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Hell and Gone Murder Line: Shannon Lee Collins Part 2 · Hell and Gone: Murder Line

0:08
Speaker 1: School of Humans.
0:14
Speaker 2: On March eleventh, twenty twenty one, Shannon Lee Collins, a
0:18
Speaker 2: forty eight year old veteran, came back from a work
0:21
Speaker 2: trip to his home in Pottsville, Arkansas. Shannon lived in
0:25
Speaker 2: a house with his wife, Teresa, who had been married
0:28
Speaker 2: to for more than twenty years, their son Josh, who
0:30
Speaker 2: was in his early twenties, and Shannon's stepdaughter Britney, who
0:33
Speaker 2: was about ten years older. I talked to Blake, Shannon's
0:37
Speaker 2: younger brother, for the episode last week. Blake has become
0:41
Speaker 2: kind of the unofficial family spokesperson. He's put together a
0:44
Speaker 2: comprehensive timeline of the events since Shannon went missing. As
0:48
Speaker 2: we said last week when we took a look at
0:51
Speaker 2: Shannon's timeline, by the time Blake reported Shannon missing in
0:55
Speaker 2: November of twenty twenty one, it had been nine months
0:58
Speaker 2: since he disappeared. So as we continue our investigation, we're
1:03
Speaker 2: going to look at a couple of different things. First,
1:06
Speaker 2: what angles are the police investigating and are they making
1:09
Speaker 2: any progress in finding out what really happened to Shannon?
1:13
Speaker 2: And secondly, what do you do if you suspect foul
1:17
Speaker 2: play but there's no body or sign of a struggle.
1:20
Speaker 2: What do you do if you're a family member and
1:23
Speaker 2: someone you love disappears, when the person seems to have
1:26
Speaker 2: been erased from existence? And what is going to happen
1:30
Speaker 2: to Shannon's family? Who will not let Shannon go and
1:33
Speaker 2: will not stop asking questions? I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the
1:38
Speaker 2: past five years of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone,
1:41
Speaker 2: I have learned that there is no such thing as
1:44
Speaker 2: a small town where murder never happens. I have received
1:48
Speaker 2: hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking
1:51
Speaker 2: for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families,
1:55
Speaker 2: and their communities. If you have a case you'd like
1:58
Speaker 2: me and my team to look into, you can reach
2:00
Speaker 2: out to us at our Helen Gone Murder Line at
2:03
Speaker 2: six seven eight seven four four six one four five.
2:07
Speaker 2: That's six seven eight seven four four six one four five.
2:12
Speaker 2: This is Helen Gone Murder Line. Last week we went
3:08
Speaker 2: into a lot of detail about the timeline, figuring out
3:11
Speaker 2: what we know for sure. Again, this is based on
3:14
Speaker 2: information that the police have shared with Blake, Shannon's brother.
3:18
Speaker 2: On March eleventh, twenty twenty one, Shannon returned to Arkansas
3:22
Speaker 2: from a work trip he had delivered an item to
3:25
Speaker 2: the East Coast, but before he came home, he flew
3:28
Speaker 2: from the East Coast to Memphis, Tennessee, where he spent
3:31
Speaker 2: some time with a woman he had been seeing. Shannon's
3:34
Speaker 2: girlfriend lived in Tennessee. Blake said he does not know
3:38
Speaker 2: who she is, but police have told him that she
3:41
Speaker 2: has cooperated fully with law enforcement. Even though on the surface,
3:46
Speaker 2: Blake said that it seemed like Shannon and his wife, Teresa,
3:50
Speaker 2: had a good relationship, Shannon had told his family that
3:53
Speaker 2: behind the scenes, things had been deteriorating for a long time.
3:58
Speaker 2: Shannon had been telling members of his family that he
4:01
Speaker 2: and his wife had discussed divorce many times and that
4:04
Speaker 2: he planned a divorce Teresa as soon as their son
4:07
Speaker 2: graduated from college. Shannon's wife knew about his girlfriend and
4:14
Speaker 2: was tracking his every movement the entire time he was
4:17
Speaker 2: gone that week. Investigators know from electronic data that Shannon
4:22
Speaker 2: returned home to his address in Pottsville, Arkansas, around ten
4:25
Speaker 2: thirty PM on the night of March eleventh, twenty twenty one. Now,
4:29
Speaker 2: when he arrived home that night, data shows that both
4:32
Speaker 2: his wife and his son were in the house. His
4:36
Speaker 2: stepdaughter came by the next morning. No one else was
4:40
Speaker 2: in the house that night, just Shannon, his wife, and
4:42
Speaker 2: their son, and electronic data also shows that Shannon had
4:47
Speaker 2: been communicating with his girlfriend, the woman he was seeing
4:50
Speaker 2: before he ever entered the house. We also know that
4:54
Speaker 2: from what the police have told Blake about these communications
4:57
Speaker 2: and statements from this woman, that Shannon was worried about
5:00
Speaker 2: going home that night. Blake said that Shannon's girlfriend sent
5:05
Speaker 2: him a Facebook message and that she received one back,
5:09
Speaker 2: supposedly from Shannon, that just said I'm okay, But Blake
5:13
Speaker 2: said he does not believe that this came from his brother.
