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Arizona teenager allegedly killed his mother and reported being kidnapped to cover it up, police say
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Arizona teenager allegedly killed his mother and reported being kidnapped to cover it up, police say

Arizona law enforcement alleges that an 18-year-old boy killed his mother and tried to report her kidnapping to cover up her death.

A jogger called police Wednesday morning after finding a woman’s body in a field in the Sun Tan Valley. To the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office. Less than 10 minutes later, Mary Collier’s 38-year-old son called 911 to report the alleged kidnapping.

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office said deputies immediately confirmed the body was Collier’s.

The son who made the call was identified as a suspect in her death, the sheriff’s office said. When deputies arrived at the family’s home, the teen had a “self-inflicted wound” and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Authorities did not release the name of the teen who was charged Thursday with first-degree murder.

His name did not appear in a public records search for Collier, and NBC News was unable to find court records that would determine whether he had obtained an attorney.

Collier’s body was found by a man named James Richey. NBC affiliate KPNX He said he lived nearby. He runs every day near the area where the body was found.

“Even when I saw it I thought, ‘No, it’s a Halloween prop or treat or something,'” Richey said. “’There’s no way this is happening.’”

Richey noticed a broken knife with blood on it and later said it “clicked” that he had come across a crime scene and called 911.

Lt. Ross Teeple with the sheriff’s office told KPNX the cause of death appeared to be “end weapons” and blunt force trauma.

“We have no evidence to suggest that an actual kidnapping occurred,” Teeple said. “This suggests that they both went out together with their consent, then when they went out they were attacked and then left in the desert.”

A GoFundMe was started by Collier’s niece, Zel Harwell, to help cover Collier’s funeral expenses, with extra funds to be given to her husband and two youngest children.

Harwell described Collier, a mother of four, as a loving woman who would call if she knew you were having a bad day.

“When he had nothing, he would give, and he would go out of his way to cheer others up with kind words and truth,” Harwell wrote.