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.
Mom left in early evening to go work at Wal-Mart.
The stepfather, David Spears, went out cruising around with a couple of buddies around 1045 pm, was dropped off about midnight.
So around 1 a.m., he calls his mother and asks for her to come over so he can borrow her car, he wants to go somewhere. He then leaves in his mom's car around 1:30 am and gets back around 7 am.
Mom gets home around 9 am, finds her daughter isn't there to greet her as usual. Wakes up the stepdad, he says she may have half-awakened him and said something about going over to a friend's house.
Ping. Thought this might be of interest to you.
Bogus story from him..........
I often phone my mother up at 1 a.m. and ask if she would come over so I can borrow her car for a while, and then spend a few hours driving around in the middle of the night. It's quieter and more peaceful then.
I'm sure he probably wanted to do some shopping and stuff in the nearby big city of Neosho. At 10,000 population, I hear it's a happenin' place between the hours of 130 and 7 am.
His story tinks to high heaven...
I’m sure he’s just a bit confused. He’s a heavy sleeper.
That probably also explains his forgetting to mention to the police the part about being gone from 130 to 700.
Since he borrowed his mom’s car, she apparently stayed in the house until he returned at 7? And didn’t look in on the girl?
Yeah, right.
So....why did he need to borrow Mom’s car in the middle of the night?
Maybe to remove “something” from the house?
A bunch of really strange people, this lot. I fear the worst for the little girl.
She’s dead, Jim.
From the Joplin Globe:
Colleen Spears weeps Monday as she sits in the front yard at her Stella home while waiting for word about her missing 9-year-old daughter, Rowan Ford. Foul play is suspected, and the FBI is involved in the case.
A drunken stepfather + two drinking buddies + one very beautiful 9-year-old girl.
Foul play? No kidding!
Actually, I guess it was this article. Sorry, I read several different articles on this case...
I suspect the dad.
Just give me 5 minutes and I don’t need a water board.
These kind of stories just enrage me.
Why? Because they already had a vehicle. Why involve anybody else unless you absolutely had to?
Also, around 5-1/2 hours seems about the right amount of time to me for a single guy to dispose of evidence. If you had 2 or 3 guys, it would go a lot quicker.
Anyway, I kept hearing about this little girl on the radio, and thought I would look for info online. The more I read, the more I felt like this is a case that most likely isn’t going to have any happy ending.
She looks a lot like I imagined her...
I'm betting he borrowed that car to dispose of the body.
Probably not, unfortunately. But who could blame the kid if she DID just decide to up and leave this sorry excuse for a home?
Not only that, but it was 1 1/2 hours after he was dropped off back home. Plenty of time to do the deed and clean up as best as possible.
Notice that the mother gave him the keys then went into the house. Where was the body? Was she still there when he came back at 7? Supposedly, then she took her car home. She noticed nothing wrong during that time? Strange.
What if the girl wasn’t already killed by then? Where was she? How did he get her in the car? (This, of course, presumes the step-father’s guilt.) There are a lot of unanswered questions.
Remember Danielle Van Dam????
This story reads exactly like hers.
Wonder if they will find a convenient ‘neighbor’ to blame this on???
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.