Turner Report exclusive: Police question whether Hailey Owens' murder was random

The public's perception of the February 18 murder of 10-year-old Hailey Owens of Springfield is that Pleasant View Middle School Coach Craig Michael Wood, overcome by some sick urge, kidnapped the girl, raped and murdered her and left her body in trash bags in his basement.

A search warrant application unsealed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri indicates police questioned the random nature of Hailey Owens' death from the beginning.

The search warrant application, which was filed three days after the murder, asks for all records pertaining to Wood's cell phone from Feb. 3, 15 days before the murder, through the day of the murder.

According to the application, police wanted to use the cell phone to determine Wood's whereabouts from 3 p.m. each day when he left Pleasant Valley Middle School to 5 p.m. and see if there was any patterns or evidence of stalking activity.

The warrant application was unsealed because the information it includes is needed for discovery purposes.

The reasons for the search warrant, according to the application:

 On or about February 18, 2014, witnesses reported that a white male forcibly abducted H.O., a juvenile, date of birth 08/18/2003, near the address of 3247 West Lombard Street, Springfield, Missouri. Witnesses further reported that the white male subject was driving a Tan/Gold colored Ford Ranger truck with Missouri
license plate lYF 454. Witnesses further reported seeing a vehicle matching this description in the area where the abduction occurred at approximately 3:30 p.m.,which was one hour and 15 minutes prior to the abduction.

Subsequent investigation identified the white male as CRAIG MICHAEL WOOD,residing at 1538 East Stanford Street, Springfield, Missouri. WOOD was encountered by law enforcement at his residence as he arrived there in the above-described Ford Ranger. WOOD's cellular telephone was located in WOOD's truck when it was searched by law enforcement pursuant to a search warrant.

Law enforcement personnel located what appeared to be the body of a small child, later identified as H.O., located inside a plastic container in the basement area of WOOD's residence. A subsequent search of WOOD's residence located printed images of child pornography as well as a laptop computer. The peer-to-peer file sharing program FrostWire was located on the computer. This program is commonly used to trade child pornography.

When interviewed by law enforcement, WOOD advised he departed his place of employment at the Pleasant View Middle School at approximately 3:15 p.m. on February 18th, and drove directly to his residence. WOOD'S residence is located approximately 5 miles from where the abduction occurred.

The foregoing facts confirm that the geographic information sought is relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation in that it will reveal WOOD'S whereabouts on February 18oh and over the preceding two-weeks. In particular, this information will reveal whether he had stalked the area of this abduction or
other areas over that period of time and will develop the pattern of his activitiesduring the period between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. over that period

The Greene County Prosecuting Attorney's office is asking for the death penalty for Wood. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for August 26.
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