Police say surveillance footage tracked Kyle Collins around the couple’s apartment during hours he claimed he had been at work.

MESA, Ariz. — Surveillance footage from a neighboring apartment became a central piece of evidence against a Mesa man accused of killing his girlfriend after investigators said the video contradicted his claim that he had gone to work before returning home and finding her unresponsive. Kyle Collins, 37, faces first-degree murder and kidnapping charges in the death of 36-year-old Cierra Tellez.

The video helped detectives reconstruct the hours between an apparently ordinary evening with neighbors and the discovery of Tellez inside the downtown Mesa apartment she shared with Collins. According to police records described by Law&Crime and Arizona’s Family, Tellez and Collins spent part of the previous evening playing board games with neighbors in the apartment complex courtyard. Witnesses recalled no visible injuries on Tellez and said they noticed nothing unusual during the gathering. Cameras later showed the couple returning to their apartment. Police said Tellez was not recorded leaving again.

By the following morning, investigators allege, the movements captured on camera did not match the account Collins later gave officers. Collins told police he left for work at about 9 a.m., that Tellez was fine when he departed and that he returned around 11 a.m. after leaving work at approximately 10:30. Detectives said neighboring surveillance instead showed Collins repeatedly going in and out of the apartment during the period when he claimed to be at his job. At one point, police said, footage recorded him outside the residence wearing camouflage shorts and no shirt while wiping his hands, arms and chest with a towel or rag.

Investigators also checked Collins’ account with his employer. According to the probable cause information cited in published reports, the employer said Collins never reported for work that day. His mother had called the workplace and said he was taking a sick day, police allege. The employer was also told that Collins had recently learned his girlfriend had cheated on him and needed time to clear his head. Those statements became significant because Collins later told investigators that he had become angry with Tellez over what he described as a revelation about infidelity. His claims about Tellez have not been independently established.

The case began publicly as an emergency call made by Collins himself shortly after 11 a.m. July 21. He told dispatchers that he had returned home and found Tellez unresponsive and indicated that he was trying to begin CPR. Mesa police and fire personnel responded to the apartment near First and Hibbert streets. Tellez was pronounced dead at the residence. Officers reported seeing significant injuries and summoned homicide detectives. Police have said evidence collected inside the apartment, preliminary observations from the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner and witness interviews gave investigators probable cause to arrest Collins.

Records cited by Law&Crime provide additional detail about what detectives say they encountered inside the residence. Investigators reported blood in multiple rooms and found a broken metallic cane shaft with blood and hair on it, which they believed had been used as a weapon. Tellez had extensive injuries, according to the probable cause account. The full medical examiner findings, including a final public determination of her cause of death, were not included in the sources reviewed for this report. Police have therefore described the physical evidence as part of an ongoing homicide investigation rather than a final adjudication of what occurred.

The surveillance evidence also gave investigators a way to compare Collins’ statements with an independent record of activity around the apartment. Police said the camera showed Tellez entering the residence after the board-game gathering and not emerging afterward, while Collins appeared outside several times the next morning. That chronology did not by itself establish what happened inside the apartment, but investigators cited it alongside the condition of the scene, witness interviews and Collins’ employment records. The distinction is important because Collins has been charged but has not been convicted, and the allegations in the probable cause account remain subject to testing in court.

Neighbors supplied another part of the timeline. One told Arizona’s Family that the group had been outside playing Monopoly and that everything had seemed normal. The same neighbor said Collins appeared early the next morning in an agitated state and talked about having fought with Tellez. Police records cited by Law&Crime say Collins told neighbors he was angry about an allegation of infidelity. Investigators later questioned him about what happened between the couple. Collins initially described an argument and said he had walked out, according to the affidavit. When detectives asked directly whether he had physically touched Tellez, his response became less clear.

According to the probable cause account, Collins first responded that a denial of physical contact would be a lie. He then made a series of statements indicating that he had made a serious mistake and was responsible for something, before asking for a lawyer when detectives pressed him for specifics. Those remarks are allegations contained in the police account and do not amount to a judicial finding or guilty plea. Police also reported that Collins made additional comments during the booking process. Because the case remains pending, the exact meaning and admissibility of those statements would be issues for the court if prosecutors seek to use them as evidence.

Prosecutors emphasized the severity of the allegations during Collins’ initial court appearance. A prosecutor described the homicide as “brutal and horrific” and said the state considered Collins dangerous. His cash-only bond was set at about $1.25 million. Prosecutors also referred to a prior history involving domestic violence and kidnapping, according to Arizona’s Family. Published reports reviewed for this story did not provide enough verified detail about those earlier matters to describe their circumstances or dispositions, so they are not treated as proof of the current accusations.

Tellez’s family has meanwhile focused attention on the woman they lost rather than solely on the criminal allegations. Relatives told Arizona’s Family that Tellez was the mother of two children, ages 12 and 15. They described the effects of her death on her children, mother and father and publicly urged people to recognize the warning signs of abusive relationships. Their statement came as the police investigation was still active and Collins remained accused, not convicted, of causing Tellez’s death.

The strongest evidence disclosed publicly so far is notable for how investigators say several independent sources converged: the surveillance recording, the employer’s account, witness statements, the physical condition of the apartment and Collins’ own statements. Police allege that together those elements undermined the initial story that Collins had simply returned from work and discovered Tellez. What has not yet been established in court is the precise sequence inside the apartment, the legal significance of each piece of evidence or whether prosecutors can prove the murder and kidnapping charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case remained an active criminal matter in the latest reliable reports reviewed. Collins was being held on the first-degree murder and kidnapping allegations, while authorities had not publicly released a complete final medical examiner report or a later case resolution. Any claims Collins made about Tellez’s conduct before her death remain allegations from an accused person and have not been independently confirmed.

Author note: Last updated August 28, 2026.