Posted on 11/11/2007 11:10:08 PM PST by McCoMo
Sheriff: Men confess to crime
By Debbie Robinson
news@joplinglobe.com
STELLA, Mo. — Both defendants in the brutal rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford have confessed to the crime, the Newton County sheriff said Sunday.
David Spears, 25, of Stella, and Chris Collings, 32, of Wheaton, are charged with one count each of first-degree murder, forcible rape and statutory rape in the girl’s death. Spears is Rowan’s stepfather.
Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said investigators allege that Rowan was abducted early Nov. 3 from her home in Stella in Newton County, murdered in Barry County, and her body dumped in a sinkhole in McDonald County.
After a nearly weeklong search for the girl, Copeland said, Collings confessed Friday to Wheaton police Chief Clint Clark. Spears was arrested a short time later.
“Both confessed to raping and strangling her,” Copeland said.
Clark did not return a phone call Sunday. The Barry County sheriff’s office in Cassville said Sheriff Mick Epperly would have no updates on the case until Tuesday.
Investigators are continuing to work on determining what happened the night Rowan was abducted from her home, Copeland said.
David Spears has provided conflicting information to investigators since Spears and Rowan’s mother, Colleen Spears, reported the girl missing about 6:50 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, Copeland said.
During the search for Rowan, Copeland said, David Spears rode around with another man.
“He (Spears) was pointing out to this man where would be good places to put a body,” Copeland said.
One of those places was the sinkhole in McDonald County where the girl’s body ultimately was found, the sheriff said.
“It’s about 15 to 20 feet down, and it was getting dark,” Copeland said of the time David Spears reportedly pointed out the site during the search.
Rowan’s body was found the next morning, which was Friday, by McDonald County deputies Jake Boles and Mike Hall in the sinkhole near Powell.
According to reports, Colleen Spears last saw her daughter at about 8:30 p.m. Nov. 2 before she left for work at the Wal-Mart store in Jane.
David Spears, Collings and another man were playing pool at the Spears home in the town of Stella in southern Newton County while Rowan was asleep in her bedroom, Copeland said.
The three men decided to leave at 10:45 p.m. to take Collings home, Copeland said.
“They stopped so a man named Nathan and David could get more beer,” he said.
Copeland said Nathan reportedly dropped David Spears off at the Spears residence.
That’s where the story gets murky, Copeland said.
Authorities said David Spears has acknowledged that he went out a second time around 1:30 a.m. Nov. 3 after calling his mother, Myrna Spears, and asking to borrow her car. Myrna Spears has said she watched television and did not check on the girl. David Spears was gone for 5 1/2 hours.
Copeland said Sunday that David Spears has told investigators that he discovered Rowan missing before he called his mother.
“He said he knew Chris (Collings) would have her (Rowan),” Copeland said.
He said Spears has said that after borrowing his mother’s car, he drove to Collings’ travel trailer, where he alleged that he found Collings raping the girl.
Both men are suspected of raping and strangling the girl with a netting cord, Copeland said.
David Spears initially told investigators that he did not discover Rowan was missing until the next morning, after Colleen Spears arrived home from work.
“We had three different cadaver dogs hit on (Myrna Spears’) car,” Copeland said. “We know the body was in there at some point.”
The two defendants are expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Barry County Circuit Court. Both men were being held Sunday without bond in the Barry County Jail.
Myrna Spears said Sunday that she has not talked to her son since his arrest on Friday.
David Spears and Collings, who grew up in the Wheaton area, have been friends for about 10 years, Myrna Spears said.
She said Collings recently returned from Arkansas, where his estranged wife and two children, both younger than 10, live.
Myrna Spears said she thought she knew Collings, and never suspected that he or her son would be capable of murder and rape.
Copeland said Sunday that Spears and Collings recently had been working for a property owner on construction of a barn in McDonald County.
Neither man is listed as a registered sex offender, Copeland said.
Copeland said Collings, who lived in the travel trailer about a mile east of Wheaton, had been making a living by working odd jobs and selling scrap metal.
Services
Funeral services for Rowan Ford will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Gospel Lighthouse Church in Neosho. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Clark Funeral Home in Neosho, where the family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. A memorial fund has been established. Donations may be made at any Hometown Bank.
I have been in such a horrible mood today. I just cant stop thinking about poor Rowan. We need to do more to protect our children, I know that there are people who could have stopped this. People dont turn into child molestors overnight.
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And, according to reports, after Colleen returned home from work, David told her that Rowan had said something about going to a friends’. That would imply that Rowan went either the evening before or that morning, before Colleen got home from work around 9:30 a.m. If Collen was thinking that Rowan had gone off that morning to play, she would probably have gone about her normal routine for a couple of hours.
