It’s been nearly three weeks since law enforcement discovered Debbie Collier’s partially nude and burned body in the woods of northern Habersham County. On Friday, investigators held their first press conference on the case. During the thirty minute briefing, lead investigator George Cason and Habersham County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Murray Kogod offered a rehash of what they previously had made public, with a few additional details.
Cason made clear that they are investigating Collier’s death as a murder. While the case has unnerved many in Habersham County and surrounding communities, Kogod insists there is nothing to indicate a public threat.
“There is nothing that has come from this investigation that would support the theory that either this was a random act of violence or that there is a killer in the area. At this time, the investigation is leading us to the proposition that Mrs. Collier’s death was personal and targeted,” Kogod said.
Who sent that chilling message?
The case has drawn international attention focused on a chilling message Collier’s daughter received in a Venmo payment from her mom. “They are not going to let me go love you there is a key to the house in the blue flower pot by the door,” it read. The message accompanied a $2,385 payment Collier purportedly made to Amanda Bearden at 3:17 p.m. on September 10. That was during the time Collier was seen on recently obtained surveillance video sitting in her rented van outside the Family Dollar store in Clayton.
It’s the last known time the 59-year-old Athens woman was seen alive.
Investigators say the video shows Collier sitting in her van for ten minutes after leaving the store at 3:09 p.m. She pulls away from the parking lot at 3:19 p.m. and heads south on US 441/GA 15.
Investigators have confirmed Collier had her cellphone with her – it was found smashed at the crime scene – but they still can not say with any certainty whether Collier sent that Venmo payment from her phone. Investigators do know that Bearden received the payment. They have not yet determined where the money went. They’re waiting on phone records and other subpoenaed information to determine where, when, and who sent the Venmo payment.
During their press briefing, investigators did confirm that the items Collier purchased at the Family Dollar store in Clayton were found at the crime scene. They also said the school zone cameras at Tallulah Falls School approximately two miles from where Collier’s body was found did capture the van heading north on US 441/GA 15. So far they have found no images from the cameras of the van returning south.
22-hour gap
What happened during those roughly 22 hours from when Collier was last seen alive to when she was found dead? Amid all the unanswered questions, that one lies at the center of this investigation. The sheriff’s office is urging the public to be patient.
“Please understand that this case is very complex in nature and has a lot of questions and unknowns that aren’t found in a typical death investigation,” Kogod says. “It is going to take significantly more time than the 19 days that have passed since the discovery to solve this crime.”
That does little to alleviate the heightened sense of anxiety in Habersham County and surrounding communities.
“I’m more cautious after what happened to Mrs. Collier,” one reader wrote in an email to Now Habersham.
She’s not alone.
Others have publicly expressed their concerns in comments on the thousands of social media posts that have been shared since Now Habersham first broke the news of the Collier’s death on September 11.
GBI was not asked to investigate
From the start, it was evident this was a multi-county investigation. Collier, who lived in Athens, was reported missing on September 10. Her body was found the next day fifty miles away in Habersham County. It was later revealed she went shopping at the Family Dollar Store in Clayton the day she disappeared.
Given the wide area to be investigated and the fact this is a murder investigation, some have questioned why the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has not taken a more active role. The agency is conducting the autopsy and the state crime lab is analyzing evidence but the state’s top investigative agency is not leading the probe.
“We were not requested to investigate,” explains Natalie Ammons of GBI Public Affairs.
The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office is experiencing critical staffing levels. Some of the investigators assigned to the case have never worked a homicide. Still, Kogod defends his decision to not turn over the Collier investigation to the GBI saying, “the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office is a full-service sheriff’s office.”
“We have a division dedicated to investigating crimes. This division, made up of professional, experienced law enforcement officers in which the county has invested significant time and money for specialized training in things such as crime scene and death investigations is responsible for investigating all crimes committed in the county where there are no city-provided law enforcement services.”
Kogod says the sheriff’s office has received assistance from “numerous law enforcement agencies as well as other resources.” Investigators continue, too, to reach out to the public asking anyone with information about this case to please contact Investigator Cason at (706) 839-0560 or Investigator Cale Garrison at (706) 839-0559.
