Medical Examiner: Suicide Not Possible in Collier Murder Case

OLATHE, Kan. — Stephen Collier briefly took the witness stand in his own defense on Wednesday as a jury will soon decide if the Olathe man is guilty of killing his ailing wife’s live-in nurse – a woman he admits having an affair with and who he says took her own life.

Collier, 60, had just started testimony when the judge decided to adjourn for the day.  Collier claims that Susan Goslin took her own life as he tried to take the gun away from her. But on Wednesday, the Johnson County Medical Examiner claimed that it was clearly homicide — and not suicide.

Dr. Michael Handler testified that Goslin could not have reached around with her right arm to shoot herself in the left temple.

“Even if she held it as far as she could reach, her arm reach is only going to be about 2 feet,” said Dr. Handler, who also said that Collier’s DNA was found on the gun’s grip, and could not be excluded from the trigger.

Collier’s wife, Molly, was upstairs at the time of the shooting and did not see the incident – but she did tell police that her husband told her that he shot Goslin. On Tuesday, Molly Collier denied telling police that she said that.

Prosecutors on Wednesday played a recording of a jailhouse phone call Stephen Collier made to his elderly mother in which he discusses his wife’s memory, implying that it might fail her at trial. In addition, the judge pointed out that Molly Collier contradicted her earlier statements.

Stephen Collier is expected to finish his testimony on Thursday, and prosecutors will then cross-examine him before the case goes to the jury.