Autopsy shows mom shot her four adopted kids dead before killing self

A stay-at-home Tennessee mother shot her four adopted children dead before killing herself with a single shotgun blast to the head in an October murder suicide, a newly-released autopsy report has revealed.

Detectives are still trying to figure out what prompted 55-year-old Cynthia Collier to take the lives of the four children that she and her husband, Randall Collier Sr, adopted from China between 2003-2008. 

The young victims had been identified as 14-year-old Bo Li, 14-year-old Meigan Lin, 15-year-old Lia Lin and 17-year-old Kaileigh Lin.

The autopsy revealed the children died of multiple shotgun and gunshot wounds, while the mother died of a single shotgun wound. 

Kaileigh was discovered after the murder on the floor of a bathroom in the home, and the other three, on a bed. 

The victims’ bodies were found in different rooms on the Collier family’s property in the 1000 block of Carters Creek Pike

According to the Tennessean, the toxicology report showed there was no alcohol or drugs in their systems.

The sheriff the teens were home-schooled in what appeared to be a loving home. 

The Colliers married in Virginia in 1982, when Cynthia was 19 and Randall was 22, and had three biological children together: two sons and a daughter, the newspaper reported.

The Colliers’ marriage began unraveling in 2007 when they informally separated, and two years later the husband moved out of the house. 

In March 2018, the Colliers began divorce proceedings, and each of their children submitted statements asking to continue living with Cynthia. 

The couple’s three adult children said their relationship with Collier Sr was strained, and all the children said they hardly knew him.   

Then in May, the husband and wife filed paperwork asking to dismiss the case as they attempted to reconcile. 

In October, one of the Collier’s biological sons found the bodies of his mother and step-siblings and called police after returning home from work.

Maury County Sheriff Bucky Rowland speaks to the media about the quadruple murder-suicide in October

The victims were scattered throughout the family’s residence in the 1000 block of Carters Creek Pike in Columbia. 

Two firearms believed to be the murder weapons were recovered from the scene. 

‘We deal with carnage,’ Rowland said. ‘The magnitude of this…it was more than what we’re used to on a day-to-day basis.’ 

Collier’s 58-year-old husband and the victims’ adoptive father was not home at the time of the slaughter. 

The sheriff’s department has no record of service calls to the house, which Rowland described as ‘immaculate.’ 

Records indicate the Collier family had purchased the million-dollar property down the road from a cemetery in 2014.

Their neighbors told Fox 17 the Colliers were ‘exceedingly private.’

Some were surprised to learn that children ever lived on the gated property, which features a swing set, a pool and a tennis court.  

The sheriff said there is reason to believe the mother was struggling with mental health issues.