In the summer of 2018, the quiet community of Aiken, South Carolina, was shaken by the untimely death of 41-year-old Curt Jason Cain. A dedicated employee at Swiss Krono and on the cusp of completing his MBA at the University of South Carolina Aiken, Cain's promising future was abruptly cut short. On August 7, 2018, law enforcement conducted a wellness check at his home after he failed to show up for work.
Tragically, they discovered his body inside; an autopsy would later confirm he had been shot and had died from blood loss on August 4th.
The investigation into the death of the male victim quickly zeroed in on a surprising suspect: his wife of just one week, Kellie Lynn Collins. Collins, a 30-year-old former Democratic candidate for Georgia's 10th Congressional District, had also employed Cain as her campaign treasurer. Investigators uncovered that Collins had been made the sole beneficiary of Cain's life insurance policy just weeks before his death, pointing to a chilling financial motive. Evidence at the scene, including bloody footprints, a gun holster in the kitchen sink, and Cain's missing debit card, further implicated her. Witnesses reported seeing Collins driving the couple's blue Subaru Legacy, which was missing from the home, in the days following Cain's death.
Faced with mounting evidence, Collins turned herself in to the McDuffie County Sheriff's Office in Georgia. She was charged with murder and grand larceny. Collins initially claimed the shooting was an accident that occurred while she was attempting to take her own life. However, she later accepted a plea deal, pleading guilty to the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter. In exchange for her plea, a grand larceny charge was dropped. On August 9, 2019, Kellie Lynn Collins was sentenced to 30 years in prison for her role in the death of her husband, bringing a somber conclusion to a case that intertwined political ambition with a fatal betrayal.
