ST. LOUIS — A man from Missouri is facing execution this evening for the sexual assault and murder of a 9-year-old girl, whose remains were found in a sinkhole.
Christopher Collings, aged 49, is set to be executed via a lethal injection of pentobarbital at 6 p.m. CST, in connection with the 2007 murder of Rowan Ford, who was in fourth grade at the time.
On November 3, 2007, Ford was assaulted and strangled with a rope in the small community of Stella in southwestern Missouri. Her body was discovered six days later, leading to significant media attention and public outrage.
Collings seemed to be out of options after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his appeal, and Missouri Governor Mike Parson denied a request for clemency. Parson, who previously served as a sheriff, has overseen 12 executions without ever granting clemency.
If carried out, Collings’ execution would mark the 23rd in the United States this year and the fourth in Missouri alone. Other executions in the state occurred on April 9, June 11, and September 24, with only Alabama and Texas conducting more executions in 2024.
Rowan Ford was remembered by her teachers as a diligent and cheerful student who adored Barbie dolls and had her room painted pink. Collings was acquainted with her stepfather, David Spears, and lived with the family for a period in 2007. Rowan referred to him as “Uncle Chris.”
According to court records, Collings admitted to consuming alcohol and using marijuana with Spears and another individual shortly before attacking Rowan. He recounted taking the sleeping child from her bed to his camper, assaulting her, and then plotting to return her home without her realizing who had harmed her. However, when a shaft of moonlight revealed his identity to Rowan, Collings claimed he panicked, retrieved a rope from a truck, and killed her.
After Colleen Spears returned home from work on the morning of the attack, she grew concerned when she couldn’t locate her daughter. Although she initially believed Rowan was with friends, she called the police when the child failed to return home hours later, which initiated a large search operation.
Law enforcement’s attention turned toward Collings, Spears, and a third man, the last known individuals to have been with Rowan. After she was murdered, Collings confessed to disposing of her body in a sinkhole and incinerating the rope used in the crime, along with his blood-stained clothing and mattress.
Court documents reveal that David Spears made incriminating statements regarding his involvement, claiming in transcripts that he participated in Rowan’s choking with a cord. Despite the severity of the situation, Spears was permitted to enter a plea for lesser charges and subsequently served over seven years in prison before being released in 2015.
The clemency petition highlighted Collings’ struggles with a brain abnormality that led to substantial deficits in awareness, judgment, and emotional regulation, suggesting that his troubled past and experiences of abuse contributed to his criminal actions.
Furthermore, both the clemency petition and the appeal to the Supreme Court questioned the reliability of a key witness in Collings’ trial—a police chief who had previously faced multiple AWOL convictions during his military service. Collings’ attorney argued that this failure to disclose pertinent information constituted a violation of his due process rights, asserting that the witness’s credibility was central to the prosecution’s case.
Jeremy Weis, Collings’ attorney, emphasized the critical nature of these concerns, shedding light on the contentious legal and moral issues surrounding this case as the execution date approaches.