Sheri Coleman, sons Garett and Gavin murdered 5-5-09, Columbia, IL. Pt9

[analytical]

Degree in "Hospitality Management"???...sorry, I could not resist

I was thinking of "food service management"

 

[VCDaedalus]

I'm intrigued by the police report that says two bags with wallets, ID, and other items were found at the Coleman home.

One bag (JAP-1), a black and gray High Sierra backpack, contained two thumbdrives, a "small black wallet," an unspecified Social Security card, miscellaneous gift and ID cards, a keyring with six keys, and a black binder with CC's name and miscellaneous papers.

The other bag (JAP-8), a black Tumi-Tech shoulder bag, had personal items, papers, receipts and medication, the spray-paint receipt, and a wallet identified as CC's, with $225 cash, credit cards, DL, and JMM ID card, and a Commerce Bank statement addressed to the POB.

My speculation is that CC planned to plant many different clues, leading LE in several different directions at once.

He may have planned a fake kidnapping. Abandon the SUV, splash a little blood in it, make it look like the kidnappers killed him and emptied his bank accounts.

Or he may have planned a fake suicide. "I did it, I'm so ashamed, I jumped from this bridge," leaving the SUV near an embankment.

The third possibility is that the ninja murderers forced CC to flee, even though he's innocent. They entered the house before he returned home for the evening, tied up the family, made him watch their deaths (or forced him to handle the ligatures!), and then disappeared in the middle of the night, when no neighbors were watching and when a camera might miss something in the darkness. Coleman gets loose, realizes it looks very bad for him, and has to disappear.

The idea being to send the police in several different directions while he disappears completely.

The only problem was that CC forgot the bag with his cash, DL, and ID, which the "killers" were supposed to take along so they could empty his bank accounts (forcing him to withdraw money at gunpoint or some such thing) before killing him. Once he realized he was on the road without his bag, he had to come up with a new story.

It's rather outlandish, true, but if CC thought he were so-smart, he might think a convoluted three-tier set of possibilities would snarl things up enough that he could get away. Trick-y!

Just a speculation. The convict letters, if they were planted, would be a nice touch.

As for Tara, she may have wanted to be Bonnie to his Clyde, or been in the dark. He could have showed up at her door with an "I'm framed, hide me, I'm innocent" story that's common plot device in everything from The 39 Steps to Three Days Of The Condor. It's not out of the question to suggest that she might have fallen for it.

 

[Kimster]

Thank you for your well thought-out scenerios!!! I am so glad none of them worked out for CC!!!

And I am so glad you've joined us!!!

 

[VCDaedalus]

I thank you! This is the best place to discuss the case. I was on the PD boards but got banned 'cause I wasn't nice enough for the moderator. I promise to be nice here.

 

[Kimster]

I thank you! This is the best place to discuss the case. I was on the PD boards but got banned 'cause I wasn't nice enough for the moderator. I promise to be nice here.

LOL! Well, we have your promise in writing so we'll have to hold ya to it now!

 

[VCDaedalus]

I thank you! This is the best place to discuss the case. I was on the PD boards but got banned 'cause I wasn't nice enough for the moderator. I promise to be nice here.

 

[who knew?]

I thank you! This is the best place to discuss the case. I was on the PD boards but got banned 'cause I wasn't nice enough for the moderator. I promise to be nice here.

I thought I recognized your name - you posted with the same name on PD! Welcome!

 

[VCDaedalus]

A lot of the so-called incriminating evidence will be refuted by defense. The latex glove? Prove it was used in the murders. That it has the same spray paint on it just means that CC used the same spray paint that the killers used. Even with his DNA in it, it doesn't prove itself connected to the murders. "I had that glove from painting a knick-knack shelf for Sheri, got in the car with the glove on, took it off, put it on the dash, it blew out the window on May 3--prove it didn't."

As Pleban said, the TOD will be a battle of experts. They'll bring up every time Baden's been challenged, and find an expert to weasel on the TOD enough to create reasonable doubt.

Adultery is not a motive--analytical's right, at least from a DA's point of view.

If they were strangled with orange twine and another piece of orange twine with a loop in it is found on I-255, then prove that some other person didn't have hay from the same batch. It could have flown out of a hay-bale delivery truck. It could have no connection to the murders at all, even if it is the same twine. I know from a drive-through that there was straw spread on newly sodded turf at the north end of the subdivision, very near the house.

It is just conceivable that the camera did not pick up someone who left by the back door and sidled south around the edge of the house. If the murders occurred in darkness, it's possible that someone could have slipped away at an angle that couldn't be seen by the camera.

The joint credit-card accounts are harder to explain, but, like adultery, they don't prove anything on their own. Perhaps Tara was trying to help the Colemans by letting them transfer balances to one of her credit cards with a low interest rate--since she made so much money as a hostess at a gentlemen's club.

