An Ohio Doctor Killed His Wife 36 years Ago. As His Parole Hearing Nears, His Son Wrestles With His Emotions

 

Collier Landry awoke to the sound of a piercing scream and two heavy thuds. Terrified, the 11-year-old pulled his covers over his head as footsteps echoed past his bedroom door. His glowing Batman clock read 3:17 a.m.

Frozen with fear, he wondered: What just happened? Who was outside his door? What caused the chaos?

The footsteps paused briefly — as if checking whether he was awake — before fading into the night.

The next morning, Collier came downstairs looking for his mother. It was December 31, 1989 — New Year's Eve. His father was sitting calmly in the living room and told him that his mother had left them and gone on vacation.

When Collier showed signs of doubt, his father firmly warned him not to contact the police, saying, "I never laid a finger on mommy."

But Collier knew something was wrong. His mother would never abandon him — especially during the holidays. What followed was a tragic story that would captivate their Ohio community and reveal hidden horrors no one had suspected.

Determined to find the truth, Collier called a trusted friend of his mother's — just as she had once instructed him to do if anything ever happened. His call led to a police investigation, where Collier became a key witness. Behind his father's back, he bravely shared critical details with detectives that changed the course of the case.

Three weeks later, investigators unearthed Noreen Boyle’s body from the basement of a house 175 miles away in Erie, Pennsylvania. She was wrapped in a green tarp, her head covered by a plastic bag — an autopsy later revealed she had been suffocated.

Five months after her disappearance, John Francis Boyle Jr. was convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

Now, more than three decades later, the story is once again under the spotlight thanks to the podcast Finding Mom’s Killer, chronicling how a determined boy helped solve his mother’s murder.

Today, Collier Landry — who dropped the "Boyle" name after the trial — is 47 years old and wrestling with a swirl of emotions. His father, now 81, faces a parole hearing in August.

"I don’t feel vengeful toward my father," Landry said. "But it doesn’t mean everything’s fine, or that we can just pretend this didn’t happen."

Landry, now the same age his father was when the murder occurred, often wrestles with deep questions: "Am I like him? Could I be capable of something like that?"

Cracks in a Picture-Perfect Family

To outsiders, the Boyles seemed to have an enviable life in 1980s Mansfield, Ohio. John Boyle, an osteopathic doctor, ran a family practice. The family — Collier, his parents, their adopted daughter Elizabeth, and their dog Gowdy — looked like a magazine advertisement for the American Dream.

Collier had fond memories of family road trips, his father playing classical music as he pretended to conduct an imaginary orchestra from the back seat.

Sometimes, he joined his father on house calls. During those trips, Collier noticed something unsettling: his father seemed unusually close with a young female patient. They were often seen holding hands or exchanging kisses.

One detail particularly alarmed him — the woman was wearing his mother’s unique diamond ring, identifiable by a special feature that let the diamonds glide back and forth.

After telling his mother, tensions escalated between his parents. Noreen filed for divorce and, fearing for her safety, gave Collier a list of emergency contacts.

"If your father ever says I left, call my friends and have the police investigate," she instructed.

Collier hid the list inside a stuffed Garfield toy, unaware of how soon he would need it.

The Investigation Unfolds

Shortly after Noreen’s disappearance, Collier called the trusted friends, who alerted the police. Detective Dave Messmore quickly became convinced that the boy was telling the truth.

Collier — dressed in penny loafers and neatly pressed slacks — carried himself like a miniature adult, and was adamant: something terrible had happened.

As the investigation deepened, it became clear that the Boyles were embroiled in a bitter divorce involving child custody battles, credit card debts, and financial disputes.

One day, Collier found photographs hidden in his father's truck: images of his father embracing the young woman inside an unfamiliar house. The woman appeared to be pregnant.

Messmore followed the leads, uncovering that Boyle had secretly purchased a house in Erie with his mistress, and had already started planning a new life there.

A search of the Erie house's basement revealed fresh concrete, under which Noreen's body was found. Investigators later discovered Boyle had rented a jackhammer two days before her disappearance.

Boyle was arrested, indicted, and tried. The prosecution chillingly described him as a "healer by day, killer by night." Collier was the star witness, bravely recounting the night he heard the fatal sounds and how his father behaved afterward.

In June 1990, a jury found John Boyle guilty.

Life After Tragedy

In the aftermath, Collier lost nearly everything: his parents, his sister, his home, and even his dog. He entered foster care, eventually adopted by a local family. His sister Elizabeth was placed elsewhere, and the two have not seen each other since.

Haunted by unanswered questions, Collier wrote to his father in 1991:

"Dad, just to get things off my chest, why did you kill my mom? Even though you hurt me, I still love you."

Boyle, still maintaining his innocence, responded with angry letters, accusing Collier of lying. Eventually, Collier severed all communication.

He rebuilt his life, moving to Los Angeles where he found solace in photography, filmmaking, and storytelling. He later created the documentary A Murder in Mansfield and the Collier Landry Show podcast to share his journey and shed light on family violence.

While some critics accused him of profiting from his trauma, Collier insists his work is about resilience.

"I want people to know you can survive unimaginable trauma and come out OK," he said.

Reconnecting with His Father

After nearly a decade of silence, Collier reconnected with his father this year while making Finding Mom’s Killer. They now speak occasionally by phone, though they haven’t seen each other in person since 2015.

Their conversations bounce between mundane topics — football games, texting instructions — and more complicated feelings surrounding the upcoming parole hearing.

Boyle, for the first time, confessed to the murder on the podcast, claiming it was an accident — that Noreen fatally struck her head during an argument and he panicked.

Detective Messmore, however, dismisses that version: "He planned it. This wasn’t an accident."

A Future Still Haunted by the Past

Today, Collier struggles with the prospect of his father being released.

Where would an 82-year-old felon go? How would he adjust to a digital world he doesn’t understand?

Collier made it clear his father will not be moving into his home: "That’s not going to happen."

He hasn’t listened to the full podcast because revisiting the trauma remains overwhelming.

"My favorite quality about myself is that I’m a kind person," he said. "I’m just grateful this tragedy didn’t rob me of that."

In Southern California, Collier Landry continues to heal — living near the ocean, playing pickleball, and pursuing his creative passions.

He has transformed from the little boy who helped send his father to prison into a man determined to show others that survival and hope are possible, even in the aftermath of the darkest betrayal.