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Copeland suspects foul play in child's disappearance [Update post 145-Girl's body found]
Neosho Daily News (MO) ^ | Monday, Nov 5, 2007 | John Ford

Posted on 11/07/2007 11:31:44 AM PST by Luke Skyfreeper

Copeland suspects foul play in child's disappearance

By John Ford / Daily News Managing Editor
Published: Monday, November 5, 2007 4:34 PM CST
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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.

"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.

"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."

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."

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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Missouri
KEYWORDS: cops; crime; dearlittleone; missing; missingchild; missouri; rowanford
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To: Luke Skyfreeper

http://www.neoshodailynews.com/articles/2007/11/07/news/02hope.txt

“When his wife arrived shortly after 9 a.m., she noticed something was wrong, as Rowan did not greet her car. She checked in the girl’s bedroom, but didn’t find her daughter. Also missing from the bed was a pink sheet.”

“Copeland said one of the problems was with the long wait before authorities were notified. The sheriff’s department was notified of Miss Ford’s disappearance at nearly 7 p.m. Saturday night, 10 hours after the mother returned home and found that her daughter was missing.”


41 posted on 11/07/2007 12:33:36 PM PST by LucyJo
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To: Luke Skyfreeper

Thanks


42 posted on 11/07/2007 12:33:36 PM PST by BARLF (Who is Huma?)
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To: GovernmentShrinker

Just wondering.... Did you follow the case in the news???? Or did you go through the complete court transcripts???


43 posted on 11/07/2007 12:33:57 PM PST by UCANSEE2 (- Attention all planets of the solar Federation--Secret plan codeword: Banana)
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To: UCANSEE2

I followed it pretty closely in the news, as well as on many FR threads.


44 posted on 11/07/2007 12:36:13 PM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: bcsco
Not only that, but it was 1 1/2 hours after he was dropped off back home. Plenty of time to do the deed and clean up as best as possible.

Time line is real suspicious, isn't it?

Spears returns home at approximately midnight.

Approximately one hour later, he calls his mother, at 1 am, wanting to borrow her car.

Mother arrives around 130 or so, and Spears leaves, presumably in her vehicle.

Spears returns around 7 am, approximately 5-1/2 hours later.

That's about the amount of time I would guess it would probably take to drive a distance (maybe into the next county), find a suitable secluded spot, dig a suitable-sized hole, fill the hole in, pull various bits of brush over the area to try and hide fresh digging, stop and rest a few minutes, find a suitable place to ditch some digging tools, go find a car wash to do some car cleaning, clean the car a bit, and drive home.

I wonder how dirty David Spears' clothes were when he got home at 7 am?

45 posted on 11/07/2007 12:36:26 PM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: null and void

Very true. And statistically it makes only a small difference if mom and her boyfriend have a piece of paper from the government saying they’re “married” (which is apparently the case here). Government licenses don’t trump biology.


46 posted on 11/07/2007 12:38:29 PM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: najida
Nuthin’ screams white trash like a car door and pickle bucket in the front yard.

Oh, I dunno, I kinda think mothers who comply with their adult sons' 1AM requests to come bring them her car scream at least as loud as front yards decorated with car doors and pickle buckets.

47 posted on 11/07/2007 12:41:30 PM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: GovernmentShrinker
No they don't.

OTOH, my daughter was two when I met her mom.

Civilization and decency can trump biology.

48 posted on 11/07/2007 12:41:36 PM PST by null and void (No more Bushes/No more Clintons)
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To: najida

People can be poor, and still be good, decent people.

I’ve been so-called “white trash” myself...


49 posted on 11/07/2007 12:43:13 PM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: Luke Skyfreeper
Actually, the entire town I grew up in was "white trash..."
50 posted on 11/07/2007 12:44:45 PM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: Luke Skyfreeper

So am I...heck, my grass looks like hers and it wasn’t that long ago I was livin’ in a mo-bile home myself.

It’s the total story plus the car door in the front yard that paints the picture......plus Mama bringing the car over at 1am. Somethin’ ain’t right.


51 posted on 11/07/2007 12:44:54 PM PST by najida (Just call me a chicken rancher :))
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To: bcsco
I see what you're saying, but I'm not sure you can read too much from a single photo.

