Jovan Collier | Teenager Who Murdered His Entire Family Transforms Into Erratic Stalker

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[00:02:01] This is true crime psychology and personality, where we discuss the pathology behind some of the most horrific crimes and those who committed them from a scientifically informed perspective. I'm Dr. Todd Grande. I have a PhD in counselor education and supervision, and I'm a licensed professional counselor

[00:02:28] of mental health. Dr. Todd Grande. That's my YouTube channel. Today's question is, can I analyze the case of Jovan Collier? First I'll look at the background of this case, move to the timeline of the crime, then offer my analysis.

[00:02:44] Jovan Anton Collier was born on July 7, 1968 in the state of Illinois. He went by the name Joe. His mother Linda had named him Paul, but she put him up for adoption. He was adopted by an airline mechanic named Hans Peter Zimmer and his wife Sally Jo Zimmer.

[00:03:04] The couple named him Peter Zimmer. Later in the story, Peter changed his name to Joe, so that is the name I'll use. Joe and his adoptive parents lived in the Chicago suburb of Wakanda, Illinois, which

[00:03:16] is not to be confused with the fictional Wakanda from the movie Black Panther. The one in Illinois doesn't have any vibranium. In 1972, Hans and Sally Jo adopted another boy. His name was Perry. In February 1983, the family moved to Mineral Plant, Wisconsin after Hans lost his job at TWA.

[00:03:39] Hans took a job at a company owned by Sally's brother, which manufactured crystals for radios. Now moving to the timeline of the crime. On May 23, 1983, a counselor from Joe's high school contacted the police and reported

[00:03:56] that someone from Joe's previous school in Illinois heard that Joe was going to kill his family. The police went to the farmhouse where Joe and his family lived. There they found 48-year-old Hans dead on the back porch. He had been shot five times.

[00:04:12] 44-year-old Sally Jo had been stabbed 15 times. Her body was in the shed. 10-year-old Perry had been stabbed over 20 times. He was found dead in an upstairs bedroom. The police concluded the murders had occurred sometime after 5 p.m. the day before.

[00:04:29] Sally Jo was the first victim, followed by Perry. The killer then waited until Hans came home and shot him to death. It seemed obvious that Joe could have been the perpetrator as he was the only family member missing.

[00:04:42] Joe drove one of the Zimmer's cars to Kansas City, Missouri, where he used his father's credit card. He was arrested and brought back to pay for his crime, but as it turns out, there wouldn't be much in the way of justice.

[00:04:56] Under Wisconsin law at the time, there was no way to charge Joe as an adult. He pleaded no contest to a juvenile delinquency petition alleging that he killed his adoptive parents and his brother. Joe spent four years in a detention center where he refused to receive mental health

[00:05:15] counseling. He changed his name from Peter Zimmer to Joe Collier when he was released in July 1987. This was right before he turned 19. Because Joe had not technically been convicted of murder, he was eligible to inherit the Zimmer's estate.

[00:05:31] They didn't have a will and he was the sole heir. Family members tried to stop this, but eventually they reached an agreement with Joe. For a period of four years, he would get $100 a month and his rent would be paid.

[00:05:46] He was also allowed to keep a couple of the accounts the Zimmers had started for him. After flying to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Joe started his new life. In 1988, Joe had a daughter with a woman named Belinda in Wisconsin. Later he went to college in St. Louis, Missouri.

[00:06:04] In 1990, he served in the Air National Guard for eight months. Joe married but divorced in 1993, less than a year later. In March 1994, he married for the second time to a woman named Leah. This was in the state of Indiana. The couple had a son together.

[00:06:22] The topic of the murders was not brought up by Joe. He lied to people and said that his adoptive parents and his brother had been killed by a drunk driver. He even traveled with his family to their graves.

[00:06:34] When he was there, he placed flowers on the graves and cried. In 1995, Joe owned a couple of construction companies but one of them went bankrupt. Joe and Leah filed for divorce in 2004. In 2005, as the divorce proceedings continued, Joe made his way to St. Petersburg, Florida.

