Posted on 11/07/2007 11:31:44 AM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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Rowan Ford, 9, has been missing from her home in Stella since Friday evening. If you have any information about her, please call the Newton County Sheriff's Office at 451-8300 or 451-4242. COURTESY PHOTO |
Foul play is suspected in the disappearance of a 9-year-old Stella girl who has been missing from her home since late Friday night.
Rowan Ford, 9, was reported missing at 6:50 p.m. Saturday by her mother and step-father Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said Sunday afternoon. The girl was last seen at her home at 777 Grove St. in Stella at 10:45 p.m. Friday night.
Copeland said the mother, Colleen Spears, last saw the girl at about 8:30 p.m. Friday when she kissed her goodnight before leaving for work at Wal-Mart in Jane.
Copeland said the stepfather, David Spears, and two friends remained at the home until about 10:45 p.m. when they left the home after David Spears checked on the girl, who was still asleep.
"They leave the house unlocked and left a 9-year-old girl by herself," Copeland said. "They cruise around a while, then took one guy home in Wheaton. The other guy brought the step-dad back home around midnight. He failed to check on the girl at that time."
Around 1:30 a.m., Copeland said, David Spears called his mother to ask if he could borrow her car to go somewhere.
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"She comes over, gives him the car and goes into the living room, failing to check on the girl," the sheriff said. "About 7 he returns and again fails to check on the girl."
Colleen Spears came home from work at about 9 a.m. and notices something amiss. Usually, on Saturday mornings, the girl greets her mother. But this past Saturday, there was no hug or kiss, no shout of elation that Mom was home.
"She checked the girl's bedroom, and she was not there," said Copeland. "She woke her husband up - he's a very sound sleeper - and he told her she may have gone to a girlfriend's house in the night, he didn't know.
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"They hope she's at a girlfriend's house, and waited all day Saturday for her to call. She doesn't," Copeland said.
The couple then began searching for the girl, notifying the sheriff's department of her disappearance shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday night.
"The mother is extremely cooperative with us. She's real distraught over his missing daughter," said Copeland. "The step-dad, he's not cooperating very well. From our investigation, we have every reason to believe foul play is involved. We don't have a suspect at this minute, but we haven't eliminated anyone from being a suspect, either."
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Deputies and volunteers were out Sunday searching on foot and on four-wheelers. A group of volunteers were out on horseback looking for the missing girl, while Stella residents fanned out to help. A Missouri State Highway Patrol helicopter took to the skies to aid in the search, Copeland said. Tracking dogs were able to follow the girl's scent to outside the home, but the trail then stops, as if she entered a motor vehicle at that point, Copeland said.
"We started in the house and yard, then broadened our search to the city of Stella, then broadened it to other wooded areas," the sheriff said. "The helicopter was able to search a large, large area.
"We have no reason to think she's out wandering around. This little girl was asleep in bed and within an hour and 15 minutes later, she was abducted? The odds are big for that kind of stuff."
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The search was discontinued late Sunday because of darkness, and was to begin anew this morning. Copeland was in meetings this morning and could not be reached for comment. A sheriff's department spokeswoman saisd the search continues today for the missing girl.
Miss Ford is described as being 3-feet 11-inches tall and weighing 62 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. Authorities are uncertain what she was wearing at the time of her disappearance.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Newton County Sheriff's Office at (417) 451-8300.
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He’s 25 years old (as of next week), married to a woman old enough to be his mother, and he lives with her and her 9-year-old daughter. Hearsay is that he’s a heavy drinker. This is confirmed, however, by the fact that he is currently facing court charges stemming from a DWI arrest in February. He also has court judgments against him for a hospital bill and for child support to another woman. (This, of course, could be due to simple financial difficulties rather than unwillingness to pay).
Apparently, the ONLY time Rowan could have been left alone in the house was between 1045 and midnight, as Spears’ mother was there later when Spears was gone.
At 1045, Spears is *known* to have gone out drinking with his two buddies.
A pink sheet is missing from Rowan’s bed, indicating the likelihood that something happened *inside* the house. If she had left of her own volition, or if someone had abducted her, they probably would not have been very likely to take a sheet.