Phone call the night before is up to Tara to explain. They could claim that they were talking about the credit cards. The credit-card assistance she rendered brought Tara and Chris into regular phone contact, then personal contact to discuss "statements," and then things "just happened" between them.

Then Margulis will work hard to seat at least one stubborn, ignorant juror with a conviction that he's smarter than the other eleven, who firmly believes he sees an anti-CC or anti-Christian conspiracy afoot, even if the others don't. That juror will cause a mistrial. That means more days to live in an air-conditioned single cell, eating delivered food, watching television and not doing another damn thing except relax and sleep. And it means more money for Margulis--unless the money runs out. Which I hope it does, in short order.

I have noticed that Google maps has removed the current aerial view and replaced it with one made before the subdivision was even complete. 2854 Robert Drive is just a foundation, and the streets are hardly in. Live Maps has an up-to-date view, although the northern access road is still not shown. There is a paved access road that goes north from Micah's Way to Old State Route 3, which is easier to use than Columbia Lakes Drive.

Has there been any explanation for the red banner in the 2nd-storey window? I thought it was part of the spray paint, but I've seen that it's actually a length of blood-red fabric thrown over the curtain rod.

(I'm posting at length because I haven't had any place else to put all these thoughts. Been stewing on them for over a month.)

 

[VCDaedalus]

Would also like to remind any daring locals that tonight is the 7 p.m. music service at Grace Church! I went on May 13 myself, and was spotted as an outsider and questioned briefly.

The burly man with long dark curly hair may be the lead singer in the Grace Church band. They have a website of their own, but I've forgotten the link (lajr, whar you?). You can actually watch videos of them playing in the GC sanctuary. It's not very good music, and the reason I left before the service was over was because they started in on their fifth song (and each song ran over four minutes in length) and I just couldn't take any more. But they sang most of the same songs they did that night.

There was a man who was not Derek Doiron leading the congregation on May 13. And although CC had just been arrested, I can attest that the mood at GC was not somber at all--rather, people were laughing and socializing in a manner not different from any church service. There were a number of security guys with curly wires in their ears, at least on standing at the center of the sanctuary floor, looking all around.

 

[who knew?]

I'm sure you have just shown us the way the trial will go - but I believe in the end, there are just too many facts to disprove. Too many coincidences - The defense might get lucky on one or two - or even 3 of the details, but when they are all put together, you'd either have to think CC was the unluckiest guy in the world - or the dumbest guy in the world. (My vote is dumbest! )

I was sorry to see Baden did the autopsy - I think he and Henry Lee will sell their souls to the highest bidder. JMO! No matter though - just too much evidence.

 

[who knew?]

Would also like to remind any daring locals that tonight is the 7 p.m. music service at Grace Church! I went on May 13 myself, and was spotted as an outsider and questioned briefly.

The burly man with long dark curly hair may be the lead singer in the Grace Church band. They have a website of their own, but I've forgotten the link (lajr, whar you?). You can actually watch videos of them playing in the GC sanctuary. It's not very good music, and the reason I left before the service was over was because they started in on their fifth song (and each song ran over four minutes in length) and I just couldn't take any more. But they sang most of the same songs they did that night.

There was a man who was not Derek Doiron leading the congregation on May 13. And although CC had just been arrested, I can attest that the mood at GC was not somber at all--rather, people were laughing and socializing in a manner not different from any church service. There were a number of security guys with curly wires in their ears, at least on standing at the center of the sanctuary floor, looking all around.

We hear that they do not welcome strangers - did you find that to be the case, or have they seen you around the church before?

ETA - what kind of questions did they ask you?

 

[VCDaedalus]

My first mistake was not entering by the front door, but by the side rear door. That got me lost in a maze of kid-swarming hallways and stairways, until a suspicious guy pointed me to the sanctuary. After I'd had enough of the music, I left by another side door that had a sign saying, "Please leave by the front entrance." As I walked around the front to where my car was on the other side, I was approached by a pleasant AA lady in a yellow GC polo shirt who asked, IIRC, if she could help me. I said, "No, I just have to leave."

As I continued past the front door, a short burly man with slightly bulging brown eyes and a puffy complexion asked me, "Are you leaving? Why are you leaving? Are you with--never mind." When I drove my car out, he stepped out to look at my license plates, and asked, "Why are you here?" I said, "Just curious," and drove away.

I was told by someone on the PD board that they instantly knew I wasn't Of The Body.

 

[VCDaedalus]

No one paid appeared to pay any attention to me as I sat slightly apart in the sanctuary. I got up and swayed to the music and pretended to clap and sing along. No one approached me in the sanctuary at all, only out in the parking lot.

