WARNING: Don’t Click This If You’re Watching Alone! True Crime Documentary

“I wanted to, but my heart wouldn’t let me. I didn’t want to go over there and look at those two guys.”

November the 9th, 2007, Missouri. A search for a missing child had been going on for the last few days. A 9-year-old girl had gone missing from her bedroom on the 3rd of November, and the small community of Stella where she had vanished from was frantic with worry. All leads were going nowhere and nobody knew where she was or what had happened. That was until a tip came in. The officers were told to head over to Fox Cave in McDonald County. Fox Cave was described as being more of a sinkhole than a cave; it was roughly 30 ft away from the road and in a densely wooded area. Deputies Mike Hall and Jake Bass headed over to conduct a search, and 20 ft below ground, they found something on a ledge: a child’s body.

Stella, Missouri, had a population of less than 200 people. One of those who called it home was Rowan Ford. 9-year-old Rowan was born on the 11th of April 1998. She was in the fourth grade and was hardworking and happy. She loved to read and draw and would spend time outside on her bike. She also loved going to church and would often get up early to help the pastor set up; she’d always be sitting, smiling, on the steps when he arrived. She went to Sunday school and was also part of the Angel Food Ministries. She adored Barbie and her pink bedroom reflected that love too. But it wasn’t always easy for Rowan; she often had lice, her hair would be matted, and she sometimes went to school without socks, despite the freezing temperatures of Missouri’s winters. In spite of this, she was an extremely hardworking student whom teachers loved having in their class. She always tried her best, even with subjects she found challenging, like mathematics, for example. One teacher said she was just a little ray of sunshine, just the sweetest girl you would ever meet.

Rowan was the youngest of five children. She was shy and would sometimes hide behind her older sister, but when she opened up, it’s like the whole room lit up. Her sister said:

“Rowan, she was something very special. There was nobody that did not like her.”

She lived with her mother, 44-year-old Colleen, and her stepfather, David Spears, who was 25 years old. David was not only a stepfather but a father too; in 2005, he had been ordered to pay $209 in child support, but it was unclear if he saw his child. Colleen worked at Walmart, and when she arrived home, Rowan would always be waiting to greet her, running out into the driveway to find out how her shift had gone. But on the 3rd of November 2007, Rowan wasn’t there. Colleen headed inside; perhaps Rowan was in her bedroom absorbed in a book, which she often was, but she wasn’t there either. She wasn’t inside the property. She asked her husband, David, who had been asleep on the sofa, where she was. He said she was at a friend’s house. He didn’t know which friend, though. Colleen wanted to notify the police immediately, but David insisted she was at a friend’s house. As Colleen sat with David for a few hours and waited for a phone call—someone telling her that she was there—the silence was deafening. The call wasn’t coming. They then started searching the local area, but she was nowhere to be found.

Rowan was officially reported as a missing person at 6:50 p.m. An Amber Alert was issued and an enormous search was quickly underway, with many in Stella coming out to help. The community turned out in their droves to look for her. Whenever a child goes missing, every second counts, and time was ticking if they were going to find Rowan. The first thing they needed to do was understand where she was the previous night, who she had been with, and crucially, who had been the last person or persons to see her. Her mother had been working the overnight shift at Walmart, so Rowan had been in the care of her stepfather, David. David told the investigators that he had gone out with his friends Christopher and Nathan on the night of November the 2nd. He had left her there on her own as she was sleeping on her bedroom floor. He said that he had got home at around midnight but didn’t check on Rowan. But this story would later change. He told investigators he had actually gone out for a second time at around 1:30 a.m. He had called his mom and asked if he could borrow her sport utility vehicle. His mom said that she watched television while she waited for him to get back. She didn’t check on Rowan for the authorities. One thing wasn’t sitting right. David was not being cooperative in explaining where he had been that night and why he had been gone for hours. He said it was wrong of him to leave her alone and that he had initially not told investigators this as he was worried that they would think he was involved.

“He didn’t report her missing until 8 or 10 hours after she was gone, which we thought was extremely strange,” said Newton County Sheriff Chris Jennings. “His story changed several times. We caught him in several lies.”

