93.3 KWTO Keeping Watch Over the Ozarks
A crime that that shook the hearts of the Springfield community happened ten years ago on Sunday.
On February 18th, 2014, 10-year-old Hailey Owens was walking home on the sidewalk near Westport K-8 school on her way home from a friend’s house when she was kidnapped by Craig Wood, who took her to a house on east Stanford Street, where he raped and murdered her.
In an interview with KY3, Springfield Police Major Tad Peters says everyone felt like the feeling of innocence, that this would never happen here, was robbed from our community that day.
Wood was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death in 2018.
Wood’s house was later demolished and turned into a memorial garden for Hailey Owens.