JEFFERSON CITY -- Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has reached out to the Missouri Supreme Court to request the court set an execution date for Christopher Collings, who abducted, raped and murdered nine-year-old Rowan Ford of Stella in 2007.
Court documents, including Collings' appellant brief to the Missouri Supreme Court, detailed the event that led up to Ford's murder.
According to documents, Collings had been a family friend for years with David Spears, Ford's stepfather. During the summer and fall of 2007, Collings lived with the Spears family and slept in the family's basement.
Ford would refer to Collings as "Uncle Chris."
In October, Collings moved to his family's farm in Wheaton, Barry County, and lived in a travel trailer on the property.
On Nov. 2, "[Collings] drank five six-packs of Smirnoff Ice and smoked marijuana. Nathan Mahurin and David Spears were also drinking."
The appellant's brief stated, "The three drank and shot pool at Spears' house, then left Rowan [Ford] alone in the house and went to Christopher's [Collings] trailer in Wheaton to smoke a 'hog leg' of marijuana. They made at least three trips for alcohol that evening."
Ford's mother, Colleen Spears, was working an overnight shift at her job when the crime occurred.
"Around 11:30 p.m., Mahurin and David Spears left Christopher's [Collings] trailer; Mahurin drove the back roads to Spears' house because he was intoxicated."
Collings told law enforcement he raced back to Spears' house before Spears had returned home, abducted Ford while she was sleeping, took her back to his trailer, and sexually assaulted her.
After the assault, Collings stated, "He intended to return [Ford] home, and he led her outside facing away from him so she couldn't see his face. He made sure to keep the lights off and didn't speak so she "wouldn't recognize his voice."
However, Collings said on the way to his truck, there was moonlight, and as Ford looked back, she saw him. He knew she had recognized him.
Collins strangled Ford with rope from his pickup truck and threw her body in a sinkhole near Powell, in McDonald County.
To cover up the crime, Collings took the rope, "the blood-stained clothing he wore during the attack and his blood-stained mattress" and burned the evidence.
The brief recounts that Colleen Spears returned home from her overnight shift at 9 a.m. and couldn't find Ford after searching the house. She woke David Spears and asked him where Ford was. David Spears told her she was staying with a friend but couldn't identify the friend.
Colleen Spears contacted the sheriff to report her daughter missing. Ford's body would be discovered a week after she was reported missing from her Stella home.
Collings eventually confessed his crime to law enforcement.
According to the press release from the Attorney General's office, during the punishment phase of the trial, the jury "found that Collings had tortured the victim in a way that was vile, horrible, and inhumane." The jury also found that Collings "murdered the victim to prevent her from testifying against him regarding the rape."
In 2012, Collings was tried and convicted in Phelps County by a jury selected from Platte County. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, which was consistent with the jury's recommendation.
David Spears pleaded guilty to child endangerment and was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Collings filed appeals of his conviction but was denied. The Missouri Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court reviewed Collings' case but found no legal errors.
Now, Bailey is seeking an execution date for Collings. Once the Attorney General files a motion to set an execution date, Collings' lawyers will have time to respond. If the Missouri Supreme Court chooses to issue an execution warrant, the execution date will be set between 90 and 120 days from the Court's order.
Ford would have turned 26 years old today, April 11.