brutally” raped before she was strangled
to death by a netting cord, believed to be off a chicken-house curtain.
The crimes are alleged to have taken place in a travel trailer where Collings lived, about one mile east of Wheaton.
“There’s trash all over the front yard,” Epperly said. “They’ve got goats penned up right by the camper.”
Epperly said at some point on Friday, Nov.
2, Rowan Ford was abducted from her home in Stella, but could not say
whether one or both of the men participated in the abduction. He said
his office still has “several persons of interest we want to meet with.”
“The two (Spears and Collings) were involved,” he said. “Were more (people) involved? That’s unclear.”
The sheriff said it was unknown whether
more suspects would surface, but a person of interest “doesn’t
necessarily mean they’re a suspect.”
Epperly said he expected Spears and
Collings to be arraigned Tuesday. Both men were being held Saturday
without bond in the Barry County Jail. Spears was transferred there
Saturday from the Newton County Jail where he was taken after his
arrest on Friday night.
According to reports, Colleen Spears last
saw her daughter at around 8:30 p.m. Friday night before she left for
work at a Wal-Mart in a nearby town. Rowan Ford disappeared from her
house late Friday night or early Saturday. Spears told authorities he
had last seen the girl at 10:45 p.m. just before he and two male
friends, who were at the house, went out. Spears told investigators he
looked in the bedroom of the girl before leaving and she was asleep.
He said when one of the friends dropped him
back off at the house around midnight, he did not check on her again
before going to sleep.
Copeland said all the people in the house
that night, including Rowan’s mother, Colleen Spears, were interviewed
and given polygraph examinations. He said the stepfather, both his male
friends and his mother were given polygraphs. He would not comment on
the outcomes of those examinations.
Investigators had described David Spears as
“uncooperative” when he was questioned about the girl’s disappearance
last week. He initially told police he left Rowan alone in the house
after 10:45 p.m. on Nov. 2.
Myrna Spears said her son told her to apologize for “misleading”
the media during the week leading up to his arrest.
“David is sorry.” she said. “There are gaps in his memory and he truly believed what he said.”
Authorities said he later acknowledged he
had gone out a second time, around 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 3, after calling
his mother and asking to borrow her car. Myrna Spears has said she
watched TV but did not check on Rowan while she waited for her son to
return. He was gone for 5 1/2 hours.
Spears has said that it was wrong for him
to leave the girl alone and that he initially withheld some information
about his whereabouts that night because he was afraid authorities
would suspect him in her disappearance.
Colleen and David Spears reported Rowan
missing about 6:50 p.m. on Nov. 3. They said they had spent much of the
day looking for the girl at the homes of acquaintances where they
thought she might have gone.
Newton County Sheriff Ken
Copeland said he expects Newton County Prosecutor Scott Watson to file
additional charges next week against the men accused of raping and
murdering Rowan Ford.
Copeland said Saturday that the FBI and
local investigators will meet with Barry County and hand over their
case later this week. The girl’s stepfather, David Spears, and his
friend, Chris Collings, are facing one count each of forcible rape,
statutory rape and first-degree murder after the body of the missing
girl was found in a sinkhole on Friday. Copeland said kidnapping
charges could be filed against Collings, whose trailer in rural Wheaton
is where the crimes allegedly took place.

The trial for one of the men accused of raping and killing 9-year-old Rowan Ford, of Stella, has been postponed.According to Barry County Prosecutor Johnnie Cox, Christopher Collings'
defense attorneys filed a motion for continuance in January, and a
judge in Phelps County, where the case has been transferred on a change
of venue, granted the motion. A reappearance date has been set for March 4 in Phelps County Circuit Court. "On that day hopefully, a new trial date will be set," said Cox. "It's likely it won't be until the end of the year." Collings' trial was originally scheduled to begin in March.
Collings and David Spears have both been charged with first degree
murder, forcible rape and statutory rape in connection with Ford's
death. Both men were arrested on Nov. 9, 2007, one week after Ford was
first reported missing and the day Ford's body was discovered in a
sinkhole near Powell in McDonald County. The actual rape and murder allegedly took place on the night of
Nov. 2, 2007, in a trailer in Wheaton owned by Collings. Both Collings
and Spears confessed to the crime, but there are conflicting statements
in their confessions. Collings said he took Ford from her home in Stella and brought
her to his trailer in Wheaton where he raped her and then strangled
her. He also admitted to disposing of Ford's body in a sinkhole. Spears said he arrived at Collings' home to find Collings'
raping his stepdaughter. Spears said he participated in the sexual
assault and then strangled Ford. According to Spears' confession, he
and Collings transported Ford's body to a cave. Collings and Spears are being represented by the Missouri State
Public Defenders Office. Cox will be assisted in the prosecution of the
case by Elizabeth Bock, assistant attorney general for the state of
Missouri. Cox is seeking the death penalty against both Collings and Spears.

