Airdrie - Three years after her son’s body was found in a creek near Billings, Montana, Marion Collin is still searching for answers surrounding her son’s death.
A petroleum engineer with a degree from Montana Tech in Butte, MT, Cameron Collin, 37, towered above his friends and family at 6’5” and always had a huge grin on his face, according to Marion.
“When he kept growing and growing, I told him ‘You’ll never be so tall you can’t bend down and hug me,’” she cried, as she recalled her persistent, tenacious, and sports-loving son. “There was never a time that we didn’t hug.”
She explained that Cameron, who called Airdrie home in his final years, excelled in nearly every sport he participated in. He worked extremely hard to obtain his Bachelor of Science degree in petroleum engineering, loved his friends and family without fail, and could make conversation with anyone and everyone, across the globe.
“He was a good, friendly person,” Marion said.
Randi Szakaly, who dated Cameron for three years beginning in 2002, has many fond memories of him.
“He could talk to anybody and he had a way of lighting up a room, and making everyone feel like they belonged,” she said.
She laughed and recalled that Cameron was an “epic” two-stepper and would often have girls lining up at the bar for a dance with him. She said it never bothered her, because it “was his joy.”
“I think about him and celebrate him whenever I’m in an environment where that is a possibility,” Szakaly said. “And I think of how he would have enjoyed and embraced that moment and left with a hundred friends.”
The trip
On Oct. 4, 2018, Cameron boarded a flight to Billings to attend the wedding of a friend whom he’d gone to engineering school with. The same day, he attended a bachelor party at a rural property outside of the Montana city.
According to a post-mortem examination report authorized by the Department of Justice, Forensic Science Division and completed by Robert A. Kurtzman, D.O. on Nov. 5, 2018, other attendees of the party left the rural residence to drive into town, and returned around midnight.
When they returned, Cameron was not where they claimed to have left him. Reports from partygoers said that at a lunch after picking up Cameron from the airport, he reportedly had consumed four drinks. After lunch, he allegedly bought a bottle of vodka and drank it while on the way to the property where the party was to be held, according to the report.
Marion almost chuckled at the mention of these details, and said that Cameron was a large man, who came from a family whose members are known for being able to hold their liquor.
Further accounts from partygoers claimed that Cameron continued to drink at the party and went “outside to sleep” after he was accused of acting aggressively. Party attendees claimed they went outside and collected Cameron, and placed him near a heater for warmth before heading into Billings.
According to the report, the assumption was made that Cameron had found alternative sleeping arrangements for the night when he could not be located following the group’s return. Marion claimed there were no attempts made to call Cameron or search for him in the late hours of Oct. 4 and early into Oct. 5.
The post-mortem examination report did state that Cameron was not seen on Oct. 5 and “the wedding party searched the vicinity around the residence without success.” The report went on to say that “he was not seen on Saturday, Oct. 6 and it was believed that he might have obtained transportation away from the area.”
Cameron never showed up for the Oct. 6 wedding, for which he was supposed to be a groomsman. The ceremony and reception continued as planned, according to Marion.
“After exhausting efforts to locate Cameron, a missing person report was made to the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday, Oct. 7,” Kurtzman said in his write-up.
Montana State Legislation requires a missing individual 21 years of age or older be reported missing and entered into the database of the national crime information centre of the United States department of justice within eight hours of receipt. Cameron, however, was reported missing approximately two days after he was last seen.
Marion recalled that a search for Cameron began almost immediately, and other family members travelled to Montana to aid in finding their loved one. She said that Pryor Creek was searched multiple times by the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office and additional personnel, as well as by her husband and daughter. She added that no traces of Cameron were found throughout multiple search attempts.
On Nov. 3, 2018 – nearly one month after he was allegedly last seen alive – Cameron’s body was recovered from Pryor Creek.
According to Marion, the Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office was ready to wrap up the case shortly after the discovery of her son’s body. By Nov. 7, she said, files were being closed without further investigation.
The official ruling by the medical examiner was an accidental death due to cold water immersion in association with cocaine and alcohol use, according to the report.
Marion, who has successfully petitioned for personal representative status on behalf of Cameron as a way to advocate and request information on his behalf, said the ruling just doesn’t sit right with her and her family.
“We could have accepted that in a way, but there were so many things that were wrong,” she said.
