Teen Called 911 Claiming His Mom Had Been Kidnapped. Police Believe He Murdered Her

An Arizona 18-year-old has been accused by authorities of murdering his mom after police say he called 911 reporting that she’d been kidnapped minutes after she was found dead by a jogger.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office shared on social media that officers received a call on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at around 9 a.m. 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 38-year-old Mary Collier, and they said she “appears to be the victim of a homicide,” in their release.

According to police, “less than ten minutes” after they received the call from the jogger about finding the deceased woman, her teenaged son placed a call to 911 “regarding a kidnapping” at their home. Officers say they confirmed that the subject in both calls was the same woman.

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

Police did not release a possible motive for the homicide, however, they believed it could have stemmed from a possible argument that happened on Tuesday night that carried through to 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 kinda like a Halloween scarecrow or something like that” when he passed by. However,  as he got “closer and closer, it was starting to look like a real person,” and he 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 a crime scene,” Richey told the outlet. “The handle was broken in two pieces 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 that if I could’ve heard her last word, it would’ve been about her family, about the people that she loved,” Hatch said. “That’s the kind of person that she was.”

Hatch also noted that it was “completely incomprehensible” that her son is accused of committing the crime, adding, “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.”

According to a GoFundMe set up for her family, Collier leaves behind a husband and four children, with the youngest being 10-years-old.

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