Sheri Coleman, sons Garett and Gavin murdered 5-5-09, Columbia, IL. Pt1

[cleo612]

They added more:

udontbelievethatdou May 9, 2009 11:26PM CST
not stirring anything...just contributing a bit of information I received from a source close to the investigation. The only the I may have a little off is the 11 hours...not sure it was from the time he made the call or from the time the autopsy was done...either way they were killed when Chris Coleman was still at home with them... watch and see, the information will be released shortly<<

Thank you for finding the link, Wrinkles. I was looking for it, also.

 

[mikeysmommom]

Hello MikeysMomMom,

Do you have the link to where you found that?

W

Edit: found the link here

Sorry found a second comment same place.
udontbelievethatdou May 9, 2009 11:26PM CST
not stirring anything...just contributing a bit of information I received from a source close to the investigation. The only the I may have a little off is the 11 hours...not sure it was from the time he made the call or from the time the autopsy was done...either way they were killed when Chris Coleman was still at home with them... watch and see, the information will be released shortly

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I see it was an interesting turn of events today with the burial and funeral arrangements. Playing tug of war with her family was uncalled for on his part and I understand why they would go to a judge to seek relief. Her family should be allowed to hold a service for Sheri and the boys since they were basically cheated out of going to her service in Chester. It is sad they had to go through such an emotional roller coaster on top of the grief they are experiencing with the loss of their daughter and grandchildren. (I expect his family to release a statement soon that this was not his fault and it was only a misunderstanding. Not that I would buy it.)

Searching the lake with divers is telling. They aren't looking for gloves, a shirt, or paint can at the bottom of the lake so it narrows down the scope of the search. A weapon would be my guess. Maybe strangulation was not the COD on all three victims. They are going to great lengths to find what they are missing and I think it would have to be critical evidence to continue these searches. (I would be very interested to learn what they asked the neighbors to be on the lookout for tho! Maybe one of them will let it slip.)

Cadaver/tracking dogs would not be terribly beneficial under these circumstances, imo. They have the bodies so a cadaver dog wouldn't come into play. I don't believe the killer took time to try to remove his scent from the scene, but if it was Chris...his scent would be all over the property anyway.

The lake is a fairly small man-made lake which is surrounded by homes from what I am seeing on the map. It is contained and I doubt this is how the killer accessed the house.

Cutting a screen to make it look like someone broke in would be typical of someone trying to fake a crime scene. (I wonder if the screen will show it was cut from the inside? Amazing how stupid some perps are.) I agree with Suzi that people receiving threats would have the doors and windows locked up tight...but being a security chief you would expect a state of the art alarm system which would be on at all times. The neighbors heard screaming, but no alarm. :bang:

 

[mikeysmommom]

I see it was an interesting turn of events today with the burial and funeral arrangements. Playing tug of war with her family was uncalled for on his part and I understand why they would go to a judge to seek relief. Her family should be allowed to hold a service for Sheri and the boys since they were basically cheated out of going to her service in Chester. It is sad they had to go through such an emotional roller coaster on top of the grief they are experiencing with the loss of their daughter and grandchildren. (I expect his family to release a statement soon that this was not his fault and it was only a misunderstanding. Not that I would buy it.)

Searching the lake with divers is telling. They aren't looking for gloves, a shirt, or paint can at the bottom of the lake so it narrows down the scope of the search. A weapon would be my guess. Maybe strangulation was not the COD on all three victims. They are going to great lengths to find what they are missing and I think it would have to be critical evidence to continue these searches. (I would be very interested to learn what they asked the neighbors to be on the lookout for tho! Maybe one of them will let it slip.)

Cadaver/tracking dogs would not be terribly beneficial under these circumstances, imo. They have the bodies so a cadaver dog wouldn't come into play. I don't believe the killer took time to try to remove his scent from the scene, but if it was Chris...his scent would be all over the property anyway.

The lake is a fairly small man-made lake which is surrounded by homes from what I am seeing on the map. It is contained and I doubt this is how the killer accessed the house.

Cutting a screen to make it look like someone broke in would be typical of someone trying to fake a crime scene. (I wonder if the screen will show it was cut from the inside? Amazing how stupid some perps are.) I agree with Suzi that people receiving threats would have the doors and windows locked up tight...but being a security chief you would expect a state of the art alarm system which would be on at all times. The neighbors heard screaming, but no alarm. :bang:

Not only did he play games with the funeral he also did not call her parents to tell them what happened they heard it from police.He is showing his heartlessness IMO. I also think it was more then just whats been reported i think a weapon is involved as well.I just hope they find it soon.From start to finish it all seems staged from threats to calling for a wellness check to a cut in the screen.I think he will be arrested shortly.

