Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Buried Her Underneath The House // The Collier Landry Story

Episode Date: August 22, 2026

Collier Landry began a lifelong pursuit of justice following the December 1989 murder of his mother, Noreen Boyle, in Mansfield, Ohio. At just eleven years old, Collier heard the murder take place and later provided the crucial, dramatic courtroom testimony that led to the conviction of his father, Dr. John Boyle

So an 11-year-old boy just single-handedly solved a murder. So how come no adult will listen to him? Now, the boy's name is Collier, and Collier is 11, living in Ohio, and little bro has some problems. His dad is just terrible. He has serious anger issues, he's abusive to him and his mom, so Collier is terrified of him. Luckily, his dad isn't around much because he works as a physician. He's gone all the time. And because of that, Callyer spends most of his time with his mom, who will just call mom.

And he and his mom, they're close. I mean, she's his best friend. And so one day, in 1989, his life changes forever. Because on that day, he's with his dad, and his dad introduces him to a woman who's about 20 years younger than his dad. This woman, Sherry. So, Callier meets Sherry, and he immediately notices she's wearing a ring that belongs to his mom. And so he gets suspicious. And when they don't think he's looking,

Collier sees his dad kissing Sherry, and he knows exactly what's up. So Collier goes right to his mom, and he's like, Mom, I think dad has a girlfriend. Now, his mom knows all about her husband's cheating. I mean, he's been doing this for years. But wrapping their son into it is where she draws the line. So she confronts him,

and his parents get into a huge fight, and ultimately his mom files for divorce. And his dad finds out that she filed for divorce and he gets super pissed off. And he goes to her and he yells at her and he's like, you're getting nothing. You and Collier will be starving in the streets when this is over.

And over the next few months, his rage gets so bad that his mom takes Collier aside and she straight up tells him, if anything ever happens to me, your father did it. I would never leave you. So, little Collier.

knows how serious this is, and he wants to be prepared. So he writes down the phone numbers of his mom's friends, and he hides the list inside his Garfield stuffed animal. Then one night, at 3 a.m., he's asleep in his bed, and suddenly, boom, he hears a loud scream, and then bam, a thud, and then bam another thud. And Collier, he starts panicking. I mean, he fears that the worst thing imaginable has happened,

and that if he moves, something bad will happen to him too. So he waits for hours until dawn. Then he gets out of bed and he goes looking for his mom. But he can't find her. So he confronts his dad. Where's my mom? And his dad's like, Mommy went on a little vacation. And Collier's grandmother, his dad's mom, just happens to be there.

And they both explain to him, whatever you do, don't call him. the police. And you'll be severely punished if you do. And at this point, Collier knows what happened. I mean, he knows that his dad killed his mom. So he decides that he has to do something. He's going to have to prove what his father did so that he can get justice for his mother. And he's going to have to do all this by himself, in secret without his dad or grandmother finding out. So he gets to work on this plan. And one day, he sneaks a phone into the bathroom, and he takes the list of numbers of his mom's friends out of his Garfield stuffy, and he starts making

calls. And he ends up getting through to his mom's best friend. Then his mom's best friend calls 911 and reports her missing. And from here, police show up to call yours house to do a welfare check on her, and they start looking around. And the grandma's there, and she's pissing. And she's pissed off that the police are there sniffing around and she's like, this is harassment. My son's a doctor and we'll sue you. And she tells them she's not missing. She abandoned the family because she caught him cheating. And the police believe her. And Collier, he wants to tell the police everything he knows, but he's only 11 and his grandmother won't leave him alone with them. She keeps hovering making sure that he keeps quiet. But then Collier's grandmother leaves the room

for a minute. And at that moment, Collier turns to a detective, this guy, Messmore. And he tells this detective, my mom would never leave me. Something happened to her. And he asks Messmore for his phone number. The next day, when Collier gets to school, he goes to the principal's office and he uses the phone to call Messmore. And Messmore hears him out and he believes his story and he wants to help him. But Messmore runs into a problem. None of the other detectives want to work on this case. They're all afraid that Collier is wrong and that if he is, his dad, the doctor, will sue all of them for harassment. Not only that, but the police captain starts pressuring Messmore to close the case.

Like, you're a fool to trust an 11-year-old kid. But Detective Messmore isn't trying to hear all that. He decides to take the risk and he starts meeting with Collier at his school in secret to solve. this case together. But then things get much worse. Because Collier's dad finds out that Messmore has been investigating and sniffing around and calling around to people. And he suspects there must be someone on the inside giving him information. And that someone is likely his son, Collier. So Callyer's dad goes to him, like, you know, son, things have been rough since your mother abandoned us. Let's go on a father-son trip to get away for a while. And this isn't good. I mean, Collier knows this ain't

going to be no regular father-son trip. His dad is probably planning to kill him while they're gone. So, some time passes. And as this father-son trip approaches, he's potentially getting closer to his death and he's running out of time. And Collier still needs evidence to prove that his dad is guilty and he needs it fast. So he searches the whole house for his mom's body. But of course, he can't find it. Then he goes to his dad's truck and he looks around. And inside, he finds two photographs that are going to change everything.

One photo is of a house that Collier has never seen before. The other photo is of Sherry at this new house. And she's pregnant. So Collier goes and he meets with Messmore again. and he gives him these photos. And there is where Messmore discovers that Collier's dad had secretly purchased this house out of state, and he purchased the house for Sherry,

who's now pregnant with his kid. So Messmore investigates further, and he finds the real estate agent who sold Collier's dad the house, and he questions her like, did he say anything unusual during the sale? And the agent is like, actually, yes. He asked me what he would find underneath

the basement floor if he dug into it. And this is exactly the clue that Messmore needs. So, police get a warrant and they go to the basement of this house and they start digging. And underneath some fresh concrete, that is where they find the body of Collier's mom. And so, bam, they arrest Collier's dad. But now there's another problem. Without his mom or dad, Collier is essentially homeless. And his... dad's side of the family tells him, unless you tell the police that you lied about everything and that your father's innocent, you're no longer part of this family. And his mom's side of the family abandons him, saying, we can't be around you. You look too much like your dad. So from here,

Collier has to make a tough decision. Tell the truth and bring his mother justice or lie to keep his family. And so he decides to bring his mother justice. He's going to testify. against his own dad in court and tell them everything. I heard I said like this. It's even louder. And at that time, I was petrified. And yeah, he testifies, and he ends up being the star witness, and his testimony becomes crucial.

And ultimately, the jury believes him. And so his father gets sentenced to life in prison. And interestingly enough, after all this, Collier ends up turning his life around. And he's like active on social media. He does filmmaking now. He has a podcast where he focuses on helping people recover from their own trauma, which is like really awesome. So shout out to him.