Death Penalty

WEST PLAINS, Mo. -- The girlfriend of a man charged with killing a woman in Howell County last fall now also is charged for the same murder. Howell County Sheriff's Department detectives believe Debra Dillard is the one who shot her daughter-in-law, Becki Dillard, instead of Billy Eastep, who was charged last November, although Eastep was with her. Becki Dillard's body was found next to her vehicle on the shoulder of Highway FF near her home in...

CAMDENTON, Mo. -- The Camden County prosecuting attorney formally said Monday that he will seek the death penalty against a man for three murders near Stoutland.  Prosecutor Brian Keedy filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Morris McCabe. McCabe is charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths in December 2010 of Donald Young, Donald Myers and Sally Amos at Myers' home near Stoutland.  Keedy says he is seeking the death penalty in part because McCabe spent 30 years in prison for the death of Larry Baker in Lebanon in 1979.  He had been out of prison for about nine months when the murders near Stoutland occurred.

ROLLA, Mo. -- Twelve jurors recommended Friday evening that Christopher Collings get a death penalty for raping and killing his friend's 9-year-old daughter more than four years ago at Collings' home near Wheaton.  The jurors unanimously found, after 45 minutes of deliberations, that the murder involved two of the 17 possible aggravating circumstances that are necessary under Missouri law to impose a death penalty. The jury found Rowan Ford's death involved torture and that it occurred because the girl was a witness to her own rape and could have identified her rapists to investigators.  Prosecutors and defense attorneys wrapped up their closing arguments around 5:30.  The jury told the judge at 6:15 that it had a verdict and returned to the courtroom shortly afterwards.  The jury convicted Collings of first-degree murder on Tuesday for the death of Rowan Ford of Stella in November 2007.

ROLLA, Mo. -- Now the long appeals process starts.  A circuit judge followed the recommendation of a jury and sentenced Christopher Collings of Washburn to death for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in Barry County more than four years ago. Collings killed Rowan Ford, the stepdaughter of a friend, at Collings' home in November 2007.   Rowan disappeared from her home in Stella in McDonald County.  Her body turned up a week later in...

STOUTLAND, Mo. -- A judge approved a deal offered by prosecutors that lets Morris McCabe avoid the death penalty if he's found guilty of three charges of first-degree murder.  In exchange, McCabe waived his right to a jury trial.  A judge is scheduled to hear the case starting next Monday.  McCabe is accused of shooting Don Young, Sally Amos and Don Meyers at a home near Stoutland in December 2010.

ROLLA, Mo. -- The biological father and some of the siblings of Christopher Collings told jurors about his troubled life on Thursday.   The testimony came in the penalty phase of Collings' murder trial for the rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford in November 2007.  Once testimony, attorneys' arguments and the judge's instructions are done, possibly on Friday, the jury will deliberate on whether to recommend a death penalty or life in...

ROLLA, Mo.  --   After about four hours of deliberations, a Platte County jury found Christopher Collings guilty of first-degree murder for the strangulation of 9-year old Rowan Ford in November 2007.  Collings faces either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility parole. A jury of seven women and five men came back with the verdict shortly after 9 o'clock Tuesday evening.  The jury is sequestered here after being selected in Platte City over a two-week period in late February and early March.

NIXA, Mo.-- Her name has topped headlines for decades.  Jackie Johns of Nixa was loved by so many.  She was raped and murdered in 1985. Her father, Les Johns, has passed away.  He was 85 years old.  Family members tell us he had congestive heart failure.  They say Les would have said he died from being 85-- saying he never lost his sense of humor. Les was able to see his daughter's killer brought to justice. Gerald Carnahan was convicted and sentenced in October 2010 for Jackie's rape and murder.

BOONE COUNTY, Ark. -- An Arkansas man, who pleaded guilty to the shooting death of his girlfriend, was sentenced to life in prison. Investigators say Ernest Chastain, 44, shot Susie Powers, 53, in the chest during a fight in her home last year. Chastain was arrested days later at a motel in Galena, Missouri. Prosecutors say they were seeking the death penalty, before the plea deal was reached.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ar. -- The murder trial of Gary Wayne Parks came to an abrupt - and surprising - end today in Baxter County. Today, Parks accepted a plea agreement from prosecutors, in which he pleaded "no contest" to first-degree murder in the death of Parks' step-father, Dr. David Millstein.  Millstein was found stabbed to death in his home near Mountain Home in 2006.  Parks wasn't arrested until 2009, when he was found living in Memphis, TN....

