Convicted murderer of Rowan Ford asks to have sentence tossed out

Now that the clock is ticking on Chris Collings' execution for the November 2007 murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford of Stella, Collings is going for broke.

In a petition for habeas corpus filed June 27 in the Missouri Supreme Court, Collings' attorneys are not only asking to stop the execution but to throw out his sentence.

Collings claims the defense was not told that a chief witness against him, Wheaton Police Chief Clifford Clark, had a checkered background that included "four AWOL convictions for deserting his post during his military service and served time in military prison."

Clark's violations took place four decades before Rowan Ford's murder

In the petition, Collings' attorneys insist that Rowan Ford's stepfather David Spears, not Collings was the real killer and noted that Spears confessed to the crime.

Nine-year-old R.F. lived with her mother, Colleen Munson, and stepfather, David Spears, in Stella, Missouri. State v. Collings, 450 S.W.3d 741, 747 On November 2, 2007, Spears, Christopher Collings, and Nathan Mahurin were drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana together at Spears’s house.

Later in the evening, the three men went to Collings’s trailer and left R.F. home alone. On the way, they stopped at a convenience store and purchased more alcohol. They continued drinking and smoking at Collings’s trailer for about an hour, and then Mahurin and Spears left. Mahurin took back roads to take Spears home and then Mahurin returned to his home. The next morning, Munson returned from her overnight work shift and could not find R. F.

Munson woke Spears and asked him where R.F. was. Spears said R.F. was staying with a friend, but he could not identify the friend; his insistence that R.F. was with a friend caused Munson to delay calling the police.

Later that afternoon, Munson contacted the local sheriff's department to report R.F. missing. Law enforcement began to investigate R.F.’s disappearance. Spears met with investigators on several occasions in the following days. He told an officer he recalled R.F. waking him and asking permission to go to a friend’s house. This information was not true. 

On November 3, 2007, Spears called and left a voicemail for Mahurin. Spears told Mahurin to confirm to law enforcement that Spears left his home with Mahurin to assist Collings with gassing up his vehicle. 

Spears then tried to convince investigators that he only left his residence on the night his stepdaughter disappeared for a few minutes. He said he and Mahurin departed the residence to take gas to Collings as Collings had run out on his drive home. 

However, Munson informed law enforcement that Collings did not have a vehicle at the house that night. Mahurin provided Spears’s voicemail to law enforcement. When law enforcement confronted Spears about the lies, he then admitted Collings did not have a vehicle at his home that night. 

Spears acknowledged he left R.F. at home alone when the three men traveled to Collings’s home. After hearing about R.F.’s disappearance, a childhood friend of Spears, Amber Walters, went to see Spears and check on how he was doing. 

Spears was focused on his relationship with Munson and lamented that the disappearance negatively impacted his marriage. Spears did not express any concern for R.F. Spears offered that he didn’t know where R.F. was located, but if he were going to dispose of a body, he would do it in the Fox Sinkhole.

On November 7, 2007, Spears agreed to ride with Mark Bridges, Newton County Coroner, to search for R.F. Bridges was friendly with Spears and had employed Spears at his car dealership in Neosho, Missouri. 

Investigators believed Spears would be willing to speak openly with Bridges during the ride-along, so they had Bridges wear a recording device. Spears directed Bridges to the Fox Sinkhole despite its remote location. Spears was familiar with the sinkhole and believed that would be an ideal location to hide a body. 

Once there, Spears located the opening, and both Bridges and Spears peered into the cave. Bridges mentioned that he thought he could see something at the bottom of the hole. Id. at 53-58. On November 9, 2007, law enforcement returned to that location and discovered R.F.’s body.

Spears was taken into custody the next day. He then confessed to having raped and murdered R.F. He said he drove to the Collings property and found R.F. and Collings together. Spears admitted he had intercourse with R.F. and then used a string or cord to strangle her to death. He did so after Collings purportedly stated, “It’s gotta be done.” 

