Crime Theories

2008:

In 2008,in the case with Amanda Bearden prosecutors dismissed an obstruction charge related to a domestic call to her apartment after she successfully completed a six-month pretrial intervention program, court documents show. Police found her with a six-inch scratch on her face after they said witnesses told them “a female was being beat up by a male inside.” 

Investigators determined that the injury was “a few days old” and saw no new injuries on her arms, neck or face. “[The witness] said there had been reports that the female had been coming in late to work with bruises,” according to the report. Police arrested her then-boyfriend.

2012:

Bearden faced charges twice in 2012, in June and November, for allegedly battering a different ex-boyfriend and criminal trespassing.

2020:

It’s not clear when the couple first began dating, but Giegerich’s criminal record in Clarke County appears to begin in 2020, with domestic battery and disorderly conduct charges involving Bearden. He pleaded guilty to three counts and received a sentence of probation.

 2021:

Amanda Bearden, 36, had a series of meetings with law enforcement in Athens, Georgia, most recently due to a home accident in May 2021.

According to a police report obtained by The Post, Bearden alleged that her boyfriend Andrew Tyler Giegerich broke into her home, yelled at and assaulted her, with bruises on the shoulders and arms of the police.

after a row with current boyfriend Andrew Giegerich, police charged her with falsely reporting a crime – however prosecutors ultimately dropped the case.

They went after Giegerich on charges that included battery and property damage, and he pleaded guilty. The responding officer initially wrote down a burglary charge, but after allegedly catching Bearden in a lie, said there was no longer evidence to support it.

On Sept. 4, 2021, police arrived at Bearden’s home and encountered Giegerich outside. Bodycam video obtained by Fox News Digital shows a long exchange, in which he discussed her alleged drug use and claimed she was stealing money from his paychecks on a weekly basis because he let her link his account to her phone before they split up. 

In January, he pleaded guilty to reckless driving after a DUI arrest.

April 30, 2022 Debbie gets into a car accident

A “metal item” fell off the roof of a 2009 GMC Savana van and slammed into the driver’s side front end of Collier’s 2020 Ford Ranger, causing an accident, according to the incident report. No one was injured.

Police cited Miguel Martinez, 48, for allegedly driving without a license and operating a vehicle without securing the load.

 September 9, 2022:

Steve Collier her husband said he last saw Debbie Collier around 9pm and that her rental car was in the driveway.

Steve then said he went to sleep He told investigators he slept separately from his wife because he snored and that he didn’t see her before she went missing

Around 11pm Somebody comes up to visit on the weekends [and] in the evenings, and there’s loud screaming and fighting, saying the visitor was a younger woman. this was a statement made by her neighbor. This is to believe it may be her daughter Amanada.

September 102022:

Goes into the Family dollar at 2:58

Buys a tarp, poncho, lighter, red tote bag, and paper towels

Around 3:17 Collier wired her daughter, Amanda Bearden, $2,385 and included a chilling note that said: They are not going to let me go, love you there is a key to the house in the blue flowerpot by the door. Bearden allegedly tried to call her mother but go no response from her.

3:19 She pulls out of the parking lot.

Debbie was in the Family dollar at the time of the venmo was sent

3 hours later her stepdad calls 911 and files a missing persons report.

6:01 pm he called the police

September 11. 2022:

12:20 Police used the SiriusXM radio in her rented Chrysler Pacifica to track its whereabouts to Georgia Route 15 in Clarkesville, an hour’s drive away from where Collier, a real estate office manager, lived in Athens.

A K-9 unit found her remains under grisly circumstances down an embankment in the woods a quarter-mile from the vehicle — nude and partially burned, with “charring” on her abdomen and her right hand clutching a tree. Those signs also indicate the attack may be familiar with the area and attempted to dump and hide the body. Nearby, they found a red tote bag, a partially burned blue tarp and the remains of a fire.  Collier’s vehicle was abandoned near the scene, investigators believes her killer may have left on foot or had an accomplice waiting in another vehicle.

September 21, 2022:

Investigators have found no evidence of either a suicide or a kidnapping. Detectives have served “several” search warrants and were looking to identify persons of interest.

Her murder, according to a criminal profiler and psychotherapist with experience interviewing serial killers, shows signs of a possible repeat sex offender but could also be the work of “a budding serial killer. This has all the signs of a sexual attack with volcanic rage, I have to think he was trying to cover his DNA.

This type of work is usually not done by a woman — I’m not saying this couldn’t be done by a man and a woman, a team, but unless there was a hefty insurance policy or something, why not just kill her?

Why do you got to burn her? The burning is important to us. Is it a signature? Are we going to see more of that?

If so, that could be an alarming sign.

Do we have a budding serial killer on our hands?

.I have to believe this is somebody who has prior sexual offenses, because I believe they’re trying to cover up their DNA.

If they were just after her money, why does she have to be naked?

This is cruel and unusual, but I’ve seen it before — in the case of Vanessa Marcotte, killed in Princeton, Massachusetts in 2016.

In that case, the victim was also discovered in the woods, with signs of sexual assault and burns on her body.

The suspect, Angelo Colon-Ortiz, had attempted to destroy evidence of his own DNA on Marcotte’s body with flames

Colon-Ortiz is currently jailed in Massachusetts awaiting a Dec. 8 trial.

It’s unclear where the attack on Collier took place. If it began at her home, there could have been a grudge or a financial motive, But it could have happened while she was out, in a possible carjacking or some other random attack. 

10/7/22 The FBI is now involved in this case