5:17
Speaker 2: This is important to note because Blake said he believes
5:21
Speaker 2: that this message came from someone in Shannon's house, someone
5:24
Speaker 2: who had access to his Facebook account. Blake explained in
5:28
Speaker 2: his timeline that the settings on Shannon's Facebook account appear
5:33
Speaker 2: to have been manipulated since his disappearance, and that Shannon's
5:37
Speaker 2: friends list had been changed to private. He went on
5:40
Speaker 2: to explain that the location where these changes took place
5:43
Speaker 2: could be traced back to a specific IP address. Since
5:48
Speaker 2: March twelfth, twenty twenty one, police have been unable to
5:51
Speaker 2: find one single shred of data that can be linked
5:54
Speaker 2: to Shannon any way. There's no surveillance footage, no confirmed
6:00
Speaker 2: calls made to any family or friends, no text messages,
6:03
Speaker 2: no Facebook posts or messages, no Internet searches on Shannon's
6:07
Speaker 2: phone or his computer, no checks written from his bank account,
6:11
Speaker 2: no credit card purchases. Blake said Shannon neither put money
6:16
Speaker 2: in nor withdrew money from his bank account. He didn't
6:19
Speaker 2: transfer any money, and most crucially, Shannon did not contact
6:23
Speaker 2: the government about his pension. And Yet, even though Shannon
6:28
Speaker 2: apparently could not call his brother, his parents, or his sister,
6:32
Speaker 2: someone was allegedly changing the settings on Shannon's Facebook page.
6:36
Speaker 2: So if it wasn't Shannon who did that, who could
6:40
Speaker 2: have potentially had access to his social media his electronic devices.
6:45
Speaker 2: After Blake reported Shannon missing in November of twenty twenty one,
6:49
Speaker 2: Blake talked to federal agents. Now at that time, Shannon's
6:53
Speaker 2: VA disability and pension payments had been cut off for
6:56
Speaker 2: several months. At this point, it's been almost three years
7:00
Speaker 2: since he went missing. He would have been owed over
7:03
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand dollars in back pay, and yet Shannon
7:06
Speaker 2: has never called to reactivate those benefits. In addition to this,
7:11
Speaker 2: information from the police Blake has heard about what Shannon's
7:14
Speaker 2: wife has told law enforcement. She has allegedly told law
7:18
Speaker 2: enforcement that Shannon decided to leave the house with no
7:21
Speaker 2: money or belongings, and not in any one of the
7:25
Speaker 2: three vehicles they had at home, that he simply walked
7:28
Speaker 2: out of the house and walked away on foot. In
7:31
Speaker 2: July twenty twenty one, Shannon's stepdaughter told his sister Holly,
7:35
Speaker 2: that Shannon was texting from his old phone number. The
7:38
Speaker 2: police said there was never a text message sent from
7:41
Speaker 2: Shannon's phone after he disappeared. Teresa apparently tried to explain
7:46
Speaker 2: this discrepancy. She said that when Shannon left the house,
7:50
Speaker 2: he had his phone with him, but she said he
7:52
Speaker 2: must have lost it because she told police that Shannon
7:55
Speaker 2: had started texting from a new phone number. Teresa claimed
7:59
Speaker 2: she'd been receiving calls and texts from this new phone. Now,
8:02
Speaker 2: this was a number that Shannon's family had never seen before.
8:07
Speaker 2: We talked a little about that last week, but I
8:09
Speaker 2: got more details from Blake because apparently, not only did
8:13
Speaker 2: Teresa say Shannon's texting from this new number, but she
8:17
Speaker 2: said Shannon told her specific things in his text that
8:19
Speaker 2: would supposedly answer some of the police's questions. These alleged
8:24
Speaker 2: texts from Shannon said that he needed time to himself,
8:27
Speaker 2: he wasn't thinking straight, he needed just to get away.
