Chris Coleman Updates

Remember that douche, Chris Coleman? Strangled to death is wife and kids? Yeah, there's some updates in this case as well to report!

The house he murdered his family in is now on the auction block... Big surprise: No bids!! They should tear it down and put a garden in place.

No Bids On Coleman Family House
COLUMBIA, IL — The infamous Coleman house in Columbia, Illinois was put up for auction on Tuesday at the courthouse in Waterloo, Illinois. No bids were made. The home is still owned by the bank.

Sheri Coleman and her two sons were murdered inside in 2009. A Chicago law firm is handling the sale for Wells Fargo. The mortgage is more than $229,000. Grisly spray painted messages still mark the walls.

Some neighbors want the home torn down to build a park in memory of Sheri and her boys. Chris Coleman, the husband and father in the case, remains behind bars awaiting trial on murder charges.

New search warrants issued for Coleman murders
Oct 27, 2010 COLUMBIA, Ill. -- Police obtained fresh search warrants last week for cell phone data as they press their case against murder defendant Christopher Coleman.

Associate Judge Stephen Rice signed off on the warrants on Oct. 20, which enable investigators to access "PIN" messages, a form of text messages specific to Blackberry phones, from the mobile devices of Coleman, his wife, Sheri, and his mistress, Tara Lintz.

The warrants apply to all PIN logs from May 4, 2009, a day before the murders, to Oct. 13, 2010.

The documents don't indicate what information, if any, was gleaned from the message logs. Police have declined to discuss the case.

Chris Coleman, a former security chief for international televangelist Joyce Meyer, is accused of killing wife and two sons on May 5, 2009 at their home in Columbia, Ill. Police allege that he was trying to escape his marriage without a divorce, to be with Lintz, a girlfriend in Florida. He has pleaded not guilty.

The new search warrants indicate police are attempting to re-create a timeline of the minutes leading up to the discovery of the bodies.

Police arrived at the Coleman home in Columbia to check on the family's welfare after Christopher Coleman called a police officer from a gym. He had said he was alarmed that he couldn't reach his family and asked the officer to check his home, police said.

At the time of the call, police said Coleman reported that he was crossing the Jefferson Barracks Bridge into Illinois, which is a few minutes from his home.

Police arrived at the home and discovered Charles Manson-style messages spray painted on the home's walls. They found the dead bodies in the upstairs bedrooms. Coleman arrived about 13 minutes after he told police he was crossing the bridge, according to the documents.

Police purchased eight Blackberry devices to recreate the calls to determine if Coleman "took a longer route home to ensure that members from the Columbia Police Department" discovered the bodies.

Coleman is expected to stand trial in March 2011 in Waterloo.

Judge weighs hearsay evidence in Coleman trial
December 8, 2010 -Any right Christopher Coleman has to cross-examine his murdered wife about statements she had made about him to friends was forfeited when he killed her, prosecutors said in court documents filed Tuesday.

Prosecutors released new details concerning the case as part of a motion to use such statements as evidence in his upcoming first-degree murder trial.

Coleman, the former security chief for the Joyce Meyer Ministries, is charged with strangling his wife, Sheri, and two preteen sons, Garett and Gavin, in their home in Columbia, Ill.

Monroe County State's Attorney Kris Reitz said Sheri Coleman told friends that her husband beat her up, and texted at least two of them, saying: "Chris wants a divorce. He said me and my kids are in the way of his job. He told me he's leaving me for his job! But if Joyce (Meyer) finds out she will fire him. It got so bad I told Joyce. He was [angry] to say the least but that was the breaking point. She forced him into counseling."

Coleman's defense attorneys are trying to block such material as inadmissible hearsay, in part because Coleman would have no way to confront his accuser, Sheri Coleman. Hearsay rules restrict what a witness can tell a jury about what someone else said.

Police allege that Coleman was trying to escape his marriage without a divorce, to be with a girlfriend in Florida. They say he staged the May 5, 2009, crime scene to look like the work of a deranged enemy of the ministry, and previously reported getting threatening letters and e-mails that he secretly generated.

