'Pornographic' stories admitted into evidence
A federal agent testified Thursday that authorities discovered a folder in Craig Michael Wood's bedroom that included handwritten stories that Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson described as "pornographic." FBI agent Jonathan Tucker said one person in a story was named Hailey.
The evidence presented was enough for Judge Mark Powell to rule there was probable cause to move the case toward trial.
Wood is accused of kidnapping, raping and killing 10-year-old Hailey Owens on Feb. 18. Prosecutors could seek the death penalty.
A preliminary hearing in the case began Thursday with testimony about the alleged abduction from a west Springfield neighborhood and continued with testimony about the search of Wood's home on East Stanford Street.
The folder allegedly found in Wood's bedroom also contained two documents that included photos and student schedules from Pleasant View Middle School, where Wood worked as an athletics coach and aide.
Wood's attorney, Patrick Berrigan, objected to the stories being admitted because he said there was no proof Wood wrote them.
Patterson cited case law in which a court admitted evidence of incestuous writings in an incest case.
Berrigan argued those were from a child sex case.
"This is a child sex case," Patterson said.
After the stories were admitted as evidence, Patterson said they described raping and sodomizing a 13-year-old.
Tucker told the court the FBI can be called in to a local case if the victim involves a child "of a tender age."
Woman who made 911 call testifies
Family members of Hailey Owens were front and center in the courtroom as evidence was presented.
Hailey's mother, Stacey Barfield, sat in the middle of the front row bench as the hearing began with testimony about the initial call to 911 after the girl's alleged abduction.
The call, played in court, was among the first pieces of evidence submitted by Chief Assistant Prosecutor Todd Myers.
Police say Wood snatched Hailey from a residential street in west Springfield. Authorities say her body was found hours later in garbage bags in Wood's basement, which smelled of bleach.
Neighbor Michelle Edwards testified she saw the girl walking along West Lombard Street when Wood, driving a "tannish-gold Ford Ranger," stopped and grabbed her.
"It sounded like he asked her where Springfield Street was," said Edwards, who was sitting in her open garage when the incident occurred. "He said, 'Hey, come here a minute' ... (then) he lunged out of his truck ... then grabbed her and threw her in the passenger side of his truck and then took off."
Edwards, who sounded distraught on the 911 recording, pleaded with the operator to "please help her (Hailey)." Edwards testified she did not know the girl but later recalled seeing her walking in the neighborhood.
Edwards told the operator the license plate number of the truck — 1YF-454 — which authorities later traced to Wood's parents in Ash Grove, then to Wood.
She identified Wood in court. Under questioning from Wood's attorney, Berrigan, the witness said police never had her look at a lineup or otherwise try to identify Wood as the suspect. She said the first time she saw his picture was in news reports after he was arrested.
Wood was arrested at his home at 1538 E. Stanford St. a few hours after Hailey was reportedly kidnapped.
Wood had "startled look," officer says
Springfield police Sgt. Steve Schwind testified after Edwards. He said he and two other investigators went to the Stanford Street home about 8 p.m. in search of Wood and the gold truck. The driveway was empty when they arrived, so they parked down the street to wait.
When Wood pulled into the driveway, they pulled up behind him. Schwind said Wood "had a startled look on his face" when they identified themselves as police. The sergeant said Wood was carrying his truck keys in one hand and a roll of duct tape in the other.
"He said 'Hello' ... (and) tossed the roll of duct tape into the bed of the truck," Schwind said. "He was breathing heavy, breathing hard ... his hands were visibly shaking."
Schwind said he asked Wood if he any weapons, and he said no. Under questioning by Berrigan, the defense attorney, Schwind said another detective asked Wood if he knew why police were there and Wood "nodded his head up and down."
In response to another question from Berrigan, Schwind said Wood did not have any visible injuries other than "a cut or some sort of red mark on his lip," possibly a "fever blister or some sort of dried blood."
When officers took Wood to the police station, Sgt. Allen Neal called other officers to the scene and, just before 9 p.m., conducted a "safety sweep" of the home, in which officers check quickly for a person in danger.
Neal testified the back door was "wide open" and that he could smell bleach before he entered the house. Once inside the house, the smell got stronger and led officers to the basement, he said.
He said the stairs leading to the basement, as well as the floor and walls, were wet. He said he observed bottles of bleach, a wet-dry vacuum, a hose and floor drain.
Also in the basement were three blue storage containers, but it wasn't yet known by police that Hailey's body was inside a container. That didn't come until after 2 a.m., when officers executed a search warrant and could do a more thorough search.
Once investigators checked the containers, they found Hailey's body inside, in two garbage bags.
Police radio traffic, 911 calls recorded
Berrigan asked several questions about police radio traffic and what was and was not recorded the night Wood was arrested. Sgt. Schwind said he and an investigator he was riding with did not call dispatchers right away when they pulled up to confront Wood.
An earlier witness, Springfield-Greene County 911 operations manager Rick Chrismas, testified that police radio traffic, and 911 calls, are recorded and should be available to review.
Barfield and Hailey's biological father, Markus Owens, have also filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Wood.
Wood filed a motion in the civil case last month to have it moved out of Greene County.
In the motion, he wrote that "the inhabitants of Greene County are prejudiced against defendant" and that Hailey's parents "have an undue influence over the inhabitants of Greene County given the media coverage of these allegations, and the sympathy, passion and prejudice it has evoked."
The parents' attorney, David Ransin, filed an objection to moving the trial, saying Wood "has given no valid reason why ... the citizens of Greene County would not be just as capable of listening to the testimony and evidence at trial before reaching their own findings of fact, nor has he shown why such jurors from Greene County would be any less able to follow the law and the court's instructions than jurors from any other nearby county."
Timeline
Feb. 18 — Hailey Owens is abducted from her neighborhood. Police say she was killed later that evening, and Craig Wood was arrested at his home.
Feb. 19 — After obtaining a search warrant, investigators discover Hailey's body in a container in Wood's basement, which smelled of bleach, according to police. Later that day, Wood is charged with murder and other crimes.
Feb. 21 — Search warrant documents reveal police say they found child pornography, multiple guns and notebooks filled with "stories" in Wood's home.
Feb. 22 — About 10,000 people take part in a candlelight vigil and march in remembrance of Hailey.
March 14 — Special public defenders who specialize in death-penalty cases are assigned to Wood's case. The same day, Hailey's mother and biological father, Stacey Barfield and Markus Owens, file a wrongful-death lawsuit against Wood.
March 26 — Wood appears in court in person for the first time, for a motion hearing. Hailey's parents, Jeff and Stacey Barfield, are also in attendance.
April 21 — Charges of rape and sodomy are added to Wood's case.
May 22 — A preliminary hearing, in which the prosecution presents evidence for the first time, results in Wood's case being moved to trial court on all charges.
June 20 — Wood is scheduled to be arraigned in trial court on this date.