8:30
Speaker 2: Then later Teresa said she had gotten text from Shannon
8:33
Speaker 2: talking about how he had checked himself into a mental
8:36
Speaker 2: health facility. He said he would let them know when
8:39
Speaker 2: he was okay. Now, Blake was not buying that these
8:43
Speaker 2: text messages came from his brother. To him, it sounded
8:46
Speaker 2: completely out of character, especially once he heard about another
8:50
Speaker 2: text message. Teresa told law enforcement Shannon had sent her
8:54
Speaker 2: a text saying he wanted her and his son to
8:57
Speaker 2: have all of the monthly pension payments that he received.
9:01
Speaker 2: So it's become clear to me that if we want
9:04
Speaker 2: to figure out what's going on on in this case,
9:06
Speaker 2: we need to follow the money. Let's go back to
9:14
Speaker 2: March eleventh, twenty twenty, Shannon came back to his family
9:18
Speaker 2: home at around ten thirty. Teresa told police that she
9:22
Speaker 2: and Shannon went to bed that night and that everything
9:24
Speaker 2: was normal. The next morning, March twelfth, Shannon was supposed
9:29
Speaker 2: to pick up a delivery for the company he was
9:31
Speaker 2: working for and take it out of state. But Shannon
9:34
Speaker 2: never showed up to make that delivery. And that's when
9:37
Speaker 2: another person comes into play, because Shannon's son in law,
9:41
Speaker 2: Britney's husband worked for that same delivery company, and Shannon's
9:45
Speaker 2: son in law has spoken to Blake. When the son
9:50
Speaker 2: in law found out that Shannon did not show up
9:53
Speaker 2: to take that scheduled delivery, the son in law ended
9:56
Speaker 2: up taking the load himself before he did. According to Blake,
10:00
Speaker 2: the son in law had a conversation with Shannon's wife, Teresa.
10:03
Speaker 2: He asked if he should report Shannon missing. Shannon's wife
10:07
Speaker 2: said she didn't know. Neither the son in law nor
10:11
Speaker 2: Teresa reported Shannon missing. So I'm wondering about this because
10:16
Speaker 2: what happened there? What did they tell Shannon's boss. I
10:20
Speaker 2: am trying to reach out and get in touch with
10:23
Speaker 2: people at that company and with Shannon's employer, because we
10:26
Speaker 2: really need to understand who called in to say that
10:30
Speaker 2: Shannon was not coming to pick up that delivery that day.
10:33
Speaker 2: Shannon's son in law also told Blake a few other things.
10:37
Speaker 2: He said he saw Shannon's wife a few days after
10:39
Speaker 2: Shannon disappeared, and that when he did, Teresa had a
10:43
Speaker 2: bandage on her arm. The son in law said they
10:46
Speaker 2: discussed the bandage and why she had it, but that
10:49
Speaker 2: Teresa couldn't really give an explanation to what had happened
10:52
Speaker 2: to her. Shannon's brother in law allegedly told police something
10:56
Speaker 2: that I've actually heard from a few different people, something
10:59
Speaker 2: along the lines of Shannon being military, being trained, and
11:03
Speaker 2: saying that essentially, if he didn't want to be found,
11:07
Speaker 2: he wouldn't be found. Blake points out that is a
11:10
Speaker 2: ridiculous line of reasoning. He said, it might make sense
11:13
Speaker 2: if Shannon was a highly trained special op soldier, if
11:16
Speaker 2: he was a Navy seal or Army ranger, but Shannon
11:19
Speaker 2: was a retired National Guard veteran, and I agree. I
11:23
Speaker 2: think that there's absolutely no evidence that Shannon had any
11:27
Speaker 2: intention of walking away from his life. But let's look
11:30
Speaker 2: at that a little bit more in depth. First of all,
11:32
Speaker 2: I think if he was planning on going rogue, Blake
11:35
Speaker 2: is clear Shannon's wife told police that Shannon left the
11:39
Speaker 2: house with no clothes, no car, no money, nothing, So
11:42
Speaker 2: which was it. Was he this super prepared military man,
11:45
Speaker 2: or was he someone who was so unbalanced he would
11:48
Speaker 2: walk away with just the clothes on his back and
11:50
Speaker 2: later say he's checking into a mental health facility. I
11:55
Speaker 2: should say now, there were some other people in and
11:57
Speaker 2: around the house on the day after Shannon disappeared, on
12:01
Speaker 2: March eleventh, and on March twelfth. On March eleventh, before
12:05
Speaker 2: Shannon arrived home for the last time, a friend of
12:08
Speaker 2: Shannon's son was at the house. Now, I want to
12:11
Speaker 2: be clear, this is taken from electronic data that the
12:15
Speaker 2: police have they've shared with Blake. That data apparently shows
12:19
Speaker 2: that this friend was not at the house when Shannon
12:21
Speaker 2: arrived home, so there's no evidence he knew anything about
12:23
Speaker 2: his disappearance. But this person came back to the house
12:27
Speaker 2: the following day, March twelfth. It's interesting because that friend's
12:32
Speaker 2: mom is also friends with Teresa. Blake believes that at
12:37
Speaker 2: some point Teresa, with the help of this friend, allegedly
12:41
Speaker 2: took sixteen thousand dollars to the safe at the church
12:45
Speaker 2: office at Russellville First Assembly. Now, Blake said this was
12:48
Speaker 2: after the police began their investigation. It wasn't until later
12:52
Speaker 2: the police found out about Shannon's wife hiding the sixteen
12:55
Speaker 2: thousand dollars in the church office safe. By then, police
12:59
Speaker 2: had already interviewed her, So where did this money come
13:03
Speaker 2: from and why if this happened this way, would Teresa
13:07
Speaker 2: allegedly be trying to hide it. Blake was trying to
13:12
Speaker 2: get word out. He said he was told that the
13:14
Speaker 2: police had hit a wall. He said he was told
13:16
Speaker 2: to do whatever he needed to do to spread the
13:18
Speaker 2: word about Shannon's story in the community.