Pineville, MO -- A trial date is set for one of the men accused in the rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford.

Christopher Collings (above) will face a jury January 13, 2011.

His trial was moved to Phelps County on a change of venue.

Police say Collings and David Spears raped and strangled Ford near a home in Wheaton.

Her body was found in a cave in McDonald County about a week after she was reported missing.

David Spears' trial is scheduled to begin this July in Pulaski County.

Homicide, Rape, abused children, internet enticement of minors

• April 8th, 2011 8:02 am CT
  

Jury selection will commence today April 8, 2011 at Rolla, Missouri for two men accused of raping and murdering a nine year old child, Rowen Ford. The little girl resided in Stella, Missouri. On November 2, 2007, her stepfather David Spears allegedly found thirty-five year old Chris Collins in the act of raping Rowen and "joined in" per a taped confession.

The men then killed the child by strangulation using a cord and tossed the body in a nearby sink-hole. On November 8, 2007, defendant David Spears guided police officers to the disposal site and Rowen's remains were recovered.

There are few crimes that are more insidious than the unspeakable acts perpetrated against children. Adults, men as well as women have been accused and arrested for child abuse throughout this nation. What drives these people to beat, starve, imprison and sexually abuse minors is beyond comprehension. Some victims were held for years with fear of death if they reported the maltreatment to authorities. Life was a living hell for these youngsters and when their abusers faced justice, hey still had to testify in a court of law. Hostile defense attorneys often confused the young witnesses and defendants were released.

Child molesters are a sad segment of society that prey on the innocent and unsuspecting. These human vultures wait for an opportunity to entice a young girl or boy into their vehicle or away from their parents. It only takes minutes to "snatch" a child and most people don't pay attention or get involved if something seems amiss.

Protection of a child is more important than concentration of sale items at a discount store.

The Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force maintains a record of residences and activities of known sex offenders as well as those completing criminal sentences. The task force has a well trained personnel staff whose prime purpose is to detect and arrest those who use the internet to meet minor children for sexual misconduct.

Under Missouri's child enticement laws, any person over 21 years of age that "lures", a person under the age of 15 by electronic means, internet connections to engage in sex is guilty of a felony. The penalty is no less than 5 or more than 30 years in prison. Even if the child agrees to meet the perpetrator, a crime is committed.

Judge declares mistrial in murder case of 9-year-old Stella girl

Saturday the judge declared a mistrial and according to documents a change of venue has been ordered



Terra Haff
News Producer
3:28 p.m. CDT, April 23, 2011


PHELPS, Co.—
Chris Collings is accused of raping and killing 9-year-old Rowan Ford of Stella, Mo. in November of 2007.

Saturday the judge declared a mistrial and according to documents a change of venue has been ordered.

Officials say attorneys for the prosecution and defense could not agree on a jury.

Jury selection began earlier last week.

Collings still faces charges in the case and remains in jail.

David Spears, the step-father to Rowan, is also accused in her murder.

Spears trial is scheduled to begin in August 2011.

http://www.kspr.com/news/local/kspr-chris-collings-is-accused-of-raping-and-killing-9yearold-rowan-ford-of-stella-mo-20110423,0,2748904.story

Chris Collings Murder Trial Pushed to 2012


Collings is accused of raping and killing 9-year-old Rowan Ford.

May 03, 2011

Friends and Family of a young girl murdered and raped will have to wait even longer for justice.
Tuesday a Judge pushed back the murder trial of Chris Collings.

He's accused of raping and killing 9-year-old Rowan Ford back in 2007.

