Murder, Rape Charges in Mo. Girl's Death

Nov. 10, 2007 — -- Prosecutors in Missouri filed rape and murder charges against two suspects in the disappearance and death of a 9-year-old girl -- including the child's stepfather.

Authorities in Barry County, Mo., charged Rowan Ford's stepfather, David Spears, 24, and his 32-year-old friend Chris Collings each with a single county of first-degree murder, forcible rape and statutory rape.

An affidavit alleges that both men raped the girl and one of the two strangled her with a cord.

Both were arrested Friday, the same day the body of Rowan Ford was found by a sheriff's deputy in a cave about 10 miles from her Stella, Mo., home. She had been missing for a week.

Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland told ABC News earlier in the week that Ford was last seen by David Spears, who told authorities that he saw the girl at 10:45 p.m. the previous Friday.

Spears then left the house with two friends until around midnight, during which time the fourth-grade girl was left alone in their unlocked Stella, Mo., home. Spears told investigators that he did not check on the girl before going to bed.

Investigators also learned -- and Spears acknowledged -- that he'd left the house for a second time early Saturday morning and was not there between 1:30 a.m. and about 7 a.m. During that time, Copeland said, Spears' mother was at the house while her son used her car. The woman told investigators that she did not check on her stepgranddaughter while her son was away from the house.

Where Spears was for more than five hours remains unknown. "We don't know," Copeland said. "We know where he said he went."

Spears has publicly maintained his innocence, but told ABC News' affiliate KSPR Thursday night that he had been brought into the Newton County sheriff's office for additional questioning.