ST. LOUIS, Mo. -- A St. Louis area lawmaker wants to repeal the death penalty. Gina Walsh says she doubts capital punishment is a deterrent and it's time to end executions in Missouri.  Only two prisoners have been put to death since 2005.  Walsh realizes the  the bill has little chance of passing, but she wants the issue brought before the legislature for discussion this year.

STOUTLAND, Mo. -- A judge approved a deal offered by prosecutors that lets Morris McCabe avoid the death penalty if he's found guilty of three charges of first-degree murder.  In exchange, McCabe waived his right to a jury trial.  A judge is scheduled to hear the case starting next Monday.  McCabe is accused of shooting Don Young, Sally Amos and Don Meyers at a home near Stoutland in December 2010.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the appeal of an Oklahoma death row inmate who killed three people during a crime spree 13 years ago.  The Oklahoma Attorney General's Office says the nation's highest court rejected the appeal of Steven Thacker on Monday. Thacker pleaded guilty in Oklahoma to first-degree murder, kidnapping and first-degree rape for the stabbing death of Laci Hill, 25, of Bixby, Okla., in December 1999.  Thacker received the death penalty after a sentencing hearing before a judge.  He waived his right to a jury trial and then pleaded guilty.

NIXA, Mo.-- Her name has topped headlines for decades.  Jackie Johns of Nixa was loved by so many.  She was raped and murdered in 1985. Her father, Les Johns, has passed away.  He was 85 years old.  Family members tell us he had congestive heart failure.  They say Les would have said he died from being 85-- saying he never lost his sense of humor. Les was able to see his daughter's killer brought to justice. Gerald Carnahan was convicted and sentenced in October 2010 for Jackie's rape and murder.

STELLA, Mo.-- Lawyers for a man convicted in the 2007 violent rape and murder of 9 year old Rowan Ford have filed to appeal his death sentence.   A Platte County jury found Christopher Collings guilty of Ford's death in March and suggested the death penalty.  A judge upheld their decision in May.     Prosecutors say Collings and the girl's stepfather, David Spears, took her from her home, raped her and then strangled her.   Spears will...

ROLLA, Mo. -- Now the long appeals process starts.  A circuit judge followed the recommendation of a jury and sentenced Christopher Collings of Washburn to death for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in Barry County more than four years ago. Collings killed Rowan Ford, the stepdaughter of a friend, at Collings' home in November 2007.   Rowan disappeared from her home in Stella in McDonald County.  Her body turned up a week later in...

ROLLA, Mo. -- Twelve jurors recommended Friday evening that Christopher Collings get a death penalty for raping and killing his friend's 9-year-old daughter more than four years ago at Collings' home near Wheaton.  The jurors unanimously found, after 45 minutes of deliberations, that the murder involved two of the 17 possible aggravating circumstances that are necessary under Missouri law to impose a death penalty. The jury found Rowan Ford's death involved torture and that it occurred because the girl was a witness to her own rape and could have identified her rapists to investigators.  Prosecutors and defense attorneys wrapped up their closing arguments around 5:30.  The jury told the judge at 6:15 that it had a verdict and returned to the courtroom shortly afterwards.  The jury convicted Collings of first-degree murder on Tuesday for the death of Rowan Ford of Stella in November 2007.

ROLLA, Mo. -- The biological father and some of the siblings of Christopher Collings told jurors about his troubled life on Thursday.   The testimony came in the penalty phase of Collings' murder trial for the rape and murder of 9-year-old Rowan Ford in November 2007.  Once testimony, attorneys' arguments and the judge's instructions are done, possibly on Friday, the jury will deliberate on whether to recommend a death penalty or life in...

ROLLA, Mo. - Chris Collings' murder trial took a sad, somber tone on Wednesday.  Witness after witness took the stand and recalled what 9-year-old Rowan Ford meant to him or her.  It was the first day of the penalty phase, in which the jury will try to decide whether to recommend a death penalty or a life prison sentence with no chance of parole.      First up was Rowan's mother, Colleen Munson.  She broke down several times as she...