13:21
Speaker 3: The police, the lead investigator, tells us that they essentially
13:25
Speaker 3: hit a wall, and they know who their suspects are,
13:28
Speaker 3: and they know what they believe, and they know that
13:31
Speaker 3: they've got all this evidence. So they essentially tell me
13:34
Speaker 3: they're at a wall, and they give us our blessing
13:37
Speaker 3: to us to go out and try to bring awareness
13:40
Speaker 3: to the story. So that's exactly what we began to do.
13:45
Speaker 2: So in addition to creating the Facebook page Share Shannon's Story,
13:49
Speaker 2: Blake also reached out to Shannon's church, but he said
13:53
Speaker 2: the response that he got was not what he expected.
13:56
Speaker 3: I started the Share shann Story facebook page around late May.
14:00
Speaker 3: It starts to build a little bit of momentum, which
14:03
Speaker 3: we're extremely grateful for. Everything's working great, and all of
14:08
Speaker 3: a sudden, we get some interactions with one of the
14:13
Speaker 3: local churches.
14:15
Speaker 2: That church was the Russellville First Assembly Church, Shannon and
14:18
Speaker 2: his family had been attending for years. Blake had an idea.
14:23
Speaker 2: He thought that if he placed an anonymous prayer request
14:25
Speaker 2: on the church's website that people would see it. He
14:28
Speaker 2: thought it might start something up and get people talking.
14:32
Speaker 3: And when we do that in that local church, we
14:34
Speaker 3: find out that they are beginning to delete a prayer
14:38
Speaker 3: request from a follower of our Facebook page. They're deleting
14:42
Speaker 3: other people's Facebook comments on their page, nothing derogatory or salacious.
14:48
Speaker 3: As an example, one of the comments was hashtag Shannon Collins,
14:54
Speaker 3: hashtag missing better. That's all it was. They begin to
14:57
Speaker 3: block comments the prayer request. It's on a Sunday during
15:01
Speaker 3: a life sermon. You can look at our page. It
15:03
Speaker 3: literally says please read Chaerishannon story, and it asked for
15:07
Speaker 3: prayer to our family. They immediately block this user, they
15:11
Speaker 3: delete the comment, they kick them out of the live stream,
15:15
Speaker 3: and I'm floored. I'm shocked. My brother is a member
15:18
Speaker 3: of this church for many many years. His wife and
15:22
Speaker 3: kids are members for many years. Why this is happening,
15:25
Speaker 3: I don't know.
15:27
Speaker 2: So that's when Blake said, all hell broke loose.
15:30
Speaker 3: So when that occurs, I make a post in response
15:34
Speaker 3: to let the public know what had happened. Well, it's
15:37
Speaker 3: not long that all of a sudden, the Pope County
15:41
Speaker 3: Sheriff's office calls me and ask me, quote unquote to
15:45
Speaker 3: ease off the church and to not be making any
15:49
Speaker 3: comments about the church. And I'm absolutely shocked. At this point.