[00:06:54] Around this time, Joe's biological mother Linda tracked him down. After giving him up for adoption, Linda married, had another son, and moved to Georgia in 1974. She divorced in 1980, married a corporate executive, and divorced again. In 1995, she married a plastic surgeon named Rob, and they lived in Atlanta.

[00:07:17] Linda did not know that Joe had killed his family, and she had let him live in her house on occasion. In August 2005, Joe met a second-grade schoolteacher named Candy Williams. They became romantically involved, and in December, they moved in together. The relationship was tumultuous.

[00:07:36] The couple broke up and reunited on two occasions. Joe went to work in Wisconsin and in Georgia, and only saw Candy on occasion. In April 2008, Joe's biological mother Linda found out that Joe had murdered his adoptive parents and his brother.

[00:07:54] During this time, he was staying at her house, but he wasn't there at that exact moment. Linda and her husband Rob decided to play it cool. They didn't want to aggravate Joe, mostly because of the murder part. Joe had told Linda that he was planning to move out.

[00:08:10] This is something that he often did, but he never actually followed through. Linda took advantage of the statement and collected all of Joe's belongings. She brought them to him as if she was trying to save him a step.

[00:08:22] After this, Linda changed the locks on her house and cut off Joe completely. Later, Joe claimed that he felt abandoned again. In August 2008, Joe returned to Florida and lived with Candy. In May 2009, Candy discovered that Joe posted profiles on two dating sites.

[00:08:42] She broke up with him once and for all. After the breakup, Joe transformed into a stalker and sent Candy hundreds of emails asking to reunite. On multiple occasions, Candy's home was mysteriously vandalized. She eventually found out from Linda that Joe had murdered his adoptive parents and his brother.

[00:09:03] Candy obtained a domestic violence injunction, but Joe kept harassing her with emails, Facebook messages, and phone calls. In June 2009, Joe was arrested and charged with misdemeanor stalking. After he posted bail, he disappeared. The stalking continued, so the police charged Joe with felony stalking.

[00:09:24] He was arrested in Savannah, Georgia on October 21, 2009. At this point, he was with a new girlfriend that didn't know anything about the murders or the stalking. Joe Collier was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, but he was released in 2012

[00:09:40] after serving two years and four months. In July 2014, Joe was arrested again, this time in Waco, Texas. He had harassed three local women with text messages. In 2015, he was convicted of three counts of harassment and sentenced to 30 days in

[00:09:57] jail, but he had already served more than that, so he was released. Joe indicated that he was going to travel to San Clemente, California where he worked. Now moving to my analysis. Here are my thoughts on a few areas that stood out to me in this case.

[00:10:14] Item number one. When Joe was young, he did not know that he was adopted. At the age of 12, his aunt accidentally mentioned that he was adopted. It's not clear how that could be mentioned accidentally, but either way, Joe's adoptive parents confirmed it.

[00:10:30] Joe had always felt out of place and uncomfortable, so this news made sense to him. As far as the motive for the murders, Joe claimed that he committed the murders because his father, Hans, beat him. This of course doesn't explain why he killed Sally Jo and Perry.

[00:10:46] Item number two. Joe repeatedly lied to people about his history. Again, he told people his parents were killed by a drunk driver. He acted like he was upset because he could not save them after the collision, so Joe was playing the victim.

[00:11:01] He was trying to get all the mileage possible out of the murders he committed. When asked why he lied to people about his past, Joe said, quote, that would pretty much be an automatic deal breaker, don't you think? Unquote. This brings me to item number three.

[00:11:18] Candy found Joe to be instantly likable. She indicated that he was charming, slick, and always knew just what to say. Initially, Candy did not know about Joe's past, but there were warning signs that Joe was trouble.

