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

[chestergal]

let me try this again...

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn...images.classmates.com/imgsvc/i/ut/5560408.jpg

Here is a picture (tiny) of his Pastor Father and his mother - he looks just like his father. I am posting this because it was already out there on the web at classmates dot com.
http://images.classmates.com/imgsvc/i/ut/5560408.jpg

 

[mikeysmommom]

Okay, I have been searching to find an article about CC lawyering up on Tuesday last (the day of the murder), and can not find an article. I do find it discussed/mentioned on the comments of one of the articles on Stltoday, but, can'f find the first comment that mentions it, one that gives a source.

So perhaps for right now we should consider that a rumour only.

On Wed or Thursday I watched a clip from news on it they said the husband has a lawyer since Tues.I have read and watched at many different sites,I do not remember which one said it .Sorry

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Woah~ So he lawyered up hours after the murders!! Right...innocent people always make it their first priority to get an attorney a few short hours after finding out their wife and children were murdered. At least most husbands have waited until the bodies were cold. Sheesh!! Did he have him on speed dial or what?

You aren't losing your mind. It's here

http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?aid=99536

click on the video named FATHER OF MURDERED FAMILY MEETS

It is stated around 1:40 of the video. <<< Lawyer hired on Tuesday hours afterwards.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

My goodness, what a gorgeous family. Sheri was simply beautiful and their two children were as handsome as can be?

Who would do this?


I get a creepy "Mark Hacking" vibe

 

[SeriouslySearching]

My goodness, what a gorgeous family. Sheri was simply beautiful and their two children were as handsome as can be?

Who would do this?


I get a creepy "Mark Hacking" vibe

Funny you should mention him...Mark Hacking was my first thought, too.

They really were a beautiful family. It is all so senseless and tragic.

 

[chestergal]

helpful links

http://www.majorcasesquad.org/release.asp

http://www.majorcasesquad.org

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Chester is a charming town. Home of the creator of Popeye! I don't live in Chester, although I have some family there. I live in Belleville.

Very nice community. Welcome to WS!

Hi there! I live in St. Louis and we've been talking about this case for days at my work. Very sad. Such a beautiful family taken from this earth by an evil person.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Chestergal~ Thanks for the great links and photos. Also a big thanks for checking out the wake and reporting on it from Chester! Having a sleuth on the ground is very helpful to those of us around the country. Great job!

Have you heard anything about the woman the article mentioned as being blonde and standing on the hill away from the crowd during the service? This has left us very curious! :waitasec:

 

[PrayersForMaura]

There are a lot of local messages on KMOV's Website (CBS affiliate)
http://www.kmov.com/topstories/stories/kmov-stlouis-090510-coleman-attorneys.12762f67.html

 

[PrayersForMaura]

I liked this post:

"stllife May 11, 2009 10:06PM CST What a shame..they seem awfully concentrated on the father/husband. There are probably no other leads. Who wants to target a Security Aid employed by a religious organization? Nice try.. This guy is obviously a cold, twisted, selfish, control-freak sociopath. No heart either by the way he treated his wife's family through this ordeal. He is not a very nice person!"

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...75B400082AB8?OpenDocument#tp_newCommentAnchor

So true! Who would target this family? No one except someone close to them!

 

[PrayersForMaura]