15:53
Speaker 3: My thoughts are, why is somebody in the sheriff's department
15:57
Speaker 3: asking me to do anything when it comes to a
15:59
Speaker 3: church when all I've done is tell the truth. I'm
16:02
Speaker 3: not the bad person here. I just I'm telling the
16:04
Speaker 3: truth of what happened. And all of a sudden, this
16:08
Speaker 3: is a problem. We were given the blessing to do
16:11
Speaker 3: whatever we needed to bring attention, and all of a sudden,
16:13
Speaker 3: the church gets involved and now they want us to
16:16
Speaker 3: not talk about the church. And so again I'm absolutely
16:20
Speaker 3: plored when this happens. And so I reach out to
16:23
Speaker 3: the local prosecutor's office and have a forty five minute
16:26
Speaker 3: phone call with the deputy prosecutor, and I explained that
16:29
Speaker 3: I'm extremely concerned. I can only take this as a threat.
16:33
Speaker 3: They told us we could do whatever we needed, and
16:35
Speaker 3: all of a sudden, now it's the problem.
16:40
Speaker 2: Blake was confused. The police had told him explicitly he
16:43
Speaker 2: could do whatever it takes to get the word out
16:45
Speaker 2: about his brother's disappearance. But now he claims they're saying
16:49
Speaker 2: stop looking into the Russell Bilt First Assembly Church. And
16:53
Speaker 2: what he thinks is happening is that some people at
16:56
Speaker 2: the police department could be connected with people at the church.
17:00
Speaker 2: By the way, Blake says that there's also a school
17:03
Speaker 2: affiliated with the church. Blake pointed out some members of
17:06
Speaker 2: Shannon's family, as well as the local police department, also
17:09
Speaker 2: have connections with that school. Of course, this does not
17:13
Speaker 2: prove anyone knew anything about Shannon's disappearance, but it caused
17:17
Speaker 2: Blake to believe that these connections could potentially compromise some
17:22
Speaker 2: members of law enforcement's objectivity.
17:24
Speaker 3: And so when that happened, I'm now looking at at
17:27
Speaker 3: a bias and an impartiality that seems to be taking
17:31
Speaker 3: hold here because it seems that the police can't be
17:35
Speaker 3: fair when it comes to this church, and whether they
17:38
Speaker 3: like it or not, they are involved. And the reason
17:40
Speaker 3: that is is because someone in that church allowed my
17:43
Speaker 3: brother's wife try to hide sixteen thousand dollars.
17:47
Speaker 2: This is a huge statement from Blake. He thinks that
17:51
Speaker 2: potentially Shannon's wife or someone close to her hid money
17:55
Speaker 2: inside that church safe and he wants to know why.
17:58
Speaker 2: He also mentioned federal investigators looking into Shannon's VA benefits,
18:03
Speaker 2: which remember, we're still being deposit it into Shannon's bank
18:06
Speaker 2: account for months after he went missing. If there was
18:10
Speaker 2: sixteen thousand dollars given to the church in some way,
18:14
Speaker 2: that would have been around four months worth of VA benefits.
18:17
Speaker 2: So if this is true, if money was taken to
18:21
Speaker 2: the church, it does seem incredibly suspicious.
18:25
Speaker 3: When he's reported missing, the pastor of the church is
18:29
Speaker 3: interviewed by the police. He never once says anything to
18:33
Speaker 3: the police about the sixteen thousand dollars, and you think, well,
18:36
Speaker 3: maybe he wasn't a way. Well, they interviewed him a
18:39
Speaker 3: second time and for some reason, they tell him about
18:42
Speaker 3: the money instead of the other way around. When they do,
18:45
Speaker 3: he admits that he knows about the money.
18:49
Speaker 2: Blake said someone reached out to him and said they
18:52
Speaker 2: had spoken to the pastor directly about that money.
18:56
Speaker 3: I have had someone reach out to me in a message,
18:59
Speaker 3: in a private message. I won't give their name, but
19:02
Speaker 3: they told me that money was only in the safe
19:05
Speaker 3: for two hours before it was out of the church. Well,
19:09
Speaker 3: if that's the case, and I don't know that to
19:12
Speaker 3: be true, but if it was the case, then I
19:15
Speaker 3: would think that the pastor would have definitely remembered that
19:18
Speaker 3: portion that it was out in two hours, and he
19:20
Speaker 3: would have told the police about it. But you know,
19:23
Speaker 3: of course he said it slipped his mind. So I'm
19:25
Speaker 3: not sure what to say about that.
19:28
Speaker 2: But are they saying, I mean, did the police tell
19:30
Speaker 2: you that?
