Teens found dead in burning Garner home remembered as part of musical brotherhood
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Authorities have classified the deaths of River, Jet and Shan Collins as homicide.
- They boys are shown singing and playing numerous instruments on social media videos.
- Community members raised over $55,000 for the teens' mother and memorial efforts.
From the time they were tiny, River and Jet Collins formed a musical brotherhood, jamming together on a combined seven instruments, screaming lyrics from the back seat of their car, and dancing together around the piano.
On more than 100 videos, the brothers shout heavy metal lyrics, holler along to Tenacious D songs, play saxophone and trumpet duets, double on guitar and drums and, about a year ago, perform an Ariel Posen song for YouTube.
In one video that has become newly difficult to watch, a 4-year-old Jet sings Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” in his pajamas while his father, Shannon, who was called Shan, strums a guitar in the background.
“At home Shan has his own boy band!” said a Facebook post from the Women’s Center of Raleigh, where the elder Collins worked in 2022. “If he and his sons aren’t creating their own music, they’re probably at a concert! (Or having ice cream!)“
On Tuesday, police and fire investigators found Shan Collins, 49, and both River, 15, and Jet, 13, killed in their house that caught fire off Ten-Ten Road near Garner.
The family of River and Jet released a statement Friday evening honoring the two and requesting privacy “as we grieve and begin to heal.”
“We have lost our beloved River and Jet — two bright lights whose lives were cut far too short,” the statement read. “They were not just our children — they were vibrant souls who brought joy, laughter and love to everyone who knew them.”
“River and Jet lived with passion and kindness. The hole they leave in our lives and in the hearts of their friends, classmates and community cannot be measured.”
Their deaths, now being investigated as a homicide, remain mysterious.
Three people, two cats killed in Garner home
The Tuesday morning fire, which also led to the death of a pair of family cats, puzzled neighbors from the beginning.
The house at the intersection of Rand and Ten-Ten roads showed little sign of a fire capable of killing three people. The exterior and roof remained mostly intact, and only the knocked-out windows looked out of place.
On Wednesday, documents showed that a domestic violence call came from the house on the night before the fire. And by midday Thursday, investigators said they were investigating the deaths as a homicide.
Sheriff Willie Rowe said all three victims had been shot, and the fire appeared to be intentionally set. A fire investigator found evidence of “three separate accelerant patterns” and two points of origin for the fire, a search warrant states.
Police also recovered a pistol with bullets and casings and an extended magazine from the home, according to the warrant.
“I’d met River and Jet after they were born, when they were little kids,” said Willow Collins, 26, Shannon Collins’ estranged daughter from an earlier relationship. “Over the years, I would reach out, and normally it was through (their mother) Kerrith because I could never find his contact information.”
Willow Collins described her father as being manipulative but also said he had a charming side that others would sometimes see.
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River Collins remembered by his swim club
To hear his friends tell it, River Collins was a friendly, hard-working teenager who liked Pokemon, popcorn and spending every free minute at the Edgebrook Pool in Garner, where he worked as a lifeguard for the Eels swim club.
He was only 15, a rising sophomore at Longleaf School of the Arts, and at a minimum, he played saxophone, guitar, bass, piano, trumpet, flute and drums.
He had a reputation for quiet friendliness — so much that he let younger kids at the pool play games on his phone all day.
“He did not care at all,” fellow lifeguard Sarah Woods, 16, said. “He was like ‘I’ve got nothing on it.’ ... River did his job very well. He was very serious, but he was also really fun to work with. He was understanding.”
This tight community around the Collins’ home on Rand Road is mourning the sudden and violent loss of their friend, along with Jet, a 13-year-old student at North Garner Middle School.
Woods noted at the pool Friday that she was asked to take her friend’s shift on the day he died. She found out he was gone that night while watching TV news. Now, a memorial wreath for River hangs on a lifeguard chair.
“It’s hard,” Woods said. “We have each other. The lifeguards have talked about getting together, just hanging out to be here. But I mean it’s hard — I think we were pretty close.”
A GoFundMe set up for the brothers’ mom
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page was started Wednesday to help the teens’ mother, Kerrith McDowell. By Friday evening, donations had reached more than $61,000.
“The pain and heartbreak she is enduring is unfathomable, and our hope is that this fundraiser will allow her the time and resources she will need to move ahead in a very changed world,” wrote Sarah Lipscomb, the organizer. “All funds will go directly to Kerrith.”
A second memorial fund was started for River Collins, a “beloved member of the Edgebrook Eels Swim Team.”
“He was a great guy,” said Luke Woods, 15, at the pool Friday. “He was a very chill guy.”
River Collins was serious but also funny
Friends at the pool recalled his serious, almost military presence around the job.
“He was just so much fancier than the rest of us,” said Finn Walls, 15. “He was making popcorn for Luke, actually, and he just stuck it in the microwave with plastic and all on it and just put it in there. We were like, ‘Why would you do that?’ He was like, ‘Oh, back at my house, I’d make it the normal way.’ ‘What’s the normal way?’ He said, ‘I put it in a pot with oil.’ He was a really great guy. He was funny, but in a very subtle way.”
Soon, the lifeguard chair with his memorial will go back to its regular job, and the pool community will find a more permanent way to remember their friend.
This story was originally published June 27, 2025 at 5:52 PM.