SPRING, Texas – New details in the case involving a woman seen in Ring doorbell video -- appearing distressed and wearing restraints, were released Thursday by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office.
Investigators were initially called around 11 a.m. Wednesday to the 18400 block of Sunrise Pines near Lake Conroe for a welfare check on a man who had sent text messages indicating that he was going to hurt himself. When they arrived and eventually gained entry to the home, they found a man dead.
He is believed to have deliberately shot himself in the chest, officials said.
The man, identified as 49-year-old Dennis Ray Collins, left a suicide note behind, officials said. In the note, he identified his girlfriend as the woman seen in viral Ring doorbell video, which showed her wearing restraints used in "private intimate encounters," Spencer said.
VIDEO: Montgomery County officials provide updates on woman in doorbell video, deceased boyfriend
In the note, Collins expressed remorse for what he had done to the woman, Spencer said.
Investigators said the woman is a victim of family violence and therefore they will not release her identity. Officials have only described her as a 32-year-old from the Dallas area. She is safe with family there, officials said.
On the night the woman was seen ringing a doorbell, Spencer said she attempted to ring two doorbells to seek help. When no one answered the door, she went back to the house she was staying in with Collins, got a car and fled to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, officials said.
Officials there spoke to her, and she gave details that only the victim in this case would know, further solidifying officials' confidence that she is the woman in the video and she did live in the residence with Collins, Spencer said.
Spencer said the woman in the video is upset and embarrassed that the situation has come to this conclusion and remains in shock at the events that have transpired.
The woman was never reported as a missing person, authorities said. Online speculation indicated that the woman may be pregnant, though Spencer said that detail remains unconfirmed.
Collins was charged with sexual assault in 2000 but completed deferred adjudication in 2005, according to court records.
Spencer said if Collins were alive, this would be considered a criminal investigation. Though the investigation is preliminary, Spencer said no charges are expected to be filed in the case.