Craig Wood, [left], abducted Hailey Owens [right] off the street in front of witnesses who called cops. Three hours he’d already shot her after sexually assaulting the 10-year-old
Craig Owens, 49, of Springfield, Missouri, was sentenced on Thursday, a month after being convicted of murdering Hailey Owens in a shocking case of extreme pedophilia that happened four years ago.
The fourth-grader was walking home from school in Springfield in February 2014 when Wood a veteran middle school employee who worked at a different school, pulled over by the side of the road and beckoned her to his car.
Horrified residents who witnessed Wood open his car door and snatched the child, then speed off tried unsuccessfully to thwart the grab. They copied his car tags and called police.
Craig Wood, was sentenced to death on Thursday for the 2014 murder of Hailey Owens.
The next day, when police went to his home after tracing his registration plate, they found Hailey’s body wrapped in plastic and placed in a tub in his basement. She has been shot in the back of the head. The autopsy examination later established that she had been sexually assaulted.
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Evil Missouri teacher guilty of abducting, raping and killing 10-year-old Hailey Owens! Craig Wood may face death penalty
During the trial, prosecutors told how Wood was an impulsive pedophile who kept handwritten stories of sexual fantasies which included children in his basement.
Hailey Owen, 10, was walking home from school when she was snatched by Wood in the street. He beckoned her to his car to ask for directions then grabbed her when she was close enough
Hailey’s body was found in a plastic bin, wrapped in plastic in the basement of Craig Wood’s Springfield, Missouri home the day after she was abducted
Wood’s defense team tried to ask for a new trial and argued that the death penalty was unconstitutional.
Their only defense was that the crime was not premeditated.
10-year-old Hailey Owen was abducted, sexually assaulted and shot in the back of the head by a local teacher, Craig Wood in Springfield Mo., four years ago
They also heard from Carlos and Michelle Edwards, the residents who saw the kidnapping take place.
Carlos Edwards was raking leaves in his yard when he saw Wood snatch the girl. He sprinted after his car but could not catch up with them in time.
He then went door-to-door, telling neighbors about what he had seen and describing Hailey while his wife called 911.
When police searched Wood’s home, they noticed a strong smell of bleach in his basement near where Hailey’s body was found.
They also found his clothes at a laundromat near to his home.
Wood, pictured at trial in Springfield, Mo., in 2014 , was convicted in November. His attorneys said he was an impulsive pedophile who had not planned the murder and was acting on suppressed sexual urges.
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