Collings new trial has been scheduled for February, 2012.
http://articles.kspr.com/2011-05-03/chris-collings_29501425

Trial for Rowan Ford's stepfather is delayed 15 months

Wednesday, June 22, 2011
By Lisa Schlichtman
Another delay has been announced in the Rowan Ford murder case.
As anticipated, the trial of David Spears has been postponed until October 2012 due to concerns over selecting a jury pool. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tracy Storie ruled last Wednesday that Spears' jury will be selected in Clay County near Kansas City and brought to Waynesville for the trial.

On-line court records indicate Spears' trial will begin on Oct. 30, 2012, with jury selection. Opening statements are scheduled to begin on Nov. 5, 2012, which will be almost five years after Spears was arrested for the kidnap, rape and murder of his 9-year-old stepdaughter, Rowan Ford, in November 2007.

This is the third time Spears' trial has been postponed. His most recent trial date was set for this coming August.

Spears and Christopher Collings are accused of sexually assaulting and raping Ford in Collings' trailer house in Wheaton and then murdering her. Ford's body was found in a sinkhole in McDonald County a week after her mother and Spears reported her missing. Both men have confessed to the crime.

The case has garnered intense media attention, and due to the publicity, a mistrial was declared in Collings' murder trial, which began in April in Phelps County in Rolla.

After three days of jury selection, Circuit Judge Mary Sheffield decided the pool of jurors was not large enough to select a jury and declared a mistrial.

Collings' trial was reset for February 2012. His jury will be selected from Platte County with the case to be tried in Rolla.

The case is being prosecuted by Barry County Prosecutor Johnnie Cox and Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Bock. Collings and Spears are being represented by the Missouri Public Defenders Office. The prosecution is seeking the death penalty against both men.

http://www.cassville-democrat.com/story/1738436.html

A murder trial gets underway for a Four State man accused of killing a nine year-old girl.The defense for Christopher Collings, 37, does not deny he murdered nine year old Rowan Ford.
They are raising questions about whether the murder was premeditated.
That
could determine if Collings will live or die since he faces the death
penalty if convicted of first degree murder. His attorneys hope to get a
conviction of second degree murder which would bring 10 to 30 years in
prison.
Sheriff's deputies in Barry County, Missouri say in November 2007 Collings went to Ford's home in Newton County, Missouri.
Court
documents say Ford was inside, asleep, alone, and Collings broke into
the home, then took Ford to his home in nearby Barry County.
Police
say Collings then took Ford into his trailer, raped her, then took her
outside and wrapped a cord around her neck and pulled, until she died.
According to investigators Collings put the body into his pickup truck, went to McDonald County and dumped the body in a cave.
From the day after Ford went missing police suspected foul play.
Police
say Ford's stepfather, David Spears, denied knowing of any wrongdoing
at first. But investigators say both he and Collings are on tape
confessing to the rape and murder.
The defense claims Collings drank 30 wine coolers and had also smoked marijuana the night Ford was taken from her home.
Colling's
case was moved out of Barry County to ensure a fair trial. It is being
heard in Phelps County by jurors from Platte County.
http://www.koamtv.com/story/17027289/trial-begins-for-4-state-man-suspected-of-murdering-9-year-old-girl

Opening arguments in the Chris Collings trial began this morning after jury selection was completed.

Johnnie Cox, Barry County prosecutor, told jurors that Collings, 37,
abducted Rowan Ford, 9, from her home in Stella on Nov. 2, 2007, drove
her to his home east of Wheaton in Barry County and sexually assaulted
her there.

Cox said Collings, who had lived at the girl’s home for a period that
year and was familiar to her, was concerned that she not be able to
recognize him as her assailant.

Cox said the girl had been asleep on the drive to Collings’ home and
did not wake up until she had clothing removed from the lower half of
her body and he began sexually assaulting her. The assault took place in
the dark inside his trailer home, said the prosecutor. Cox told jurors
that when Collings had finished assaulting her, he took the girl and
started guiding her out of the house ahead of him so she could not see
his face. But Collings told investigators in a series of confessions on
Nov. 9, 2007, that the girl caught a glimpse of him while they were
leaving and he decided that he would have to kill her. Cox told jurors
that Collings then grabbed a piece of cord and put it around her neck
and began strangling her.

He said Collings told investigators that he then took the girl, drove
about with her body in his truck before finally taking her to a sink
hole in McDonald County known as Fox Cave and leaving her body there.

