New image surfaces of Debbie Collier’s van before death
A chilling new image has emerged in the investigation into the “personal and targeted” death of Debbie Collier showing the Georgia mom’s rented minivan traveling toward a store where she was later captured on video.
The Chrysler Pacifica was seen on traffic cameras by the Tallulah Falls School in Georgia at 2:17 p.m. Sept. 10, a day before the woman’s partially naked and burned body was found in a nearby ravine, CrimeOnline reported, citing Habersham County Sheriff’s Investigator George Cason.
Surveillance video from a Family Dollar store in Clayton showed Collier, 59, looking calm while shopping there for a blue tarp, a lighter, a tote bag and a rain poncho on Sept. 10.
Cason said Tallulah Falls police investigators have been trying to determine if the traffic cameras captured Collier traveling back south, according to the news outlet.
Collier entered the Family Dollar outlet at 2:54 p.m., left at 3:09 and sat in the vehicle for 10 minutes — until 3:19 — before pulling out of the parking lot and heading south, CrimeOnline reported.
Her body was found partially burned around 60 miles from her home in Athens the day after she sent a cryptic message to her daughter saying, “They are not going to let me go, love you.”
The Habersham County Sheriff’s Office said it has ruled out kidnapping and suicide as causes for her death.
It also said investigators recovered Collier’s purse and cellphone at the crime scene, which appeared to contradict earlier reports that she left her home with just her driver’s license and debit card.
Collier’s husband, Steven, had reportedly told a 911 dispatcher that his stepdaughter, Amanda Bearden, found his wife’s purse at their home.
Last week, Cason said investigators were still awaiting data from several service providers regarding Debbie’s recovered cellphone.
He also said police have confirmed Steven was seen on video working from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. the day his wife vanished, Fox News reported.
Bearden and her live-in boyfriend, Andrew Giergerich, who both have a history of domestic violence allegations, told The Post they had been interrogated by detectives and had their phones seized.
Giergerich told Fox News Digital last week that he and Bearden were not involved in Debbie’s murder, and claimed that they have been living in fear of being targeted themselves.
“We sleep with stuff in front of our front door and our back door because we didn’t have anything to do with this,” he told the outlet. “We’re a little scared ourselves.”
The sheriff has yet to name any suspects or leads in the case and has so far made no arrests.