I think there is more to this story myself...I also don't believe a molester can be rehabilitated. There is a difference between the 18 yr old who has sex with his 15 yr old girlfriend though IMO. I don't like lumping all sex offenders the same as there are different levels of offenses. I hate seeing those kind of things ruin a young man. However anyone rapes a child IMO needs a long, long time jail or death.
If I had my way sex offenders would be tossed to the general prison population. Inmates form their own justice for these sick monsters. Too bad we protect them in jail while their victims got none. Rowan looks like my oldest daughter when she was that age. What a beautiful little girl & to have lived with this SOB!
I still say the mother must have had some clues. If she was paying attention I really think she would have spotted something if he was molesting Rowan in the past. I don't like to judge but I find it strange her mother went for such a younger man & has a myspace. I wonder if the mother just didn't want to grow up.
Prayers for Rowan & all the other abused children. I often think of little Shasta Groene & all that poor child had to endure....~Pandora~
It seems more prelevant, doesn’t it?
I think a lot of it can be attributed to drug usage. But another reason is that it is so easy for somone to get anything on the internet, to feed and stimulate their perversions. None of our children or grandchildren are safe anymore.
Single mothers should always be home when their children are home. And they should stay single (and not even date) until their children are of age. Nothing in this world should be more important than one’s child.
My then youngest son was 13 yrs old when I met my husband . I waited until my children were old enough to have a say in who I married although people have told me I was crazy to let the children say a word. I needed them to approve in my choice. After all we were going to be a family. They are all adults now & love my husband nearly as much as their own father. Thankfully my ex husband & I have a great relationship. We all get along really well & he is even great to Sassy. The 2 boys I took in who were abused love both men. Once we had Sassy everyone just bonded into one big family. I have been truly blessed in my life. ~Pandora~
The mothers I was refering to are the ones that go out bar-hopping every night, looking for a man. They are so eager to find that male figure, that they take a serious chance of putting their children in harm's way. These are the mothers that don't feel whole as a woman, without a man, and become desperate to find any male - regardless of red lights popping off everywhere.
I certainly was not refering to women like you, with a head on their shoulders, and apologize that I did not make my statement more clear.
I am so happy that things worked out so well for you. It sounds like you made a perfect choice - not only for you, but for your children. Your family is blessed to have such a special mom and wife!
marked to catch up
I wonder how long they were married & if there is a biological father anywhere. I just feel so badly about Rowan. She surely didn't deserve this ......
I know one thing if a man , husband, step-dad etc raped & killed my baby I would find a way to make sure his life miserable. I would probably be in jail for attempting to murder him. ~P~
“I really don’t understand the older women who date men 20 yrs younger”
I gotta admit, while some of the young ladies are pretty to look at, beyond that, I wonder the same thing about men who date women 20 yrs younger than them. What ya gonna talk to them about? Boy bands? Hair styles?
For such people the prospect of this sort of activity is what it takes to arouse them.
My experience with liberls is they are adamant that “society”- meaning “we” made them that way therefore they should be rcounseled and released. After all, it isn’t their fault.
Too expensive. Use one bullet carefully placed.
For some of these weirdos getting caught is part of the high.They want everyone to know what they did.If it were practical they would prefer to perform their deeds on a stage in front of a large audience. They have no notion of future so paying for their crimes is simply not something that they can see or think about. They only worry about being able to get it done right now.
and NAMBLA is a respected civil rights organization.
These things are increasing in frequency because the traditional family is evanescing.A particularly dangerous and ever more common situation is the inforrmal step-father or the live-in boyfriend after the father has skipped or been pushed away. That is probably the most dangerous situation for children.These informal “daddies” often resent the woman’s children that they do not genetically share and these guys are jealous of the mothers’ attention to their children. We just had a situation here where live-in-daddy was left in care for the two year old boy. When the child fussed “daddy” slammed his head into the wall and killed him.
I know that it is happening in my town more than in the past and it is usually a live-in boyfriend.
I’ll be down in that area next week. I’m glad to volunteer my services. I’ll bring my own ammo...save the taxpayers a buck.
I totally agree with you, I dont think there is rehabilitation. Honestly, I dont understand it. What causes this? Not all of them were molested when they were young...I was watching the interview that they did of the “stepdad”, when Rowan was still missing, and he actually was crying and saying “She even called me Daddy”. Oh yeah, idiot, was she calling you Daddy while you were RAPING her? What a sick son of a *****. And the other one, Chris, with all those nasty and disgusting images on his page. What a sick sick sick bast**d. I cant even think of words strong enough to describe how sick they are.
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