Spears loaded R.F. into the back of his mother’s Chevrolet Suburban and drove her to the Fox Sinkhole to dispose of her body. Spears claimed that Collings was with him at the sinkhole. Spears’s confession matched the investigative timeline. 

Mahurin dropped Spears off at his residence near midnight on November 2, 2007. Spears then called his mother to and left his residence shortly after she arrived. Spears left his home in his mother’s Suburban, Spears’s whereabouts were unknown, and he did not return home until just before 7:00 AM on November 3, 2007. Id. at 5888-89. 

Spears’s confession also matched with the cadaver dog evidence. Spears stated R.F.’s body was in the Suburban Spears drove that night. Investigators used a cadaver dog to search various locations thought to be associated with the murder. Only the Suburban had positive identifications. The trained cadaver dog positively identified locations at the driver’s side door as well as in the cargo area of the vehicle. 

On this evidence, law enforcement charged Spears with R.F.’s murder. Spears challenged his confession, but the trial court ruled held that he voluntarily provided a statement to law enforcement. The State later struck a deal with him in which he pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child and hindering a felony prosecution and received consecutive four- and seven-year sentences. State of Missouri v. David Wesley Spears, Pulaski County Circuit Court

At that point, Collings' attorneys said Wheaton Police Chief Clifford Clark began pursuing him with the goal with getting a confession.

While law enforcement naturally focused the bulk of their attention on Spears, law enforcement also repeatedly questioned Collings about his potential involvement because Collings was one of the last people to see R.F. alive. 

Wheaton Police Chief Clinton Clark viewed Collings as a suspect and affirmatively contacted law enforcement handling the investigation seeking to be investigate and pursue a confession from Collings. Supp. 

Chief Clark contacted the FBI and told them about his talk with Collings. The FBI believed if Collings were going to confess or reveal any information, it would be to Chief Clark. Hence, the FBI encouraged Chief Clark to help in the investigation, to which Chief Clark agreed.” 

Afterward, Clark actively pursued questioning of Collings expressly to extract a confession. Clark obtained authorization to make additional approaches to Collings, and Clark did so on several occasions in the week following R.F.’s disappearance. 

Clark then reported back his findings to the FBI. Id. On November 9, 2007, Collings made several statements to Clark. The first was an unrecorded statement made at the Muncie Bridge outside of Wheaton, Missouri. 

According to Clark, while at the Muncie Bridge, Collings confessed to raping and killing R.F. returning to the Wheaton Police Department, Collings gave another statement that was unrecorded.  

Collings later gave two more statements that were videorecorded. Clark testified during the suppression hearing that he and Collings mutually agreed to go to the Muncie Bridge. Clark stated that he provided Collings with a written Miranda waiver prior to taking Collings to the Muncie Bridge for questioning. 

The only evidence the State offered to support Clark’s timing of the Miranda warnings was Clark’s testimony itself. Id. All the other available evidence regarding the timing of the Miranda warnings contradicted Clark’s testimony. Case records reflected the Miranda form was signed at 3:00 PM, after the initial interrogation at the Muncie Bridge. 

Corroborating testimony from two law enforcement officers observed Collings sign the form after he returned from the initial interrogation at the Muncie Bridge. 

Furthermore, this timing was consistent with Chief Clark’s call log indicating that he and Collings arrived back at the station following the Muncie Bridge interrogation at approximately 3:00 PM. 

After Collings was charged, even though Clark knew—from attending Collings’s arraignment and from Collings himself—that Collings was represented by counsel who had advised Collings not to talk about his case, Clark continued “to pose questions and interject personal comments about their relationship in an effort to get Collings to speak.” 

This questioning, which Clark knew was being recorded,went on for approximately 40 minutes, even though “Collings stated unequivocally, at least nine times, that he could not answer any questions regarding the case on the advice of counsel.” 

This Court found Clark’s conduct was an “egregious and blatant violation of Collings’ constitutional rights.