Rowan Ford was a star student whose smile and work ethic won the hearts of her teachers. She loved riding her purple bicycle and her bedroom was Barbie pink.

Christopher Collings, 49, was declared dead nine minutes after he was injected with a single dose of pentobarbital

The man convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling 9-year-old Rowan Ford from southwest Missouri will be put to death tonight. Christopher Collings’ fate was sealed yesterday when the US Supreme Court denied an appeal and Missouri Governor Mike Parson denied a clemency request.

Collings, a father of two now-grown daughters, was convicted of killing Rowan Ford on Nov. 3, 2007, in the small southwest Missouri town of Stella.

Missouri carried out its fourth execution this year on Tuesday night. The man condemned to death was convicted in a 9-year-old girl's 2007 murder.

The sexual assault and murder of Rowan Ford in 2007 rocked the southwestern town of Stella, Missouri. On Tuesday, the man convicted of the crimes against the 9-year-old girl was executed.

The State of Missouri executed death row inmate Christopher Collings by lethal injection Tuesday evening for the 2007 abduction, rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl.

A man convicted of first-degree murder and sexual abuse of a nine-year-old girl has died in prison, according to a spokesperson from the Southeast Correctional Center in Missouri.