A man found guilty of raping and murdering a 9-year-old girl before dumping her body in a cave is to face death tomorrow.
Christopher Collings had his execution date scheduled for at 6pm on December 3 after spending almost 20 years in jail for the heinous crime.
Collings is due to meet his end at Bonne Terre’s state prison in Missouri after authorities administer a lethal injection. The Supreme Court scheduled the execution date at a hearing in August after almost two decades of legal wrangling over his conviction and sentence.
In 2007 Collings was arrested and charged with raping and killing and killing Rowan Ford, a fourth-grade student who vanished from her home in Stella, Missouri, on Nov. 3, 2007. Her body emerged from a cave after a six-day search, strangled according to police investigations. Her body was found in a cave in woods, she was found to have been raped and strangled.
The day after Ford’s body was found, David Spears, 25 at the time, and Collings, 32 at the time, were arrested and charged with first-degree murder, forcible rape and statutory rape, according to previous News-Leader reporting.
A local paper, the Columbia Missourian, have reported fears he may not have committed the crime. Their report says: “on Nov 9, 2007, Rowan’s stepfather, David Spears, and Collings both confessed to different police departments that they had committed the crimes, according to court records.” In an article from November 19 the Kansas City Star reported that an application for a stay of execution is pending in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Collings’ conviction and sentence have been scrutinized by 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. No court has ever identified any legal errors, according to the Missouri Attorney General’s office.
If Collings’ execution goes through, it will be the fourth in Missouri this year and will leave eight people remaining on death row in the state.
