Stella was attacked and nearly killed by Justin Collins in early 1841. Flora and Julia Collins stopped him, but they bound and gagged her in the tower room to keep her from going to the police (1204). When Kendrick Young came to Collinwood looking for his sister, Melanie Collins began looking into her whereabouts for him. She caught Julia going up to the tower room with a tray. Melanie discovered Stella was being held prisoner (1203). However, when Flora and Julia went up to the tower room to release her, they found Stella with a knife in her throat. She had been murdered (1204).