‘They won’t let me go I love you’: Missing mother, 59, sent final message along with $2,385 to daughter before she was found dead in Georgia’s wooded canyon
- A murder investigation has been launched after mother Debbie Collier was found dead in a ravine
- Collier sent her daughter, Amanda Bearden, a total of $2,385 on Venmo with the harrowing message, “They won’t let me go, I love you.”
- During the investigation, officers discovered that Collier had rented an SUV on September 10 and left her home with only her debit card and driver’s license
- Debbie, who married her husband Steve in 2013, worked for many years as a front office manager at Carriage House Realty in Athens, Georgia
A missing mother sent her daughter a chilling final message, telling her “they won’t let me go” before she was found dead – as investigators believe it indicates she may have been kidnapped.
The tragic body of Debbie Collier was found on September 11 in a small, steep ravine near a wooded area in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, after being reported missing the day before.
Police launched a murder investigation after frantically searching nearby woods with a K-9 unit and finding a red tote bag and a partially burned blue tarp. Then they discovered the body of the 59-year-old nearby.
However, investigators with the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office revealed the eerie final message the mother sent to her daughter before she was found dead, alluding to the fact that she was being held against her will.
Collier, who lived in Athens, Georgia, sent her daughter, Amanda Bearden, a total of $2,385 on Venmo with the harrowing message, “They won’t let me go, I love you.”
Debbie Collier, 59, was found dead in a wooded area in Tallulah Falls, Georgia, on September 11 after being reported missing the day before
The mother sent her daughter a chilling final message before she was reported missing
Daughter Amanda Bearden, 36, (pictured) revealed she had received a sum of money from her mother alongside a creepy final message – prompting her to call the police and report her as a missing person
Habersham County Deputy Medical Examiner Ken Franklin speaks with Collier’s husband Steven, seen here with an umbrella, on September 11, 2022
Bearden, 36, then tried to call her mother after receiving the cryptic text, but she didn’t answer her phone.
At the time, the daughter reported her mother missing to the Athens Clarke County Police Department.
Cops have said the troubling statement Collier sent to her daughter could suggest there was a violent abduction before she was found dead.
They’re treating the case as murder, not suicide, reports 11 Alive.
Colonel Murray Kogod of the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office said: “Further search resulted in the body of a female subject being found on an embankment near where the bag and tarp were located.”
During the investigation, officers discovered that Collier had rented an SUV on September 10 and left her home with only her debit card and driver’s license.
They were able to track the car’s location because of its SiriusXM satellite radio – it led them 60 miles north of their home in Athens, Georgia.
Collier’s body was then tragically found in a nearby ravine off the freeway where the vehicle was spotted on US 441 near Victory Home Lane.
The mother’s devastated family was informed as authorities began investigating the cause of death. Images show investigators combing the scene where her body was found, reports Now Habersham.
An autopsy will be performed by a coroner.
Debbie, who married her husband Steve in 2013, worked for many years as a Front Office Manager at Carriage House Realty in Athens.
Steve said he last saw his wife at 9pm the night before she disappeared on September 9.
Cops have said the troubling statement Collier sent to her daughter could suggest there was a violent abduction before she was found dead
Investigators and police cars were seen at the scene near where the body was discovered on 9/11
The missing Athens, Georgia mother sent her daughter an eerie final message before she was found dead in a ravine