XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: robertw@live.com   
      
   Missouri police have charged a middle-school football coach with   
   first-degree murder in the abduction and death of a 10-year-old   
   girl in southwest Missouri.   
      
   Earlier Wednesday police investigating the disappearance of   
   Hailey Owens said they had found the body of an unidentified 10-   
   year-old.   
      
   Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson filed criminal   
   charges late Wednesday afternoon against 45-year-old Craig   
   Michael Wood of Springfield.   
      
   Wood is charged with grabbing fourth-grader Owens off a   
   neighborhood street on Tuesday afternoon, just blocks from her   
   home.   
      
   Springfield police said they suspect Wood forced Owens into his   
   vehicle as she was walking home around 5 p.m. Tuesday. Wood, an   
   athletics coach at Pleasant View K-8 School, is jailed on   
   suspicion of first-degree murder in the girl's disappearance.   
      
   Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams announced Wednesday that   
   "a young female body" was found inside the suspect's home.   
      
   "While she has not been positively identified, we have a high   
   degree of confidence that it is our victim, Hailey Owens,"   
   Williams told reporters, adding that a cause of death has not   
   yet been determined.   
      
   Wood, whom Williams described as uncooperative, has a criminal   
   record of drug charges. Williams noted that Wood has no known   
   violent past, saying, "Nothing related to something like this at   
   all."   
      
   "It's tragic, it's horrific," Williams said. "It can happen to   
   anyone, anywhere, in a blink of any eye."   
      
   Witnesses told police that Hailey was taken by a man in a pickup   
   truck Tuesday evening. The abduction triggered Amber Alerts in   
   Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.   
      
   Wood works as an athletics coach at Pleasant View K-8 School,   
   Springfield Public Schools Superintendent Norm Ridder said in a   
   statement Wednesday. Wood has been employed by the school   
   district since 1998. His employment has been suspended, "until   
   this matter is resolved," Ridder said.   
      
   It is not known whether Hailey, a student at Westport Elementary   
   School, knew Wood or had any previous contact with him.   
      
   "I offer my support to Hailey's family and to our SPS   
   community," Ridder said. "Students and staff at three of our   
   schools are coping with this situation. To support these school   
   communities directly impacted by this tragedy, I have assigned   
   additional counseling staff and school police officers to be on   
   hand until further notice.   
      
   "We are fully cooperating with law enforcement officials as   
   their investigation continues," he said.   
      
   Witnesses say a man grabbed Hailey from in front of a neighbor’s   
   home and drove away in a gold 2008 Ford Ranger Tuesday   
   afternoon. The suspect drove down the street several times   
   before approaching Hailey and pulling her into his truck around   
   5 p.m. Tuesday, according to witnesses.   
      
   Dozens of officers conducted an extensive search that continued   
   throughout the night, the Springfield News-Leader reported,   
   citing a police news release.   
      
   Wood was arrested at a home a little more than 5 miles from   
   where Hailey was kidnapped.   
      
   Hailey is 5 foot, 2 inches tall, about 90 pounds, with brown   
   hair and brown eyes. She was wearing jean shorts and purple   
   sandals.   
      
   Hailey's mother, Stacey Owens, told the Springfield News-Leader   
   that the fourth-grader was returning home from visiting a friend   
   when she was abducted a couple of blocks from her home.   
      
   The girl's aunt, Erin Petersen, said she wanted to do anything   
   she could to help find her niece.   
      
   “She’s a very lively, bubbly, sweet little girl. She’s   
   spontaneous, very innocent,” she told the newspaper. “I’m in   
   shock right now. I feel like I need to be productive to find my   
   niece.”   
      
   http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/02/19/search-intensifies-for-   
   missing-missouri-girl-after-kidnapping-suspect-arrested/   
      
       
      
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