 

[fmrchesterguy]

possibly .. the defense has their evidence to present at trial .. it will be interesting to see what they offer up

and having a girlfriend is not motive to wipe out an entire family

I still have to wonder why the defense is holding back exculpatory evidence.

I mean, if they could clear Chris Coleman's name, then maybe the MCS would still have time to find The Real Killers™

So far the Coleman family seems to not really care that they lost a daughter-in-law and 2 grandsons. They have, to my knowledge, had absolutely 0 presence at any public event honoring the memory of Sheri and her sons.

It can't be due to their desire for privacy because they do have a fund set up to help pay for Chris' legal defense. And they do approach people for donations to that fund.

I can only conclude that their absence is due to Chris' shame.

 

[who knew?]

My first mistake was not entering by the front door, but by the side rear door. That got me lost in a maze of kid-swarming hallways and stairways, until a suspicious guy pointed me to the sanctuary. After I'd had enough of the music, I left by another side door that had a sign saying, "Please leave by the front entrance." As I walked around the front to where my car was on the other side, I was approached by a pleasant AA lady in a yellow GC polo shirt who asked, IIRC, if she could help me. I said, "No, I just have to leave."

As I continued past the front door, a short burly man with slightly bulging brown eyes and a puffy complexion asked me, "Are you leaving? Why are you leaving? Are you with--never mind." When I drove my car out, he stepped out to look at my license plates, and asked, "Why are you here?" I said, "Just curious," and drove away.

I was told by someone on the PD board that they instantly knew I wasn't Of The Body.

Hmm - wonder how they knew? Did you have a picture of Satan tatooed on your palm?
You'd think they'd welcome people into their church so they could demonstrate the love and goodness that oozes from them. When they question why you're there - makes you think they have something to hide. Guess they're all a little touchy right now.

 

[fmrchesterguy]

... most of you seem to have a "story" to tell of a past husband etc. who "done you dirty" and that seems to color your opinion as to ALL men ...

well, they ain't no man who done did me dirty.


Dude, you must just conveniently forget things. Maybe your Belt of Truth is a little too tight.

If Baden's TOD is correct (likely before 3AM and certainly not after 5AM) and the LE across the road didn't record anyone but CC entering or exiting the house that night...

Then RC must have been right at the visitation when he stated that the killer was in the house all night long!

 

[VCDaedalus]

I'm probably not the first Coleman-curious person they've seen there, and part of me says their displeasure has some basis. That said, I'd think that any method or reason by which someone comes into the presence of Christian teaching is a good one. Who knows, I mighta been healed of all my sins and become Of The Body!

Something I'm very interested in finding out is if JMM paid for any of Tara's trysts with CC. THAT would be huge. That would bring her down, I believe. Evangelist Enables Employee Adultery! Sheri's blood on Joyce's hands! One great big slo-mo collapse of the whole enterprise. A "For Sale" sign out at the manse and a new marquee outside Life Christian Church. Very hard to explain why you let your security guy meet his bonk buddy on JMM time and the JMM dime. If indeed that is proven to be the case. Once might have been a nice gesture toward "a Coleman family friend, known to RC, best friend of Sheri," etc. At least it could be explained that way. "I thought she was godmother to the kids, I thought she was a possible convert, I thought she was just a friend, I thought--"

 

[OrdinaryLife]

Man, at my church the only real security measure is the knowledge that Fr. Larry might bonk you with his aspergillum if your cell phone goes off during Mass.

I'm sorry, but this just completely sent me over into the "should she be committed" laughter!!! Add in the Irish Catholic "thing"... Clear and unmistaken. LOL!!!

I know I was "bad" at times during Mass, but I have never had anyone follow me out and ask why I was leaving early. At any Church I attended over the years. Seriously, I ask, who does that??? I have never witnessed any stranger questioned. Perhaps I need more enlightenment?

 

[who knew?]

I'm sorry, but this just completely sent me over into the "should she be committed" laughter!!! Add in the Irish Catholic "thing"... Clear and unmistaken. LOL!!!

I know I was "bad" at times during Mass, but I have never had anyone follow me out and ask why I was leaving early. At any Church I attended over the years. Seriously, I ask, who does that??? I have never witnessed any stranger questioned. Perhaps I need more enlightenment?

I had visions of the pencil rapping the knuckles......

 

[VCDaedalus]

Just occurred to me--maybe TL was going to be one of JM's prostitute converts. Except that she would not have fallen as far, only to the level of hostess at a gentlemen's club.

"Joyce, I have a woman whom I think should be brought into the church. She's an old friend of Sheri's, but she's kind of slipped away from the church, and I thought if she could witness your work with prostitutes it might make a BIG difference in her life. Maybe she could travel along--I'll be responsible for her behavior, she won't be any trouble at all--she'll see the error of her ways and we'll have a beautiful new soul won to Christ! What do you say? Sheri's behind me all the way on this."