*A Note from Rebecca*
We fight to make a difference. People Magazine recognizes that effort. We fly out to receive an award in Los Angeles and in a small town in Missouri it happens again. A child kidnapped, raped and murdered. This time by a family member and his friend. We are fighting and trying to make it stop. And it is still happening. But, I promise we are trying.
God Bless little Rowan Ford and her family.
(AP) -- A law enforcement official says a 9-year-old southwest Missouri girl missing for a week has been found dead.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the body was found Friday in a sinkhole in eastern McDonald County. The source said the body of Rowan Ford was found on private land near Powell, about 10 miles south of her hometown of Stella, Mo.
The Newton County Sheriff's Department is holding a news conference at this hour at the sheriff's office in Neosho.
Rowan was reported missing Saturday after her mother, Colleen Spears, returned home from a night shift at a Wal-Mart in a nearby town and found the girl gone.
Rowan’s stepfather, David Spears, told investigators he last saw the girl asleep in her room around 10:45 p.m. Friday, before he left her alone and went out with friends.