"She was a very sweet little girl," said Carolyn Sanders, Rowan's Sunday School teacher. "She had hugs for everybody. She was very helpful. She is just a loving little girl. She was always happy. She was one of the family."

"I may not have known Rowan very much, but I know that she loved her mom and her sisters very much," said one of the young vigil participants, holding back her tears. "Every time I saw her, she had this beautiful smile on her face."

52 posted on 11/07/2007 12:46:21 PM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: najida
It’s the total story plus the car door in the front yard that paints the picture......plus Mama bringing the car over at 1am. Somethin’ ain’t right.

Well, I can certainly agree with you on the total story...

53 posted on 11/07/2007 12:47:23 PM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: sweetliberty

I also wondered how old the stepfather is. I haven’t seen anything but I would guess he is similarly aged to the mom, who has to be close to 45 ish. She has several other kids, aged up to 25 years old.


54 posted on 11/07/2007 12:54:27 PM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: Luke Skyfreeper
From another article:

Copeland said David Spears asked to help investigators search for Rowan, but that request was denied because of what Copeland termed his earlier “lack of cooperation.” [Somewhere else, the sheriff said it's a free country, Spears is welcome to go out and search independently if he wants, he has simply declined Spears searching with the authorities.]

Copeland said David Spears also did not give a “justifiable explanation” for his 5 1/2-hour lapse of time, when he said he borrowed his mother’s car while Rowan was asleep in bed.

David Spears told The Joplin Globe in an interview Monday: “I want people to know that I am innocent. I did not harm my daughter. I do not know where she is, and I pray that she is brought home safely.”

The hardest part of the investigation is talking with Rowan’s mother because of her grief, Copeland said.

“To see the terror in her eyes that she doesn’t know where her child is," he said, "that’s hard."

55 posted on 11/07/2007 12:54:53 PM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: Luke Skyfreeper

Suspicious? That time line screams guilty of murder to me.

I certainly hope that little girl is ok but it doesn’t sound like it’s going to turn out very well for her or her mother.


56 posted on 11/07/2007 12:55:44 PM PST by InsensitiveConservative
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To: LucyJo
Copeland said Spears did ask to participate in the department's search for the girl, but the sheriff declined the request.

"That was due to his lack of cooperation and the problems we had," the sheriff said. "We prefer that he not search with us. It's a free country, and he's welcome to search on his own if he wants to."...

Spears also told authorities he no longer wishes to talk to them without his attorney being present.

Scum bucket is guilty. Sorry, but I truly believe that. I also believe so does Sheriff Copeland.

57 posted on 11/07/2007 12:56:39 PM PST by bcsco ("The American Indians found out what happens when you don't control immigration.")
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To: Luke Skyfreeper
David Spears told The Joplin Globe in an interview Monday: “I want people to know that I am innocent. I did not harm my daughter. I do not know where she is, and I pray that she is brought home safely.”

Was Spear's wagging his finger at us when he uttered those words?

As in Bill Clinton, "I did not have sex with that woman.........Ms Lewinsky."

58 posted on 11/07/2007 1:01:02 PM PST by BARLF (Who is Huma?)
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To: Luke Skyfreeper

>>“To see the terror in her eyes that she doesn’t know where her child is,” he said, “that’s hard.”<<

Not for anything, but his eyes should be filled with terror too. If this had happened to my daughter, I’d be relentless.


59 posted on 11/07/2007 1:04:23 PM PST by ItsOurTimeNow ('Post Tenebras Lux '- It's not a breakfast cereal!)
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To: Luke Skyfreeper

Yeah, plenty of time to take care of the necessities. I believe, though, the mom knows more than is being told in these stories (another FReeper said the same thing). Something just doesn’t sit right with her account (as printed).

I wonder about those other vehicles. One was his truck. Was another her car? Maybe the vehicle used on the first trip? Does he have other vehicles sitting around? The photo shows a car door lying in front of the house.

Stella’s in the East-central part of Newton County. Just went through the area again on I-44 this September. IIRC, it’s more like East Oklahoma with rolling hills and wood. Cattle & farm country. It’s not as hilly as a little East of there (the Ozarks). At least that’s the way it is along that portion of I-44. A lot of places to bury a body, but it would make more sense nearer (or in) the Ozarks.


60 posted on 11/07/2007 1:04:36 PM PST by bcsco ("The American Indians found out what happens when you don't control immigration.")
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