Authorities in Arizona are trying to figure out what could possibly drive a teenager to kill his mother. After reporting his mother, Mary Collier, missing, the teen was charged with murder. Currently, the authorities are trying to use the information they have to come up with a possible motive.
While investigators continue to solve the case, the woman’s family has questions of their own. In their minds, the teen would never kill his mother, who was beloved by her family.
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A passerby found the mother's body.
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office shared information about the case on Facebook. “Shortly after 9 a.m. on 10/30/24, a jogger located a body in a farm field west of Gantzel Rd and south of Skyline Dr. in San Tan Valley and called 911,” the post began. The post identified the “deceased female” as 38-year-old Mary Collier, saying she “appears to be the victim of a homicide.”
The teen called 911 shortly after the body was found.
According to the post, a second 911 call came in “less than 10 minutes” after the jogger had called about the body. The second 911 caller reported a kidnapping. “Deputies were quickly able to confirm the deceased female was also the alleged kidnapped person,” the post said.
Police determined the second 911 caller was the victim’s 18-year-old son. He was then identified as the homicide suspect.
The teen was “suffering from self-inflicted wounds,” when police arrived, and was taken to the hospital. On October 31, he was booked into the Pinal County Jail for first-degree murder.
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The police are still trying to figure out possible motive.
According to KTVK-TV, authorities say they believe Collier and her teen son willingly left their home, walking to the farm field where she was found. It was there that he allegedly killed her.
They are calling the killing a case of domestic violence. FOX 10 Phoenix reported that investigators believe the killing stemmed from an argument the night before. They have yet to establish a motive.
The jogger who found the body spoke about the experience.
“I was hoping that it was kinda like a Halloween scarecrow or something like that, that somebody just threw it out here or like a prop,” James Richey told KTVK-TV. “As I got closer and closer and closer it was starting to look like a real person, real real real.”
Richey also found a blood-covered weapon that was likely used to stab Collier. “The handle was broken in two pieces and then like the blade was just sitting there and there was blood all over the blade,” he said.
Authorities stated that Collier had injuries consistent with being stabbed or cut and was likely not shot. Richey shared that he noticed stab wounds by her shoulder when he found her body.
Her family is in disbelief over the whole ordeal.
Police have not released the teen’s name. Members of Collier’s family are having a hard time wrapping their minds around why the young man would kill his mother.
Collier’s husband told KTVK-TV that her son wasn’t on any sort of medication at the time of the killing. He is also having trouble figuring out why her son would do such a thing.
“Of all the people in the family, Mary was the one he loved the most; she was the one he respected the most. It’s inexplicable. It is completely incomprehensible, and it comes completely out of nowhere,” Collier’s niece, Rebecca Hatch, told FOX 10 Phoenix.
A family member set up a GoFundMe to help Collier’s family with burial costs.