Posted on 11/07/2007 11:31:44 AM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
Local Springfield news is reporting that she has been found dead in a sinkhole about 10 miles away from her home. No arrests as of yet.
Thanks - hadn’t seen that.
Oh, my goodness...I’ve been fearing news like this. Bless her little heart.
http://www.kspr.com/news/local/11145571.html
Officers find Rowan Ford’s body
By Brad Belote
Story Created: Nov 9, 2007
Story Updated: Nov 9, 2007
OZARK, Mo. (AP) - A law enforcement official says a 9-year-old southwest Missouri girl missing for a week has been found dead.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the body was found today in a sinkhole in eastern McDonald County.
The source said the body of Rowan Ford was found on private land near Powell, about 10 miles south of her hometown of Stella.
Rowan was reported missing Saturday after her mother, Colleen Spears, returned home from a night shift at a Wal-Mart in a nearby town and found the girl gone.
Rowan’s stepfather, David Spears, told investigators he last saw the girl asleep in her room around 10:45 p.m. Friday before he left her alone and went out with friends.
Search is over. Little girl has been found, deceased, roughly ten miles from her home.
Missing Mo. girl found dead
By Marcus Kabel
ASSOCIATED PRESS
11/09/2007
OZARK, Mo. (AP) — A 9-year-old southwest Missouri girl missing for a week was found dead Friday in a sinkhole in eastern McDonald County, a law enforcement official said.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because authorities had not yet made an official announcement, said the body of Rowan Ford was found on private land near Powell, about 10 miles south of the girl’s hometown of Stella, a village of about 200 people.
Rowan was reported missing Saturday after her mother, Colleen Spears, returned home from a night shift at a Wal-Mart in a nearby town and couldn’t find her daughter. Rowan’s stepfather, David Spears, told investigators he last saw the girl asleep in her room around 10:45 p.m. Friday before he left her alone and went out with friends.
Colleen and David Spears spent much of the day looking for Rowan at the homes of acquaintances where they thought the girl might have gone, then reported the girl missing at 6:50 p.m.
Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland has said David Spears told authorities that he left the girl alone when he went out on Friday night and did not check on her after his friends dropped him off at midnight.
Spears also later told authorities that he called his mother sometime after 1 a.m. Saturday and asked to use her vehicle, Copeland has said. She took it to him about half an hour later, then stayed at his house while her son left in her vehicle for about 5 1/2 hours, Copeland has said.
Copeland also has said that Spears has not been able to explain what he did in those 5 1/2 hours.
Spears, who has been staying with his parents, has said it was wrong for him to have left the girl alone.
Sad news update: They’ve found little Rowan’s body in a sinkhole about 10 miles from her house. #144 and #146.
What a fine looking human being.
Missing girl is dead
by KY3 News and The Associated Press
NEOSHO, Mo. -- Law officers say a 9-year-old girl missing for a week has been found dead. Sheriff Mick Epperly of neighboring Barry County says the FBI called him Friday morning to tell him about the discovery.
Another law enforcement official, speaking anonymously because neither the FBI nor the Newton County sheriff has released the information, said the body was found early Friday in a sinkhole in eastern McDonald County. The source said the body of Rowan Ford was on private land near Powell, about 10 miles south of her hometown of Stella. The sheriff's department said a news conference would provide more details but didn't give a time for it.
The McDonald County coroner told a reporter for The Joplin Globe that he went to the scene to confirm that Rowan is dead. He then turned the site over to the Newton County Sheriff's Department and other investigators.
Rowan's mother and stepmother reported her missing on Saturday after her mother, Colleen Spears, returned home from a night shift at a Wal-Mart store in a nearby town and found the girl gone. Rowan's stepfather, David Spears, told investigators he last saw the girl asleep in her room around 10:45 p.m. Friday before he left her alone and went out with friends.
I am betting that they will find drugs in her body during the toxicology test. If the reports of the stepfather being involved in meth are true, he may have given her an overdose and killed her, panicked, got his mother’s car and drove to the neighboring county to dump the body..........Just my speculation, may not be true, but possible....
Damn.
I bet they can find tire tracks from the borrowed car near the scene as well.
Step dad did it.
What are you hearing on the ground there?
Agreed on the damn.
I’m not surprised, though. The more I read about this case, the more I felt that young Rowan Ford was dead before I ever learned her name.
People can fall into sinkholes and die by accident. I will be extremely surprised, though, if this isn’t ruled a homicide, and quickly. First of all, 9-year-olds don’t wander 10 miles away from home, even ones who are on a long leash. Especially not alone. And unless I’m extremely mistaken, I saw a photo of her bicycle in the front yard of the Spears home.
And if they do go wandering off somewhere, they don’t generally take along a sheet from the bed, either.
So I envision this turning into a homicide investigation, very shortly. Homicide investigations have persons of interest, and suspects. And I think we all know who’s going to appear up at the top of that list.
There was a sheet missing from her bed??!! I hadn’t heard that. OMG.
Saw the mother on a video clip saying some not nice things about the husband.
i'm sure lots of people have had positive experiences with step-fathers but the numbers show more abuse and violence happens at their hands than actual fathers. just because it may not be pleasant to hear doesn't mean it ain't true.
and further more, it seems that this type of violence occurs more in homes with spare car parts in the front yard (as in this case). mom works hard, step-dad drinks hard. awful combination. i hope this poor child didn’t suffer too much. and i hope this “man” suffers forever (if guilty).
i’d speculate step-dad and his drinkin’ buddies had some ideas and things went bad.
The saddest thing in this whole story is that every adult in this little girls life failed her.....
mom,
step-dad,
step-dad’s buddies,
step-dad’s mom......
All these people, and not one of them cared.
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