Mo. man executed for raping, strangling 9-year-old with chicken wire and leaving body in sinkhole

BONNE TERRE, Mo. (TCN) -- A 49-year-old man died by lethal injection Tuesday night after he spent years on death row for kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and killing a 9-year-old girl in 2007.

The Associated Press reports Christopher Collings was administered pentobarbital on Tuesday, Dec. 3, and died nine minutes later. He was sentenced to death in 2012 for the first-degree murder of Rowan Ford.

Collings' lethal injection marked the fourth execution for the state this year. On Dec. 2, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson denied Collings' plea for clemency and confirmed the death sentence would go on as planned. Parson called Collings' actions "abhorrent" and noted there "is not and never has been any doubt about Collings' involvement or the heinousness of his crime."

According to court documents, Collings lived with Ford’s mother, Colleen Munson, and stepfather, David Spears, in Stella, Missouri, during the summer and fall of 2007. Collings and Spears were close friends, and Ford even referred to Collings as "Uncle Chris."

On Nov. 2, 2007, Collings, Spears, and their friend Nathan Mahurin went to Spears' house to drink. Munson left for work that evening at around 8:30 p.m. and told Spears to watch Ford. The men drank throughout the evening until Mahurin and Spears drove Collings home, leaving Ford alone. The three men smoked marijuana and kept consuming alcohol in Collings' trailer. Mahurin drove Spears home, then drove himself back to his residence.

Munson returned home at around 9 a.m. on Nov. 3 and could not find her daughter anywhere. She eventually reported Ford missing that afternoon, and the three men became persons of interests. Collings spoke with investigators, who "described Collings as cooperative, concerned, and polite." He even asked Munson to join the search for the girl. Collings spoke with a police chief who he was good friends with, but the chief said Collings did not seem like his "normal self." The police chief, Clinton Clark, worked with the FBI and encouraged Collings to continue to cooperate.

During one conversation with Clark, Collings "began to cry and stated he always loved Rowan and would not have done anything to hurt her."

Investigators discovered Ford’s body on Nov. 9, 2007, at the bottom of a sinkhole in a wooded area. The little girl was nude from the waist down and had a ligature mark around her neck and other trauma.

Collings confided in Clark and admitted that he drove back to Ford’s house after Spears and Mahurin left. He kidnapped her, put her in his pickup truck, and brought her back to his trailer, where he sexually assaulted her. Collings said he "did not speak to Rowan so she would not recognize his voice and kept the lights off so that she would not see him."

He took Ford outside to bring her back home, but she saw Collings and "freaked out." Collings grabbed chicken wire from a nearby truck and strangled her with it until she died. Collings knew he "was in a lot of trouble," so he went to the sinkhole and threw Ford’s body into it. He "tried to pull some branches and limbs over to cover the entrance to the sinkhole, but it was too big and the debris fell inside."

Collings burned Ford’s clothing and his mattress when he returned home. Chief Clark drove him to a nearby police station, where he was arrested and charged with murder and rape.

Collings appealed his 2012 conviction and sentencing, but the appellate court affirmed the verdict. He took it to the Missouri Supreme Court, which agreed with the lower court’s ruling.

According to USA Today, a jury found Spears guilty of child endangerment and hindering prosecution.

Collings wrote in his final statement, "Right or wrong, I accept this situation for what it is. To anyone that I have hurt in this life, I am sorry. I hope that you are able to get closure and move on, regardless of which side of the situation that you are on. You are in my prayers and I hope to see you in heaven one day."

Collings’ attorneys said he was "taken too early from this Earth," adding, "We share Chris' desire that that his death will provide a measure of closure for the victim’s family and that the people hurt by him will be able to carry on. What occurred today, though, was an act of vengeance, but will not define Chris, nor will it be how we remember him."

Parson said in his statement confirming the execution, "Mr. Collings has received every protection afforded by the Missouri and United States constitutions, and Mr. Collings’ conviction and sentence remain for his horrendous and callous crime."

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