Posted on 11/07/2007 11:31:44 AM PST by Luke Skyfreeper
|
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.
Well, there you go...that’s it in a nutshell. They made the choice to get messed up.
I’ve heard all of my life that alcohol, etc., reveals the true nature of a person...contrary to what Spears’ mother says. No doubt it impairs judgment, and makes them more prone to accidents, etc., as a result. But, I don’t think it makes a person do things that are truly against their nature. Everyone would do the same things when they are under the influence, if it did. Those things begin in the heart.
Could be.
I shouldn’t need to draw any further pictures should I?
Not saying she was not abused, but a lot of girls in this age group smile like that in formal pictures. Their permanent teeth are either not done coming in, or have come in crooked, and they are self-concious about it. My 8 y.o. granddaughter has the same sort of smile in her school pics this year, and her teeth are not done coming in yet.
I'd read far more into the statement about 'might have gone to a friend's house in the night', and that the thought of leaving her alone to go out drinking or whatever would be considered 'normal' for the household.
She was 9. It could also be that she was experiencing “growing pains”. My daughter had them pretty intensely between 9 & 11.
I would think a 9-year-old would need to spend about 12 hours a day on her knees to develop chronic pain...
Apparently there’s a knee-pain condition that some kids get as they grow up. They gradually grow out of it. That seems to me a far more likely explanation for this particular issue.
Private Message!
I'd be willing to bet that your granddaughter's eyes show more life in her photos.
If it were only her weight she was supporting on them.
OTOH, growing pains, tweaking them in dance class, arthritis (consistent with congenital syphilis, as discussed w.r.t her teeth), etc.
I fear I may have put too evil an interpretation on that factoid.
Or worse, not...
Found those comments (the ‘corn product’ poster?) late last night, Lucy. Two posts by that person. Some surface inconsistencies as of now. Her comments could gain weight w/ me as more info from other sources trickles out.
Nope, no judgements here. I remember when I worked at a hospital and a biker was injured in an accident. All his buddies came in to see him and when they stopped by to ask for directions to his room, it was “Ma’am, please and thank you.” The men, although hard looking, were polite and courteous and caused no problems whatsover. Wish some other visitors were as good.
Some of the women with them on the other hand...THEY scared me!
Oh, my sister had severe knee pain at that age. Google Osgood Schlatter’s disease, that’s what she had. Very common at that age. She outgrew it but it was worrisome until it was diagnosed.
Thanks.
Jeez, what a horror story.
The poor innocent child, abused and murdered by someone who should have put his own life on the line to protect her.
There’s a very hot space reserved in hell for these two worthless animals.
I agree with you about the lifestyle. And, I understand what you are saying about pictures. They are only moments caught in time.
I guess I gave in to the temptation to read something into her eyes in both pictures, because I’ve seen that expression in the eyes of other young ones that I knew were suffering abuse. That isn’t always the case though, as you have pointed out, and, of course, conclusions shouldn’t be drawn from an expression in a photograph alone.
Yes. CTV MB. I think her observations and opinions are an interesting aside to the story, but have no more bearing on the facts of the case than any of the other gossip we’ve heard. She just signed up over there within this month, and has only 2 posts, as you said.
As did many of us, don't feel like the Lone Ranger out there!
Thanks. : )
This is just so heartbreaking. Can’t seem to get little Rowan off my mind, even when I know it is fruitless to wish things could’ve been different.
All of this is hearsay, but I’m remembering her sister saying that she had talked on the phone with Rowan a couple weeks before she went missing. Rowan had told her how much she loved her and missed her. Then, a woman who worked with Spears, his mother, and Colleen, at Wal-Mart, told how Spears had said the older sister had to move out because she wouldn’t go by “his rules”. Wondering, if true, if that is what left Rowan at home alone, and unprotected, with Spears while her mom was working the night shift.
It appears to me that Rowan was begging to be rescued by her big sister.
The heating pad...it’s very painful for a 9-year-old to be repeatedly raped by a fat creepy stepfather.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.