Sheri Coleman, sons Garett and Gavin murdered 5-5-09, Columbia, IL. Pt8

[impatientredhead]

Good point. I just wonder what his motive was for killing his children.

He would have to take care of them as a single father.
That would impede his life.
They would be expensive.
They may have life insurance policies on them.

And Sherri's family would remain in his life.
Not to mention who knows what they have witnessed in terms of fights and threats.

 

[pres101]

I am not certain where I read it, but I did see that RC asked JM to give Chris his job after he came out of the Marines. (I will try to find the link.)

I am the one who said that.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I am the one who said that.

Thank you, Pres! I knew I read it somewhere and I was having trouble finding the link for it. Whew!

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Correct me if I am wrong.

Did CC use his JMM credit card to pay for travel for TL to Hawaii and Arizona?

I don't know if we have confirmed it, but it was discussed.

 

[pres101]

Does anyone know what "name not on deed" would do in a divorce situation. Maybe he did contimplate devorce first (or second). Just MO

in divorce, name on or off the deed does not matter. It is all marital property and would be divided.

 

[Lovejac]

Sal! Welcome to WS.

I love your style!! So very glad you are here, I'm looking forward to your thoughts on this case.

 

[pres101]

I have enjoyed this discussion because I tend to get an idea and think that's how it happened until I read someone else's view and it makes me go hmmm. I had no idea that JMM didn't let people that were divorced work for her. I could see that could have been a motive for killing Sheri. Thanks for the discussion.

JMM does not allow people who divorce for non biblical reasons to work for her. CC just wanting his freedom to carouse with women like TL is not a biblical reason for divorce.

If they had gotten divorced I would imagine that Sheri could have worked for JMM but not CC.

 

[who knew?]

IIRC the $100K gift was reported in The County Journal news paper a while back. It is a local paper from Percy IL. They ran an article about RC bragging about how he had founded the Grace Church and what a success it was.

In reality RC was not the founder of the church.

Who was the founder? Did he take it over from someone, or ??? I always had thought he was the "founder", was relying on info from someone in my family who may have not really known. TIA

ETA - Someone in my family gets the County Journal - isn't it owned by a Willis? I knew someone who used to write a column for them. Very few people except for locals know about that paper!! It is good for a small (tiny) town!

 

[MCDRAW]

JMM does not allow people who divorce for non biblical reasons to work for her. CC just wanting his freedom to carouse with women like TL is not a biblical reason for divorce.

If they had gotten divorced I would imagine that Sheri could have worked for JMM but not CC.

That makes more sense. I think CC was hiding a lot. I think that there were more reasons than just TL that he wanted out of his marriage.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

JMM does not allow people who divorce for non biblical reasons to work for her. CC just wanting his freedom to carouse with women like TL is not a biblical reason for divorce.

If they had gotten divorced I would imagine that Sheri could have worked for JMM but not CC.

Maybe she should consider a change in policy considering it could play a role in these murders.

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

Rosie, my point is that in a divorce it would not matter if Sheri's name were on the deed or not but in the case of the marriage ending in death it would matter if her family were looking for an inheritance. Even then it would not matter if Sheri had a will. With no will anything in her name could be open to probate, so long as the boys were gone too. If the boys were left as survivors then any judge in the land would give all to the surviving spouse in support of the children.

Basically it all leads me to believe that he intended to kill the whole family and didn't want to take a chance of her family laying a claim to any assets. In my opinion it all points to planning and premeditation.

Again, I am not certain of that. I know what my attorney advised/told me (an IL attorney who does a lot estate type law). The marital home goes entirely to the other (surviving spouse). Other assets are either covered by a will, or, if no will, then there are guidelines/laws that the probate court follows. If I were to die, with two children, without a will, my spouse gets all the marital home, but, my interest in second home, cars, money, etc. would go to my heirs, who would be surviving spouse, children, but, could be my parents, siblings, if they filed. I am not sure that the judge could just give all to the children if the other heirs fought for it. And if the other assets were held jointly with spouse, now, there could be separate provision for right of survivorship with spouse, in which case, they would not be split with heirs.

I do think that your last paragraph is correct. He assumed he would get all, and thought he could pull this off.

