Mary Collins. Photo provided by Mohave County Sherriff’s Office.

Mary Collins. Photo provided by Mohave County Sherriff’s Office.

On July 5 at about 3:20 p.m., Mohave County Sherriff’s Office (MCSO) put out a press release for an Attempt To Locate (ATL) for Mary Collins, 56 of Scenic, Ariz. who was last seen leaving her home at the 300 block of E. Highway 91 on Monday night around 11 p.m.

Her daughter notified MCSO around 10 a.m. that morning that Collins had not yet returned to her home and had sent text messages the night before to family members. Those messages were not ‘normal’ according to them and made them question her mentality which then led the family to contact authorities.

Officers went to Collins’ home, where she was not found and then proceeded to ping her cell phone for a possible location. That ping suggested that she was at a local Mesquite casino. MCSO put a call out to Mesquite Police Department around 5:10 p.m. and as an agency assist, officers investigated the scene where they found Collins’ van in the parking lot. She was located inside the van, deceased.

The Clark County Coroner’s office responded to take custody of the body but would not declare any official statement on the cause of death at the time. “The scene was not suspicious. It could be natural causes or suicide,” said MPD Public Information Officer Quinn Averett. He also told the MLN that there was no estimated time given on when the results of the autopsy would be available.