Suzanne Marie Collins
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Suzanne Marie Collins (June 8, 1966 - July 12, 1985) was a Marine Lance Corporal who was raped and murdered by Sedley Alley on the morning of July 12, 1985. At the time of her murder she was stationed at Naval Air Station, Memphis in Millington, Tennessee. Collins was a student undergoing training at the base, and was scheduled to graduate from avionics training on the day of her murder. She is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Suzanne Collins was the daughter of Jack and Trudy Collins. She graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, Virginia.
The murderer, Sedley Alley, confessed to killing Collins, although he later recanted his confession. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. Alley was executed by lethal injection at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville, TN, on the morning of June 28, 2006; he was pronounced dead at 2:12 a.m.
Alley, a civilian married to a military person, abducted nineteen-year old Collins while she was jogging near the base in Orgill Park late in the evening of July 11, 1985. He attacked and murdered her and left her body in the park. Two Marines jogging near where Collins was abducted heard her scream and ran toward the sound. However, as they reached the scene, they saw Alley's car drive off. They reported to base security and accompanied officers on a tour of the base, looking for the car they had seen. Unsuccessful, they returned to their barracks. Soon after returning to their quarters, however, the Marines were called back to the security office, where they identified Alley's car, which had been stopped by officers. Alley and his wife gave statements to the base security personnel accounting for their whereabouts. The security personnel were satisfied with Alley's story, and Alley and his wife returned to their on-base housing.
Suzanne's body was found a few hours later, and Alley was immediately arrested by military police. He voluntarily gave a statement to the police, admitting to having killed Collins but giving a substantially false - and considerably more humane - account of the circumstances of the killing.
Sedley Alley's story was that his wife left him after getting in a fight. He drank two six-packs of beer and a bottle of wine. He told authorities that he had gone out for more liquor when his car accidentally hit Collins as she jogged near the air base. Alley's story is that he accidentally killed the young woman; however, an autopsy revealed that her skull had been fractured with a screwdriver. After she died, a tree limb was rammed into her vagina with sufficient force to enter her abdomen and lacerate one of her lungs.
In spite of his attempt to convince a jury that he had multiple personality disorder, Alley was convicted on March 18, 1987 of murder in the first degree and was sentenced to death. He was also convicted of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated rape, for which he received consecutive forty-year sentences. He was scheduled to die by electrocution May 2, 1990, but was reprieved indefinitely by the state Court of Criminal Appeals.
A Shelby County judge denied Alley's initial request for state-funded DNA testing of 11 samples of physical evidence, saying he hadn't shown "reasonable probability" that he wouldn't have been prosecuted or convicted if the tests were in his favor. He was executed on June 28, 2006 by lethal injection.
Detailed information regarding Sedley Alley's appeals can be found here on an Arlington National Cemetery web page devoted to Suzanne Collins.
The book Journey Into Darkness by John E. Douglas dedicates three chapters to the murder of Suzanne Collins.
