The daughter of Debbie Collier has said that she believes her mother may have taken her own life.
Speaking to the “Crime on the Record” podcast, Amanda Bearden said that she wished she had checked in with her mother before her body was found on 11 September in a wooded area on the side of a state road in Clarkesville, Georgia. Ms Bearden and her stepfather had reported Collier missing the day before.
The mysterious circumstances surrounding the 59-year-old woman’s death, CCTV that showed her purchasing items later found next to her partially burned remains and a $2,385 Venmo transfer she made to her daughter with the note, “They are not going to let me go, love you ...” have caused speculation around the case.
After initially hinting at a criminal investigation, the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office backtracked last month and revealed that investigators were considering whether Collier could have died as a result of suicide or an accident. The Independent has reached out to the department for updates on the case.
On Thursday, Ms Bearden said in a live stream of the true-crime podcast that her mother “was dealing with stuff that she didn’t want to burden me with,” and that Collier had started “giving [Ms Bearden] all of her things” and “had taken the whole week off.”
Ms Bearden stressed that her mother was the “toughest woman she knew,” and that perhaps some of the things she had said before dying were to protect her daughter.
Responding to speculations that her mother may have staged a crime to leave her life insurance to her family, Ms Bearden said that Collier had no life insurance at the time of her death. She added that she had become a victim of cyberbullying by internet sleuths who have accused her of participating in her mother’s death.
Authorities said Collier was killed sometime between 3.19pm on 10 September, when she left the parking lot of the Family Dollar, and 12.44pm the following day, when her body was found by deputies who saw her car on the side of a road.
In surveillance video of Collier entering a Family Dollar store at 2.55pm that day, she is seen wearing a red shirt and purchasing a rain poncho, a two-roll pack of paper towels, a refillable torch lighter, an OBD Trap and a reusable tote bag — some of the items later found next to her body.
Mr Bearden has alleged that the Habersham County Sheriff has dismissed his concerns that the person shown in the surveillance video at the Family Dollar may not be his mother.
“I have concerns about the appearance of the person in that Family Dollar,” he said. “I have a lot of concerns about if that was my mom in that actual video because that doesn’t actually appear of like her posture.”
“I don’t know why my mom was up there,” Mr Bearden told Alive11. “It doesn’t make sense to me why she was in Clayton. Especially that there is a Dollar General that she frequently visited that was less than a mile from her home [in Athens].”
Investigators initially told The Daily Beast that the incident was believed to be drug-related, but later began exploring the possibility that she died by suicide or in an accident.
In a Facebook post in late October, Mr Bearden said that he had been kept in the shadows during the investigation.
“I have been patiently waiting on my hands for weeks now for any type of information to understand what happened to my mother. My family and I have been forced to navigate moments we could have never expected. To say it’s been surreal is an understatement,” he wrote.
In a statement, Mr Bearden called for Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell’s resignation. He also demanded an apology from the sheriff, saying that he “had demonstrated a distinct lack of empathy” that made him unsettled about the ongoing investigation.
Mr Bearden claimed that he had filed complaints with the GBI and the FBI, the agencies assisting in the case.
“My family deserves better,” Mr Bearden said in the video. “I am coming to you as a son who desperately wants justice and needs answers.”
Law enforcement first said that Collier’s death was “personal and targeted” murder and “not a random act of violence”.
The sheriff’s office said that Collier’s daughter, who first raised the alarm about her mother being missing, had recently moved in with her. Collier’s husband also made a call to 911 saying that he had not seen her since the night before.
She was also reported missing by her sister, Diane Shirley, who mentioned that Collier had been involved in a car incident in August when a can of paint fell from a moving vehicle and struck Collier’s car, Fox News reported.
If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call National Suicide Prevention Helpline on 1-800-273-TALK (8255). The Helpline is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
