Miguel Martinez: Trucker mentioned in 911 call after Debbie Collier's disappearance faced slew of misdemeanors
HABERSHAM COUNTY, GEORGIA: Four 911 calls have revealed how frantically murdered Debbie Collier's family members searched for her when she first went missing. Collier's body was found naked and charred in the woods, and she was reportedly grasping a small tree with her hand, police claimed. Officials are treating her death as a homicide.
Some of the 911 calls that followed Collier's disappearance have been revealed by Fox News. Notably, in one of the calls, placed by a woman identifying herself as Collier's sister Diane Shirley, she mentioned a previous encounter with an unidentified ex-con driving a truck involved in a car crash with Collier. The trucker has now been identified as 48-year-old Miguel Martinez.
READ MORE
'I will hurt them': Terrifying note reveals violent threats against Debbie Collier and family
"From my niece, she said that [Collier] was in an accident about a month ago," Shirley told a dispatcher, adding that a paint can fell off and struck Collier's car while she was driving behind a truck. "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," Shirley said. "And there was a stipulation to his parole that he could not drive."
Athens-Clarke County police said Collier was involved in a minor traffic accident on April 30, but provided no further details. According to an incident report, a "metal item" fell off the roof of a 2009 GMC Savana van and slammed into the driver’s side front end of Collier’s 2020 Ford Ranger at the time. However, no one was injured in the accident.
Who is Miguel Martinez?
Miguel Martinez was allegedly driving without a license and operating a vehicle without securing the load. He faced various misdemeanors after being accused of pulling his ex’s hair while she was holding their child in early 2015, which led to the two of them falling to the ground.
However, Martinez is reportedly not part of Georgia’s parole system. Most of the charges were dismissed in a plea deal in which he admitted to two counts of disorderly conduct, Fox News reported. He was sentenced to 12 months of probation. He would have been off six years before his encounter with Collier.
Meanwhile, in a new development in Collier's murder, which police believe was “personal and targeted”, a photo of the Georgia mom’s rented minivan has been released. The vehicle was reportedly traveling toward a store where she was later caught on video. The Chrysler Pacifica was seen on traffic cameras by the Tallulah Falls School in Georgia at 2.17 pm on September 10, a day before Collier's body was found in a nearby ravine, CrimeOnline reported.
On the same day, surveillance footage from a Family Dollar store in Clayton showed the 59-year-old calmly shopping for a blue tarp, a lighter, a tote bag and a rain poncho. Habersham County Sheriff’s Investigator George Cason said Tallulah Falls police investigators are trying to determine she was captured by traffic cameras traveling back south. She reportedly entered the Family Dollar outlet at 2.54 pm, left at 3.09 pm and sat in the vehicle until 3.19 pm, following which she pulled out of the parking lot and headed south. Collier's husband, Steven Collier, told the dispatcher that Collier's purse was found at her home by his stepdaughter Amanda Bearden. However, investigators reportedly recovered Collier's purse and cellphone at the crime scene.
A private investigator has claimed the way Collier's body was found may reveal important clues about her death. A day before her death, Collier had sent her daughter money, along with a chilling message. Collier sent her daughter Amanda Bearden $2,385 with the message, "They are not going to let me go, love you." Collier disappeared on September 10. According to cops, she told her daughter there was a key to their home underneath a flower pot.
Private investigator Jason Jensen said he believes Collier had not been kidnapped as she was able to transfer money via Venmo. Jensen further said investigators would be looking for signs of a struggle if the message really was a warning that the mother had been kidnapped. He explained someone may have tried to hide DNA evidence, considering Collier was found naked and burned. Bearden, who was “hysterical” at the scene, told detectives that Collier had no mental health issues and was not suicidal. Officers in Habersham County have confirmed there is no evidence to suggest she had been kidnapped before her murder.