Posted on 11/08/2007 3:34:54 PM PST by McCoMo
9-year-old Stella girl missing
By Jeff Lehr
jlehr@joplinglobe.com
STELLA, Mo. — Law officers and volunteers spent several hours Sunday searching in vain for a 9-year-old girl who disappeared from her home in Stella late Friday or early Saturday.
Rowan Ford was last seen inside her home at 777 Grove St. about 10:45 p.m. Friday, Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said. She is the daughter of Colleen Spears and stepdaughter of David Spears, and is a fourth-grader at Stella Elementary School, Copeland said.
Investigators found no signs of a crime scene at the Spears residence, and no charges had been filed by Sunday night in the missing-person case, the sheriff said.
“But we have every reason to believe there is foul play involved,” Copeland said.
He said the girl’s mother left the house about 8:30 p.m. Friday to go to work at the Wal-Mart store in Purdy. She told investigators that her daughter was getting ready to go to bed at the time, the sheriff said.
Copeland said the stepfather and two of his male friends were with the girl at the home until they decided to go out together about 10:45 p.m. The stepfather told investigators that he looked in on the girl in her bedroom before leaving, and she was asleep.
David Spears did not return to the house until sometime around midnight, when one of his friends dropped him off, the sheriff said. Copeland said Spears told investigators that he did not check on Rowan again before going to bed.
The sheriff said the girl was discovered missing when her mother returned home from work about 9 a.m. Saturday.
“Her daughter didn’t greet her like she normally does,” Copeland said. “So she went to her room, and she wasn’t there.”
The mother then woke up the stepfather, and he told her he did not know where the girl was, the sheriff said. The stepfather later told the mother that Rowan might have half-awakened him during the night and mentioned something about going to a friend’s place, but he could not be certain because he is a sound sleeper, the sheriff said.
Copeland said the house apparently was left unlocked throughout the night. He said the Spearses spent the better part of Saturday looking for Rowan at various acquaintances’ places in the Stella area before reporting her missing to the Sheriff’s Department at 6:50 p.m.
Investigators canvassed Stella for witnesses who might have seen any suspicious people or vehicles during the night and came up empty, Copeland said. He said they also checked for registered sex offenders living in the vicinity and did not find any.
Law officers and volunteers combed some woods near the girl’s home Sunday on foot, horseback and all-terrain vehicles. A Missouri State Highway Patrol helicopter aided the search effort from above.
Copeland said the girl’s mother has been in shock.
“She’s very upset,” he said. “She’s been very cooperative with us. She doesn’t know where her little girl is.”
Copeland described the stepfather as “less than cooperative.” He said Spears later acknowledged to investigators that he left the home a second time during the night.
Copeland said Spears made a phone call to his mother sometime after 1 a.m. Saturday and asked to use her vehicle. She took it to him about 1:30 a.m. and stayed at his house while he left in the vehicle for about 5 1/2 hours, the sheriff said. The stepgrandmother told investigators that she never checked on Rowan while she was there watching television in the living room, he said.
The sheriff declined to say what Spears said he was doing while he had his mother’s vehicle.
The stepfather and mother could not be reached for comment Sunday night.
Description Investigators are uncertain what 9-year-old Rowan Ford may have been wearing when she disappeared. She is described as being just under 4 feet tall and weighing 62 pounds. She has brown hair and brown eyes. A photograph of her was released to the media on Sunday.
Wonder where the other four siblings live and their ages? Wonder what they think of David. Ok, so they've been married for a while but that doesn't change my mind. http://www.joplinglobe.com/cnhi/joplinglobe/homepage/local_story_310224838.html?keyword=leadpicturestory
I have a bad feeling about stepdad’s story.
BTW, a LOT of people who live in this area are unable to even get local television stations. Many, like myself, get most of our news from the national networks. At my house, in order to recieve local stations, it requires an antenna on a 60 foot mast, with a rotor and power amplifier. Those who are not in town where cable is available mostly get their TV by satellite, and most do not have such an antenna as I do.. thus are unable to got local news stations. National networks broadcasting it will reach a large number of people, right here in the region where it happened, who are unaware of it otherwise.
A few months ago, when a guy walked in a church in Neosho and started shooting... a LOT of locals knew nothing about it until they saw it on national news.
Speaking for myself, it is pretty damned aggravating having been out riding in the woods all day hunting for her, and coming home, flipping on the TV, and they are discussing a girl who disappeared months ago in Portugal.
This link has several articles. Seems stepdad isn’t staying in the home since the disappearance.
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=printDiscussion&webtag=ab-crime&tid=18155
prayer bump
prayer bump
Prayers up!
Adding to Copeland's remarks, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Jeff Lanza said they are waiting some results of evidence, which was sent to the FBI's lab in at Quantico, Va.
"We are waiting some DNA results," said Lanza. Asked if he would elaborate on what type of DNA samples, Lanza said, "I am not going to get into the specifics."
Have you seen this?
evidence?
He left a 9 year old little girl home ALONE while he went out to party?
David Spears did not return to the house until sometime around midnight, when one of his friends dropped him off, the sheriff said. Copeland said Spears told investigators that he did not check on Rowan again before going to bed.
So we can assume his friends aren't suspect? Did they all take a polygraph?
This is not looking good for the stepfather or finding that precious child alive. I'm sick.
sw
Check my post 48. Checking DNA evidence.
Spears called his mother sometime after 1 a.m. Saturday and asked to use her vehicle, Copeland said. She took it to him around 1:30 a.m., then stayed at his house while Spears used her vehicle for about 5 1/2 hours, the sheriff said.
(So his Mother would have known about the child?)
Copeland declined to say what Spears told investigators he was doing with the vehicle.
For those who missed this part of the story, draw your own conclusions.
sw
the two worst words in the life of any child: “step-father”
This guy is a monster.
sw
If it’s the child’s DNA found in the car.........Oh My
Yeah, I looked up her house on Google Earth just to check out the terrain and location. While there looks to be a lot of farmland, there's a lot of woods to hide anything you didn't want found. It doesn't look like anyone will find her unless someone takes the LE out to the exact spot.
while I understand your concern with the LE looking into a simple stranger or even drug deal gone bad abduction, my gut tells me they've got the guy and it's only a matter of time. Mom knows it too or he'd still be sleeping in her house which he's not been since the incident.
Exactly, if they were married for three years, this woman knew he had a stepdaughter at home. Unless he lied to her. But then again, if my bum son called in the middle of the night ‘to use my car’, I’d tell him to take a hike.
Yes, saw all that info Luke posted on the other thread. Looks of good background checking there.
There is a pink sheet missing from the bed where the child was supposedly last seen sleeping.
I am also more than a tad bored by the pointless wall to wall USA MSM coverage of a British child missing in Portugal.
“Mommy and Daddy left her alone in a Hotel room in a foreign country while they stepped out for dinner and drinks. Something bad happened, gasp! Is nothing safe? sarcasm//
I am also sick of “breaking news” on Brittany Spears latest drunken debacle, Rosie the lesbian idiot/political comedienne, and anything Pat Robertson says about politics.
Let’s not even mention “global warming” and how all the polls say Hillary is the Democrats only choice, and why Rudy is the obvious Republican candidate for POTUS.
If you are serious in trying to find out what happened to Rowan (may God rest her soul), why on earth would you look to the MSM for “help”?
What an obscenely stupid statement.
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