To get a better picture of what had happened, they needed to talk to Nathan and Christopher to see if their stories matched. The investigator spoke to Nathan and he said the three of them—him, Christopher, and David—had met at a farm where they were working that night. They had headed over to a liquor store and then went home to play pool. Colleen had gone to work at around 8:30 p.m., and as the evening carried on, Christopher asked Nathan to drive him home, and David went with them, leaving Rowan alone at the property. When they got to Christopher’s trailer, they continued to drink as they had bought more alcohol on the way there, and they also smoked marijuana. Around an hour later, Nathan and David left to head home, and Nathan took the back roads instead of going on the highway; he didn’t want to be stopped by the police and be caught driving under the influence. Nathan dropped David and then was back home by midnight.

On the 4th of November, the following day, David’s friend, Christopher Collings, whom he had been with on the night Rowan was last seen, spoke to deputies and told them the same thing that Nathan had, but he left out the part about them smoking marijuana. He said he had remained in his trailer and went to sleep; he hadn’t spoken to David and he had no idea that Rowan was missing. The following day, the FBI came on board to help with the investigation, and the community of Stella carried on looking for her. Dozens of officers from three separate counties worked alongside 50 specialists, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, and FBI agents in the search for her. While deputies continued talking to David, technicians from the FBI seized his vehicle and his mother’s vehicle, as he had borrowed it from her that night. At the same time, deputies from Newton County went to Christopher’s work and asked if he could answer some more questions. He agreed and drove to the sheriff’s office. He also agreed to do a polygraph test and a Computer Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA), a system that analyzes one’s voice in an attempt to ascertain as to whether or not they are being truthful. He maintained he didn’t know anything about where Rowan was.

“For Rowan,” he also said, “there would never be complete justice for her. I’d like to have seen more done, and some of the rest of the prosecution, but this is how it came out. It’s been a long time coming. I’m glad to finally see the date set.”

December 3rd, 2024, the day of Christopher’s execution had arrived. At 5:54, the execution witnesses were moved into place; these included four members of his legal team, four members of the media, eight witnesses from the state, and two representatives for Rowan’s family. At 6 p.m., the Missouri Attorney General, Andrew Bailey, let the Department of Corrections know that there were no legal challenges to carrying out the execution. 9 minutes later, 49-year-old Christopher Collings was declared dead. Christopher had given a written statement to be read out after his execution:

“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 you are able to get closure and move on. Regardless which side of this situation that you are on, you are in my prayers and I hope to see you in heaven one day.”

Following the execution of Christopher Collings, Sheriff Jennings said that he felt that the system had let Rowan down.

“Unfortunately, you know, there are a lot of hotlines made about her situation, but unfortunately law enforcement was never called. I’d like to think we would have removed her from that situation if we were aware of it. It is some closure, I suppose, to see this case come to an end. There is some justice, it’s only partial justice, but I’ll take what I can get. It’s one of those cases that you never forget.”

Mick Eperly says the case sent shockwaves through southwest Missouri.

“Just terrible, and someone to take a life and throw them down into a… a cave like a piece of dirt… uh, it’s terrible.”

“Do you feel like justice has been served with this?”

“I think… I think it has. She didn’t deserve any of this. It’ll give some satisfaction to the family that maybe he got what he deserved.”

For so many that were involved in this case, it is one that will simply never leave them. Sheriff Jennings said it was a horrendous crime, and in his 44 years, he had worked a lot of homicides and this was the one that had the biggest effect on him.

“I have Rowan’s school ID here; I’ve carried it in my pocket ever since this incident happened. I’ll continue to carry it in my pocket after this.”

He explained that her case had impacted how they investigated crimes against children.

“We work a lot of cases of child abuse and child neglect in Newton County. We always make sure that child safety is of the utmost concern. We hate taking children from homes, but if there’s any question at all, we do it. We always think back on this incident here.”

The impact of Rowan’s murder was still widely felt by her community. One of her teachers, Todd Halt, who had testified at the trial, couldn’t bring himself to clear out her desk for a while after her death.

“She’s the kind of kid that I think every school teacher could want; I mean, she showed up at school and it was all about work, it was all about what Rowan was going to do to be able to get ahead in life.”

Rowan’s best friend was a boy called Tyler. Tyler’s mother would recall how the two of them would be together and Rowan’s shy personality would help keep her energetic son calm.

“It’s the closest thing I’ve known to losing my own child for quite a while. My son couldn’t sleep alone. He still talks about her.”

For her older sister, the memories and love of Rowan remain.

“I am so proud of the girl she was turning out to be. A part of me died when my sister died.”