TX - *LOCATED* Barefoot woman seen on surveillance video, Montgomery County, 24 Aug 2018

[rosesfromangels]

Boyfriend of mystery woman who rang doorbell was 'no monster,' his brother says

"He killed himself not out of guilt, but because he couldn't stand his daughter thinking of him that way and because he had been unhappy for a long time," Jeff Collins. "My brother's come out looking like a monster in all this but he wasn't. He was a good man. They were both good people."

I understand a brother defending his own brother, but he does *not* know what went on behind closed doors.

 

[margarita25]

wow, that's quite a disparity in appearance. you can kinda see the 30 year old version in those fb pics; he must've packed some hard living/eating/drinking into the years in between. Occupational hazards of being a north Texas boat salesman

Again, what has he possibly done to other women, maybe on his boat(s)?

I wonder if those restraints, if “hand made” so to speak, came from any boat-related materials.

 

[Kittymama]

Boyfriend of mystery woman who rang doorbell was 'no monster,' his brother says

"He killed himself not out of guilt, but because he couldn't stand his daughter thinking of him that way and because he had been unhappy for a long time," Jeff Collins. "My brother's come out looking like a monster in all this but he wasn't. He was a good man. They were both good people."

Children are hard-wired to believe the best of their parents, so if he wasn't "that way," that doesn't make any sense to me. Suicide is a very final thing; the fact that he chose that looks very bad for him.

If he was a good man, what about that other sexual assault? Why was this girlfriend running around half-naked ringing doorbells in the middle of the night with restraints on her wrists?

 

[Alethea]

Boyfriend of mystery woman who rang doorbell was 'no monster,' his brother says

"He killed himself not out of guilt, but because he couldn't stand his daughter thinking of him that way and because he had been unhappy for a long time," Jeff Collins. "My brother's come out looking like a monster in all this but he wasn't. He was a good man. They were both good people."

I hate this excuse. I believe in redemption. Even if you did an awful thing, you can get help and work to be a better person (maybe from prison). He chose to attack the women he attacked, he chose to assault the women he assaulted, the chose to kidnap the woman he allegedly kidnapped. At any point during any of those crimes he could have thought of his family and recently his daughter and not committed those acts. If he didn't want his daughter to think of him "like that" he could have not done "those acts." Adding a suicide and essentially blaming his daughter is just cruel. His brother should have said "Obviously this is a very difficult time for our family and out of respect for the deceased's young daughter I am not going to comment on the situation."

 

[rosesfromangels]

Well said Alethea. Abusers always blame everyone but themselves, and never take responsibility. There are no excuses.

 

[KaaBoom]

I understand a brother defending his own brother, but he does *not* know what went on behind closed doors.

I believe the brother has seen a copy of the suicide note. So I'm pretty sure he knows more than we do.

 

[FlossyMay]

My thoughts are that he shot himself before any of this came out, so obviously there was something to be ashamed of or he wouldn't have been worried what others would think of him. The girl didn't go to the police. They had to track her down based on his letter IIRC. So unless he did something he knew was going to blow up in his face, why commit suicide? I don't understand.

 

[mrazda71]

I hate this excuse. I believe in redemption. Even if you did an awful thing, you can get help and work to be a better person (maybe from prison). He chose to attack the women he attacked, he chose to assault the women he assaulted, the chose to kidnap the woman he allegedly kidnapped. At any point during any of those crimes he could have thought of his family and recently his daughter and not committed those acts. If he didn't want his daughter to think of him "like that" he could have not done "those acts." Adding a suicide and essentially blaming his daughter is just cruel. His brother should have said "Obviously this is a very difficult time for our family and out of respect for the deceased's young daughter I am not going to comment on the situation."

RBBM

Absolutely! Reminds me of a favourite quote from Aurhor, Anne Lammot - " You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better."

 

[CocoChanel]

With what we know about the doorbell woman, and that she drove herself to safety but did not contact LE, do you think she was aware that so many people were looking for her? I am grateful this story did get somewhat resolved relatively quickly. As creepy as it was to see the video, we could have been haunted by it for a long time, maybe never knowing her fate. That is the stuff of nightmares for sure.

 

[x_files]

With what we know about the doorbell woman, and that she drove herself to safety but did not contact LE, do you think she was aware that so many people were looking for her? I am grateful this story did get somewhat resolved relatively quickly. As creepy as it was to see the video, we could have been haunted by it for a long time, maybe never knowing her fate. That is the stuff of nightmares for sure.

If she's not an avid Facebook or social media user or didn't log in for that week, sure she might have been unaware.
But, if she was online esp. FB it was everywhere.
I feel there's lots more to this story than meets the eye. She obviously wanted to leave was in fear for her life.
She chose not to contact LE, and I wonder if she feared him and didn't want him to retaliate.

 

[KaaBoom]

With what we know about the doorbell woman, and that she drove herself to safety but did not contact LE, do you think she was aware that so many people were looking for her? I am grateful this story did get somewhat resolved relatively quickly. As creepy as it was to see the video, we could have been haunted by it for a long time, maybe never knowing her fate. That is the stuff of nightmares for sure.