Janice Zembles, an attorney with the capital murder team with the state
public defender’s office, told jurors that the issue at this trial will
not be who killed Rowan Ford, that is not what is in question. She
acknowledged that her client made four separate statements to
investigators acknowledging his involvement with the crime, “We’re
arguing about what his state of mind was. She said the defense is
seeking a verdict of second-degree murder for Collings.

The panel of 16 jurors consists of 11 women and five men all from Platte County. Four are alternate jurors.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/topstories/x1690515326/Rowan-Ford-murder-trial-underway

I wonder why people like this even want a trial.

Then I remember Casey's trial and I understand. They are hoping for a Nitwit 12.

A jury weighing the fate of a southwest Missouri man who confessed to
raping and killing a friend’s young stepdaughter has heard from
friends, relatives and teachers of the child.The
jury convicted 37-year-old Christopher Collings late Tuesday of
first-degree murder for the November 2007 strangulation of 9-year-old
Rowan Ford, who was kidnapped from her home in Stella.
Collings faces either the death penalty or life in prison.
The
penalty phase began Wednesday with prosecution witnesses describing a
studious child who loved to ride her bicycle and go to church. An older
sister recalled Rowan as “a bundle of love.”
The defense will present its case for a life sentence today.
A defense lawyer will emphasize what she called Collings’ chaotic upbringing.
The trial was moved to Phelps County from Barry County.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20120322/NEWS12/303220056/Christopher-Collings-Rowan-Ford-sentencing-trial

ROLLA, Mo. — Chris Collings did not appear to take it all that hard Friday night when Circuit Judge Mary Sheffield read the verdict, that the jury had decided he should pay the ultimate penalty for the murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford.

His attorney, Charles Moreland, stood next to Collings, 37, as the death sentence was pronounced.

The defendant seemed intently interested as jurors filed back into the courtroom with their decision at 6:17 p.m., just as he had been throughout the two-week trial in Rolla. Still, his face betrayed little of what he might have been thinking in reaction.

If anything, he seemed prepared for the outcome.

A jury of seven women and five men chosen in distant Platte County and sequestered to hear the Barry County case required just 48 minutes of deliberation in the penalty phase after taking about four hours Tuesday night to find Collings guilty of first-degree murder.

The judge and bailiff ordered the courtroom and courthouse cleared after the reading of the verdict, and jurors were not immediately available for comment. But, outside the courthouse, Clint Clark, the Wheaton police chief and a key figure in the investigation of the girl’s murder, stopped to talk with reporters.

“Either way would have been difficult,” Clark said of the jury’s two choices in the penalty phase, either life without parole or the death penalty. “I believe in God, and I believe what the Bible says, ‘An eye for an eye.’”

He said it would have been a difficult decision for him to make, knowing Collings as well as he does, just as no doubt difficult for each of the jurors who made the decision. He said he can hate only what Collings did, and not the defendant himself, whom Clark has known most of his life.

“But I can’t look at my children without thinking of Rowan,” Clark said.

Prosecutor Johnnie Cox told jurors during closing arguments that life is about choices. Sometimes those choices get made for us, he said. Sometimes circumstances are more in control of what happens to us than we are, he said.

Collings was in control of what he did the night of Nov. 2, 2007, the prosecutor said. He made a conscious decision to return to Stella and snatch Rowan Ford from her room “like a thief in the night,” he said.

The state asked the jury to consider three possible aggravating circumstances that would put the death penalty on the table for their consideration. Jurors unanimously decided the prosecutors had proved the involvement of torture or depravity of mind in the crime and that the girl was killed because of her potential as a witness against the defendant.

The proposed aggravating circumstance that the jury did not unanimously agree on concerned whether the murder was committed while in the act of rape.

Cox had argued that the defendant acknowledged there was torture involved in his strangling of the girl when he admitted to investigators that she did not die quickly. The prosecutor also reminded jurors that the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy thought the sexual assault that preceded her killing would have been especially painful to the prepubescent victim.

Cox urged the jury “not to reward (Collings) for avoiding an investigation by killing her.”

“Mercy is something given by the powerful to the weak and innocent,” Cox said.

Collings had all the power that night, he said. Rowan Ford was weak and innocent. Collings showed her no mercy that night, he said. Cox asked jurors to show Collings no mercy in their decision on the punishment he should receive.

