A Missouri inmate was executed Tuesday for the 2007 rape and homicide of a 9-year-old lady who knew him as “Uncle Chris” — with the killer telling observers he hopes to see them “in heaven in the future.”
Christopher Collings, 49, was declared lifeless 9 minutes after he was injected with a single dose of pentobarbital inside a state jail in Bonne Terre — marking the twenty third execution within the US this yr.
The daddy of two was discovered responsible of the homicide of little Rowan Ford, who was sexually assaulted, strangled and dumped in a sinkhole in a small Missouri city.
“Proper or fallacious I settle for this case for what it’s,” Collings mentioned in a written ultimate assertion.
“To anybody that I’ve harm on this life I’m sorry. I hope that you’ll be able to get closure and transfer on.
“I hope to see you in heaven in the future,” he added.
His final meal was a bacon cheeseburger, breaded mushrooms, tater tots and a chef salad, the Kansas Metropolis Star reported.
Collings was buddies with Rowan’s stepfather, David Spears, and lived in the identical residence as the 2 and Rowan’s mom, Colleen Munson, for a number of months in 2007.
One night time after heavy ingesting and smoking marijuana with Spears and one other man, Collings scooped up the kid from his mattress as she slept and took her to his camper, per court docket data.
He raped her after which after she noticed Collings’ face as he carried her again residence, he confessed he “freaked out” and strangled her with a wire.
He then put her physique in a sinkhole and burned the wire he used, the garments he had on and a blood-stained mattress, in keeping with prosecutors.
When mom Munson bought residence from work the morning of Nov. 3, she was informed by Spears Rowan was at a pal’s residence. When she by no means got here residence, police launched a large seek for her.
Spears additionally implicated himself within the crime, claiming Collings gave him a twine and that he killed Rowan, in keeping with court docket docs cited in a clemency petition for Collings.
Spears ended up pleading to lesser fees and served greater than seven years in jail.
Final-ditch appeals on behalf of Collings to Missouri Gov. Mike Parson and the US Supreme Courtroom failed.
“Mr. Collings has obtained each safety afforded by the Missouri and United States Constitutions, and Mr. Collings’ conviction and sentence stay for his horrendous and callous crime,” Parson mentioned in an announcement.
Rowan was remembered as a cheerful pupil who liked Barbie and painted her room pink, in keeping with academics who testified at her trial.
“I’m so pleased with the lady that she was turning out to be,” her older sister, Ariane Macks, informed USA As we speak.
“Part of me died when my sister died. I did lose my ray of sunshine … She was very shy however when she opened up, it’s like the entire room lit up. Rowan, she was one thing very particular.”
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