PINAL COUNTY, Ariz. (TCN) — An 18-year-old suspect is in custody on suspicion of killing his mother and claiming she had been abducted.
According to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, on the morning of Oct. 30, a jogger found the body of 38-year-old Mary Collier in a farm field and called law enforcement. Authorities responded and located the deceased victim behind piles of dirt, KSAZ-TV reports.
Pinal County Lt. Ross Teeple told KTVK/KPHO-TV Collier sustained injuries consistent with being cut or stabbed. Investigators believe she died of blunt force trauma from a sharp object and that an argument led to her slaying.
The jogger who made the 911 call reportedly said, “Instantly, when I saw the blood on the blade it was like, no, this is a dead body. This is a crime scene. The handle was broken in two pieces and then, like, the blade was just sitting there, and there was blood all over the blade.”
Shortly after the jogger initially called 911, Collier’s 18-year-old son reportedly called law enforcement and reported the kidnapping of his mother. Deputies identified him as a suspect in her death and found him with self-inflicted wounds. He was transported to a hospital before authorities booked him into the Pinal County Jail on a charge of first-degree murder on Oct. 31.
The victim’s niece reportedly said, “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.”
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