BTW I have a will, so this is all moot for me. I am just sharing some info obtained from several lengthy discussions with attorney when I got married. I had various assets I wanted to ensure would not end up in the control of my spouse's ex for any reason. I met DH some years after divorce, but, she had made comments to my step daughter regarding how well off they would be if something happened to me and DH. She was happy his new wife wasn't poor. Thankfully SD told us. (WTF?!!! - I heard this the day we returned from honeymoon, before that this hadn't occurred to me. )

 

[MCDRAW]

Maybe she should consider a change in policy considering it could play a role in these murders.

It may have played a role in these murders but I'm pretty sure he would have been fired for having an affair too. That didn't stop him. I'm thinking if his creative financing,if illegal would have gotten him fired too. It still didn't stop him. Most people if faced with loosing their jobs over a divorce would either work on their marriage or find another job. I don't believe most people would choose instead to kill their family. It's appears it's a proven fact that he had faulty thinking so it could have been his reasoning.

 

[overburnz]

I have been keeping an eye on the forums here, if there is anything you guys find out, ie any news articles, or posts I may miss please let me know so I can update my page. you can comment on my site or email me and I will add it to the articles..
I will be sure to do the same.

You guys are awesome.

Chip from
Chip and Co.


My recent update Here

 

[Sal]

I know that you are right. I just have a hard time convincing myself that men kill their wives to be with other women. Money and greed I can see. I think once a cheater always a cheater. So it opens a can of worms if they kill their wives to be with another woman it stands to reason that they would then kill the next woman to be with someone else. I know it happens. It appears that Drew Peterson killed two of his wives but I believe his motive was greed and control. I wonder if we will ever really know what Chris Coleman's true motive was for killing his whole family. I just can't figure out why someone would kill their whole family to get out of responsibilities and then jump right back in with another woman. Whatever the reason it was senseless.

McDraw, I think that CC killed his fam just because for him it was good riddance to bad (unuseful/worthless) rubbish. They were in the way of whatever he may have wanted to do. Some husbands have gone on to kill more than one wife, others do the old fandangled way of simply divorcing. Shoot, divorce shonuf leaves some loose ends that murder wraps up very nicely! My former hub thankfully chose to divorce rather than murder me and lo and behold - imagine this - it was to jump right back in with another woman. Go figure! Girl here has a bird's eye view of just how he jumped from the frying pan into the fire - as I'm sure CC would've found out. My former has made the choice to stick this one out come hell or high water - while another man may have strangled the life blood out of her by now. It seems to me that husbands sure can go off their rockers when they go checking foreign oil with their dipstick, now don't it? And yes indeed, it certainly was SENSELESS! I can't understand those who try to make sense of it - like as if everything that happens in this life, in this world makes sense! Hardly!

 

[Sal]

Several years ago at the church where I work, I was made aware of the question on our membership application that asked if the applicant had been divorced and to describe the circumstances surrounding said divorce. I was made aware of it because someone got good and mad about the question. Nope, there weren't any questions like: Have you ever murdered/raped/robbed, blah, blah, blah someone and what were the circumstances surrounding it? It just picked on divorce, as though that were the gravest of sins. Thank God that question is now long gone!

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

in divorce, name on or off the deed does not matter. It is all marital property and would be divided.

Maybe. What I have heard is that if she had her name on the deed, then she took it off during the marriage, then it might change things in a divorce. Had her name never been on the deed, it would not matter, the house is the marital home. But, her (willingly) removing her name could have made a difference in the divorce.

 

[pres101]

Who was the founder? Did he take it over from someone, or ??? I always had thought he was the "founder", was relying on info from someone in my family who may have not really known. TIA

ETA - Someone in my family gets the County Journal - isn't it owned by a Willis? I knew someone who used to write a column for them. Very few people except for locals know about that paper!! It is good for a small (tiny) town!

Yes the paper is owned by Willis.

Back in the late 80's there was a split in the 1st Baptist Church in Chester, IL. Roughly 25 people from the Baptist Church left and started what was called Grace Bible Church. They met at the old Night Hawk Tavern which had been closed down. They were in need of a Pastor.

RC had recently lost his job at a local Coal mine due to it shutting down. IIRC RC was bankrupt and looking for a new start. Long story short, Grace Bible Church hired him.

