Debbie Collier, the Athens lady whose disappearance and death have captivated the nation, was found dead in her home, and her daughter stated this week that she thinks her mother committed suicide.
Amanda Bearden, appearing in a YouTube live stream of the “Crime on the Record” program, claimed that her mother had started “giving me all of her belongings” and “had taken the whole week off” before she vanished.
Bearden added on the show on Wednesday night that “no one saw her on Friday” before Collier vanished. Bearden reflected on the past and recalled that “there were actions” taken by Collier that he finds “strange” now.
What she “didn’t want to burden me with” was “dealing with stuff,” Bearden claimed. Bearden initially revealed her suicide theory about her mother on the show.
Husband Steven Collier reported Collier missing at 6 p.m. on September 10, 2022. Collier had sent Bearden $2,385 via Venmo just a few hours earlier with the message:
Bearden claimed that she and her mother did not communicate that Saturday.
Surveillance footage from a Family Dollar shop in Clayton, Ohio shows that Collier was last seen buying a rain poncho, refillable torch lighter, two rolls of paper towels, a 7.5 by 9.5 inch (OBD) tarp, and a reusable tote bag before disappearing. At 3:09 p.m., after leaving the store in Rabun County, she sat in her car for a full 10 minutes.
Her rented black Chrysler Pacifica van was discovered at the beginning of an old logging road in Habersham County at 3 p.m. the following day, and shortly after that, Collier’s body was discovered inside.
Police in Habersham County initially reported that they had reason to suspect that Collier’s death was premeditated rather than accidental. However, Collier’s son Jeffrey Bearden recently told Atlanta News First that he has little faith in the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office and would be making a formal complaint to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation over the local agency’s handling of the case.