Searching for answers
Cameron’s mother has spent the three years since her son's death compiling information. She's called the medical examiner’s and Yellowstone County Sheriff’s offices, searched for additional information and reports, and ultimately, filed complaints against those bureaus.
The Collin family has paid for independent forensic testing and data retrieval to hopefully unearth, according to them, a more accurate picture of what possibly led up to Cameron’s death, and everything they speculate happened afterwards.
Marion claims there were several mistakes made in Cameron’s autopsy. According to a complaint she submitted as the personal representative of Cameron’s estate, in regard to the “standard procedures” and the findings of the autopsy, there were mis-notes on the colour of Cameron’s clothing at the time of death, as well as dark, reddish-brown stains and the presence of sawdust inside his clothing.
The autopsy, according to Marion, also does not mention the boots he was wearing were two sizes too small, and that his watch, medallion, and engineering ring were missing.
In the complaint, Marion also claimed that a receipt was found in the back pocket of the jeans Cameron was recovered in and was not noted in the autopsy. She also alleged that a folded piece of paper was found clenched in her son’s left hand and was not documented.
She said that there are also issues with the weight of the body listed on the autopsy report – the documented weight of the body was 40 pounds heavier than what Marion said her son weighed in September of that year. The argument made by the medical examiner’s office was that water in the lungs consistent with a long period of being submerged in the creek was responsible for the additional weight.
But according to Marion, privately paid for and independent testing completed by NMS Labs on behalf of the family found no traces of water in the lungs.
Numerous additional inconsistencies between the official report and the private report are the source of doubt for the family, Marion said.
In an attempt to hold authorities accountable for what Marion argues are mistakes in Cameron’s autopsy and to garner more attention to the case that was considered to be closed nearly three years ago, Marion said she went as far up the chain as she could go, sending emails to the assistant attorney general and state attorney general’s offices, the governor general, and the Montana state senator. She has also attempted contact with the Department of Justice and the Department of Criminal Investigations.
She feels that she has not been supported throughout the process of searching for answers.
“All throughout this, I managed to survive with hope for help. And though I didn’t have help, I made hope,” she said.
When reached, Kurtzman directed the Airdrie City View to the Yellowstone County Coroner’s Office for comment.
Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder told the City View he sympathises with Collin's grief, but said the investigation was done professionally and there's nothing to indicate it was anything more than a tragic accident.
“I understand her concern – she lost a son in a tragic accident, he said. “The investigation was reviewed by another agency, and we went above and beyond, as far as the medical examiner following up on her request. She's been provided all the information and there's just nothing more we can do.”
GPS data
Another point of interest to the family, Collin added, is the GPS data – or rather, missing GPS data – from Cameron’s Google accounts.
Marion claimed she has collected evidence that she feels proves someone was in possession of Cameron’s Samsung cell phone prior to his body being found. She also claimed his Google account has been accessed on multiple occasions with GPS coordinates around Montana, as well as North Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.
According to Marion, and data carvings completed by TCS Forensics Limited out of Richmond, B.C., there is evidence that GPS data from midnight on Oct. 4 to Dec. 26, 2018 was missing and had been deleted.
She has requested multiple “carvings” from TCS Forensics in an attempt to restore the data that is assumed to have been deleted from the account, with the hope the locations will shed further light on the circumstances of Cameron’s death.
Marion said she has drawn her own conclusion about what happened on that October night three years ago, and stated adamantly that she believes her son was murdered.
Life of the party
Despite the abruptness and tragedy surrounding Cameron’s death, nearly 500 people attended his celebration of life, and an additional 300 people watched the ceremony through a webcast.
His family and friends remember him as a kind and friendly soul, that loved to laugh and sing to Johnny Cash, according to Marion.
Dean Craig, who met Cameron in Grade 2 and became best friends throughout their junior high and high school years, said he remembers Cameron through all of the fun times they had together. He said they enjoyed camping, waterskiing and playing sports together.
“Cam was the best. He was just the most fun to be around,” Craig said. “He was always the life of the party kind of guy.”
Shane McNicoll, who met Cameron in Grade 9 and was eventually his roommate, said he admired his friend’s energy and honesty, and like Craig, said he was always fun to be around.
“I don’t know if I’ve dealt with it, to be honest,” he said.
“It’s just like anything else, when you lose someone, you just remember all of the good times you had.”
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