RC had grand plans of building a large church was was traveling around the St. Louis area mingling with large churches and trying to find a model to follow. For a while he tried to get in good with Grace Church in Maryland Heights, MO. but did not get the welcome he wanted. In his venture RC did stumble upon an emerging Televangelist JM, who befriended RC. That is the connection with RC and JM. That is how CC got his job with JMM after leaving the Marines.

In the mid 90's as I recall Grace Bible Church changed their name to Grace Church. Not sure of the exact reason for the name change but it occured at the same time that it went from a small church to what I would term a big business.

CC is the oldest of three boys. He was half raised when his parents got religious. As a preachers son He was expected to behave in certain ways, whether he agreed with them or not.

It is possible that CC never really was born again but rather lived a lie his entire adult life. When he and Sheri met perhaps she just a little like TL,(remeber, they were friends) so far as being a fun girl to be around.( I mean no disrespect here toward Sheri) Perhaps after they were married and CC went to work for JMM Sheri had a true religious experience and was genuinely born again. In this process perhaps she became less of the fun girl that he had married. Perhaps CC was looking for a more worldly woman and fell into the arms of TL.

Perhaps too, after years of living a double life CC just wanted out. Away from the good girl that his wife had become and really wanted someone like TL.

After years of watching the double standard set at Grace Church and to some degree at JMM, he probably really thought he could get away with it. Probably even thought that the world owed him.

 

[who knew?]

CC is the oldest of three boys. He was half raised when his parents got religious. As a preachers son He was expected to behave in certain ways, whether he agreed with them or not.

It is possible that CC never really was born again but rather lived a lie his entire adult life. When he and Sheri met perhaps she just a little like TL,(remeber, they were friends) so far as being a fun girl to be around.( I mean no disrespect here toward Sheri) Perhaps after they were married and CC went to work for JMM Sheri had a true religious experience and was genuinely born again. In this process perhaps she became less of the fun girl that he had married. Perhaps CC was looking for a more worldly woman and fell into the arms of TL.

Perhaps too, after years of living a double life CC just wanted out. Away from the good girl that his wife had become and really wanted someone like TL.

After years of watching the double standard set at Grace Church and to some degree at JMM, he probably really thought he could get away with it. Probably even thought that the world owed him.

This makes a lot of sense to me. I knew the Coleman's way back when quite well - some of my family still do know the family in Percy (RC's parents and bro Scott who owns a lot of rental properties in Percy) but are not in close contact with them these days (unfortunately I say selfishly :blushing: ). Back when I knew them, they were really good people. What happened to RC? It sounds like he went off the deep end. He was, I believe, a Methodist - his entire family went to church together every Sunday. I know he would frequently feel "moved" to go up front at the end of the service to "recommit" his life. I don't know much about Connie C - don't know if she was a good or bad influence on him or even if she was any kind of influence. It is really interesting to me - trying to figure out how a child could go so far into the dark side to commit this kind of crime. I'm not saying PK's kids are supposed to be better than other people's kids - I dated 3 different PK's in high school so know they also have "lustful" hearts!!! In other words, we are all human - but what makes one go over the brink? RC sure had me fooled - the stuff I've heard about him has really shocked me.
Thanks for your info - I appreciate it.

 

[analytical]

I have been keeping an eye on the forums here, if there is anything you guys find out, ie any news articles, or posts I may miss please let me know so I can update my page. you can comment on my site or email me and I will add it to the articles..
I will be sure to do the same.

You guys are awesome.

Chip from
Chip and Co.


My recent update Here

Hi and welcome!

I found your website a few nites ago and posted the link.

What can you tell us about Tara,,,,,if you feel comfortable doing so.

 

[johnrodz]

I don't think he counted on the MCS and thought he would be dealing with the local PD. With the threats, he thought it would be basically an open and closed case. His ego allowed him to believe they would buy his story and because he worked for JMM he felt they would skim over things, imo. After all, he was the preacher's son and a devoted Christian working for one of the most influential woman in the area. Since Tara Lintz was from Florida, he did not count on them going to such lengths to find out about their affair. Boy, was he surprised?!

If I remember correctly, I thought that CC told LE about the affair when they interviewed him the day of the murders. I could be wrong; I have read this entire thread in just a few days in my spare time and it is a long thread, but I think I thought I red that.:waitasec: