Investigators: Stepfather admitted raping and murdering 9-year-old Missouri girl

JOPLIN, Mo. -- The stepfather charged along with another man in the rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford admitted to the crimes in his statement to investigators, according to court filings.

Barry County Prosecutor Johnnie Cox declined Monday to call the statement a confession, saying that the term can be vague and misleading.

But a probable-cause statement from investigators that was filed by Cox with the charges Saturday alleged that David Spears admitted to taking part in the crimes.

Spears, 25, and his friend Chris Collings, 32, are charged with one count each of first-degree murder, forcible rape and statutory rape.

They are due to have a first court appearance sometime today in the Barry County seat of Cassville, Cox said.

Neither man apparently has a lawyer yet, Barry County Sheriff Mick Epperly said. Spears' mother said Saturday she expects her son to ask for a public defender. She could not be immediately be reached Monday.

Spears' mother said Saturday her son had told her from jail that he took part in the crime, although she was unclear on the details. Collings' brother, Greg Horton, said Saturday that he could not believe his brother was involved.

Funeral services for Rowan will be held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Gospel Lighthouse Church in Neosho, Mo., with hundreds of mourners expected after a weeklong search for the girl ended with the discovery of her body in a cave Friday.

Epperly has said Spears was arrested Friday after Collings turned himself in earlier that day and confessed.

Spears was arrested in Newton County and interviewed by authorities there. Collings was arrested in neighboring Barry County, where he lived in a camping trailer where authorities say the rape and murder took place.

The men were interviewed separately.

Newton County chief d eputy Chris Jennings wrote in his probable-cause statement that Spears "stated that on the night of Nov. 2, he participated in the sexual assault of his 9-year-old stepdaughter."

The statement, filed in court, also alleged that Spears said he "wrapped the curtain cord around her neck, choking her."

Spears said both men put the body into the back of a sport utility vehicle borrowed from Spears' mother and drove to the cave in McDonald County, the document said. Spears said Collings put the body in the cave, the statement said.

There are some inconsistencies between the two men's accounts as described in the brief probable-cause statements.

According to the Barry County Sheriff's Department, based on Collings' interview, it was Collings who took Rowan from her home in Stella and drove her back to his camper about 10 miles away in Wheaton.

The statement alleges that Collings strangled the girl with a cord after raping her.

Spears' statement alleges he strangled her and does not make clear who took Rowan from her home.

The Barry County prosecutor declined to comment on those inconsistencies. He said he could refer only to what has been made public in the court filings.

The Barry County and Newton County sheriffs could not immediately be reached Monday due to the Veterans Day holiday.