Neighbors recalled nothing unusual before Cierra Tellez returned home with Kyle Collins and was not seen leaving again.
MESA, Ariz. — The last evening neighbors described seeing Cierra Tellez alive did not look like the beginning of a homicide case. She and her boyfriend, Kyle Collins, joined people outside their Mesa apartment complex for board games, including Monopoly. Witnesses later told police they noticed nothing suspicious and could not recall seeing injuries on the 36-year-old mother of two.
That ordinary courtyard gathering has become a key marker in the timeline detectives built after Tellez was found dead the next morning. Surveillance video showed Tellez and Collins going back into the apartment they shared after the games ended, according to police records cited by Law&Crime and Arizona’s Family. Investigators said Tellez did not appear on the recording leaving again. Collins, by contrast, was seen outside the residence multiple times during the following morning, creating a visual record of movements police would later compare with what he told them.
A neighbor who had been with the couple described the evening in strikingly simple terms: “Everything was fine, nothing was off.” Other witnesses gave a similar account to police, saying the group had been playing board games and that they did not remember visible bruising or injuries on Tellez. Those observations cannot establish what happened later inside the couple’s home, but they gave investigators a reference point close to the beginning of the period they were examining. The contrast became sharper when the same neighbor encountered Collins again hours later.
Early the next morning, according to the neighbor, Collins came to the door in an agitated state and spoke about having fought with Tellez. The neighbor said Collins also called his mother and remained on the phone with her for an extended period. Police records say Collins discussed anger over an allegation that Tellez had cheated on him. His mother later contacted his employer and reported that he would be taking a sick day, according to investigators. The employer was told Collins had discovered alleged infidelity and needed time to clear his head.
The allegation about cheating came from Collins and has not been independently verified in the reviewed records. Police say he later made additional claims about Tellez’s private conduct while explaining why he was angry. Those statements are relevant because they form part of the account he gave detectives, not because authorities established them as facts about Tellez. In reporting a homicide investigation, that distinction matters: an accused person’s description of a victim cannot be treated as proven simply because it appears in a probable cause document.
What detectives could independently examine was the apartment complex’s surveillance system. Police say footage showed Collins leaving the residence several times July 21. On one occasion, at about 8:15 a.m., he was recorded outside without a shirt, wearing camouflage shorts and wiping his hands, arms and chest with a towel or rag before going back inside. Investigators later contrasted those images with Collins’ statement that he had left for work around 9 a.m. and returned around 11 after finishing his shift early.
The employer told a different story. According to police, Collins had not reported for work at all. His mother’s sick-day call had already accounted for his absence. That discrepancy was especially important because Collins called 911 shortly after 11 a.m. and said he had come home from work to find Tellez unresponsive. He indicated he was preparing to perform CPR while waiting for emergency crews. When Mesa police and firefighters arrived at the apartment near First and Hibbert streets, they found Tellez dead.
Officers immediately noticed significant injuries, prompting homicide detectives to take over the scene. Inside the residence, investigators documented blood in several rooms, according to court-record reporting. A broken metallic cane shaft with blood and hair on it was also recovered, and police said they believed it had been used as a weapon. Law&Crime reported that the probable cause affidavit described widespread injuries to Tellez. The reviewed sources did not include a complete final public medical examiner report, so the precise final cause-of-death determination should not be stated beyond what authorities have officially disclosed.
The location and condition of the scene gave investigators physical evidence, but the neighbor accounts supplied something different: a before-and-after view of the couple’s behavior. The witnesses described an uneventful social gathering followed hours later by Collins appearing distraught and speaking about a conflict. Police then had camera footage that placed Collins around the home and an employer who contradicted his claim of having gone to work. Detectives cited those pieces, along with medical examiner observations and evidence inside the apartment, when they determined there was probable cause for an arrest.
Collins’ interview added another layer. Police say he acknowledged that the couple had argued after an alleged disclosure that angered him, but initially portrayed the confrontation as verbal. When detectives asked whether he had physically touched Tellez, Collins reportedly said that denying it would be a lie. He then made statements saying he had badly messed up and that it was his fault, according to the probable cause account. When asked to explain further, he invoked his right to an attorney. Those remarks have not been adjudicated and do not constitute a guilty plea.
After his arrest, police said Collins made additional comments during the jail intake process, including a response to a question about whether he planned to hurt himself or others. Investigators also reported that he made a remark referring to having already hurt someone. Such statements may become part of the prosecution’s evidence, but a court will determine what evidence is admissible and what weight it should receive. Collins is entitled to the presumption of innocence on both charges against him.
The state booked Collins on first-degree murder and kidnapping counts. At his initial appearance, a prosecutor described the death as “brutal and horrific” and argued that Collins was dangerous. The court set a cash-only bond of approximately $1.25 million. Prosecutors also mentioned an earlier history involving domestic violence and kidnapping. Available coverage did not establish the full details and dispositions of those previous matters, making it inappropriate to use them as shorthand for guilt in the Tellez case.
For the people who knew Tellez, the investigation soon became more than a chronology of camera footage and statements. Her family said she had two children, ages 12 and 15, and described the lasting loss to them as well as to Tellez’s parents. Family members publicly urged people to recognize patterns of abuse in relationships. Their statement came days after the homicide and placed Tellez, who could otherwise be reduced in court records to “the victim,” back at the center of the story as a mother and daughter.
The neighbor who had spent the previous evening playing Monopoly with the couple said the atmosphere at the apartment complex changed after the killing and expressed disbelief that such a serious crime could follow a night that had seemed unremarkable. That observation does not tell investigators what occurred inside Tellez’s home, but it explains why the courtyard gathering matters: it is the last publicly described moment before the case’s timeline narrowed to the apartment and the people inside it.
Collins remains accused of first-degree murder and kidnapping and the investigation was continuing. No final court outcome had been established. The precise sequence after Tellez went inside, the full medical findings and the evidence supporting every element of the two charges remain matters for the criminal process.
Author note: Last updated August 28, 2026.