Mysterious death of Athens woman in mountains deepens
The mysterious death of an Athens woman whose partially clothed body was found on an embankment in the northeast Georgia mountains has attracted news media interest internationally.
Debbie Collier was reported missing Sept. 10 by her family and the body was found the next day in a forest near Tallulah Falls in Habersham County, according to Athens-Clarke police.
Police Lt. Shaun Barnett said Wednesday that Habersham County is handling the death investigation as there is no evidence that a crime involving her disappearance occurred in Athens.
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Barnett said he has fielded calls from more than a dozen media outlets including the New York Post, which sent a reporter to the area. Barnett said he was also informed of a report on the woman that was published overseas in Russia. An extensive report was also published by the Daily Mail in London.
Local police were present early in the investigation when Habersham County investigators served a search warrant at Collier’s home on Rocky Drive in a neighborhood near Sandy Creek Park, according to Barnett.
The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office has not released how Collier died, but did release information that they don’t believe she committed suicide nor is there evidence of a kidnapping.
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Collier, who was 59, did leave a cryptic note prior to her disappearance that has attracted much of the widespread interest.
In a Venmo message to her 36-year-old daughter, Amanda Nicole Bearden, Collier wrote that “they are not going to let me go love you there is a key to the house in the blue flower pot by the door,” according to the Athens-Clarke report.
Collier, who worked at an Athens real estate company, sent her daughter $2,385 through Venmo, according to the report.
Collier’s husband, Steven Collier, reported to police that he last saw his wife about 9 p.m. Sept. 9 and that when he left for work the next morning he saw her vehicle in the driveway.
Collier left in a Chrysler Pacifica that she had rented due to damage to her pickup that occurred in a prior wreck, according to the police report.
She also only left with her drivers license and debit card, according to the report.
The daughter also reported that she attempted to call her mother, but she did not answer the phone. The police officer who responded to the missing person’s report also reported that he made an unsuccessful attempt to contact Collier by phone.
Both the husband and daughter told police that her disappearance is unusual, and that she does not have any other family in the area.
The mystery deepened after the Habersham officials reported that on Sept. 10, the day of the disappearance, she is seen on video entering a Family Dollar store in Clayton about 3 p.m. Inside the store, officers said she purchased a red tote bag, blue tarp, a torch lighter, and a poncho.
News outlets reported that officers did not see anyone else at her rental vehicle while it was at the store in Rabun County.
Collier’s body was found after a radio satellite service provided a location for the Chrysler. The vehicle was parked along U.S. Highway 441 near Tallulah Falls.
The body was burned on the abdomen, according to Habersham officials.
An area news outlet New Habersham reported a sheriff’s chief deputy as saying they found no evidence of suicide. The report said the body, partially unclothed and burned, was found in the woods about two-tenths of a mile from the parked Chrysler.
The Daily Mail of London reported information from a interview with CBS had with Amanda Bearden.
'My mom was my everything. Somebody took my whole world from me. She was a beautiful, kind, giving woman. She didn't deserve this," she told CBS.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Mystery death of Athens woman attracting widespread attention
