Police identified the dead boyfriend of the Texas doorbell woman, and revealed a number of other strange details about the case involving a ghostly home-surveillance video that went viral.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that the man whose death broke open the case was 49-year-old Dennis Ray Collins. He committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest Wednesday, police said.
The case began when a frantic woman, barefoot and semi-dressed, rang the doorbell at a home in Montgomery, Texas, at 3:20 a.m. on Aug. 24.
But by the time the resident awakened to open the door, the woman was gone, launching a frantic search that broke when, according to authorities Thursday, Mr. Collins’ ex-wife told police she recognized the woman in the video as her ex-husband’s girlfriend. The ex-wife, whom authorities did not name Thursday, also told police that Mr. Collins had sent her a text message that made her fear he might hurt himself.
As for the woman in the video, whose identity is known to authorities but not released publicly because she is a domestic-violence victim, she was apparently safe by the time authorities encouraged the spread of the video.
According to ABC News on Thursday, she told officials the strange clothing on her wrists, part of what the security footage so eerie, were broken bondage cuffs.
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After having rung several other bells in the neighborhood that overnight, to no avail, she went back to the home she shared with Mr. Collins. But later that morning, she drove to Dallas, where her family lives, and has been there ever since, according to authorities.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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