Victim Information: Lance Corporal Suzanne M. Collins F/W 5’7 118 lbs.

DOB: 06/08/1986

DOD: 07/12/2016

Place of Birth: Alexandria, Virginia, USA

Place of Death: USMC Memphis Naval Air Station, Tennessee, USA

On July 10, 1985 at 10:00pm 30-year-old Lance Corporal Suzanne Collins returned to her room
at the Memphis Naval Air Station in Millington, Tennessee. The Marine dressed in a red Marine
Corps t-shirt, red athletic shorts, white socks, tennis shoes, and a white handkerchief and
advised two other Marines she was going out for a run on the base.
Around 11:00pm Marine Privates First Class (PFC) Michael Howard and Mark Shotwell were
jogging together, heading north on Attu Road on the north side of the base when they saw a
female jogger in a red Marine Corps t-shirt jogging southbound toward them. Before they
reached her, she crossed the street to continue her run. Approximately 600 yards further down
the road the two men observed a mid-1990s Ford station wagon, dark-colored with wood
paneling on the side and a very loud muffler, parked on the side of the road with its high beams
on. As they approached the vehicle and ran by, the vehicle started, swerved into the road, and
headed southbound.
Approximately a minute later, the two males believed they heard a female screaming
approximately ¼ mile behind them. The men immediately turned and sprinted in that direction.
After about 100 yards, the screaming stopped and they observed the station wagon pull back
onto Attu Road. The high beams glare prevented them from seeing anything further. They ran
after the car, concerned, but quickly lost the vehicle. They ran to the base North Gate 2 and
reported the incident to base guards, who notified base security. PFCs Howard and Shotwell
advised they had seen a female run past them and thought perhaps she had been the one
screaming and that they had not seen her afterwards. They were concerned about a possible
abduction.
The North Gate 2 guard, David Davenport, reported to base security he had witnessed the
station wagon, driven by a male, exit the base through his gate and that he had not witnessed a
license plate number, but did observe the plates to be from Kentucky. An ATL was sent out to
base security and local police departments for the vehicle.
At 12:10am, base security responded to a complaint of a fight in the residential area of the
base. One of the security officers, David Davenport, observed a vehicle drive by that appeared
to match the description and stopped the vehicle.
The driver of that vehicle was Sedley Alley, M/W, 29-years-old, 6’4, 220 lbs. Alley was currently
employed as a laborer for an air conditioning company off base, but lived on base with his wife,
Lynn, who was enlisted Navy. Alley denied he had been driving on Attu Road or that he had
seen a blonde W/F running. Alley was brought back to North Gate 2, where security contacted
his wife, Lynn, to question both. Lynn, a W/F, 5’7, 120 lbs., arrived and both stated to security
they had been fighting earlier in the evening. Security officers released both after no evidence
was found.
The two male PFCs, Howard and Shotwell, were present in the building giving statements that
this time, and when Alley and his wife drove away in the station wagon, both men yelled for
security, stating that vehicle was the one they had seen and the muffler was the one they had
heard on Attu Road.
At 5:00am Corporal Kimberly Young called security, advising that roommates of Lance Corporal
Suzanne M. Collins were advising when they woke up, Suzanne had not been in the room and
her bed appeared to not have been slept in. Suzanne’s roommates provided a description of
her and a photograph was given to security as well.
At 6:00am, Sheriff’s deputies found the nude body of a white female lying face down in the
grass with her face turned to the right. The body was found underneath a tree approximately
150 feet off the road in Edmund Orgill Park in Millington, just east of the Navy Base (Memphis
Naval Air Station).
The head of the nude female found in the park was covered with blood. There were large
bruises on each shoulder blade and scratches running from her shoulders down to her waist. A
tree limb was inserted between her legs, with approximately eight inches extending from her
vaginal opening. The decedent’s left eye was bruised and swollen shut, and contusions and bite
marks were observed to her breasts. There were enough injuries to the face that visible
identification was difficult. A few feet from the body, a red Marine Corps t-shirt, a pair of red
athletic shorts, white socks, and tennis shoes.
Dr. James Spencer Bell, the Shelby County Medical Examiner, stated in the autopsy of the
female that “Death was due to multiple injuries inflicted by blunt trauma to the head, pressing
on the neck, and pushing 20 ½ inches of a 31 inch long, 1 ½ inch diameter sharply beveled tree
limb up the perineum through the abdomen into the right chest, tearing abdominal and chest
organs and producing internal hemorrhaging.”
The body was positively identified as Lance Corporal Suzanne M. Collins.
Answer the following questions in standard assignment format.
1. What is the likely gender of the offender?
2. What is the likely age/age range of the offender?
3. Develop a profile of the victim. Was this victim vulnerable? Why or why not?
4. What actions did the offender have to take in order to gain control over the victim?
5. Would you consider this an organized or disorganized crime scene?