Will the detection of colliding neutron stars by LIGO help answer the question of where heavy elements came form? I have read about and heard about the theory that most of the heavy elements we have here on Earth came from colliding neutron stars rather than by way of supernovae.

I'm not sure how strong this theory is, but I wonder if a LIGO (and backup observational/ gamma ray) detection would help answer this question in any way.
I just found out the answer to my question from a live press release on You Tube that has been covered by blogs like this: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/10/gravitational-waves-discovered-neutron-stars-pictures-science/

What LIGO does is tell you what is causing the gamma ray burst that can be studied different ways. The highly anticipated announcement I just watched explained that LIGO observed the neutron star merger (they're calling the event a kilonova). With the help of VIRGO, the area of the sky could be narrowed down better than previous LIGO detections. LIGO told us the masses of the bodies, the distance to the objects, how much mass was ejected and thus what the end product of the collision is expected to be.

We have observed many gamma ray bursts and this one was not particularly bright, but LIGO told astronomers to check this one out and so it was being observed within a few hours.

The electromagnetic spectrum of this event was collected and very broad lines were detected which are believed to be caused by heavy elements being ejected at near light speeds.

By our knowledge of how often these "kilonovae" should happen and the volume of elements heavier than iron thought now to have been emitted (16 Earth masses was the number mentioned in the press release), it can be said that a majority of many of the heavy elements we see around us may have come from these events.