A missing Florida woman's vehicle was found three years after she was reported missing
Almost three years of uncertainty for the family of Virginia Collier may be ending.
Her vehicle was found Wednesday in the Black Creek community. The Etowah County Sheriff’s Office, Glencoe Police Department and Jacksonville State Center for Applied Forensics is investigating the discovery.
Investigators did not say whether Collier's body has been located. Agencies involved with the investigation will have a press conference Friday to provide details of Wednesday's discovery.
Collier, 84, was reported missing in March 2019 to Glencoe police. She lived in Florida, and she'd driven to Etowah County to visit her brothers, Hubert Black and Herman "Bud" Black. She left her brother's home in Glencoe on the evening of March 5, 2019, heading for Bud's home on Lookout Mountain, but she never got there.
Virginia Collier: Despite promising tip, groups' search, there's still no sign of Virginia Collier
Unfortunately, one brother thought she'd decided to stay at the other's home, so they didn't immediately realize Collier was missing. She didn't have her cellphone — it was sent to her brother's home but she didn't receive it before she went missing.
When family members couldn't contact her by phone the next day they contacted her brothers and her cousin Barbara Jones of Southside. Family members began the search, and they contacted Glencoe police.
Extensive searches — on foot and using drones and helicopters — were conducted along the route Collier typically took when traveling from one brother's home to the other, but there was no sign of the missing woman or her 2019 blue Kia Optima there or in any other locations family or law enforcement could think of to search.
Authorities were unable to try to track her through her cellphone, and despite being a newer model, her car did not have GPS tracking. Collier was entered into national databases, but no signs of her or the vehicle were found.
In the almost three years since Collier went missing, both of her brothers who lived in Etowah County died.
Jones said learned Wednesday evening that a car believed to be her cousin's had been located. She said her cousin, who she called "Dink," had been especially close, more like sisters than cousins.
As the months turned into year after Collier's disappearance, Jones spoke its toll on the people who loved Collier.
"It's always there," she said — the unanswered questions of where Collier was and what had happened to her.
In addition to law enforcement searches, the missing person case drew treasure hunters and independent investigators — those who engage in searches and often record their searches for YouTube or social media. While none of those searching found evidence related to Collier's disappearance, a Virginia man investigating missing person cases in the area found a vehicle submerged in the river behind Summer Waters apartments last month.
That vehicle is believed to be related to a Rainbow City missing person case that dates back to the 1980s. Because of the condition of the vehicle, authorities did not immediately bring it up, fearing it would break apart if they tried.
He found the vehicle using sonar; other independent searchers had used sonar searching for Collier and had not detected that vehicle.
Contact Gadsden Times reporter Donna Thornton at 256-393-3284 or donna.thornton@gadsdentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Virginia Collier's car was found: Missing Florida woman from Glencoe
