Missouri woman acquitted of killing daughter to be free soon

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri woman who was acquitted of killing her daughter but convicted of abandoning the girl’s corpse will soon be freed from prison. Rebecca Ruud was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison. But she will be given credit for the five years she has been in prison, so she will be free as soon as authorities can process her release. Ruud was acquitted in July in the death of 16-year-old Savannah Leckie, whose body was found in a burn pile on Ruud’s property in 2017. Her attorneys said during her trial that the girl died by suicide and Ruud panicked and burned her body. Murder charges filed against Ruud’s husband, Robert Peat Jr., were dismissed Thursday.