DOORBELL MYSTERY: Suicidal boyfriend identified after mystery woman in Montgomery Co. is safe
MONTGOMERY, Texas (KTRK) -- After nearly a week of questions and mystery surrounding a woman seen on doorbell video searching for help, we are finally getting some answers.
Montgomery County investigators say the woman was running away from her boyfriend, Dennis Collins, after being tied up and abused.
Records show he pled guilty to abusing another girlfriend back in 2000.
The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office says they are still putting the pieces together in this case, even though Collins is deceased. They're using a suicide note, text messages and the girlfriend's testimony.
WATCH: Montgomery Co. Sheriff's Office reveal details after suicide of mystery woman's boyfriend
The woman's face has been blurred in all videos and her identity is being withheld, because officials say she is a victim of domestic violence.
Investigators say the woman seen in this doorbell video, now safe with family, was in an established relationship with Collins, the man deputies say she was running from.
"The allegations are that she was tied up by Mr. Collins and so she went to seek help," Montgomery County Sheriff's Lt. Scott Spencer said.
Spencer says the woman made two stops the night she went looking for help after being assaulted.
"I don't know the in-depth details that occurred," Spencer said. "I know that Mr. Collins used the restraints on her and then after that, she was able to break free."
When neighbors did not answer, investigators say she returned back to the home where she and Collins had been living for four months.
She then got in a car and drove to her family's home in Dallas.
Deputies are now following up on her allegations of kidnapping and sexual assault.
According to records, Collins previously pled guilty to attempted sexual assault from a case in 2000. His most recent mugshot on file from 2007 is also from that case, in which prosecutors say he attacked his girlfriend at the time. Collins allegedly jumped on top of her and choked her while he was nude.
WATCH: How a 'suspicious' shooting led deputies to the woman
Records say she also suffered from scratches inside her throat when he shoved his fingers into her mouth.
In this case, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years of probation.
Collins was found dead inside the couple's Montgomery County home Wednesday morning.
They say a suicide note helped them finally track down the woman in this video, the subject of a search for days.
"He admitted to what he did to her, so that played into circumstances of committing suicide," Spencer said.
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