 

[mikeysmommom]

http://www.stltoday.com/news/illinois-news


http://images.stltoday.com/stltoday/resources/colemanorder0508.pdf

Hope I did this right.

 

[fran]

I would just like to state that it's my opinion, there is nothing nefarious in that Chris Coleman originally agreed to have a memorial service in his wife's hometown, but then objected. Regardless of whether or not he is the person who killed these three innocent victims, he is first of all the husband and father. Which ever role he has now, he is most definitely in a fragil psychological position and most likely finding it difficult to make decisions. He's lost his entire family and now is trying to cope with that and make everyone comfortable with the decisions he's making on handling the services and such.

It appears there was less than two hours between Chris agreeing to letting his family's remains be transported for the home-town services and when he relented. It was his father who talked him into refusing to let the bodies be taken after their services close to their home. At the same time, Sheri's family most likely felt frustrated when Chris changed his mind as they had probably already begun making arrangements and it was like throwing cold water in their face when he refused. It was most likely out of this frustration and shock of the murders of their loved ones, that Sheri's family immediately sought legal assistance.

Right now, although there's the murder investigation going on behind the scenes, which is what we're mostly interested in, the job of the family right now, first and foremost, is to grieve while seeing that the victims final memorials, services, good-byes, and placement into their final resting place. Everything else, to them, is background noise.

I hope everything goes smoothly for all those involved, at this time. I pray the victim's family can come together and do what they have to do to give Sheri and the boys their final farewells and once they're laid to rest, THEN the REAL work of solving this crime can move forward, uninterrupted, until the person responsible is put behind bars.

JMHO
fran

PS......I do find it unsettling though, that Chris did not call Sheri's family for two days after her and the boy's murder. Not until he had to, to let them know of the funeral plans. Most disturbing......fran

 

[OkGrace]

Some thing is telling me the wife was killed more then just by strangling.If he did it I bet he was more violent with her. I think she would have put up a heck of a fight to try to save her children.IMO

A few years ago while we were sleeping my ex choked me, I woke up and was able to stop him. (He occasionally did stuff in his sleep. We still joke about it.)
I put up a fight which woke him up, will never forget it. Luckily it did not last long, really scared me though.

Just throwing my 2 cents in on an experience, I did wake up.

 

[Wrinkles]

A few things from this article to add to the info here:

"Sources close to the case said investigators traveled to Florida last week to interview a woman said to be a friend of Sheri Coleman's..."

"Chris Coleman, 32, who works security for televangelist Joyce Meyer in Jefferson County, has hired well-known Clayton criminal defense attorneys Arthur Margulis and his son, William."

The article discusses things dealing with the change on the funeral arrangement in Chicago... (evidently this court document is available somewhere in pdf, according to someone on one of the newspaper chat pages.)

Edit: MikesMomMom already linked to the pdf here

Edit: the following was from one of the newspaper articles, the pdf shows things a bit differently
Chris offered, then changed his mind (cost); family said they would pick up all costs -- Chris agreed; then 1PM Thurs Chris again changed his mind; Chris told family they were more than welcome to come to Chester. One of Sheri's cousins said the goal "was to allow family members and friends who could not travel to Chester to have the opportunity to pay their last respects." Also stated they don't want to fight about this.

Also...this article

>>Police are still sifting through evidence collected in the case, which involves surveillance footage and a report of prior police action at the residence due to the family's contact with an "unknown individual."<<

Hmmmm I hadn't seen anything like the above before.

W

 

[SuziQ]

I would just like to state that it's my opinion, there is nothing nefarious in that Chris Coleman originally agreed to have a memorial service in his wife's hometown, but then objected. Regardless of whether or not he is the person who killed these three innocent victims, he is first of all the husband and father. Which ever role he has now, he is most definitely in a fragil psychological position and most likely finding it difficult to make decisions. He's lost his entire family and now is trying to cope with that and make everyone comfortable with the decisions he's making on handling the services and such.

It appears there was less than two hours between Chris agreeing to letting his family's remains be transported for the home-town services and when he relented. It was his father who talked him into refusing to let the bodies be taken after their services close to their home. At the same time, Sheri's family most likely felt frustrated when Chris changed his mind as they had probably already begun making arrangements and it was like throwing cold water in their face when he refused. It was most likely out of this frustration and shock of the murders of their loved ones, that Sheri's family immediately sought legal assistance.

Right now, although there's the murder investigation going on behind the scenes, which is what we're mostly interested in, the job of the family right now, first and foremost, is to grieve while seeing that the victims final memorials, services, good-byes, and placement into their final resting place. Everything else, to them, is background noise.

