Man sentenced to death for killing 10 year old Missouri girl

Flag of Missouri (Photo by Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A former middle-school football coach convicted of abducting and killing a 10-year-old Missouri girl has been sentenced to death.

Circuit Judge Thomas Mountjoy sentenced 49-year-old Craig Wood on Thursday for the February 2014 death of Hailey Owens. Woods was convicted of first-degree murder in November but the jury couldn’t decide whether to sentence him to death or life in prison without parole.

Before Wood learned his punishment, Mountjoy denied motions from Wood’s attorneys that sought a new trial and called judge-imposed death sentences unconstitutional.

Wood snatched Hailey off a Springfield, Missouri, street in daylight in front of horrified witnesses. He took her to his home, where he raped her and shot her in the head. Her body was found in his basement.