" gardenufairy wrote:
I live in the same town where this happened.... its really hard to come to terms with this and I give my deepest sympathy to the family,(I don't know if he(Chris) did this or not)....
BUT from what I have seen and heard.....the police say here that they was targeted...but the neighbor that lived next to them say on the news that he hears screams or arguing(a domestic side of this)....and so on...from their house....verses to many things that was updated on the major case squad website for Illinois/MO..."one thing that doesn't make sense"Why would Chris take his wife off the deed to the house in Nov/Dec 2008 that states in the court records of Monroe county....before they knew of the documents of this happening.....a neighbor says that they were having financial issues and tried selling their house.
Then, I wanting to go to the visitation in Chester,IL and looked up the website of theirs "his father" at grace church ministries.. gave me the creeps...how so?! Its because that I listen to his fathers online sermon"Do The Word"....the sermon before the horrible tragedy..... (5.3.09)(think the best,forget the rest) THAT REALLY GAVE ME THE CREEPS.....this a contemporary church where they are not, like Catholic, Lutheran or Baptist ...but they still believe in the father son and holy ghost but they do not go by the days of the bible....if that makes any sense....LOL
Anyhow However, I agree totally with (((k9momx5))))and others....on here....
And finally...just recently they are letting him(Chris) get things from the home....and is moving to Chester,IL! NOT EVEN ONE WEEK.....

Again, I give my sympathy to her extended family in Chicago....and its been one ruff 7 days for our town....!"

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=175015&catid=3

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

You aren't losing your mind. It's here

http://www.ksdk.com/video/default.aspx?aid=99536

click on the video named FATHER OF MURDERED FAMILY MEETS

It is stated around 1:40 of the video.

THANK YOU! And I just might print out your post, laminate it and put it above my desk!

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

Woah~ So he lawyered up hours after the murders!! Right...innocent people always make it their first priority to get an attorney a few short hours after finding out their wife and children were murdered. At least most husbands have waited until the bodies were cold. Sheesh!! Did he have him on speed dial or what?

And not just a lawyer. One of the TOP Big Dog Defense lawyers in the St. Louis area. There are a few that come to mind. Art Margulis, Scott Rosenblum, Brad Kessler - they do big high profile murder cases. And he hired AM the day his family was murdered. There are plenty of good or okay attorneys one could hire if you need a little advice, but, going straight for a big name like Art Margulis? Whoa.

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

I liked this post:

"stllife May 11, 2009 10:06PM CST What a shame..they seem awfully concentrated on the father/husband. There are probably no other leads. Who wants to target a Security Aid employed by a religious organization? Nice try.. This guy is obviously a cold, twisted, selfish, control-freak sociopath. No heart either by the way he treated his wife's family through this ordeal. He is not a very nice person!"

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...75B400082AB8?OpenDocument#tp_newCommentAnchor

So true! Who would target this family? No one except someone close to them!

No kidding. Even people I know who are not into TC at all, have made that same comment. The runner up for most often given comment is why did this security man have no alarm in his home if his family was threatened?

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

" gardenufairy wrote:
I live in the same town where this happened.... its really hard to come to terms with this and I give my deepest sympathy to the family,(I don't know if he(Chris) did this or not)....
BUT from what I have seen and heard.....the police say here that they was targeted...but the neighbor that lived next to them say on the news that he hears screams or arguing(a domestic side of this)....and so on...from their house....verses to many things that was updated on the major case squad website for Illinois/MO..."one thing that doesn't make sense"Why would Chris take his wife off the deed to the house in Nov/Dec 2008 that states in the court records of Monroe county....before they knew of the documents of this happening.....a neighbor says that they were having financial issues and tried selling their house.
Then, I wanting to go to the visitation in Chester,IL and looked up the website of theirs "his father" at grace church ministries.. gave me the creeps...how so?! Its because that I listen to his fathers online sermon"Do The Word"....the sermon before the horrible tragedy..... (5.3.09)(think the best,forget the rest) THAT REALLY GAVE ME THE CREEPS.....this a contemporary church where they are not, like Catholic, Lutheran or Baptist ...but they still believe in the father son and holy ghost but they do not go by the days of the bible....if that makes any sense....LOL
Anyhow However, I agree totally with (((k9momx5))))and others....on here....
And finally...just recently they are letting him(Chris) get things from the home....and is moving to Chester,IL! NOT EVEN ONE WEEK.....

Again, I give my sympathy to her extended family in Chicago....and its been one ruff 7 days for our town....!"

