Missouri Schedules Fourth Execution of the Year for December 3

The Missouri Supreme Court has issued a warrant of execution for Christopher L. Collings, a 49-year-old man convicted of killing a 9-year-old girl in 2012. Collings is scheduled to die by lethal injection on December 3 at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre.

Collings was found guilty of murdering Rowan Ford, whose body was discovered in a cave in McDonald County. Despite appeals at the state and federal level, Collings' sentence has been upheld. His attorney has not commented on the scheduled execution.

Collings is the fourth person to be executed in Missouri this year, following the executions of Brian Dorsey on April 9 and David Hosier on June 11. Marcellus "Khaliifah" Williams is also scheduled to be executed on September 24, although he maintains his innocence and has an evidentiary hearing scheduled for August 21.

There are currently ten people on death row in Missouri, which has increased its pace of executions in recent years. Last year, the state executed four people.