Posted on 11/11/2007 11:10:08 PM PST by McCoMo
Sheriff: Men confess to crime
By Debbie Robinson
news@joplinglobe.com
STELLA, Mo. — Both defendants in the brutal rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford have confessed to the crime, the Newton County sheriff said Sunday.
David Spears, 25, of Stella, and Chris Collings, 32, of Wheaton, are charged with one count each of first-degree murder, forcible rape and statutory rape in the girl’s death. Spears is Rowan’s stepfather.
Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland said investigators allege that Rowan was abducted early Nov. 3 from her home in Stella in Newton County, murdered in Barry County, and her body dumped in a sinkhole in McDonald County.
After a nearly weeklong search for the girl, Copeland said, Collings confessed Friday to Wheaton police Chief Clint Clark. Spears was arrested a short time later.
“Both confessed to raping and strangling her,” Copeland said.
Clark did not return a phone call Sunday. The Barry County sheriff’s office in Cassville said Sheriff Mick Epperly would have no updates on the case until Tuesday.
Investigators are continuing to work on determining what happened the night Rowan was abducted from her home, Copeland said.
David Spears has provided conflicting information to investigators since Spears and Rowan’s mother, Colleen Spears, reported the girl missing about 6:50 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, Copeland said.
During the search for Rowan, Copeland said, David Spears rode around with another man.
“He (Spears) was pointing out to this man where would be good places to put a body,” Copeland said.
One of those places was the sinkhole in McDonald County where the girl’s body ultimately was found, the sheriff said.
“It’s about 15 to 20 feet down, and it was getting dark,” Copeland said of the time David Spears reportedly pointed out the site during the search.
Rowan’s body was found the next morning, which was Friday, by McDonald County deputies Jake Boles and Mike Hall in the sinkhole near Powell.
According to reports, Colleen Spears last saw her daughter at about 8:30 p.m. Nov. 2 before she left for work at the Wal-Mart store in Jane.
David Spears, Collings and another man were playing pool at the Spears home in the town of Stella in southern Newton County while Rowan was asleep in her bedroom, Copeland said.
The three men decided to leave at 10:45 p.m. to take Collings home, Copeland said.
“They stopped so a man named Nathan and David could get more beer,” he said.
Copeland said Nathan reportedly dropped David Spears off at the Spears residence.
That’s where the story gets murky, Copeland said.
Authorities said David Spears has acknowledged that he went out a second time around 1:30 a.m. Nov. 3 after calling his mother, Myrna Spears, and asking to borrow her car. Myrna Spears has said she watched television and did not check on the girl. David Spears was gone for 5 1/2 hours.
Copeland said Sunday that David Spears has told investigators that he discovered Rowan missing before he called his mother.
“He said he knew Chris (Collings) would have her (Rowan),” Copeland said.
He said Spears has said that after borrowing his mother’s car, he drove to Collings’ travel trailer, where he alleged that he found Collings raping the girl.
Both men are suspected of raping and strangling the girl with a netting cord, Copeland said.
David Spears initially told investigators that he did not discover Rowan was missing until the next morning, after Colleen Spears arrived home from work.
“We had three different cadaver dogs hit on (Myrna Spears’) car,” Copeland said. “We know the body was in there at some point.”
The two defendants are expected to be arraigned Tuesday in Barry County Circuit Court. Both men were being held Sunday without bond in the Barry County Jail.
Myrna Spears said Sunday that she has not talked to her son since his arrest on Friday.
David Spears and Collings, who grew up in the Wheaton area, have been friends for about 10 years, Myrna Spears said.
She said Collings recently returned from Arkansas, where his estranged wife and two children, both younger than 10, live.
Myrna Spears said she thought she knew Collings, and never suspected that he or her son would be capable of murder and rape.
Copeland said Sunday that Spears and Collings recently had been working for a property owner on construction of a barn in McDonald County.
Neither man is listed as a registered sex offender, Copeland said.
Copeland said Collings, who lived in the travel trailer about a mile east of Wheaton, had been making a living by working odd jobs and selling scrap metal.
Services
Funeral services for Rowan Ford will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Gospel Lighthouse Church in Neosho. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Clark Funeral Home in Neosho, where the family will receive friends from 5 to 7 p.m. A memorial fund has been established. Donations may be made at any Hometown Bank.
