Alabama woman speaks out following 11-day disappearance

TALLASSEE, Ala. (WSFA) - A woman in Tallassee has been reunited with her family after being reported missing in Montgomery more than a week ago.

Montgomery police reported Tuesday that 41-year-old Crystal Collins was found safe in Montgomery. She was last seen being discharged from Baptist Medical Center South around 3 a.m. Nov. 19.

“It feels great to be home. I’m glad to be with my family,” Collins said outside her Tallassee home surrounded by family. “I appreciate all of the love and support that they’ve given me, and sticking through it and hanging on the whole time.”

The former Tallassee school teacher had been missing for 11 days.

Her family said she was admitted to Baptist South for a kidney infection on Nov. 14. The family said she ended up staying at the hospital for over a week after she began having panic attacks. The family said there were talks of moving her to Crossbridge Behavioral Health, Baptist’s mental health clinic, but instead she was discharged overnight on Nov. 19.

Her husband Jason Collins said a family friend was going to pick her up that morning, but when they arrived at the hospital she was gone. Crystal Collins wouldn’t been seen again until Nov. 30.

While Crystal was missing, her family pleaded with the public for her safe return.

Jason Collins said Crystal borrowed someone’s phone and called him around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, the day she was found, and told him she was lost. Jason said he then called the Montgomery Police Department to pick her up.

Jason described hearing his missing wife’s voice over the phone as “relieving, crazy, very emotional.”

Jason said Crystal was found not far from the hospital, just off of Norman Bridge Road. Crystal nor the family would tell us how long she had been there or where she spent the 11 days missing.

When WSFA 12 News asked Crystal what she remembered about her disappearance, she said, “I remember coming home.”

Questions remain about where Crystal went and why she disappeared. In the interest of full disclosure, we did ask the family a number of questions, but many of our questions went unanswered.

“She’s not even comfortable talking about it with the family yet,” Jason Collins said about her disappearance. “Right now, we’re just happy to have her home and safe.”

“There’s something that ain’t right with the situation and she was not somewhere she wanted to be, but we don’t know exactly yet what it was or where it was, and we will get to the bottom of it,” he said.

The family said right now they are focusing on being together as a family and moving forward in a positive direction.

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