On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court set an execution date of December 3 for Christopher Collings, who was found guilty of raping and murdering a 9-year-old girl nearly 20 years ago.
Collings is set to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. at the state prison in Bonne Terre.
He was convicted for the death of Rowan Ford, who disappeared from her home in Stella, Missouri, on November 3, 2007, and was later discovered dead in a cave. Authorities reported she had been strangled.
Missouri has executed two men this year—Brian Dorsey on April 9 and David Hosier on June 11. A third execution for Marcellus Williams is planned for September 24.
Williams maintains his innocence, and St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell has requested the sentence be overturned, citing new evidence that DNA from another individual was found on the murder weapon, not Williams’. An evidentiary hearing for Williams is set to begin on August 21.
