Georgia authorities are investigating the suspicious death of a mother whose body was found after she wired more than $2,000 to her daughter and allegedly indicated that she was being held against her will, WXIA-TV reports.
On the afternoon of Saturday, September 10, 59-year-old Debbie Collier sent her daughter $2,385 using Venmo and included a message that read “They are not going to let me go, love you,” according to the television station.
After receiving the message, Collier’s daughter tried to call her mom but could not get through, Now Habersham reports. Worried, the daughter contacted police to report her mother missing.
Investigators determined that Collier left her house with only her driver’s license and a debit card, and by Sunday, had tracked a rental vehicle Collier was using to a wooded area 60 miles away from the family’s Athens home.
Police scoured the vicinity of the vehicle and found her body in a nearby ravine.
As investigators descended onto the scene, they were joined by multiple family members of Collier, including her husband. He told police that he last saw his wife at about 9 p.m. on Friday, September 9, as he was going to bed.
The husband went to work on Saturday morning and told investigators that his wife’s vehicle was still in the driveway at that time, according to Now Habersham.
Authorities say they are continuing to investigate Collier’s death and the circumstances leading up to it but so far have released few details. Police are reportedly treating the case as a homicide and not a suicide.
Collier worked as the front office manager for Carriage House Realty in Athens. She and her husband married in 2013, and her Facebook page includes numerous photographs about her family and trips they took together.
Family and friends have declined to comment publicly about the situation, according to WXIA-TV.
To report information about the case, call the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office at 706-839-0500.
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[Featured image: Debbie Collier/Facebook]
