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Chapter 1: What is the introduction to Finding Mom's Killer?
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I lost everything in my family. I'm alone. I just want some sense of normalcy, right?
Chapter 2: What happened to Collier after his mother's death?
In the summer of 1990, with his mother, Noreen, dead, and his father, Jack, in prison, there was only one thing on 12-year-old Collier Landry Boyle's mind. What will happen to me? Family courts like to place children with relatives, and Collier's uncle, his father's brother, was willing.
But the judge wasn't for it, saying, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why Collier wouldn't be placed with the brother of the man who murdered his mother. There was his mom's sister, but she didn't want Collier. He reminded her of Jack and of everything that had happened. What about the foster parents who'd been looking after Collier?
They did adopt, but only wanted his little sister, not him. Collier felt abandoned. Except for one person.
Dave Messmore was with me at the absolute lowest point of my life. We had a bond that no one will take away. He was sort of like the father that I wished I had had.
Chapter 3: How did Collier build a relationship with Dave Messmore?
For the past six months, Collier had been living with his foster parents, but most weekends, he headed over to Lieutenant Dave Messmore's house.
I just wanted to be a kid, and I really loved their family, and so I wanted to really experience all of that.
We just got hooked on him and really liked him.
As you know by now, Dave isn't really a hard-on-the-sleeve kind of guy, but he liked having Collier around.
He did things that he hadn't done before. You know, he liked being around my kids and they taught him how to play basketball and he bought jeans. I remember seeing him ride a bike around our neighborhood for a while and he came back all sweaty and everything. He said, boy, this is fun. Yeah, I said, yeah, I know it is.
Oh my gosh, a sweet, smart little boy. He was something else.
That's Sue Messmore, Dave's wife.
He looked up to Dave as his protector. I mean, he had every faith in Dave.
Collier bonded with Sue as well over his favorite mother-son activity.
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Chapter 4: Why did the court reject the Messmore's adoption request?
He'd always ask me, do you think my dad really did that? And I said, Collier, it was a trial, and I'm convinced, and you should be convinced now that he did it. As horrible as this whole thing is, unfortunately, your father's responsible for it. Dave felt bad for Collier. He's been traumatized too much. Way too much for an ordinary person. Oh, we love Collier, yeah.
Not long after the trial ended, Collier was in the car with Dave and Sue. One of their weekends together, he stuck his head between the front seats.
He said, I need to talk to you. And I said, OK. And he said, would you and Sue consider adopting me? I went, God, I didn't think about that. And I said, well, Collier, we'll have to talk about that a little bit.
And I felt like Collier had no one. So I looked at him like this little boy who really was like an orphan. It just broke my heart. We had talked a lot about it. And yes, it was a decision.
What were your hesitations?
I don't know. I guess the problems that he might have. Emotional problems that he might have. And could I handle that? And we decided that if we did get him, we would go into counseling. I would want to know exactly the right way to handle questions if he had questions for us. Collier wanted to be here with us, and we wanted him to be part of our family.
Sue and I talked for a day or two, and we kind of agreed that we could do it.
So the Mesmores filed for adoption, and it was in the hands of a judge. A few weeks later, Dave and Sue were driving through Texas, visiting one of their kids. Dave stopped to make a call to his adoption attorney, who said the judge had made a decision.
And the judge says, you don't think I'm going to put you with a guy that locked up your dad, do you? He said, you're not going there under any circumstances.
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Chapter 5: Who are George and Susan Ziegler in Collier's life?
I just, it was such a gut punch. I just felt broken in that moment.
So who wanted Collier now?
I never was a huggy-huggy person, ever.
From Sony Music Entertainment and Orbit Media, this is Finding Mom's Killer. I'm Steve Fishman. Episode 5, Lost Boy.
I come from a family that's not ugly.
We're not that type of people.
This is George Ziegler. He was a wealthy businessman in Mansfield, now retired. And as he himself admits, he's a gruff, blunt guy, not too generous with praise.
I never got it. Don't expect it. I don't need it. And I don't see why people do need it.
I never know if dinner is good.
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Chapter 6: How did Collier adjust to life with the Zieglers?
He was totally different than anybody else in the school as far as dress and acting. You know, I mean, he was very distinct.
The Zieglers had never considered adoption, but they didn't want Collier to wind up in some random household in a strange new city.
Well, I didn't think it was right that he loses his mother, his father, all his friends, his school, and go someplace he doesn't know anybody.
So the Zieglers applied to adopt Collier, and to their surprise, they were successful. Or successful with the courts. One party wasn't convinced. As soon as Collier walked into the Ziegler's home, he made them a proposition.
I asked the Zieglers if they would consider giving me up for adoption to the Massimoors. So they could adopt me and then they could give me up for adoption and Dave and Sue could take me.
I said, Collier, I said, I understand that. When we started this, we understood that. We have you until you're 18 years old. If you don't like it after that, you can leave. And we could live with that. If he left at 18, we never heard from him again, we could live with that.
It wasn't like we wanted to own Collier. No. We were just there to be there for him.
The Ziegler's wanted the best for Collier, but after spending his whole young life as the apple of his mother's eye, Collier found he had some adjustments to make.
It's sort of like you're more than a house guest. And I felt like their son, but there's also this part of you that feels like you're not quite 100% there. First couple of years were awkward. For sure. I was trying to figure out my life and just going to therapy and then just felt like there was something wrong with me all the time.
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Chapter 7: What were the challenges faced by Collier and the Zieglers?
When Collier cried, he did it alone in his bedroom. The Mesmores were feeling the separation as well. Here's Sue.
We thought the more people that love Collier, the better off Collier is.
So the Mesmores asked the Zieglers to meet them. One night, they went to dinner at a restaurant.
We just said, we know that you are his adoptive parents, but we want to be a part of his life. An aunt and uncle. Not to interfere, nothing like that. And they absolutely said no.
The Zieglers felt Collier needed to integrate into their family. And the Mesmores might unintentionally get in the way. The Zieglers were already encountering challenges.
People outside of an area like this, a rural area like we're in, they don't understand that that was one of the first cases that was actually publicized on TV. So, tire became very noticeable around town.
I didn't realize that we wouldn't be able to go out in public.
Yeah. For six months, we didn't go out. I mean, we didn't go to dinner.
Everybody be looking at us and whispering, you know. Yeah.
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