I have agreed to keep everyone who is interested updated on any future developments because I live in the area this occured. It is possible that it could be months, if not years, before there is a final disposition and these men are sentenced. By then, it will likely have dropped off the radars of media coverage, and when convicted they may only be a blurb on the local news. As such, many of you might otherwise never know what ultimately happens in this case, and if you are here reading this now, then I am sure you would be interested in knowing the outcome.
Luke has been keeping many of you updated, but I think he is getting kinda tired. Cannot say I blame him. Being focused on a topic like this one for as long as he has can be quite taxing, physically and emotionally. SO, he has sent me his pinglist, and I am adding those people who have PM'ed me asking to be on mine. He has suggested, and I agree, that we begin with this fresh thread.
ANYONE WHO GOT PINGED FOR THIS POST, BUT IS NOT INTERESTED IN FUTURE UPDATES, PM ME AND I WILL REMOVE YOU FROM THE LIST.
Rowan Ford (9 yr old murdered girl) Update Ping
The girl was raped and killed.
The mother’s life has been savaged.
The community has been shaken.
The two men will die in prison or be executed.
What puzzles me in these instances, is just how desparate some guys seem to be. Was all this worth whatever perverted pleasure they could get out of it, even if never caught?
I really don’t get it.
Justice will not come soon enough.
I thought about posting a pic of harvesting rocky mountain oysters as a sign of the punishment for these %&*)%!! Let this headline from one of the pics take its place.
Balls be gone!
They did a piece on the news about Collings’ myspace. They said, “Some may say it’s pornographic.” Ya think????!!!
I just have a feeling that the mother of Spears is somehow involved with the cover-up.
You have to understand how most criminals think. They think like animals, which is to say they think about today and that's it. Tomorrow never enters their consciousness.
“puzzles” isn’t an apt term, for me it is brain rending how anyone could come to do what was done to this child and all the others that have shared the same fate. Like you, I really don’t get it.
Well said, but today is too broad a time span; they think in the now, and fail to see any consequences for their actions. Not for themselves or others.
Raped by her own step-father?
Yes it happens more then you ever hear about. Many times girls are too scared to come forward because of threats & mothers who don't believe them. Or mothers who look the other way. Where have you been, stories like this are in the paper all the time!
I would just make sure all the DNA matched, convict them, make sure they got all involved & kill them asap. I have no mercy for scum like this. Nor do I like paying for scum to sit in jail & cost us money for appeals . If they are 100% guilty then rid the earth of scum like this IMHO.
Prayers for Rowan Ford
I agree.
Yep, it’s very sad indeed.
I do not even understand how it is physically possible. It seems to me that to perform such an act, one would have to be able to become “physically aroused” if ya know what I mean. And how could any man possibly find anything remotely enticing in such a thing as this.
It defies comprehension.
Nobody does, and nobody should for if they did, they would have to be insane...
Justice will not come soon enough.
What is "justice" anymore? The longer I live, the more I see that the very concept of justice has been eroded, diluted, or otherwise mis-shapen into something unrecognizable by anyone who ever understood justice...
Such a sad commentary on our lives, our country, and our times...
the infowarrior
Yes it does. But it is happening more & more. Who knows what these men have done in the past either. Maybe they ought to look into that. If I even thought my 2nd husband looked at any of my children in anyway I thought was abnormal he would have been so out of my life. Thankfully he just wanted to be a father & has been a really good one. I wonder if the mother saw any signs. I think sometimes women refuse to see things because they just don't want to deal with them. Sad to say.
the infowarrior
I understand why you don’t want to look at the photos. I try to avoid reading certain theories, guesses and speculations. IMHO, in conjures up terrible images in the mind, that needn’t be there. I’m not condemning those who do..it’s just not for me.
Questions about the facts are about my limit.., IE:Spear’s mom’s role and her veracity.
I agree all around. Sometimes we wish we could make sense of it so we could come up with a solution. Unfortuantely, some people are so far gone, it does defy explanation and any ability to prevent what takes place.
As for looking at pictures, I doubt you even have to, to think of the kids in your family that this could just as easily happen to.
We never know what might happen.
We never know what might happen.<P.
No we don’t & I guess I have become an over protective mother with my 8 yr old daughter. I wasn’t like this with my older children but I really don’t remember it being so bad then either. Prayers for Rowan & a prayer her killers get the justice they so deserve.
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.