Garner mother marks first anniversary of sons’ murder-suicide deaths

Kerrith McDowell spent the first anniversary of her sons’ deaths talking about the call that split her life in two: she was at the Wake County Courthouse on June 24, 2025, seeking a restraining order against her ex-husband, Shannon Collins, when she learned her Garner home was on fire.

By the time she understood what was happening at the house on Rand Road near Ten Ten Road, it was too late. River Collins, 15, and Jet Collins, 13, were dead. McDowell has said the past year has meant grief, survival and the slow work of getting through the date that marked the end of her family as it was.

The fire broke out around 9:38 a.m. on June 24, 2025, in the Garner area of Wake County. Investigators initially found three bodies in the burned home, including Collins, who was 49, and the two boys. Later findings shifted the case into an arson and homicide investigation after officials determined the children had been shot.

Autopsies from the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed that Collins shot River and Jet before setting the house on fire and killing himself. Two cats also died in the blaze. What had been a family home on Rand Road is now gone entirely: the property has since been sold and the house torn down, leaving no visible trace of the life that ended there.

McDowell has focused on the milestones her sons never reached. Jet never made it to his eighth-grade dance, and River would have been starting his junior year and a second summer as a lifeguard. She has also leaned on other parents who have lost children, part of the support system that helped carry her through a year defined by absence, not closure.

The case drew wider scrutiny because of what happened before the fire. The Wake County District Attorney’s Office said a protective order was filed against Collins the same morning as the killings, and McDowell and other family members later filed a complaint alleging a Wake County Sheriff’s deputy failed to properly investigate the domestic-violence call the day before the deaths. The family’s complaint turned the tragedy into a broader question about warning signs, response and how much damage can be done in a single morning.