I hope everything goes smoothly for all those involved, at this time. I pray the victim's family can come together and do what they have to do to give Sheri and the boys their final farewells and once they're laid to rest, THEN the REAL work of solving this crime can move forward, uninterrupted, until the person responsible is put behind bars.

JMHO
fran

PS......I do find it unsettling though, that Chris did not call Sheri's family for two days after her and the boy's murder. Not until he had to, to let them know of the funeral plans. Most disturbing......fran

Chris may have felt it was his legal right to make the decision he did. But IMO, it is absolutely wrong and nefarious because there really is no good reason for the flip flop. We don't know who was involved in that decision as Sheri's brother could not hear what was being said. IMO, the short time frame cut out alot of family from being able to attend. Chris' could have also delayed the funeral near him. I truly feel that this was a way for Chris and possibly his dad by playing CYA for his son, to prevent Sheri's family from making a close examination of the bodies.

ITA, very unsettling that Chris didn't call for two days and what's up with that 2-3 minutes of not saying anything?

 

[LaLaw2000]

Are they insinuating something by this remark?


A private funeral was held at Christopher Coleman’s father’s church, Grace Church Ministries, in Chester on Saturday morning. The parking lot was filled. A blonde woman wearing black stood alone on a hill near the church.

http://www.bnd.com/100/story/762070.html

Well, the part about a blonde woman wearing black standing on a hill surely gives a dramatic touch, doesn't it? I wonder who she is? Maybe it is a family member of Sheri's who did not want to have anything to do with Chris and his family. Surely it was not a girlfriend of his. We see this sort of thing on TV, but rarely in real life.

I think LE will ratchett up the heat on the husband in the next few days.

 

[SuziQ]

I wonder if it was Chris' lawyers that were behind the funeral flip flop?

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Sources close to the case said investigators traveled to Florida last week to interview a woman said to be a friend of Sheri Coleman's. The woman and other mutual friends did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Chris Coleman, 32, who works security for televangelist Joyce Meyer in Jefferson County, has hired well-known Clayton criminal defense attorneys Arthur Margulis and his son, William.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...74A63CA512CC24EA862575B2000C3636?OpenDocument

It sounds like the press knows her identity. (We need to find her, too!)

Now...why would JMM be hiring a criminal defense attorney? This is VERY interesting to me.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Well, the part about a blonde woman wearing black standing on a hill surely gives a dramatic touch, doesn't it? I wonder who she is? Maybe it is a family member of Sheri's who did not want to have anything to do with Chris and his family. Surely it was not a girlfriend of his. We see this sort of thing on TV, but rarely in real life.

I think LE will ratchett up the heat on the husband in the next few days.

Hmmmm...I don't think a gf of his would be stupid enough to stand out like that...but maybe.

I find it odd the reporters would not take a photo of her and plaster it all over until they figured it out. They should have been all over that one. This IS a murder investigation.

 

[LaLaw2000]

I think it was wrong of Chris C. to change his mind on letting Sheri's family have a service. I see no reason for Chris to have denied this after already having given permission. It is so very sad when there is adversity surrounding the deaths of loved ones.

 

[fran]

Ok, so he didn't have the $$ to transport his wife and children's bodies for a second memorial in her home town, but he has the $$ for a high price attorney?

I know many 'attorneys' will tell you the first thing you should do in a case such as this is to get yourself an attorney. But let's face it, if you have nothing to hide, you HIDE NOTHING.

Innocent people do NOT get attorneys.

I'll be interested to hear if Chris Coleman attends tonights vigil.

FWIW, I do not believe that the wife's name being removed from the home ownership is so much a part of possibly pointing to premeditation of this crime but more like a 'control' issue. IF the property was held in joint ownership previsously, he would have most likely had right of survivorship (if it's the same as Calif). I'll be curious until we hear the ahhh........explanation of that little tidbit.

Twenty-five special investigators given additional time on this crime. A friend of the wife's out of state and LE is talking to them? Secrets,..........I hope Sheri confided in her friend. I know one case we followed here on WS where the ehhhh..........husband ended up being arrested, he had no idea the wife had seeked counseling at a woman's shelter.......secrets...........

JMHO
fran

 

[fran]

I wonder if it was Chris' lawyers that were behind the funeral flip flop?

In the court documents I saw earlier, IIRC, Sheri's brother thought Chris was talking to his dad when he came back on the phone and had changed his mind about the second memorial service. But, he COULD have been mistaken and it was his attorney.