19:32
Speaker 3: Did the police tell you any of this? Are you
19:34
Speaker 3: getting this from other people? Well, the part about the
19:38
Speaker 3: two hours it was out with the two hours came
19:40
Speaker 3: from somebody on a message in the face, so I
19:42
Speaker 3: don't know how. I don't know how accurate that is,
19:45
Speaker 3: but I was just making the point that somebody obviously
19:48
Speaker 3: told them that within the church that it was out
19:50
Speaker 3: with the two hours. Well, if that was the case,
19:52
Speaker 3: then I think that the pastor would have remembered that.
19:56
Speaker 2: Blake said that the woman, the mother of Shannon's son's friend,
20:00
Speaker 2: has connections with the church, So.
20:03
Speaker 3: I believe the one I'm referring to, the woman who
20:08
Speaker 3: helped with the money hide the money. I know that
20:11
Speaker 3: I reached out to the church about my issue within
20:15
Speaker 3: the leading the prayer request, and when I did, this
20:18
Speaker 3: woman is the one who replied and said the pastor
20:21
Speaker 3: would like to speak with me.
20:23
Speaker 2: So Blake is suggesting three really big things here. That
20:26
Speaker 2: Teresa hid sixteen thousand dollars inside that church at some point,
20:31
Speaker 2: that the church's pastor lied to police about knowing about
20:34
Speaker 2: the money, and the police don't want him Blake to
20:38
Speaker 2: keep looking into the church. So I did some research
20:48
Speaker 2: on how investigations work when police have nobody and no
20:51
Speaker 2: obvious signs of foul play. This is something we deal
20:53
Speaker 2: with a lot in this podcast. I went back to
20:55
Speaker 2: my old favorite book, Practical Homicide Investigations by Vernon Gidbirth.
21:00
Speaker 2: He's a former NYPD detective who wrote the textbook that
21:04
Speaker 2: trains a lot of law enforcement the United States. My
21:07
Speaker 2: textbook is old and so beaten up at this point
21:09
Speaker 2: and super heavy, But even though some of the technology
21:13
Speaker 2: may be out of date, I go back to this
21:14
Speaker 2: book constantly. It is such a good and comprehensive overview
21:18
Speaker 2: on how police investigations really happen. It says, quote, when
21:23
Speaker 2: an investigator suspects foul play, the missing person investigation needs
21:27
Speaker 2: to focus on capturing the victim's routine activities. Individuals impact
21:31
Speaker 2: the world around them through their relationships, electronic footprints, personal
21:35
Speaker 2: and professional obligations, financial decisions, and other routine activities. Investigators
21:41
Speaker 2: should identify the victim's actions prior to the disappearance relationally.
21:45
Speaker 2: This may include individuals the victim recently had contact with,
21:49
Speaker 2: the last known sightings of the missing person, latest conversation,
21:52
Speaker 2: topics discussed, and the victim's mindset end quote. Basically, he's
21:58
Speaker 2: saying detectives need to figure out a person's pattern of life,
22:01
Speaker 2: their state of mind, and importantly, what they replace planning
22:05
Speaker 2: in the future. We know that Shannon was having issues
22:09
Speaker 2: at home. He was telling his family that he planned
22:11
Speaker 2: to leave his marriage, but we also know Shannon was
22:14
Speaker 2: excited about the future and about his new relationship. Blake
22:18
Speaker 2: said that he had basically never seen his brother happier.
22:22
Speaker 2: The book also says detectives need to focus on what
22:27
Speaker 2: they call proving the negative. Basically, if they can't prove
22:30
Speaker 2: what did happen, they need to look at the possibility
22:34
Speaker 2: of what didn't happen? What wouldn't this person do. This
22:38
Speaker 2: is much easier because there is a lot of evidence
22:41
Speaker 2: that Shannon Collins would not and did not disappear off
22:45
Speaker 2: the face of the earth voluntarily. So what did happen
22:49
Speaker 2: to him? If we can't find a body or physical evidence,
22:52
Speaker 2: we need to follow the money. We need to work
22:55
Speaker 2: with the facts we have, and that's what Blake has
22:57
Speaker 2: been trying to do. Just to be clear, we are
23:00
Speaker 2: not suggesting that the pastor or anyone at the church
23:03
Speaker 2: is in any way connected to Shannon's disappearance. Blake just
23:06
Speaker 2: wants to know if money was put into that church safe,
23:09
Speaker 2: why it happened, and under what conditions. Most importantly, why
23:13
Speaker 2: the police are trying to shut him down when he
23:15
Speaker 2: asked about the church or about this money. Because Shannon's
23:19
Speaker 2: money is one of the few concrete leads detectives have,
23:22
Speaker 2: So it doesn't make sense to me that they wouldn't
23:25
Speaker 2: want to follow every single lead.
