In a heartbreaking story from Missouri, a man named Christopher Collings, 49, is set to face execution on Tuesday evening for the 2007 murder of a 9-year-old girl named Rowan Ford. The crime shocked the small town of Stella, located in southwestern Missouri, and left a lasting impact on everyone who heard about it.
Rowan was just a fourth-grader with a love for Barbie dolls and a pink-painted room. Her teachers described her as a cheerful and hardworking child. But her life was tragically cut short when Collings, a family friend she called “Uncle Chris,” assaulted and strangled her with a rope on November 3, 2007. Her body was found six days later in a sinkhole near town.
Collings, who had been staying at Rowan’s home for a few months that year, confessed to police that he had been drinking and using drugs with Rowan’s stepfather, David Spears, and another man on the night of the attack. According to court records, Collings admitted to taking the sleeping girl from her bed to his camper, where he committed the assault. He said he initially planned to return her home without revealing his identity, but when she saw his face in the moonlight, he panicked and killed her.
When Rowan’s mother, Colleen Spears, came home from work that morning, she couldn’t find her daughter. Spears insisted Rowan was at a friend’s house, but as the day went on and Rowan didn’t come back, her mother called the police, sparking a massive search effort.
Collings, along with Spears and another man, quickly became the focus of the investigation since they were the last people to see Rowan. Collings eventually led police to the sinkhole where Rowan’s body was hidden and admitted to burning the rope, his clothes, and the mattress from his camper to destroy evidence.
However, the case has a complicated twist. David Spears also confessed to being involved in Rowan’s murder. A police transcript revealed Spears claimed that Collings handed him a rope and that he was the one who killed Rowan. Despite this confession, Spears was allowed to plead to lesser charges for reasons that remain unclear. He served just over seven years in prison and was released in 2015.
Collings’ legal team argued that he suffered from severe brain damage and a traumatic childhood filled with abuse, which left him unable to make rational decisions. They also challenged the credibility of a key witness in the trial, a police chief from a neighboring town who had a history of misconduct in the Army. Collings’ lawyer, Jeremy Weis, said the failure to disclose this witness’s criminal past violated his client’s right to a fair trial.
On Monday, Collings’ last efforts to avoid execution were denied. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal, and Missouri Governor Mike Parson declined a clemency request. Governor Parson, a former sheriff, has overseen 12 executions during his time in office and has never granted clemency.
If the execution proceeds as planned, it will be the 23rd in the U.S. this year and the fourth in Missouri. Rowan’s story remains a devastating reminder of the importance of protecting vulnerable children and seeking justice for those who can no longer speak for themselves.
