Teen Called 911 Claiming Mom Was Kidnapped, Police Believe He Killed Her

An 18-year-old Arizona man has been charged by authorities with killing his mother after police say she called 911 to report she had been kidnapped minutes after she was found dead by a jogger.

Pinal County Sheriff’s Office shared on social networks that officers received a call around 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30, from a jogger who “located a body in a farm field” in San Tan Valley and reported it to police.

Investigators said they identified the body as that of Mary Collier, 38, and said she “appears to be the victim of a homicide,” in their release.

According to police, “less than ten minutes” after receiving the call from the jogger about finding the deceased woman, her teenage son called 911 “about a kidnapping” at their home. Police say they have confirmed the subject of both calls was the same woman.

Deputies found the son — who has not been publicly named — “suffering from self-inflicted injuries” after arriving at his home and “was taken to the hospital.” Police said he was “identified as a homicide suspect” and will be booked into the Pinal County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder after his release from the hospital.

Police have not released a possible motive for the homicide, however, they believe it may have stemmed from a possible altercation that occurred Tuesday night and continued into the next day, according to reports from KTVK-TV and Fox 10 Phoenix.

The jogger who found Collier’s body, James Richey, told KTVK-TV that he initially thought the body was “kind of like a Halloween scarecrow or something” when he drove by. However, as he got “closer and closer, it started to look like a real person” and found a “blade” next to her body.

“Instantly, when I saw the blood on the blade, it was like, no, this is a dead body. This is the crime scene,” Richey told the press. “The handle was snapped in two and then like the blade was just sitting there and there was blood all over the blade.”

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Collier’s niece, Rebecca Hatch, remembered the victim as “an incredible human being” to Fox 10 Phoenix, adding that she was “so passionate about her faith” and was also “selfless.”

“I’m sure if I could have heard her last word, it would have been about her family, about the people she loved,” Hatch said. “That’s the kind of person he was.”

Hatch also noted that it is “completely incomprehensible” that her son is charged with the murder, adding, “Of all the people in the family, Mary was the one he loved the most; she was the one he respected the most. inexplicable.”

According to one GoFundMe established for her family, Collier leaves behind a husband and four children, the youngest being 10 years old.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said the incident is under investigation.