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=175015&catid=3

Prayers for Maura - that is a really interesting find. I saw the father's church's website and saw he had sermons on there - I was/am so tempted to listen to a couple, especially the one he preached on 5/10 - but, haven't been up to it yet.

 

[chestergal]

I read that on here but I have not heard anything locally about it. There is only one hill near the church and the hill is where the fox media was as there was a huge tree knocked down by the storm that came through at about 1 to 1:30 pm on Friday and the lady reporting on the story for Fox was a young blonde dressed in everyday clothing. So I am thinking that maybe who ever reported on it may have not known she worked for Fox, actually I had never seen her report for Fox before. Fox News was here all day on Friday from around 2:30pm until after 11pm. The main reason they were here was for the Coleman story but storm we had that day was a really strong and a strange storm that did a lot of damage to the area. (It came on like a mini hurricane and the storm even had an hurricane eye in it - it rotated counter clockwise in the area and the winds reached up to 100 mph and the rain was bad)

The only reason I know all this is I have to pass the area every time I leave my house. I was out after the storm passed through at around 2:30pm and Fox was parked near the tree (which is less than 1/2 block from the church) and I was out again at between 10pm and 11pm. Fox news was doing a live broadcast in front of the tree next to the church during the 9pm and 10pm broadcast. They were packing up to leave at about 11pm.

I wish I could draw you a map so you would get an idea of what the area looks like.
Chester is a very small town (the pop is really around 5,000 and not 8,300
- it is listed as 8,300 because they count the menard prisoners in the 8,300 count.)

If there is anything else I can tell you about Chester just ask. I was not born or raised here I moved here in the early 1990's when I was close to 30 yrs of age.
I'll be honest I find the people who live here a little odd and very close knit. You know right away if someone was born here or not. If someone is friendly then you know they were not raised in Chester IL. - If they don't know you they won't even say Hi to you and they act surprised if you say Hi to them. I know someone on this board has family that lives here and they think the place is wonderful. Which the country life and land around here is beautiful, many of the born residents are odd ducks. (I have to watch what I say so I don't ID myself as I don't want any trouble from any of them down here)
You have to be very careful what you say about the people in this town because you never know if the person you are talking to is a cousin or not to the person you might be talking about.

I grew up in St. Louis. I drive to St. Louis all the time and go right by where the Coleman home is in Columbia IL. I take the same path across the JB Bridge that Coleman would have taken that morning. I know the area well. (Chester, St. Louis, and Columbia)

Chestergal~ Thanks for the great links and photos. Also a big thanks for checking out the wake and reporting on it from Chester! Having a sleuth on the ground is very helpful to those of us around the country. Great job!

Have you heard anything about the woman the article mentioned as being blonde and standing on the hill away from the crowd during the service? This has left us very curious! :waitasec:

 

[daisy.faithfull]

I know that there were video camera(s) at the home and that it/they were destroyed. I've been looking to see if they were placed somewhere that would be seen by the perp.

If they were hidden then that would be a strike against CC... or someone who had been to the home before, a stalker?

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

I read that on here but I have not heard anything locally about it. There is only one hill near the church and the hill is where the fox media was as there was a huge tree knocked down by the storm that came through at about 1 to 1:30 pm on Friday and the lady reporting on the story for Fox was a young blonde dressed in everyday clothing. So I am thinking that maybe who ever reported on it may have not known she worked for Fox, actually I had never seen her report for Fox before. Fox News was here all day on Friday from around 2:30pm until after 11pm. The main reason they were here was for the Coleman story but storm we had that day was a really strong and a strange storm that did a lot of damage to the area. (It came on like a mini hurricane and the storm even had an hurricane eye in it - it rotated counter clockwise in the area and the winds reached up to 100 mph and the rain was bad)

The only reason I know all this is I have to pass the area every time I leave my house. I was out after the storm passed through at around 2:30pm and Fox was parked near the tree (which is less than 1/2 block from the church) and I was out again at between 10pm and 11pm. Fox news was doing a live broadcast in front of the tree next to the church during the 9pm and 10pm broadcast. They were packing up to leave at about 11pm.