He has pleaded not guilty.

As part of his motion to support the testimony, Reitz filed an outline of the evidence that provided some new information, such as:

• Tara Lintz, the girlfriend, told police she listened on a speaker phone as Coleman told his wife he didn't love her and wanted a divorce. Police said Lintz reportedly overheard Coleman's conversations with his wife a "handful of times" in the months before the murders.

• Robert A. Leonard, a forensic linguist and professor at Hofstra University, linked Coleman's language patterns to threats directed at the family and placed in their mailbox in the months before the killings.

• Robert LaPlante, a family friend, told police that Coleman had showed him a DVR surveillance recorder in the basement on the Friday before the murders — one that was missing from the crime scene. LaPlante said a faceplate that police found on the Jefferson Barracks Bridge "looked like" the one on the missing Coleman recorder. Coleman's route to a gym the morning of the murders would have taken him over that bridge.

• Marc Rogers, a cyber forensics professor at Purdue University, determined that two threatening e-mails sent to the Coleman family came from Coleman's personal laptop computer, and that the sender had signed in using Coleman's personal ID.

Jury selection is set to begin Feb. 15, Circuit Judge Milton Wharton expects to rule on the hearsay motion later this week.

Coleman Murder Trial: Jurors Outside of Monroe County Will Hear Case

WATERLOO -- The trial of Christopher Coleman will take place in Monroe County, but the jurors will be brought to the courthouse in Waterloo from another county.

That was the crux of a court order issued Tuesday by 20th Judicial Circuit Judge Milton Wharton in response to a request by defense attorney John O'Gara for a change of venue because of massive pretrial publicity. The order did not specify which county would be used to supply jurors.

Coleman, 33, is accused of the strangulations of his wife Sheri Coleman, 31, and their sons Garett, 11 and Gavin, 9, in their Columbia home in May. Police reports state that Christopher Coleman killed his family so he could marry a Florida waitress who was a high school friend of his wife.

In March, O'Gara and Monroe County State's Attorney Kris Reitz argued the merits of a change of venue during a hearing where Wharton presided. O'Gara said intense media coverage, including inflammatory and sometimes erroneous newspaper and broadcast reports, both locally and nationally, made it all but impossible to select jurors in Monroe County who had not already made up their minds about Coleman.

O'Gara had commissioned a survey showing that most residents of Monroe County believe Coleman is guilty.

Wharton wrote in his ruling: "This court must give strong consideration to the inherent difficulties in conducting a trial of this nature in a close-knife community where even if the jurors are sequestered, there remains an enhanced possibility of a breach of Illinois Supreme Court Rule 436(b), which even if inadvertent and/or unintentional, could result in a mistrial or compromise of a jury verdict resulting in a reversal during the appeals process."

Reitz had argued that while it might be difficult, impartial jurors could be found. He also stated that the people of Monroe County deserve to have the trial held in the jurisdiction where the murders occurred.

Wharton agreed the proceedings should be held in Monroe County. He wrote that county residents should "be given an opportunity to exhibit their capability of providing a peaceful and orderly trial forum and to have access to the proceedings."

When Coleman initially was charged, onlookers gathered outside the courthouse and shouted taunts at him such as "baby killer," "murderer" and "they finally got you."

Wharton wrote in his order: "My personal observations of the sparseness of spectators, inside and outside of the courthouse, on pretrial hearing dates indicates to me that the preliminary heated interest in this matter may have, to some degree, waned. I have not observed a repeat of previously reported individual public expressions of animus directed toward the defendant."

The judge's order continues: "It is the opinion of this court that there has been no showing, relative to locality of the trial, that there exists reasonable grounds to believe that a community passion or prejudice appears to exist in Monroe County, which would give rise to a reasonable apprehension that defendant's safety might be threatened, a jury's performance of its duties might be impeded, a 'circus-like atmosphere' might develop, or that the defendant cannot receive a fair trial. If subsequent events are to prove otherwise, there should be ample warning early in trial proceedings and opportunity for the court to chance course, before the attachment of jeopardy."

