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Georgia Mom Who Messaged Daughter About Being Kidnapped Found Dead In Ravine
Debbie Collier sent her daughter $2,385 via the money transfer app Venmo with the message “They are not going to let me go, love you.” Her body was later found in a ravine.
A Georgia woman who apparently used a banking app to alert her adult daughter that she'd been kidnapped has been found dead.
Debbie Collier, 59, was reported missing from Athens, Georgia — about 70 miles east of Atlanta — on the evening of Saturday, Sept. 10 by her daughter, Amanda Bearden, 36, according to Now Habersham. According to Bearden, she'd received an unsolicited $2,385 payment from her mother that afternoon via the financial app Venmo, which makes users write a note or use an emoji to describe the transactions.
Collier's note read: "they are not going to let me go love you."
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Bearden then tried to call her mother, but was unable to reach her. The Chrysler Pacifica SUV she was renting while her own vehicle was being repaired was also missing from the home, according Atlanta NBC affiliate WXIA
Collier's husband, Steven — who she married in 2013, according to WXIA — told police that he'd last seen his wife on Friday night around 9:00 p.m., when he went to bed. He told them that, when he got up and left for work on Saturday morning, the Pacifica was still in the driveway, according to Now Habersham.
Bearden told police that her mother had only taken her driver's license and credit card with her, according to both outlets.
Collier's rental car was reportedly equipped with a SiriusXM Guardian system and, on Sunday — after she and it had been reported missing — the car generated a report of its location: a wooded area near Victory Home Lane and State Highway 441 in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, which is nearly 65 miles north of Athens, according to WXIA and Now Habersham.
Victory Home Lane is so named for the Victory Home Addiction Recovery Center for men, which describes itself as "a faith-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation program." It has a large, wooded property and has both residential and transitional programs.
The Habersham County Sheriff's Office responded to the alert and found the Pacifica parked alongside the highway, in full view of passersby. A K-9 unit brought into assist discovered a red tote bag and a partially burned blue tarp a short distance from the car, according to Now Habersham, and then found Collier's body in a ravine.
Police have released no further information about her cause of death or the state of Collier's remains. They have, however, stated that they are treating it as a homicide investigation.
