A Missouri man, Christopher Collings, is set to be executed on Tuesday evening for the 2007 murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford. Collings, 49, is scheduled to receive a single injection of the sedative pentobarbital at 6 p.m. CST for sexually assaulting and strangling the young girl.
The tragic incident took place in the small town of Stella, Missouri, where Rowan was assaulted and strangled with a length of rope on November 3, 2007. Her body was later discovered in a sinkhole outside of town, six days after the heinous crime.
Despite appeals and a clemency request, Collings' fate was sealed when the U.S. Supreme Court denied his appeal and Governor Mike Parson declined to grant clemency. Governor Parson, a former sheriff, has overseen numerous executions and has never granted clemency in the past.
This execution would mark the 23rd in the U.S. this year and the fourth in Missouri. Collings was a friend of Rowan's stepfather and had been living with the family at the time of the murder. He confessed to authorities that he assaulted Rowan after consuming alcohol and marijuana with the stepfather and another individual.
Collings admitted to taking Rowan to his camper, where the assault took place. In a panic, he strangled her with a rope when she recognized him in the moonlight. The tragic event unfolded when Rowan's mother, Colleen Spears, returned home and discovered her daughter missing, prompting a search that led to Collings as a suspect.
Despite implicating himself in the crime, David Spears, Rowan's stepfather, was allowed to plead to lesser charges and served a prison sentence before being released. Collings' clemency petition highlighted his troubled childhood and brain abnormality as factors contributing to his actions.
The petition and Supreme Court appeal also raised concerns about the reliability of a key law enforcement witness in Collings' trial, citing the witness's criminal history and its impact on due process.