Spears phoned his mother at 1 am and asked her to come over so he could borrow her car. He left about 130 in the morning, and was gone about 5-1/2 hours, until approximately 7 am. He still has apparently not provided a good account of where he was and what he was doing for those 5-1/2 hours.
This is not normal behavior for most people. And Spears is known to have a job where he works during the day — so these aren’t *his* normal hours, either. Nor is there anything to do in Stella, or in Neosho (population 10,000) during those hours.
Even in Joplin and Springfield you would probably be limited to a few all-night restaurants and the Wal-Mart Supercenters for anything to do. The only possible “innocent” explanation I can think of for him during those hours would have to do with a mistress.
When Colleen returned at 9 am and woke him up, he told her that he wasn’t sure, but Rowan might have awakened him and told him she was going over to a friend’s house.
Yeah, I’d say he’s a “good suspect.”
I’d like to see him and his mother hooked to polygraphs and questioned about that night.
Would you please ping me to any new developments in this case? I graduated from high school in Neosho (many years ago) and the Sheriff (Ken Copeland) was a friend of my husband. The Copeland family also had a very nice furniture store at that time. Ken is one of the “good guys”.
Prayers up for this dear little girl.
PLEASE EVERYONE!!! Email Fox News, CNN, whoever of the main networks and help us get the word out about this little girl.
Believe me, most of us around our community are very suspicious of the cretin who is her step-dad, but there are other possibilities, unrelated to her disappearance, as to why he does not give a good account of his whereabouts during that period. He coulda been running around with some local crankster gangster buddies and does not wanna fess up that he left her alone while making a dope run. There are several possibilities.
FBI and local cops seem to be so focused upon him that they are ignoring the very real possibility that she has simply been abducted. No amber alert has even been issued. In the absence of evidence, they should not be ruling anything out.
Main networks are ignoring this. Perhaps since she is not rich, not a minority, and is a citizen of “Fly-over country” they think she is less important than a little girl who disappeared in Portugal.
Please, help us get those networks attention. We need help finding her.
Yeah, I’ll try and ping you...
I guess I have too since I live in a trailer park. I’ve read more than a few posts right here on FR dissing trailer park residents.
I wonder if the cops can figure out how many miles he went in his mothers car. It might be able to narrow the search area.
Thank you.
Don’t know if answered yet, father is 25.
Thanks! But yes, we actually know some things about the stepfather now, see post 122...
I have seen such statements, and they always pi** me off. First of all, most people who live in trailer parks, at least around here, are decent, hardworking folks who just happen to not have a lot of money. The working poor. There are a lot of them here. Newton county does better, but in neighboring McDonald County the median household income is half the national average. Wal-Mart and Don Tyson are largely to thank for that.
Anyway, as I was saying, most of these folks are the working poor.. but at least they are not in the public housing living off welfare. What is ironic is that Hillary and her ilk look down their noses at “trailer trash”.. yet champion the bums who are sitting on their asses, drawing foodstamps, living on the public dole in public housing, and spending half their welfare check on drugs... the REAL trash. At least the “trailer trash” are trying to stand on their own feet.
You’re exactly right. There are some ironic things about the situation that tick me off too, but I decline to mention them this evening. I don’t want to end up mad as a wet hen. I’ve had a good week and I don’t want to ruin it!
Your link doesn’t work.
It says that link no longer exists.
Can you supply a newer link? Please.
But I have the feeling the cops know more than we'd like to hear right now.
sw
Try this link:
http://neoshodailynews.com/articles/2007/11/08/breaking_news/02video.txt
If it doesn’t work for you try this:
Scroll down to the UPDATE in the “News As It Happens” section. It is the video listed beneath the update.
Bet you didn’t know that David and Colleen got married in a BAR. The minister was ordained on the internet. David sung kareoke to Colleen at their wedding. Oh, I have so much more.
Susan Smith?
Actually, I found that out yesterday evening. I hadn't heard about the karaoke, though, and I hadn't seen last night's KY3 interview...
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