SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri youth football coach has been ordered to stand trial on charges of kidnapping, raping and murdering a 10-year-old Springfield girl.
KYTV reports a Greene County judge issued the order Thursday following a preliminary hearing for 46-year-old Craig Michael Wood.
Wood is accused of raping and killing Hailey Owens on Feb. 18 after throwing her into his pickup truck while she walked along a street in her neighborhood. Witnesses at Thursday’s hearing included a woman who witnessed the abduction and called 911 with a description of the pickup truck and its plate number.
Law enforcement witnesses described going to Wood’s home and finding Hailey’s body wrapped in trash bags inside a storage bin.
Wood has pleaded not guilty. He remains jailed without bond pending his next court appearance June 30.