Debbie Collier, who was discovered naked and burned in a ravine in Georgia, was ruled to have committed suicide.
Collier was last seen on September 10 when she left her Athens residence for Clarksville, a distance of approximately 60 miles.
The next day, the naked and partially burned body of the 59-year-old real estate agent was discovered in a wooded ravine near Tallulah Falls, along with her purse and cell phone.
According to Habersham County Deputy Coroner Ken Franklin, the Georgia Medical Examiner’s Office ruled Collier’s death a suicide this week, citing ‘inhalation of superheated gases, thermal injuries, and hydrocodone intoxication’
Franklin added, ‘It is fairly clear that she started the fire. This was a self-inflicted death, based on what I saw and what I believed to be the case, but I was waiting for the autopsy results and the lab doctor to make the final determination.’
Amanda Bearden, daughter of Collier, stated last week on the podcast Crime on the Record that she believes her mother committed suicide.
She told the hosts that her mother had begun to share “key, intimate things” with her in the weeks leading up to her death, adding, “In retrospect, it almost seemed as if she was giving me all of her things.”
Bearden added that her mother had tears in her eyes the last time she saw her alive. I had never seen her so sad before.
Franklin told the New Habersham, ‘I’m relieved it’s over, but I’m sorry for the family and everything they had to endure. It has been difficult for them to live a normal life due to all of the interrogation and suspicion they have endured. I feel sorry for them and will be praying for them.
The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release on September 30 with a timeline of the crime and surveillance footage.
Collier may be seen perusing a Family Dollar in Clayton on September 10, the day before her partially charred body was recovered.
In the video, she can be seen acquiring a tarp, a refillable flashlight, a reusable tote bag, two rolls of paper towels, and a rain poncho.
Concerned, Collier’s son questioned why his mother would drive to a Dollar store in Athens when there was a Dollar General half a mile away.
In addition, he stated that he had never known her to be a camper and mentioned that his stepfather is a construction worker, thus the family house is filled with tarps and reusable bags.
He also made the scary statement that the woman with blonde hair and a red visor does not even resemble his mother.
According to 11Alive News, he said, ‘I have a lot of doubts as to whether or not it was my mother in that genuine video, as her posture does not resemble hers’
Amanda, Bearden’s 36-year-old sister, had a troubled past, including a brief jail sentence for faking a drug test and charges for fighting with her boyfriend, Andrew Giegerich. She had returned to town two days before she vanished, according to Bearden.
The New York Post said that Amanda, who had been living in Maryland, moved into her mother’s home with Giegerich.
Although Bearden did not believe his sister was involved in the mysterious disappearance of his mother, he claimed he was suspicious and worried by the company she kept.
Amanda was reportedly the last person to see her mother alive, and she was the one who reported her missing to authorities, according to The New York Post.
I do not believe my sister is capable of harming my mother. She was my mother’s lifeline,’ said Bearden.
However, I do not trust the individuals my sister associates with, and that is my problem.
Additional unsettling information include a $2,385 transfer from Collier’s Venmo app accompanied by the cryptic remark, ‘They won’t let me go. Under the flowerpot is the key to the house,’ he continued.
Bearden described his mother’s decision to transfer a substantial sum of money as “extremely out of character.”
‘I’ve never seen my mother Venmo that much money,’ he added, adding that he had no idea what the word ‘them’ in the final draft meant.
Chief of the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office has not yet disclosed any suspects in the case.
However, officials asserted that Collier’s killing was not the result of a random act of violence or a serial killer, but rather the work of someone who knew her.
We feel that this act was intentional and personal, said Deputy Murray Kogod.
They added that they were unable to corroborate that the Venmo message originated from the device.
Bearden, yearning for answers, has been vociferous on Facebook about the police probe.
The grieving son stated, “I was faced with a Sheriff who lacked empathy for my predicament, my concerns for my personal and family safety after being doxxed online, or potential leaks emanating from his office.”
The distraught son stated that he will not give up, informing the perpetrators that he will not stop until they are imprisoned or on death row.
Collier calmly entered a Family Dollar in Clayton, Georgia, around 2.55 p.m. on Saturday, September 10, and purchased a variety of products that were afterwards discovered with her corpse.
She was dressed in a reproduction of Herschel Walker’s University of Georgia jersey, a blue skirt, what appeared to be black boots with small heels, and a red sun visor.
The real estate office manager was then observed purchasing a rain poncho, a refillable torch lighter, a two-roll pack of paper towels, a 7.50-foot extension ladder, and a two-roll pack of paper towels. x 9.5ft. tarp and a reusable tote bag — prior to departing at 3:09 p.m.
She waited in the black 2022 Pacifica for 10 minutes until 3:19 p.m., at which point she departed on the GA15 southbound.
On September 11, her body was found partially burned near Tallulah Falls, Georgia.