I wish I could draw you a map so you would get an idea of what the area looks like.
Chester is a very small town (the pop is really around 5,000 and not 8,300
- it is listed as 8,300 because they count the menard prisoners in the 8,300 count.)

If there is anything else I can tell you about Chester just ask. I was not born or raised here I moved here in the early 1990's when I was close to 30 yrs of age.
I'll be honest I find the people who live here a little odd and very close knit. You know right away if someone was born here or not. If someone is friendly then you know they were not raised in Chester IL. - If they don't know you they won't even say Hi to you and they act surprised if you say Hi to them. I know someone on this board has family that lives here and they think the place is wonderful. Which the country life and land around here is beautiful, many of the born residents are odd ducks. (I have to watch what I say so I don't ID myself as I don't want any trouble from any of them down here)
You have to be very careful what you say about the people in this town because you never know if the person you are talking to is a cousin or not to the person you might be talking about.

I grew up in St. Louis. I drive to St. Louis all the time and go right by where the Coleman home is in Columbia IL. I take the same path across the JB Bridge that Coleman would have taken that morning. I know the area well. (Chester, St. Louis, and Columbia)

My family there are strange. ;o) They are long timers, and pretty old actually. Most of the children and all moved. LOL. I totally agree with what you said - I visit, I don't live there. It is charming, I love Southern IL - especially Red Bud, Prairie du Rocher, the various small towns, etc. And the Menard Home has always been one of my favorite places, and Fort de Chartres, Ft Kaskaskia, glad these are all reopening. (The Menard Home is the home of Pierre Menard, the first Lt. Gov. of IL for whom the prison is named, his home is on the bluffs of the Mississippi River and is like a small version of Mt. Vernon. It is so charming and the river views are breathtaking.)

The family in Chester is not the closest part of the family, but, I have been to and through Chester more times than I can count. There is a B and B there - the old church - that we have considered going to for a long weekend or midweek get away. Do you know anything about that and if it is nice? I have thought it hard to tell from B and B listings. And I don't want to ask the relatives cause if we go, I want it to be not a visit to them, if you know what I mean. I don't know anyone who has stayed in it. We are weird - sometimes we like to just go to out of the way places and get away from TV, Net, phones, etc for a few days. I can't think of the name of the one restaurant I like, a nice meat and three type place on the way into town before you get to the bridge road and the cematary. It's on the right?

That was a bad storm, we were lucky up here it totally missed us. We have friends across the river though that had a lot of damage, lots of downed trees mostly.

I can really see what you are saying about the locals though.

 

[WholeLottaRosie]

I know that there were video camera(s) at the home and that it/they were destroyed. I've been looking to see if they were placed somewhere that would be seen by the perp.

If they were hidden then that would be a strike against CC... or someone who had been to the home before, a stalker?

Excellent points. I have been thinking that if they had good evidence of a stalker or whatever, they would have gotten that info out and maybe something about needing to be on the lookout for this person. If that was true and if the threats were real.

 

[daisy.faithfull]

I've just now caught up and I had a question about the spray paint. IIRC it has been stated that the spray paint came from the religious organization the family is apart of, how can they be sure?

Also, whenever I spray paint something paint frequently drips down the side of the can, so the killer could have left partial hand prints. And I don't think that I have ever spray painted without getting paint on my index finger, and its a bleep to get off too.

The spray painted message on the wall is just so wacko, the rumor that the children were spray painted is just beyond wacko. I know that the strangulation implies that the perp had a personal relationship with the family, however since it has been mentioned the family was possibly receiving threats I do wonder if it was a stalker. While in many cases stalkers don't actually have a relationship with their victims, it does seem like many of them feel they are close to the victims.

If CC did not do this, whoever did do it is a major, major wacko! Nothing about this case makes sense. When I look at various pieces of the puzzle they all seem to contradict each other.