Wharton stated in his order that he'll decide later on the county from which the jurors will be chosen.

Coleman was linked to the crimes through evidence gathered by the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis. He did not confess to the killings, which he blames on an unknown assailant or assailants who sent threatening messages to him through the Internet and wrote vulgar and violent messages in red spray paint inside the house.

Police, however, according to the search-warrant documents, have linked the e-mailed threats to a computer at Joyce Meyer Ministries, where Coleman worked as head of security for the famed televangelist. He was asked to resign after evidence surfaced that he was having an affair with Tara Lintz, the waitress at a Florida dog-racing track. She has told reporters she will not comment.

Recent documents that surfaced in Monroe County Circuit Court include police reports that allege Coleman told Lintz that he would have surgery to reverse a vasectomy so he could have children with her.

Joyce Meyer Ministries Dropped from Coleman Wrongful Death Suit

St. Louis Globe-Democrat-- A ruling on a motion in Monroe County Circuit Court on Tuesday to drop Joyce Meyer Ministries Inc. from a wrongful death suit was a “tactical retreat,” according to an attorney for the family of murder victim Sheri Coleman.

It doesn't mean Coleman’s family will not pursue a civil action against Joyce Meyer Ministries Inc. or Ronald Coleman.

“We are not dropping Joyce Meyer Ministries, we are not dropping Ronald Coleman,” said Jack Carey, a Belleville attorney representing the family. “We can file against either or both between now and May 2011”

Carey had filed a civil suit last year against Christopher Coleman, 32, accused of the first degree murder of his wife, Sheri, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9. The three were found strangled at their home on May 5 last year at their home in Columbia, Ill.

Joyce Meyer’s ministry, where Christopher Coleman worked as a security guard, was named a respondent-in-discovery. Ronald Coleman, also named as a respondent-in-discovery, is Christopher Coleman’s father.

Carey had six months to seek depositions to convert the ministry and Ronald Coleman as defendants

But Monroe County Judge Dennis Doyle ruled earlier this month that the six-month window had elapsed for the family’s attorneys to take depositions from Meyer or employees of her ministry. A hearing was set in Monroe County Circuit court to name the ministries and Ronald Coleman as defendants.

Then more legal maneuvering ensued. Last week, Carey filed a motion to drop Meyer from the suit. That motion was approved Tuesday.

Carey said without the depositions, attorneys weren’t sure they had enough evidence to proceed with the action. They wanted to be cautious, he said. “It’s a tactical retreat,” Carey said outside the court room.

“This is just something we were not comfortable with going forward on Friday,” Carey said. “It was better to withdraw the respondent-in-discovery and determine in the next few months how we want to proceed against the ministry and Ronald Coleman, or both.”

The six-month deadline was missed for reasons that the judge didn’t find acceptable, he said.

Scheduling problems with Enrico Mirabelli, another attorney representing the family from Cook County, Ill, and with obtaining information with the ministries delayed the process, he said. Another complicating factor involved Carey’s open heart surgery in October.

Some evidence was obtained and Carey said they tried to have the period extended to obtain depositions, he said. The court said, however, that time had run out. “The judge said six months, six months,” Carey said.

Carey said the family’s civil case could be stronger with the completion of Christopher Coleman’s criminal trial. More evidence will become available, he said. “My brief exposure to that evidence that there is plenty there to support a civil case,” Carey said.

Joyce Meyer Ministries is significant because of evidence involving testimony from employees, computer records, cell phone use and other information, he said. Carey distributed interrogatories on Tuesday that he suggests the ministry provided marital counseling to Christopher and Sheri Coleman.

Carey acknowledged that monetary damages in the case would come from Joyce Meyers Ministries. In Illinois, specific amounts can’t be sought in wrongful death suits. A “judicial amount” in access of $75,000 is sought.

Any damages if the case is successful may not come from Christopher Coleman. His house is in foreclosure and his pension has been frozen by court order. “It may give the family at least some emotional satisfaction,” Carey said.

