Preliminary Hearing Set For Mother Of Kahleb Collins As New Details Emerge

FAYETTE, AL — A preliminary hearing has been set for later this month for the mother of 1-year-old Kahleb Collins, who has been missing since September and is believed to be dead.

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As Patch previously reported, authorities in learned of Kahleb's disappearance after a Dec. 8 single-vehicle crash that claimed the lives of his father, Steven Bradley Collins, and two-year-old sister, Ryleigh Collins.

Kahleb's mother, 22-year-old Wendy Pamela Jean Bailey, was seriously injured in the crash but was charged earlier this week with aggravated child abuse, first-degree domestic violence, abuse of a corpse and criminally negligent homicide.

She remains in custody in the Fayette County Jail, where her bond is set at $1.9 million, which comes after 24th Judicial Circuit District Attorney Andy Hamlin told local media the state intended to request that Bailey be denied bond, pursuant to Aniah's Law.

The preliminary hearing in her case is set for Jan. 15 at 9 a.m. in the Fayette County Courthouse, with Tuscaloosa defense attorney Stuart Albea representing Bailey.

Kahleb's remains had not been recovered as of the publication of this story as law enforcement teams are still actively gathering information and searching for the 15-month-old's body.

Hamlin said earlier this week that the criminally negligent homicide charge is related to the death of Ryleigh, who was unrestrained in the pickup truck Steven Collins was driving at the time of the fatal crash, which occurred on Fayette County Road 73 near the Glen Allan community.

The day following the crash, law enforcement was also notified that the couple involved had another child who was unaccounted for.

Bailey is the second person charged in the case after her father, 55-year-old John Elton Bailey, was charged in December with failure to report a missing child.

Court documents alleged that on or about July 18, 2024, Bailey acted with "blatant disregard" to the abuse of Kahleb by his father.

Bailey acknowledged to investigators that she knew and failed to intervene on more than two occasions as Kahleb was physically abused by "torturous means."

The criminal complaint against Bailey claims that Kahleb was bound with rope and physically assaulted, in addition to being bound by a rope from a loft with blood and bruising visible in photographic evidence obtained by investigators.

Those with information that could assist in the investigation are asked to contact the Fayette County Sheriff's Office at (205) 932-3205, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation at (334) 676-7894 or the District Attorney's Office at (205) 367-9915.

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