A man involved in a crash with slain Georgia mother, Debbie Collier, has been identified following a 911 call that indicated he could have possibly been involved in her murder. Police, however, have not named him as a suspect.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, a 911 call made shortly after Collier’s disappearance on September 10 by Collier’s sister, Diane Shirley, mentioned an encounter with an alleged ex-convict truck driver who was in the crash with Collier. The slain mother was reportedly driving behind the truck driver when a can of paint fell from his truck and hit her car.
“From my niece, she said that [Collier] was in an accident about a month ago,” Shirley told the 911 dispatcher.
“The paint went everywhere, and the driver was trying to convince my sister not to tell the cops that he was driving because he was out on parole. And there was a stipulation to his parole that he could not drive.”
The Athens-Clarke County police confirmed with Fox News Digital that Collier was involved in a traffic accident on April 30.
Fox News Digital also confirms that the truck driver has been identified as Miguel Martinez, 48. Police cited him for driving without a license and operating his truck without “securing the load” after an accident on the road involving Martinez in one vehicle and Collier in another.
An incident report indicates that a “metal item” fell from the roof of Martinez’s vehicle and slammed into the driver’s side of Collier’s vehicle.
However, Martinez is not listed as a parolee in Georgia and doesn’t appear to have any felonies in the state, although he does have numerous misdemeanors on his record. Most of his charges were dismissed after he took plea deals, and the last time he was on probation was six years before the crash with Collier.
Collier’s daughter, Amanda Bearden, 36, also contacted police on September 10 after she reportedly received a Venmo payment from Collier for $2,385. A cryptic message was attached to the Venmo payment that read, “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.”
Police said at around 3:15 p.m. on September 10, the Venmo payment was sent to Bearden.
Bearden, who reportedly waited several hours before contacting police, said Collier left everything at home aside from her ID and debit card, which contradicts what’s seen on security footage at a Family Dollar store, the last known sighting of Collier.
Collier’s husband, Steven, said during a 911 call that Bearden told him she found her mother’s purse at home.
“Came home, my wife wasn’t home, her driver’s license still in there, the rental car is gone, and her daughter’s here,” Steven Collier, the first person to make the report, said on September 10 at 6 p.m. “We’re kind of worried about what’s happening and where she’s at. I was wondering if you could send somebody over here.
“According to her daughter, who went up and, uh, her purse is still here with her driver’s license, the only thing is the phone is gone — and she sent her daughter a text about 2 hours ago saying, ‘They won’t let me go.’ Whatever that means, we don’t know.”
“I thought she was out shopping for food. Her daughter came over with that strange message and then went upstairs to her bedroom and found out that her driver’s license and credit card still here. So that doesn’t sound like her leaving the house to go shopping, like I thought she was.”
According to a security video released Monday, Collier walked into a Clayton, Georgia, Family Dollar store on September 10 at around 2:55 p.m. She was seen carrying a large black purse and vehicle keys while wearing a UGA football jersey.
Police say she was seen on security footage buying, in part, a lighter, a tarp, and a bag.
On September 11, police tracked a rental vehicle Collier was using to a wooded area 60 miles away from the family’s Athens home.
RELATED READING: Daughter of Murdered Debbie Collier Has History of Arrests, Including Fights with Boyfriend: Court Docs
Police scoured the vicinity of the vehicle and found her body and a burned blue tarp in a nearby ravine. She was naked, charred, and deceased, police said. Although the case is being treated as a homicide, it’s unclear how Collier died.
At this time, there is no evidence to suggest or support that this incident was related to a kidnapping,” the Habersham County police said in a statement.
So far, no arrests have been made and no one has been named a suspect in the killing.
Check back for updates.
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[Featured image: Debbie Collier/Facebook]
