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Columbia Missourian

Ferguson man acquitted of 17-year-old murder still faces rape charge

By The Associated Press
October 8, 2008 | 2:57 p.m. CDT

WINFIELD — A man acquitted of killing a Lincoln County teenager nearly 18 years ago still faces a charge of rape.

A jury on Friday found 46-year-old Michael Dowell of Ferguson not guilty in the killing of 18-year-old Stephanie Hogland.

The teenager disappeared from a Winfield convenience store in January 1991. Her body was found a day later near Elsberry.

Dowell was charged in 2006 after a DNA sample he submitted to a probation officer matched DNA taken from the crime.

Dowell still faces a forcible rape charge in the Hogland case and remains jailed in Lincoln County. No trial date for the rape charge has been set.