JMHO
fran

 

[analytical]

I JUST FOUND THIS DO NOT KNOW IF ITS TRUE.

udontbelievethatdou May 9, 2009 10:49PM CST
Face it folks, people who proclaim to be Christians kill all the time. Chris Coleman killed his wife and sons and he will be charged with their murders...it's only a matter of time. The police know he did it. They went to Florida to interview the woman he has been having an affair with. The autopsies showed that his wife and sons had been dead for approximately 11 hours when he made the call, this was determined by the liver temperatures. Mr Coleman is on borrowed time folks...the police know it's him, guessing they will be charging him shortly now that the funerals here are over.

Eleven hours runs contrary to reports that neighbors allegedly hear "screaming" from the Coleman home around 3 a.m. The bodies were discovered at approximately 7 a.m. .. four hours later.

I am disturbed to see so much focus on the husband leaving out the critical information that he had been receiving threats in association with his job at Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce Meyer has received death threats herself.

It is not totally out of the realm of reasoning that Coleman's family was somehow threatened and the message scrawled on the wall seems to bear that out ... "I told you this would happen"

It appears only one poster has made mention of this crucial piece of information.

The former Marine military police officer works in security for Joyce Meyer Ministries, a worldwide television evangelist organization in nearby Jefferson County.

Neighbors said he had told them in the past of receiving threatening letters related to his work for Meyer.

On Tuesday, Connor said that the Coleman family had called the police in the past but declined to be very specific. "It was just some ... there was some interaction between an unknown individual and them that was suspicious in nature." He said it wasn't necessarily about a crime but that "they contacted police and wanted to document some incidents."

 

[analytical]

I JUST FOUND THIS DO NOT KNOW IF ITS TRUE.

udontbelievethatdou May 9, 2009 10:49PM CST
Face it folks, people who proclaim to be Christians kill all the time. Chris Coleman killed his wife and sons and he will be charged with their murders...it's only a matter of time. The police know he did it. They went to Florida to interview the woman he has been having an affair with. The autopsies showed that his wife and sons had been dead for approximately 11 hours when he made the call, this was determined by the liver temperatures. Mr Coleman is on borrowed time folks...the police know it's him, guessing they will be charging him shortly now that the funerals here are over.

Eleven hours runs contrary to reports that neighbors allegedly hear "screaming" from the Coleman home around 3 a.m. The bodies were discovered at approximately 7 a.m. .. four hours later.

I am disturbed to see so much focus on the husband leaving out the critical information that he had been receiving threats in association with his job at Joyce Meyer Ministries. Joyce Meyer has received death threats herself.

It is not totally out of the realm of reasoning that Coleman's family was somehow threatened and the message scrawled on the wall seems to bear that out ... "I told you this would happen"

It appears only one poster has made mention of this crucial piece of information.

(Excerpt)

"The former Marine military police officer works in security for Joyce Meyer Ministries, a worldwide television evangelist organization in nearby Jefferson County.

Neighbors said he had told them in the past of receiving threatening letters related to his work for Meyer.

On Tuesday, Connor said that the Coleman family had called the police in the past but declined to be very specific. "It was just some ... there was some interaction between an unknown individual and them that was suspicious in nature." He said it wasn't necessarily about a crime but that "they contacted police and wanted to document some incidents."
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...4826560E9F97109B862575AE00105849?OpenDocument

It's disturbing to see the rush to judgment to implicate the father so forcefully in light of the above information.

 

[LaLaw2000]

I wonder if it was Chris' lawyers that were behind the funeral flip flop?

IMO, it was either the lawyers or Chris' parents. I believe that his family really did want Sherri's family to be at the funeral to show a united front for Chris' benefit. His refusal to let Sherri's family have their service makes him look bad in the public eye. It certainly makes him look bad to me.

A funeral is the very last thing you can do for a loved one. Sherri's family should have been allowed to have input.

When my husband passed away, I had his sister by my side at every stage of the planning because they had been so very close. It was her loss also. When my son was killed by a drunken driver on Thanksgiving Day, 1999, both of my daughters had special things they wanted done at his funeral and I wanted them to as well as both sets of grandparents.

These deaths (murders) were a senseless tradgedy. Why not let both families have input into the very last things they could do for their loved ones? Chris refuses and forces it to be a legal issue? Not a very good reflection on him.

(please, no mention of sympathy for my husband and son. was saying this as an example and I am still dealing with it.)

 

[LaLaw2000]

Hmmmm...I don't think a gf of his would be stupid enough to stand out like that...but maybe.

I find it odd the reporters would not take a photo of her and plaster it all over until they figured it out. They should have been all over that one. This IS a murder investigation.

You are right. It may have just been a friend or an extended family member of Sherri's.

Still, it added drama that really did not have to be because it did wind up in the newspaper.