[00:11:31] For example, the first time they broke up, Joe simply took all his belongings and left. He put Post-it notes all around Candy's house with little messages. There were hundreds of them. No matter what he actually wrote on the notes, one message was clear. Joe was a bizarre individual.

[00:11:50] Despite this, Candy allowed him to return. The second time they broke up was because Candy discovered Joe was seeing another woman. Once again, Candy allowed Joe to come back. When Joe was working in Wisconsin and Georgia, he was always making excuses why he could not communicate with Candy.

[00:12:08] She suspected that something was going on. Clearly, Joe was an unsuitable romantic partner, but romantic success came to him with such ease. He was like a kid in a candy store. Item number four. Joe's stalking behavior against Candy was extensive and heinous.

[00:12:26] He sent messages to her expressing several hopes, including, I hope your world caves in. I hope all your pets die. I hope the house falls down while you are in it. And I hope you get into a physically altering car crash.

[00:12:43] Joe impersonated other people when communicating with Candy, like a psychotherapist, his ex-wife, his children, and his friends. A few messages indicated that Joe had brought an end to his own life by hanging. It was like he was looking for sympathy.

[00:12:58] This is actually what led to Candy finding out about the murders. She contacted Linda and was informed about Joe's past. After his arrest the first time, Joe sent Candy packages containing items like sex toys, flowers, and a dead piglet.

[00:13:15] Candy liked pigs, so Joe was trying to take something she appreciated and turn it against her. On one occasion, Joe approached Candy in person on the beach. He also created online profiles impersonating Candy and chatted with men about sex. Some of these men showed up at Candy's residence.

[00:13:34] Item number five. What do I think happened in this case? This is just a theory, my opinion. Joe Collier was self-centered, impulsive, irresponsible, vindictive, sadistic, overconfident, grandiose, cold, callous, manipulative, deceptive, jealous, insecure, angry, aggressive, violent,

[00:13:52] immature, had low frustration tolerance, possessed a superficial charm, and had a sense of entitlement. In addition, he was exceedingly creepy. He should have been imprisoned for the rest of his life for murdering his family, but escaped due to an antiquated law.

[00:14:09] He was able to restart his life by exploiting another antiquated law regarding the inheritance. The state of Wisconsin has changed both laws after this case. As an adult, Joe harassed his ex-lover Candy in a manner consistent with both a rejected and resentful stalker.

[00:14:26] From the rejected stalker type, Joe could not accept the end of the romantic relationship and deployed overly sentimental attempts to reconcile as well as threats. And from the resentful stalker type, Joe intimidated and terrorized Candy to regain power and control.

[00:14:44] The situation in which Joe finds himself is highly irregular. He definitely murdered his family, but he was not convicted. His superficial charm allows him to find romantic partners, but it has become increasingly difficult for him to hide his homicidal background.

[00:15:00] Despite this challenge, Joe has not always been rejected. Some of Joe's romantic partners did not dump him even after finding out about the murders. I guess they thought to themselves something like, well, I could do worse than somebody who wiped out his entire family.

[00:15:17] At least I didn't end up with somebody who wiped out several families. What am I complaining about? Joe Collier has proven that the lowest possible level that a person can set their romantic standards is zero. This has been True Crime Psychology and Personality from Ars Langa Media.

[00:15:41] This content is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Ars Langa, Vida Brevis. Did you guys hear about that couple that went on vacation and one spouse murdered the other? In fact, the entire vacation was planned just so that they could make the murder look like an accident.

[00:16:09] Ah, so like a slaycation. Oh boy! Sounds like a fun new True Crime podcast to me. On every episode of Slaycation, we'll examine true cases of people who were killed while on vacation. Was it murder? Or just a horrible accident?

[00:16:30] That's up to you and the law to decide. But either way, if you leave for your vacation in the plane and come home under the plane, you've definitely gone on a slaycation. Join us every week for a fascinating new episode. 911, what's your emergency?

[00:16:48] But make sure to pack your body bags because getting away can be murder. This is Slaycation.