Georgia mother sent daughter more than $2,000 a day before her naked, burned body was found, police say
A Georgia mother sent her daughter a mysterious message and a money transfer one day before her naked and burned body was discovered in a ravine, according to police documents.
Debbie Collier disappeared on Sept. 10, the same day her daughter, Amanda Bearden, received a mysterious message on the money-sharing app, Venmo. Bearden told authorities her 59-year-old mother also suddenly transferred more than $2,000 into her account via the app.
“They are not going to let me go, love you,” the message reads, according to an incident report by the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office. “There is a key to the house in the blue flower pot by the door.”
Debbie Collier
Bearden immediately called her mother’s phone “but she did not pick up,” prompting her to alert authorities. The concerned daughter told officers her mother’s car was in the shop and that she last saw her driving off in a rented Chrysler Pacifica SUV, according to the report. She only had her driver’s license and debit card with her at the time.
Less than 24 hours later, deputies with the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office managed to track the rental vehicle’s Sirius satellite radio signal to a highway nearly 60 miles away. The SUV was “unlocked and unoccupied” in a parking area along the side of Georgia Route 15 north near Victory Home Lane in Clarkesville, according to the incident report.
Bearden, who was on the scene, became “hysterical” upon the discovery. She told authorities that her mother did not have any suicidal tendencies nor any history of mental illness.
A K9 unit sweeping the region then uncovered a red tote bag about a quarter-mile from the vehicle and “what appeared to be the remains of a fire.” Just down the hill, an investigator “observed a nude female laying on her back, grasping a small tree with her right hand,” roughly 30 feet from the road. Collier was “obviously” deceased, according to the report.
The Habersham County Coroner’s Office have transferred Collier’s remains to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Lab for an autopsy.
