NEWS

Two years later, family of Hailey Owens still waiting

Harrison Keegan
HKEEGAN@NEWS-LEADER.COM

After two years, the "Hailey's Angels" baseball hat on Jeff Barfield's head is nearly worn out. The bright pink and purple tones have faded.

But the pain has not gone away.

Jeff Barfield and his wife, Stacey, hosted a small press conference Wednesday outside of their home in west Springfield to mark the two-year anniversary of the day their 10-year-old daughter, Hailey Owens, was abducted and killed.

Jeff Barfield told reporters he still thinks about his bright, caring stepdaughter every day.

"I still wear my pink shoelaces," Barfield said. "I have my 'Hailey's Angels' wristband that I always wear. I always have my necklace on. She's always around us.

"People ask, 'How long are you going to wear that?' I don't know. It helps. I can be having a bad day, and I look down at my shoestrings and laugh."

The Barfields say they are doing everything they can to honor their daughter. Part of that means going to Jefferson City occasionally to lobby for the passage of Hailey's Law, a bill that would speed up the Amber Alert system.

"The way we keep her memory alive is continually trying to do things to help protect the other children," Jeff Barfield said. "She thought of others first, so that is what we are trying to do."

Hailey, a fourth-grader at Westport Elementary, was abducted just before 5 p.m. on Feb. 18, 2014, when she was walking in the 3200 block of West Lombard Street, according to police.

Witnesses reported that a man in a truck drove by and snatched the girl before speeding away.

Hours later, police say they found Hailey's body in the basement of a Springfield home.

Jeff and Stacey Barfield say they don't remember much about that day, or the following six months.

"It is still mostly a blur," Jeff Barfield said. "Sometimes I find myself going back through the events of the day and trying to see what I have forgotten, what I could have been done differently."

Jeff and Stacey Barfield, parents of Hailey Owens, along with attorney David Ransin, held a press conference on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016 ahead of the 2nd anniversary of the abduction and murder of their daughter.

A few days after Hailey's killing, an estimated 10,000 people attended a candlelight vigil in Springfield.

Craig Wood, 47, has been charged with murder, kidnapping and rape in connection with Hailey's killing. Wood is scheduled to stand trial in late September.

Jeff and Stacey Barfield are in the courtroom for all of Wood's court appearances. They say the waiting has been tough, but they hope the case will be resolved soon and they can continue to move forward.

"I'm not a patient person," Stacey Barfield said. "But in this case, I have to be."