The noise came from Noreen’s mother’s room in the early hours of the morning where he slept with his three-year-old adopted sister. 10 Collier had a happy upbringing with devoted mom NoreenCredit: Supplied 10 Collier confronted Father John Boyle down in a televised court case Then he kept his eyes closed as he heard the footsteps of his estranged father walking towards his bedroom. Now 44, he told the Sun: “I knew at that moment that if I looked up I would not be here today.” Collier had a seemingly happy upbringing in Mansfield, Ohio, where he grew up with Norin’s dental hygienic mother and Dr. John Boyle’s father, a respected family physician. Behind closed doors, Norin was forced to turn a blind eye to Boyle’s violent and abusive deception. He said: “Obviously my mother’s agreement with him was like, ‘Look, you can do whatever you want to do.’ “The moment you involve our son, it’s over.” Boyle broke the rules in June 1989 when he introduced Collier to his 26-year-old mistress, Sherry Campbell, pretending to be ill. “She was wearing a ring. I recognized her as my mother and said something about it. “And then I saw him kiss her,” Collier said. “She asked me to lie to my mother about it and I did. Then I felt very guilty. “I literally sat my mother in our little sunny room and said, ‘Mom, I have something to tell you.’ I want you to sit down. “ “I said, ‘I think Dad’s related.’ The news made Noreen file for divorce – and the divorce soon became bitter.
“Your father killed me”
Collier said: “My mother told me about two months before she was killed that she was afraid my father would kill her. He said, “My love, if I ever disappear, your father did something to me, your father killed me.” So when Norin disappeared after Collier heard two loud bangs, he was convinced his father was responsible. He said: “When I went downstairs and saw my father, he said, ‘Well, Mom took a few breaks, Collier.’ 10 Norin warned Collier if something happened to her, his father was responsibleCredit: Collier Landy 10 Noreen’s disappearance was initially reported as a missing person Credit: Provided He added: “He specifically said, ‘Don’t call the FBI,’ which I thought was really weird.” In the days that followed, Noreen’s disappearance was described as a missing person. Boyle, meanwhile, was building a new office more than four hours away in Erie, Pennsylvania, and would be missing for days. Collier used his absence to urge police to investigate his mother’s death and search the house for clues. He said, “Batman had just left, maybe I was trying to be Batman, who knows.” Fortunately, a detective, Lieutenant David Messmore, heard Collier – and decided to look into the matter. While Boyle was at a gas station, Collier took the opportunity to look for his father’s closet – where he made a shocking discovery. He said: “I found these two photos. One was the outside of a house in the snow and the other was his girlfriend, Sherry – who at the time, I did not know, was pregnant with my half-sister – and her two children. “He was sitting in front of a fireplace that was wrapped in plastic. “It looked like it was a new fireplace.” Collier called Lieutenant Mesmore from his principal’s office at the school to supplement his findings.
Double life
As police investigated Boyle’s double life, they discovered that Sherri had forged Noreen’s signature on a document to buy a new home with him in Pennsylvania. Collier, meanwhile, was still terrified of living with his father – fearing he would be next. When Boyle suggested he and Collier make a trip to Florida, the 11-year-old knew he had to leave. He said: “I thought: ‘It’s up to me, he knows something is happening, he knows I’m talking to people.’ After speaking to police, social services intervened and placed Collier and his sister with their client. The first night as a foster child, Collier suffered a huge asthma attack and ended up in the hospital. The next day, his manager announced some great news. “He said, ‘Lieutenant Mesmore found your mother and…’ I remember there was this eternal pause – probably the biggest pause in my life – ‘And she was dead,’” Collier recalls. “The first words that came out of my mouth were, ‘This b ***.’” “You do not want him to be right, you do not want him to be your father. You want to pretend that everything is a dream – or rather a nightmare. “There is nothing in this situation that one can say will bring this person back.” Police discovered that John had placed a plastic bag over Noreen’s head and strangled her as he broke the back of her skull with two loud bangs. “This is a familiar murder,” Collier said.
“He would have missed it”
Boyle had previously hired a hammer to dig a cavity in the basement of his new home – where he buried Norin in cement. When Boyle’s case was heard, Collier, then 12, asked prosecutors to let him testify against his father, who had pleaded not guilty. In the televised court case, Collier’s testimony cleared the streets of Mansfield, Ohio as everyone watched in earnest. Boyle was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder and corpse abuse. His medical license was also revoked. 10 John Boyle pleads not guilty to Mansfield shocking case 10 Collier Landry files lawsuit against John Boyle’s father for killing Noreen Boyle’s motherCredit: Investigation Discovery Collier said: “I’m the reason he’s in jail. He would have escaped. “ Despite his conviction, Boyle’s old patients approached Collier on the street. At the age of 22, Collier moved to Los Angeles and began his career as a model, music producer and now director. In 2017 he made a documentary, Murder in Mansfield, where he confronted Boyle about his crimes in prison. But his father still denies that he killed Noreen – claiming that he was being mocked. Collier said: “In the film I confront my father about the murder and my father is, I believe, a sociopath and a psychopath. “And he just denies it completely, he categorically denies it.” Boyle refused parole in 2020 and has been incarcerated for 31 years. Now, Collier’s podcast, Moving Past Murder, tells his scary but courageous story and speaks to other victims of crime. In an upcoming episode, he interviews Debra and Terra Newell – whose story inspired Netflix’s Dirty John. He says he is drawing on his trauma to interview the victims. “While most true crime hosts often just talk about murders that fascinate them, I have really experienced one,” he said. “No one believed me except a detective. And within 25 days, he and I actually solved the case. “It really uses that perspective to give people hope.” The Collier Moving Past Murder podcast is now available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all other podcast providers. 10 Dr. John Boyle was a violent and abusive father to Collier and Noreen’s Credit: Collier Landy 10 Dr. John Boyle has been convicted of murder and is still in prison today Credit: Collier Landy 10 Collier enjoyed a modeling career before becoming director of photographyCredit: Collier Landy 10 Collier, who lives in Santa Monica, California, now hosts and edits the Moving Past MurderCredit podcast: Collier Landy