23:27
Speaker 3: I mean, he was involved in the church and people
23:29
Speaker 3: knew him and his wife worked in some capacity. I
23:34
Speaker 3: don't know if she was paid. I believe she was
23:36
Speaker 3: paid as a job, but she worked at the church
23:39
Speaker 3: on a regular basis, whether it was paid or voluntary.
23:42
Speaker 3: She was a big part of working there, and so
23:45
Speaker 3: was my brother's step daughter, and I believe she worked
23:48
Speaker 3: in the daycare. Again, I don't know if it was
23:50
Speaker 3: a paid job or it was voluntary. I believe it
23:53
Speaker 3: was paid. But the reason that's important is if you
23:56
Speaker 3: talk to the police, they'll tell you there's this school
23:59
Speaker 3: has no association with the church, and vice versa. But
24:02
Speaker 3: that's a little difficult to believe, considering that at some
24:06
Speaker 3: point this church tells my brother's wife, stepdaughter, and son
24:11
Speaker 3: they are no longer allowed to be at the church,
24:13
Speaker 3: and that they are basically kicked out.
24:16
Speaker 1: At the church.
24:18
Speaker 2: This is interesting because the pastor actually addressed the case
24:22
Speaker 2: and the controversy in a recent sermon. Here's an excerpt.
24:26
Speaker 1: Some of you might have seen the article that was
24:31
Speaker 1: published in the paper. I believe it was this past
24:34
Speaker 1: week in the Courier. I don't know how many of
24:35
Speaker 1: you guys still get the paper, but I believe I
24:39
Speaker 1: need to address some things regarding that article and certainly
24:42
Speaker 1: some things that's happened a number of years ago. Many
24:47
Speaker 1: of you have heard the story of Shannon Collins. Shannon
24:52
Speaker 1: and his wife and his two children attended church here
24:55
Speaker 1: at RFA for several years, and in twenty twenty one,
25:01
Speaker 1: Shannon went missing. Since late twenty twenty one early twenty
25:05
Speaker 1: twenty two, there has been an ongoing investigation into Shannon's disappearance,
25:11
Speaker 1: and while Shannon's immediate family no longer attends church here,
25:14
Speaker 1: we have continued to pray for them and also to
25:19
Speaker 1: pray for Shannon's extended family, his parents and his siblings.
25:23
Speaker 1: I can't imagine what they are feeling, what they're going
25:26
Speaker 1: through because it's been years now. Russellville First Assembly has
25:32
Speaker 1: cooperated and will continue to cooperate with the Pope County
25:37
Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office as long as it takes to get answers
25:41
Speaker 1: and closure for the Collins family. Throughout the course of
25:46
Speaker 1: this investigation, there have been lots of opinions, stories, and
25:49
Speaker 1: even narratives that have been talked about around town and
25:53
Speaker 1: also on social media. Some of the information is true
25:58
Speaker 1: and some of the information has not been true. I
26:01
Speaker 1: would encourage everyone to get your information direct from the
26:06
Speaker 1: Pope County Sheriff's Office so that the integrity of this
26:10
Speaker 1: investigation can be protected. We want Shannon to be home.
26:17
Speaker 2: The pastor then goes on to ask the congregation to
26:20
Speaker 2: pray for Shannon's extended family, meaning Blake and his parents
26:24
Speaker 2: and sister. Now, I don't want to speak for them.
26:27
Speaker 2: I'm sure they appreciate those thoughts, but if it were me,
26:31
Speaker 2: I would say, save your thoughts and prayers and give
26:35
Speaker 2: me some information. I agree that people who have information
26:39
Speaker 2: should go to the Pope County Sheriff's Department. But I
26:43
Speaker 2: have to say the hairs on the back of my
26:45
Speaker 2: neck stand up a little bit when the pastor kind
26:49
Speaker 2: of sounds like he's implying that people should only talk
26:52
Speaker 2: to police. He says, to protect the integrity of the investigation.
26:57
Speaker 2: I hope he's not suggesting that talking to investigative journalists
27:00
Speaker 2: is a bad thing, because they have certainly helped solve
27:03
Speaker 2: a lot of cases. Listen podcasts have brought a lot
27:07
Speaker 2: of injustice to light, including by the way, abuses inside
27:11
Speaker 2: certain churches. Not to quote scripture, but I'm pretty sure
27:15
Speaker 2: it was Jesus who said the truth would set you free.
27:19
Speaker 2: You can clearly hear the pastor say Shannon's family does
27:22
Speaker 2: not go to that church anymore, but even the circumstances
27:26
Speaker 2: of that are a little unclear. Blake wants to know
27:30
Speaker 2: why they no longer attend that church. Did Shannon's disappearance
27:33
Speaker 2: have anything to do with them not attending services there anymore.