Coleman Hearing Postponed

WATERLOO, Ill. (KMOX) -- It'll be at least early February before we find out if Joyce Meyer Ministries will be added as a defendant in the civil lawsuit against Chris Coleman.

A judge today continued the case because one of Sheri Coleman's family's attorneys is recovering from heart surgery, and the other is in court in Chicago today.

Ministry attorney Michael King claims the family's attorneys are trying to delay the decision, because they don't have any evidence that the ministry could have prevented the murders of Sheri and her two sons.

The family contends the Ministry should have known the alleged murderer, Chris Coleman, was having an affair with a woman in Florida and had sent threats from his office computer. Coleman worked in security at the Ministry.

The judge will set the next hearing date in early February.

Pathologist reports Chris Coleman's Family Died Hours Before He Left For the Gym

WATERLOO -- On the night before his family was strangled, Chris Coleman told his Florida girlfriend that his wife would receive divorce papers the next day, according to testimony Wednesday morning in Monroe County Court.

And renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden put the time of death for murder victims Sheri Coleman and her sons Gavin, 9, and Garett, 11, at between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. -- well before the time her husband Chris Coleman said he left for a gym workout.

Images from a surveillance camera mounted right across the street from the Coleman home at the house of Columbia Police Detective Justin Barlow, one of the investigators on the triple murder, showed Coleman leaving at 5:43 a.m. on May 5.

"The expert said that it was not possible for them to be alive at 5:45 a.m.," said Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards, the only witness to testify at Coleman's preliminary hearing on Wednesday morning.

Coleman, 32, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the ligature strangulations of his wife and sons. Coleman remains in the Monroe County Jail without bail.

Chris Coleman told police in a lengthy interview following the murders that he and his wife had a good marriage, but encountered marital problems in 2008 and received marriage counseling, Edwards testified.

Chris Coleman later admitted to police that he was engaged in an affair with one of his wife's friends, identified in court documents as Tara Lintz of St. Petersburg, Fla. Lintz and Coleman had at least one credit card in both their names that was used to pay for airfare for Lintz to accompany him on trips for Joyce Meyer Ministries.

Lintz and Coleman exchanged conversations about "body parts" that" his wife would not be very happy about," Coleman told police during the interview. The couple began a relationship on Nov. 5 and planned to be married in January 2010. Lintz was looking for work and a home to share with Chris Coleman in the St. Louis area, Edwards testified.

The couple was also planning to take a cruise together in August.

Edwards also testified that the first alleged threat to the Coleman family reported by Chris Coleman came on Nov. 14 to his work e-mail at Joyce Meyer Ministries, where he worked as a security supervisor. Detectives later discovered the e-mail was created on Coleman's Meyer Ministries-issued laptop and sent through the laptop's air card.

Other type-written, hand-delivered threats directed at the Coleman family were delivered to their mailbox at their home on Robert Drive in Columbia on Jan. 2 and April 27 with the message, "Your worst nightmare is about to happen."

Evidence gathered by the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis included routine documents written by Chris Coleman that had the same misspelling of the word "opportunity" that was noted in an anonymous threatening letter left in the Coleman family's mailbox.

During a phone conversation the night before the murders, Lintz told police that Coleman told her that his wife would receive divorce papers the next day -- the day that the bodies of her and the boys were found.

Edwards testified Joyce Meyer Ministries did not employ people who get divorced, but Meyer spokesman Roby Walker had earlier told reporters that policy wasn't in place.

Lintz also told police that she and Chris Coleman exchanged sexual graphic videos and messages, Edwards said.

On May 5, Barlow, who lived across the street from Coleman, received a call from Chris Coleman on his cell phone, asking him to check on his family because he couldn't reach them, Edwards said.

Barlow called for an additional officer, Jason Donjon, then got dressed and walked across the street, Edwards said. They discovered the open basement window and crawled through.

They found threatening messages spray painted in the house in red paint.

Barlow discovered Garett first, Edwards said. His bed had red spray paint on it. Donjon discovered Sheri. Edwards said the sheet that covered Gavin was spray painted with an obscenity.

