Football coach charged in 10-year-old Missouri girl’s death as neighbours watch in horror
ST. LOUIS – Neighbours watched in horror as a 10-year-old southwest Missouri girl was snatched off the street just blocks from her home.
Now authorities in Springfield believe they’ve found the girl’s body, and prosecutors have charged a local seventh-grade football coach with first-degree murder, kidnapping and armed criminal action.
In filing the charges Wednesday, prosecutors allege that 45-year-old Craig Michael Wood abducted Hailey Owens on Tuesday as she walked home from a friend’s house.
A probable cause statement says the fourth-grader’s body was found stuffed in two trash bags inside plastic storage containers in the basement of Wood’s home. Prosecutors say she was shot in the head.
Wood also worked as a teacher’s aide at a Springfield Middle School. Police say he and Hailey apparently didn’t know each other.
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