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 posted there right under your last comment defending you. I blame the mom too. I post as “barbara” hehehehe I knew it was you...lol
You knew it was me??? What gave it away lol? Thanks again, and I really do feel for Janice, but my main alliance will always lie with Rowan
As for Colleen Spears, a lot of people are willing to overlook her shortcomings as a parent given the price she has paid for it. This seems to me to be the same sort of phenomenon we see when some creep dies, and suddenly, because he is dead, everyone starts speaking of him as if he were a saint. I have never bought into that sort of thing.. the only difference between a live a**hole and a dead a**hole is one is breathing and the other is not.
Anyway, I have little to no sympathy for COLLEEN. When police entered her house, they found it overrun with cockroaches and had to brush swarms of fleas off of their pants legs when they left the house.
Ignoring all else that we know about her as a parent, allowing such an infestation as that, in a home that children are being raised in, is enough to tell me that she is not worth a damn as a parent or even as a decent human being.
I got your back...lol
McCoMo, I did not know about the insects in the house! Where did you hear about that? Jesus Christ, I feel the same as you, there is only one person who has my sympathy and it sure as hell is not Colleen.
I live here. I know their neighbors and I know local cops. They say things.
BTW, Rowan’s body was, among other things, lice ridden. From what one of me atty friends told me, it was not only HEAD lice either. He told me the form of lice infestation it was, but I do not feel a need to actually detail it. Those on this board who are knowledgable... they can probably figure it out. There are some implications to this fact that I do not really like to contemplate.
I know McCoMo what you are referring to, poor angel. I just cant believe it. I just dont understand how someone could allow something like this to happen to their children, much less any child :(
OMG! McCoMo The mom should be arrested...Seems she was being abused for some time....I cannot wait for the trial. Also Davis has got his lawyer...Can’t wait to hear his defense strategy.
As always, thanks for the updates..
Stepfather gets public defender in death of Rowan Ford
ASSOCIATED PRESS
11/26/2007
Stepfather gets public defender in death of Rowan Ford
CASSVILLE, Mo (AP) — A southwest Missouri man charged with raping and murdering his 9-year-old stepdaughter now has a public defender.
Attorney Michael King filed notice with the court Monday that he will be representing 25-year-old David Spears.
King declined to comment on the case.
A judge entered a plea of not guilty at a first hearing for Spears and Chris Collings earlier this month. Both men are charged with first-degree murder and rape in the death of Rowan Ford of Stella.
Court records do not show that any attorney has been assigned yet for Collings. Both men applied for public defenders during their first court appearance earlier this month in Barry County.
oh gadz...Could you imagine having to defend this mofo? I feel for that guy.
I just picture it this way.....spears “shares” his stepdaughter and lets his buddy take the little girl home...something goes wrong and spears needs to get over there fast...he calls his mom.....she provides a car...he runs on over......she is either already dead OR the gig is up and they cannot count on her staying quiet.....so they kill her and dispose of the body......and there is no way the stepfather’s mother did not know the child was not there......
Investigators still have questions about how Rowan Ford was killed
by Sara Sheffield, KY3 News
CASSVILLE, Mo. — The investigation of the death of Rowan Ford is far from closed, even though two men are charged with raping and murdering her. Rowan’s stepfather, David Spears, and his friend, Chris Collings, appeared in court on the charges on Tuesday morning before a Barry County associate circuit judge. Afterwards, the Barry County sheriff confided that there are still questions about who did what.
The hearing, formally called an arraignment, only lasted 10 minutes. The two men face the possibility of spending the rest of their lives behind bars or death by execution if convicted of raping and murdering Rowan.
Dozens were there to witness Spears and Collings, who were escorted into the courtroom in shackles and chains. Spears stared straight down at the floor. Colleen Spears, his wife and the mother of Rowan, sat visibly shaken.
“It’s a case that has put everybody in this community here, which is a very nice community, in shock that something like this would happen,” said Sheriff Mick Epperly.
Detectives say both men admitted to raping and murdering the 9-year-old girl at a trailer in Barry County.
“We had one of them over here in Barry County admitting to what the allegations were and then we had one in Newton County that was doing the very same thing, and almost at the same time,” said Epperly, describing what happened on Friday after Rowan’s body was found in a sinkhole, a week after she disappeared from her home in Stella, in Newton County.
Epperly says a lot of questions are unanswered, like whether Spears knew this was going to happen.
“He let on like it was happening and he kind of joins in and participates in the crime going on. We’re still a little unclear on some of that,” the sheriff said.
What is clear, according to court documents, is both confessed to having a hand in the crime. However, both pleaded not guilty, which always happens at associate circuit court arraignments before defendants have defense attorneys. Still, it is a disturbing plea for Colleen Spears to see and for those involved.
Perhaps what’s worse, says Epperly, is the reason that the men killed the girl.
“As to why they actually killed her, it’s because the little girl looked up to him and seen him there supposedly in the moon light as they was taking her out of the camper. And I guess at that point he knew that she would tell and it would be over from that point. And that’s sad,” said Epperly.
The sheriff plans to have detectives question Colleen Spears. He wants to try to figure out if she had any prior knowledge of this murder or any kind of prior sexual abuse. If so, he would like to see her charged also.
Some DNA evidence will be back from an FBI laboratory in the next week or two. That could clarify a whole lot of questions surrounding this case.
The two suspects are being held at the Barry County jail in separate cells. Epperly has to keep them away from the rest of the jail population and also away from each other. He says people facing such serious charges often become depressed, so he put them on suicide watch. That means they are being watched every 15 minutes.
The next step in the process is for public defenders, assuming the men qualify for them, to notify the judge that they represent the men. Then the attorneys will appear in court with the prosecuting attorney to set a date for a preliminary hearing, at which prosecutors would try to show the judge that there’s enough evidence to send the case to trial court. Defendants also may waive their right to a preliminary hearing.
http://www.ky3.com/home/video/11252961.html
They have them on “Suicide watch”. Yeah, I will volunteer for that duty. I would love to watch them suicide. Can I make video too? - Mc
Thanks for the ping and the update.
Thanks for the ping update. But it’s late for me so I’ll have to catch up tomorrow.
All, I know Im going to sound like a complete moron, but what is a ping update? How can I get updated?
Every 15 minutes isn’t a line of sight kind of watch.
You can leave a rope and be back in 15 to a dead person.
Thanks for the updates.
These two useless subhumans deserve a slow, torturous death.
Drawing and quartering would be good.
Judges should not be allowed — much less required — to enter pleas for defendants. If the state believes defendants shouldn’t enter pleas before they have an attorney, the judge should simple state the plea hearing is being postponed for that reason. Judges are authority figures and no juror should be exposed to information about any judge entering a “plea” one way or the other.
We don't have the death penalty in Michigan....the idiot liberal voters voted it down. Since these pedophile, child-molesting murderers are protected in jail, and some states have the death penalty but some don't, I say the Federal government build a centralized prison specifically made for the above mentioned. First time you rape and murder a child, you get DEATH.
I am being generous here, too, since a lot of sex offenders aren't like Collings and Spears. But raping and murdering a child is beyond comprehension and deserves nothing but DEATH.
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