Action News Jax Exclusive: New evidence against man accused of killing 2 mothers revealed

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Two mothers murdered in August: Action News Jax has exclusively obtained evidence against a local man accused of murdering his wife and her friend, including voicemails left by an allegedly abusive husband to his estranged wife just two hours before the attack.

This all stems from the double murder arrest of James Colley. Police say he shot his wife Amanda Cloaninger Colley and her friend Lindy Dobbins. Family members of Cloaninger Colley and Dobbins are reacting to this new evidence.

They tell us they don't agree with what James Colley's mother says about the two women partying several times a week.

In the new evidence obtained by Action News Jax, including DVDs with voicemails and interviews, James Colley's mother tells police Colley called his sister and said he had "shot Amanda." His mom also describes being with him after leaving the court hearing James Colley had that morning as he and his wife were going through a divorce.

His mom describes a look on his face she had not seen before. She also gives new insight into why Colley may have also shot his wife's friend Dobbins, who she calls Lindsey in an interview with investigators.

"I just know that JR blames everything on [Lindy] because [Lindy] is the one, her husband is a truck driver so she goes out and parties and all this stuff. Amanda's been going out 5 or 6 times and not coming home. She always went with [Lindy]," James Colley's mother said to investigators.

Some of the most chilling evidence is a voicemail message Colley left his wife before the attacks at 8:34 a.m. on August 27 before going into that court hearing.

Colley: "Very funny you don't want to talk yet. You know, we don't need to talk. Don't do nothing to me, I won't do nothing to you. I won't bring this up in court about what you really are. And we both know what you really are."

Family friends say it is the true side of James Colley. Just after that Aug. 27 phone call, Colley was in a St. Johns County court, fighting an injunction order in his divorce case and claims that he was violent and burned his wife's clothes in the yard.

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Colley left several other voice messages leading up to the time police say killed his wife and her friend Dobbins inside the Colleys' St. Johns County home.

Ten minutes after leaving court, Colley made another call to his wife.

Colley: "Amanda, I'm out of court. Please talk to me. Baby. This is the last time I'm calling to beg you. Please."

Discovery documents say Colley made yet another call less than an hour later with his mother as a witness.

She told detectives about that conversation after the killings.

"I can hear this woman screaming on the phone. I know it's Amanda … This look just came over his face. I've never seen that look before in my whole life … Apparently he came over here and did this."

Less than 15 minutes after that last call, police surrounded the neighborhood searching for Colley as his wife and Dobbins were dead inside the home. There was no sign of him until a 911 call from a Virginia driver 12 hours later.

"He just had me come to a complete stop in the road and tried to hit me. I have three small children in my car," the caller said.

The evidence we obtained also shows the gun Colley allegedly used. After the shootings, he then took off, and was arrested after a traffic stop in Virginia. Here's what he said to the detective who went to interview him:

Detective: "I drove from Florida, 10 hours to talk to you to get some answers and your side of the story on everything that happened there."

Colley: "I think you're gonna need to take me back to Florida so I can have an attorney before I talk to anybody."

Detective: "OK. Fair enough."

Colley: "I wish you would've asked that before you got in the car 10 hours, I would've told you that. I'm sorry."

The outcome of that violent August day is one many family members have told us they were worried about. Now, we're hearing that concern for the first time in video of a detective interviewing Dobbins' husband.

"You need to be extremely careful about what's going on, because I have a fear. I had a fear that something was going to happen and I have for a few months," Dobbins' husband said.

Action News Jax reached out to Colley's sister who had no comment on the evidence. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against James Colley.

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