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