27:37
Speaker 2: To him, the timing seems coincidental.
27:39
Speaker 3: This whole thing about I mean, it's like the church
27:43
Speaker 3: from the beginning has wanted to just cover this up
27:45
Speaker 3: like it never happened. Our goal from the very beginning
27:49
Speaker 3: has been to get coverage on this story, for people
27:52
Speaker 3: to know the truth, the truth about how it took,
27:56
Speaker 3: why it took so long for us to report in missing,
27:59
Speaker 3: because of the lies we were told by a family
28:01
Speaker 3: who we were supposed to have believe loved my brother,
28:05
Speaker 3: and the fact that they've lied to everyone. They've lied
28:08
Speaker 3: to the community, they've lied to us, they've lied to
28:11
Speaker 3: the police. They continue to lie. And my goal is
28:16
Speaker 3: that everyone could just please share this story far and wide.
28:19
Speaker 3: I want everyone in this country and beyond to know
28:22
Speaker 3: the truth about what happened to my brother. And that
28:25
Speaker 3: is where we're at now, and as we continue this journey,
28:28
Speaker 3: our goal is to continue to put pressure on the
28:30
Speaker 3: people that know the truth, because there are people that
28:33
Speaker 3: know what happened and they're refusing to talk. And again
28:36
Speaker 3: you're talking about people that are supposed to love my
28:39
Speaker 3: brother who refuse to help bring him home, and it
28:43
Speaker 3: is beyond comprehension that they are willing to do nothing
28:48
Speaker 3: to help my brother. And it's something I never thought
28:51
Speaker 3: I would be living. It's a surreal feeling to be
28:53
Speaker 3: here talking now, but that's unfortunately where we're at.
28:58
Speaker 2: Well, thank you for talking to me, and I really
29:02
Speaker 2: think you've done an amazing job of putting together being
29:04
Speaker 2: an advocate of your brother.
29:05
Speaker 3: Really, I mean like you've done a really great job.
29:08
Speaker 3: So I appreciate what we're grateful for to you. We're
29:12
Speaker 3: grateful to everyone who is willing to just at least
29:15
Speaker 3: pass this story along so people can know the truth.
29:21
Speaker 2: We need to talk to people in this church community
29:24
Speaker 2: in Russellville First Assembly. Again, this is not about blaming
29:28
Speaker 2: anyone in the church or being suspicious, as many people
29:31
Speaker 2: who listen to this podcast know, I am a strong
29:33
Speaker 2: advocate of law enforcement. I want to help the police
29:36
Speaker 2: do their jobs. But when we hit a wall and
29:38
Speaker 2: get to a situation where perhaps certain angles are not
29:41
Speaker 2: being investigated for whatever reason, I believe it is the
29:45
Speaker 2: responsibility of everyone in Shannon's church community, everyone at Russellville
29:49
Speaker 2: First Assembly. If you have heard anything, if you've seen
29:53
Speaker 2: a Facebook post. Please reach out because, of course Shannon
29:57
Speaker 2: Collins is the potential victim here, but the surviving families
30:02
Speaker 2: are victims too. They need an advocate here. It should
30:05
Speaker 2: be law enforcement, and it should be the church officials.
30:08
Speaker 2: But if they're not stepping up, then someone else needs to.
30:12
Speaker 2: Someone inside the church, inside the community, who has answers
30:16
Speaker 2: needs to reach out and help find out what happened
30:19
Speaker 2: to Shannon Collins. I'm Katherine Townsend. This is Helen Gone
30:23
Speaker 2: Murder Line. Helen Gone Murder Line is a production of
30:34
Speaker 2: School of Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It's written and narrated
30:37
Speaker 2: by me Catherine Townsend and produced by Gabby Watts and
30:40
Speaker 2: Miranda Hawkins. Music contributed by Ben Salek. Special thanks to
30:45
Speaker 2: Amy Tubbs for her research assistance. This episode was sound
30:48
Speaker 2: design and mixed but Noah Kamer. Executive producers are Virginia Prescott,
30:52
Speaker 2: Brandon Barr, and Else Crowley. Listen to Helen Gone ad
30:56
Speaker 2: free by subscribing to the iHeart True Crime Plus channel
30:59
Speaker 2: on Apple Podcasts. You can follow the show on Instagram
31:02
Speaker 2: at Hell and Gone pod. If you have case you'd
31:06
Speaker 2: like me and my team to look into, you can
31:07
Speaker 2: reach out to us at our Helen Gone murder Line.
31:10
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