Mother Shoots Her 4 Children 34 Times Before Turning Gun On Herself In Apparent Murder-Suicide

Mother Shoots Her 4 Children 34 Times Before Turning Gun On Herself In Apparent Murder-Suicide

A Tennessee mother unloaded 34 rounds of ammunition into her four
children, killing them all before turning the gun on herself, according
to newly released autopsy reports.

Cynthia Collier, 55, brutally killed her adopted kids, Kaileigh Lin
Collier, 17, Lia Lin Collier, 15, Bo Li Collier and Meigan Lin Collier,
both 14 in what police have called a murder-suicide.

According to an autopsy conducted by Davidson County Senior Associate
Medical Examiner David Zimmerman, Kaileigh was shot 13 times in a
bathroom in the family’s Columbia, Tenn., home, WKRN reports. Lia was
found dead in her bed with nine gunshot wounds. Bo and Meigan were also
found dead in their beds, having sustained four and eight gunshot wounds
respectively.  

Collier’s autopsy revealed that she died from a self-inflicted
gunshot wound to the head. Her death was ruled a suicide, while all four
of the children’s deaths were ruled homicides. The five bodies were
later discovered by one of Collier’s three biological adult children. A
suicide note was reportedly discovered at the scene, but details of its
contents have not been released.  

Collier, a stay-at-home mom who homeschooled the four victims,
“seemed to be a very loving mother, with the exception of this one
incident,” according to Maury County Sheriff Bucky Rowland. The
Tennessean reports that Collier married her current husband, Randall
Collier, the legal father of the victims, in 1982. After raising three
biological children one daughter and two sons the couple adopted
Kaileigh, Lia, Bo and Meigan from China in 2007. Randall Collier
permanently moved out of the family home in 2009 but continued sending
$11,500 in child support each month, leaving Cynthia to raise the kids
by herself for 11 years, according to WZTV.  

The Colliers entered divorce proceedings in the spring of 2018, with
Randall seeking partial custody of the children, all of whom he
allegedly had little previous contact with. Cynthia and the children
fought back in court against the idea of partial custody until the end
of May, when the couple suddenly asked for the case to be dismissed.  

Authorities say they are still baffled over the gruesome attack and
are currently hunting for a motive.  “This appears to be a loving home,”
Sheriff Rowland said during an October press conference, the Tennessean
reports. “It’s an immaculate home and a very loving family. So a motive
would be very important to know what would lead someone to do this to
her loved ones.”