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.
He dumped the body outside before momma got there.
They wait all day hoping she'll call? If Stella is a town of 200, how many girlfriends could this girl have had? How long does it take to check them all out?
Copeland said several items have been taken from the home where the girl was last seen and authorities have seized David Spear's truck.
So Spears had a truck.
So what, exactly, did he need his mom's car for?
Amazing!! I can't imagine myself waiting one second - much less all day!
One look at the little girl's eyes and fake smile in that photo makes me think she is a victim of some type of abuse, and has been for some time before now. The step-father sounds guilty as all get out.
I think they ought to be taking a long hard look at the stepfather’s mother too. What kind of woman gets a call from her adult son at 1AM asking to borrow her car, promptly complies with the request, and then either hangs out at his house basically all night (without checking on the child), or goes home (presumably driven by her son) knowing a nine year old girl is being left alone in the house while her adult son is off doing God knows what? If I’d ever called either of my parents at 1AM asking them to come over with their car so I could borrow it, I would have had to do a massive amount of very convincing ‘splaining to get them to go along with this. And “I want to go out partying with my pals” definitely wouldn’t have cut it. The stepfather’s mother must know more than she’s letting on.
Trucks don’t have a trunk
Maybe it’s not running (look at the picture of the home), or maybe he lent it to a friend who also has inexplicable needs to borrow vehicles in the middle of the night.
That’s the logical conclusion. Maybe not even near the house but somewhere he could easily get to it with the car and not be seen.
But now it comes out he has a truck? What’d he need her car for except to prevent any evidence from showing up in his truck. But he has to be real dumb not to know the police would check the mom’s car also after hearing her story. Go figure.
I didn't know about this little girl missing at the time. Probably no connection to this case,just a thought.
Trucks do have caps & bed covers. Maybe his didn’t.
I think the neighbor in the Van Dam case was plenty guilty. But I strongly suspect the parents were too. The parents and the neighbor seemed like peas in a pod, and IIRC they had a social relationship. I’ve always wondered if they’d been “providing” Danielle to him.
He kills the girl and takes the body out back. He gets momma’s car, comes back and loads the body in the truck. Then he dumps it in the woods somewhere.
I wonder if the items that were “stolen” included any video tapes or DVD’s.
Not a very happy looking little girl. Very sad.
ping on the off chance you’re not already on this.
From what I've seen, the police usually wait until there is clear evidence that an actual crime has been committed before naming anybody a suspect. At this point, we don't have actual hard evidence of a crime, only a missing girl and circumstances that look extremely suspicious.
I suspect the STEP dad.
There are few things more dangerous to a young child than mommy's new boyfriend.
that’s one thing I can never understand why would anyone hurt a little angel like that. Hopefully she turns up just fine but this kind of thing makes me a tad homicidal.
Nuthin’ screams white trash like a car door and pickle bucket in the front yard.
Can you find out an age on the step-father?
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