Debbie Collier case: Daughter goes on the record during live podcast
ATHENS, Ga. - The daughter of Athens woman Debbie Collier, whose disturbing death in Habersham County has caused much speculation, shared her story Wednesday evening during a live podcast.
Amanda Bearden appeared on the "Crime on the Record Podcast" during a special live-stream.
Bearden revealed for the first time that she thinks her mother took her own life.
Collier was found dead and naked on Sept. 11 in the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest south of Clayton, a 90-minute drive from her home in Athens. Her husband, Steven Collier, reported her missing around 6 p.m. the day earlier. She was a discovered few feet downhill from the site of a small fire, with burns on her stomach, soot in her nostrils and clutching at a small tree.
DEBBIE COLLIER: WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE INVESTIGATION
Collier was last seen alive at a Family Dollar store on Sept. 10, purchasing several items that were found burned near her remains. She also stopped by a Chick-fil-A restaurant beforehand, the sources noted.
The missing person report came after she sent a bizarre Venmo payment to her daughter, Amanda Bearden, of almost $2,400 along with the cryptic message: "They are not going to let me go love you there is a key to the house in the blue flowerpot by the door."
TIMELINE OF DEBBIE COLLIER DEATH INVESTIGATION, ACCORDING TO POLICE
Bearden and her boyfriend had moved back to Athens from Maryland just a few days before her disappearance.
She recalled being at the scene when investigators made the discovery.
"They were maybe in those woods ten minutes and the police officer came back and he said, ‘Come here.’ And I knew…," she told the podcasters.
At first, authorities said they were investigating her death as a homicide, but have since backtracked.
She says her mother was depressed, and had given away some of her possessions days before her death.
Bearden denied any involvement in her mother's death.
She told the podcaster she's already provided investigators with a sample of her DNA.
She said rumors and online speculation have hurt her relationship with her family.
"All my family turned against me. So, I get it thinking, you know, ‘This girl’s crazy.’ But they’re horrible awful human beings and I pray that the trauma and the pain that I had to go through when the police do make this press conference, which they told me that they will, I hope you don’t do this to another family," Bearden said during the podcast live-stream.
Bearden says law enforcement seized money from a Venmo payment her mother sent to her the day of her death.
They've since released it back to her.
Authorities have not yet released the autopsy report, toxicology results or her official cause and manner of death.
The FBI and GBI continue to investigate Collier's death.
Fox News contributed to this article