Neighbors Heard 'Screaming And Fighting' Night Before 59YO Mother Was Found Dead | "They Are Not Going to Let Me Go"

Trigger warning: This article contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find distressing

Debbie Collier, a 59-year-old mother who went missing on Saturday, September 10 was found naked and dead the next morning around 60 miles from her home. Before the Athens, Georgia native was found in a ravine, she had venmo-ed over $2,000 to her daughter, Amanda Bearden with an ominous message reading, “They are not going to let me go, love you.” After police officers started looking into the missing person’s complaint and tried to look for Collier, a K-9 dog found her on her back in Habersham County. Her car's SiriusXM satellite radio was tracked, New York Post reported. 

Police officers are treating the case as a homicide and investigating it like a kidnapping case but they have confirmed that the case is not kidnapping-related or suicide. The night before Collier went missing, neighbors heard some screaming and fighting from the house. “There was a commotion at the house,” the neighbor said. “Somebody comes up to visit on the weekends [and] in the evenings, and there’s loud screaming and fighting.” Collier’s husband, Steve had mentioned that he hadn’t seen her since 9:00 p.m. Saturday. The couple sleeps separately because he snores and when he left for work the following day, the car was still there. 

The next day, Habersham County Officer’s K-9 team found Debbie Collier on her back, naked and covered in burns. According to the incident report, deputies spotted the car parked in a turnout near a defunct logging road. Investigators then “observed a nude female laying on her back, grasping a small tree with her right hand,” roughly 30 feet from the road, according to the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office, PEOPLE reported. There was some “charring at the abdomen” and remains of a burned tarp nearby — along with a red tote bag. The police report also mentioned that Collier was still "grasping a small tree with her right hand" at the base of an embankment when her body was found.

Family and friends of the Collier family are currently declining to comment on the incident, adding, “There’s a reason we are keeping quiet.” According to the neighbors, the family has always been reclusive and silent. “When we would get together out here on the block for a cookout, they never participated,” he said, saying many locals didn’t even know their names. “They didn’t come to no get-togethers. As far as I can tell they’ve lived here a good little while,” he said, noting he’s been on the same block for decades.

Bearden has been devastated by the developments of the past few days. “Somebody took my whole world from me,” she said. “She was a beautiful, kind, giving woman — and she didn’t deserve any of this…I want justice for my mom” She also mentioned that “my mom was my everything.” Collier and Steve have been married since 2013 while Debbie Collier worked as the front office manager at Carriage House Realty in Athens. The neighbors have noticed a lot of police officers crowding Athens but they haven’t been called in for questioning. “I don’t understand what’s taking so long,” Ricky, their neighbor, said about the investigation, which is being conducted in part by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. “They’re slow out here.”

References:

https://nypost.com/2022/09/21/neighbor-heard-commotion-at-murdered-georgia-mom-debbie-colliers-house-night-before-she-vanished/

https://nypost.com/2022/09/20/mystery-text-mom-debbie-colliers-body-found-naked-and-burned/

https://nypost.com/2022/09/19/missing-mom-debbie-collier-found-dead-in-georgia-ravine/

https://people.com/crime/debbie-collier-georgia-mother-body-found-naked-burned/

Cover Image Source: Facebook | Debbie Steve Collier