Missing Debbie Collier found burned and naked
A missing Georgia mom found dead earlier this month was discovered partially burned, stripped naked and “grasping a small tree,” according to police documents.
Debbie Collier, 59, Vanished on September 10th according to authorities.
Her daughter, Amanda Bearden, told investigators that her mother’s car was in the shop at the time and that she left home in a rented Chrysler Pacifica SUV, carrying only her license and a debit card.
Authorities tracked the rental vehicle to a highway nearly 60 miles away with help from Sirius XM radio and arrived around 12:30 p.m. on Sept. 11. The car was found unlocked and unoccupied off of Georgia’s State Route 15
Officers and K-9 units found a red tote bag about a quarter-mile from the vehicle and “what appeared to be the remains of a fire” nearby.
Downhill from the scene, investigators found a blue tarp with burn marks, and “a nude female laying on her back, grasping a small tree with her right hand,” according to the incident report. Her remains were “apparently burned with what appeared to be charring to her abdomen.”
The Habersham County Coroner’s Office transferred Collier’s remains to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Lab for an autopsy, and GBI was also sent “various items of possible evidence” for enhanced analysis.
Collier’s last known communication was through the Venmo app, sending more than $2,300 to her daughter, according to the incident report. The payment also included a note, paraphrased in the report as saying, “They won’t let me go, there is a key to the house underneath a flower pot.”
Before the remains were discovered, Bearden, who had been given an approximate location of the vehicle by Athens-Clarke County police, arrived on scene “in a hysterical state,” according to police documents. She told investigators her mother did not suffer from any known mental health issues or “suicidal tendencies.”