I think she knew and wanted no part of it.

 

[CocoChanel]

ABC13 Houston

Victim makes a statement. It seems a little bit ambivalent to me though. Not criticizing her, just trying to understand. I guess she has mixed emotions about the whole relationship.

 

[Kittymama]

ABC13 Houston

Victim makes a statement. It seems a little bit ambivalent to me though. Not criticizing her, just trying to understand. I guess she has mixed emotions about the whole relationship.

That is all very confusing. It sounds like he had been very kind to her, and then...switched. Or something. I don't know.

 

[Gardener1850]

ABC13 Houston

Victim makes a statement. It seems a little bit ambivalent to me though. Not criticizing her, just trying to understand. I guess she has mixed emotions about the whole relationship.

Her statement:

"I want to first give thanks to the many people across the globe who prayed for me. Their prayers gave me strength. Their kindness reminded me that there is beauty in this world.

I am aware that several families had some hope that I was their missing loved one. That hurt my heart. I wish that I could hug each of them and somehow help them to heal. If there is anything I can do for any of you, I would be honored.

I don't want to get into any of the specifics of that evening, other than to say that I was in a lot of fear for my safety. I was not aware of the video until Wednesday afternoon. It is truly difficult to understand the duality that exists within each of us. People would like to paint Dennis or myself as entirely good or entirely evil, light or dark, every human has both of these inside. It is hard to understand how someone who treated me with such kindness is the person I saw that night. I'm sure it was hard for Dennis to accept the dark parts of me. I can be selfish. I have done things most would be ashamed of and I had a dependence on a substance because of a serious injury.

It would be easy to have resentment in our minds and hearts, but fear, hatred, and shame only create more fear, hatred, and shame.

Love is the only thing in this world to create light where there was none. I hope that in this transforming time in society we are able to choose love more often.

I forgave Dennis long before he was gone, and love him. I know he too forgave and loves me. I know I will fall short daily, but I hope to continue to choose to be loved. And I hope that for us all."

 

[CocoChanel]

That is all very confusing. It sounds like he had been very kind to her, and then...switched. Or something. I don't know.

I thought it was a bit hard to follow too Kittymama. It sounds like it switched that fateful night, and had not been a longtime pattern of behavior, but hard to determine from her statement. Again, not criticizing. Even if the domestic violence happened that one time, it is one time too many, and she was very wise to get away as soon as she could. I wonder if she would have ever come forward if not for the video.

 

[Kittymama]

I thought it was a bit hard to follow too Kittymama. It sounds like it switched that fateful night, and had not been a longtime pattern of behavior, but hard to determine from her statement. Again, not criticizing. Even if the domestic violence happened that one time, it is one time too many, and she was very wise to get away as soon as she could. I wonder if she would have ever come forward if not for the video.

Oh yeah, I didn't mean it wasn't. It's just strange. The whole thing is just incredibly strange all around.

 

[flute4peace]

Wow that’s such a heartfelt and moving statement. Just my opinion but her words lead me to think she’s been getting some counseling and has a good support system. I hope she’s able to continue with both. However the situation arose, it was traumatic & awful. I’ll be praying for her.

 

[Alethea]

Wow I'm not sure what to think about her statement. I do feel guilty that this seems to have been an entirely domestic incident that should have been kept between the parties and law enforcement. Sharing the video around the world obviously did not help resolve the matter, and likely hindered local LE from focusing its resources on that block by fielding calls from around the world with tips and missing persons.

 

[CocoChanel]

Wow I'm not sure what to think about her statement. I do feel guilty that this seems to have been an entirely domestic incident that should have been kept between the parties and law enforcement. Sharing the video around the world obviously did not help resolve the matter, and likely hindered local LE from focusing its resources on that block by fielding calls from around the world with tips and missing persons.

I can understand your thinking to a point, but without that video, I really wonder how this would have played out. The victim says she did not know about the video until Wednesday, when she was already safely in another location. So she was gone, and then DC committed suicide. Perhaps the suicide note would have led LE to the victim, but it most likely would not have been a news story without the video. The video is what made everyone aware that someone was in danger. I can’t help but think that was a good thing.

 

[Alethea]

I can understand your thinking to a point, but without that video, I really wonder how this would have played out. The victim says she did not know about the video until Wednesday, when she was already safely in another location. So she was gone, and then DC committed suicide. Perhaps the suicide note would have led LE to the victim, but it most likely would not have been a news story without the video. The video is what made everyone aware that someone was in danger. I can’t help but think that was a good thing.

Why is it important that it was a news story? Not one person came forward to accurately identify the person from the video. The public played no role in resolving this except broadcasting the victim of domestic violence's face across the world in a very embarrassing situation. I trust LE to resolve crimes, not Karen with a doorbell cam blasting evidence to her Facebook friends before police even review it. There's a reason why LE did not release any of the other footage. And why they are not releasing her identity now. It's none of our business.