Murder charges are dropped against a suspected child killer in southwest Missouri after the defendant takes a plea deal. David Spears is headed to prison but not for the 2007 rape and strangulation death of his stepdaughter, Rowan Ford. The disappearance of the nine-year-old Stella, Missouri girl sparked a massive week-long search in November 2007 before her body was found hidden in a cave in McDonald County. Last May Spears' friend, Christopher Collings was sentenced to death in a Phelps County Courtroom.
David Spears was also facing murder and two rape charges. Today in a Pulaski County Courtroom Spears took a plea deal dropping those charges and instead pleading guilty to lesser charges of endangering the welfare of a child and hindering the prosecution of the case. The prosecuting attorney Johnnie Cox says the physical evidence did not support the previous charges. Spears received 7 years for the endangerment charge and 4 years for the second charge. They will run consecutively.
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