The defense argued in the penalty phase that Collings had taken responsibility for his crime and exhibited remorse over the course of four confessions made to investigators the day her body was recovered.

Defense attorney Charles Moreland also called attention to the alleged involvement of the girl’s stepfather, David Spears, 29, who also confessed to participating in the rape and murder in contradiction to Collings’ claim that he acted alone.

“How do you reconcile these two (separate) confessions?” he asked during closing arguments. “They can’t both be true.”

He suggested there were just three possibilities. Investigators may have lied when they told Collings during his interrogation that Spears had confessed, hoping that he would inculpate Spears, he said. Or Spears may have been an innocent man who falsely confessed. Either of those possibilities would be mitigating with respect to Collings, because both would mean that he stuck to the truth despite being given the opportunity to shift some of the blame to someone else, Moreland said.

The third possibility is that investigators were telling the truth — Spears’ confession was genuine and Collings has been taking the blame for more than what he actually did, Moreland said. He suggested there was some evidence to support this third scenario.

The defense called a canine search specialist to testify Thursday that her dogs detected the scent of human remains on the driver’s seat and rear cargo area of a Chevrolet Suburban that Spears borrowed from his mother the night of the murder.

In his rebuttal, Cox attacked the suggestion as a calculated “distraction” on the part of the defense, even though Spears remains charged with capital murder just like Collings and is scheduled to be tried in Pulaski County later this year.

“David Spears is not on trial (here) and has nothing to do with this defendant’s punishment,” Cox said.

The defense called Wanda Draper, a human development specialist and professor emeritus at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, as a final witness in the penalty phase to testify that Collings suffered severe emotional neglect during his prenatal period and the first six months of his life.

Draper told jurors that the parental neglect led to confusion, separation anxiety and betrayal trauma throughout his childhood, and ultimately brought about disorganized attachment disorder. She described the disorder as developmental and not a mental illness. She attributed the disorder to a number of stressors at various stages in his life and said it left Collings stuck at an emotional age of about 14 or 15.

Cox told jurors in closing arguments that Collings’ life may not have been perfect, but “he didn’t have it any worse than a lot of other people.”

“We are not trying a 14- or 15-year-old boy,” Cox said. “Don’t get pulled into that.”



Abuse

Chris Collings told Wanda Draper, a human development specialist who interviewed him in 2009 at the request of defense attorneys, that he tried to commit suicide when he was 7, was molested by a baby sitter when he was 13 and sodomized by one of his birth mother’s husbands at the age of 14.

Draper acknowledged on cross-examination by Prosecutor Elizabeth Bock that there was no record of any of those claims among the many records on Collings that she reviewed, and he made all those claims to her after having been charged with Rowan Ford’s rape and murder.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/crime_and_courts/x1560865463/Death-penalty-assessed-against-Chris-Collings-in-Rowan-Ford-murder

Whatever may have happened to this piece of garbage changes nothing. He is a child rapist, a child murderer. The vilest of human garbage.

The cruelest, most evil brutes like this are the first ones to cry and offer up a sob story to avoid the punishment society metes out to them for their evil, evil beyond description deeds.

I am so glad he got the maximum sentence. It's obvious that he's such a violent offender that he could never be rehabilitated. He's just pure evil. There are millions of people that were abused as children who don't hurt others so that's no excuse. I do hope he suffers in jail a good long time before they execute him so he has time to think about what he did to that poor helpless child.

Stepfather of Rowan Ford due in court for pre-trial hearing

6:09 a.m. CDT, September 17, 2012

The former stepfather of Rowan Ford is due in court tomorrow ahead of his trial this fall.

David Spears is one of two men accused of raping and killing the nine-year-old girl back in 2007. His trial is set to begin in November.

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Spears' pre-trial hearing comes after he was called to the stand back in March during the capital murder trial of his co-defendant Christopher Collings. In Phelps County Circuit Court, Spears decided to not testify.

Meanwhile, Collings was convicted of first-degree murder and received the death penalty. His lawyers filed an appeal after that verdict came down.

Searchers found Ford's body in a cave in November 2007, leading to the arrest of Collings and Spears.

http://www.kspr.com/news/kspr-stepfather-of-rowan-ford-due-in-court-for-pretrial-hearing-20120917,0,5647087.story