Authorities in Georgia said Wednesday there was no evidence that a missing Georgia mother who was found dead last month had been kidnapped despite a chilling text message to her daughter indicating that she was possibly being held against her will.
The Habersham County Sheriff's Office said that investigators have found no evidence linking the death of Deborrah Collier, 59, to suicide.
An incident report shows that a partially burned naked body was found Sept. 11 in the woods off the side of a road in north Georgia, about an hour from her home in Athens.
Collier's last known communication was a text message sent to her daughter saying: They won't let me go, there is a key to the house underneath a flower pot, according to the report.
Collier had sent $2,385 to her daughter through Venmo, according to the release.
Neither the sheriff's office nor Collier's daughter responded immediately to requests for comment.
On Sept. 11, authorities in Habersham County were alerted that Collier's vehicle, a late model van, was linked to a missing persons report filed in Clarke County.
The report states that the van was found a short time later on the side of a state road in Clarkesville.
A police officer from a nearby department told a deputy he had seen the van in the same spot the day before, and described the area as a place where vehicles often pull over.
According to the report, the van was empty and unlocked. The report says after a K-9 search in nearby woods, officers found a red tote bag on its side near an uprooted tree.
The report says that they saw what appeared to be the remains of a fire and a partially burned blue tarp. The report says they found a naked woman on her back, grasping a small tree with her right hand.
Her abdomen appeared to have been burned, according to the report.
The state crime lab conducted an autopsy, according to the sheriff's office.
The news release said that the investigation continues and that authorities executed search warrants at locations directly tied to Collier. The release says that investigators have talked with people close to her.