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Cynthia Collier endured horrific abuse as a child that may have contributed to her mental illness.
By Emily Van Devender — Written on Oct 21, 2018
By all accounts, 55-year-old Cynthia Collier of Columbia, Tennessee seemed like a loving mother to the four adopted children that she raised and homeschooled alone for 11 years.
She also had three biological children, whom she raised into adulthood with her husband of 30 years, Randall Collier. In fact, after authorities investigated the home on Monday, Maury County Sheriff Bucky Rowland made it a point to call the home “immaculate” and emphasized that law enforcement had never visited the residence before.
So what prompted the heavy police presence at the home and the extreme shock to the Columbia community? According to WSMV News 4, Cynthia Collier allegedly killed all four of her adoptive children before committing suicide.
The two 14-year-olds, Bo Li and Meigan Lin, 15-year-old Lia Lin, 17-year-old Kaileigh Lin and Collier herself were all found dead of gunshot wounds at their residence by an adult sibling who arrived home from work around 6 p.m. Sheriff Rowland did not give specifics but said that evidence at the scene suggested that it was a murder-suicide and that no other suspects were being pursued.
He also mentioned the possibility that Collier was suffering from mental illness that may have led her to carry out the atrocity.
She and Randall had recently gone through a divorce prompting familial drama involving the adopted children. Fox News 17 reported that, in addition to the recent familial drama involving Cynthia and Randall’s divorce, Cynthia was allegedly abused as a child which may have played a role in the difficulties in her marriage to Randall.
Records from the divorce proceedings earlier this year detailed the family dynamic with and without Randall in the home. He had moved out permanently in 2009, continuing to send the family $11,500 each month for support.
Despite his generous financial aid, the four adopted children did not feel close to him. In fact, he only tried to contact them once in the nine years that he lived away from them despite having legally adopted them. Their testimonies during the divorce proceedings provide both an idea of their relationship to him and of their relationship with Cynthia.
“My dad milks [our adoption] to try to seem like more of a good Christian family man than he actually is,” said one of the children in a sworn affidavit.
Another said that the children never truly considered him to be their father. Most shockingly, perhaps, was that one of the children overheard Randall telling Cynthia that she deserved the treatment she received from her parents as a child. While Randall reportedly attempted to obtain visitation rights to the children during the March 2018 divorce proceedings, both parties dropped their respective cases suddenly and without explanation.
The divorce was never finalized.
So far in the investigation, more questions remain than answers. The severity and magnitude of the case have left the community and first responders reeling.
“The magnitude of this … it’s more than what we’re used to on a day-to-day basis. That’s why our first responders stepped up. They were very professional, and I couldn’t be more proud of Maury County,” Rowland said in a press conference, adding that he wants the community to pray for the first responders after they witnessed such a gruesome scene.
The family was reportedly very private and not well-known to neighbors or the community. In the coming weeks, perhaps more answers will arise regarding the reasoning behind this horrific crime and the knowledge — if any — that Randall had about Cynthia Collier’s life at home.
Emily is a freelance writer based in Colorado. She covers politics, feminism, crime and psychology.