Trenelle Major Collins, 55, a woman from St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, was caught in a burst of family violence on the evening of April 5, 2026, when deputies were called to a home in the 2200 block of Centanni Drive after reports of a disturbance. Investigators said what began as an argument inside the home escalated into something far more devastating. By the time first responders arrived, Collins and her mother, Mary Major, had both been shot. They were rushed to a hospital, but neither survived. Authorities said the bloodshed unfolded on Easter Sunday, turning what should have been an ordinary family evening into a scene of shock and grief.
According to St. Bernard Parish Sheriff James Pohlmann, the confrontation appears to have started between Collins and her son, Lee Collins III, who was 22. WWL-TV reported that investigators believed the argument became physical, and that when Mary Major tried to step in, the situation spiraled even further. Sheriff Pohlmann said the younger Collins left, went to a room, came back with a gun, and fired on both women. He was also accused of firing at his father inside the house but missing him before fleeing. The sheriff said the weapon was not recovered at the scene, adding to the urgency of the manhunt that followed.
In the chaotic minutes after the shooting, investigators said the suspect escaped in a white 2019 Ford stake-bed truck stolen from a nearby business. Law enforcement tracked the vehicle heading toward Mississippi, and for a time officials warned that he should be considered armed and dangerous. The search ended the next day, April 6, when Mobile police in Alabama arrested Lee Collins III. Authorities said he was taken into custody in Mobile and held there pending extradition back to St. Bernard Parish.
As of the most recent reporting I found, Lee Collins III had been identified by authorities as the sole suspect and was facing two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the killings of Trenelle Collins and Mary Major. Reports also said he was accused of attempting to kill his father during the same episode. Sheriff Pohlmann told reporters that investigators did not know what caused the argument to erupt into deadly violence, and that Collins reportedly had no known criminal history before the case. At this stage, the publicly available reporting centers on the arrest, the murder charges, and the expected extradition, with no trial outcome or conviction yet reflected in the sources I reviewed.