Emergency medical personnel were called to the scene and Chris Coleman was loaded into the ambulance with the chaplain for the Columbia police.

The chaplain reported seeing an abrasion on Chris Coleman's forearm and asked how it happened, but Edwards said he told the chaplain he didn't know. He later told his father, Ronald Coleman, minister of Grace Church Ministries in Chester, that he got the injury punching a gurney after learning of his family's deaths.

The chaplain left when Chris Coleman's relatives and co-workers began to arrive, Edwards said.

Police also noted the video surveillance cameras inside the Coleman's home were operational, but Edwards said the digital video recorder used to save the images was missing. Police discovered a "face plate" to a Digital Video Recorder in the westbound lane of Interstate 255 near the base of the Jefferson Barracks Bridge -- the same route Chris Coleman would have taken to get to the south St. Louis County gym the morning of the murders.

After hearing the evidence, Monroe County Circuit Judge Dennis Doyle found there was probable cause for Chris Coleman to stand trial.

Father and son team William Margulis and Art Margulis, Coleman's attorneys, entered a not guilty plea on Chris Coleman's behalf and waived the reading of the charge.

William Margulis asked the trial be delayed to allow his father and him to pursue certification through the Illinois Capital Litigation Bar. That certification would allow them to continue to represent Coleman, if State's Attorney Kris Reitz decides to pursue the death penalty. Reitz has 120 days to declare whether he will seek capital punishment if Coleman is convicted.

Doyle ordered Coleman to stand trial and set the next hearing in the case for Aug. 26.

Ronald and Connie Coleman, Chris Coleman's parents, attended the hearing, but didn't talk to reporters.

Mario Weiss, Sheri's brother and Garett and Gavin's uncle, attended the hearing, along with Sheri's godfather Joe Miglio, hearing the details of their deaths.

"It was extremely emotional. I felt a thousand different emotions," Weiss said after the hearing. "I didn't want to disrespect the judge by vomiting in court."

Suspect Didn't Ask How Wife, Boys Died

WATERLOO, Illinois (CNN) -- A southwestern Illinois man accused of strangling his wife and two young sons did not ask how his family was killed or see their bodies after he learned of the deaths, a police official said at a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

Christopher Coleman, 32, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Garett, 11, Gavin, 9, and his wife, Sheri Coleman, 31.

The victims were strangled in their beds last month.

A pathologist will testify during the trial that the time of deaths May 5 was between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m., hours before Coleman said he drove to a gym, said Chief Joe Edwards of the Columbia Police Department.

Coleman, a security supervisor, was arrested May 19.

The chief also said that a handwriting expert has concluded tha the profanity-laced messages scrawled in red spray paint throughout the house match Coleman's handwriting. Spray-painted messages were also found on Gavin's bed sheets, he said.

Threatening letters left in the family's mailbox and an e-mail allegedly sent to Coleman before the killings were traced back to the suspect's laptop, he said. The letters had no envelopes and no postage, according to Edwards.

Testifying at a hearing at the Monroe County Courthouse, the chief said that a police chaplain noticed an abrasion on Coleman's right arm as he was escorted to an ambulance after the bodies were discovered.

Coleman then repeatedly punched the gurney with the arm, Edwards said, adding that when the suspect's father asked him about the abrasion, he said it was from punching the gurney.

The suspect was having an affair with a friend of his wife who lives in Florida, according to prosecutors.

Computer forensics found videos, photos and messages between the two, Edwards said.

Coleman pleaded not guilty to all charges. The next court date is set for August 26.

Slain Woman's Family Sues Alleged Killer

(CNN) -- The mother and brother of a 31-year-old woman found strangled with her two young sons in the bedrooms of their home filed a wrongful death lawsuit Tuesday against the alleged killer -- the husband and father of the victims.

Christopher Coleman has pleaded not guilty in the triple homicide police say took place early in the morning on May 5 in the family home in the small southwestern Illinois city of Columbia.

"To strip the culpable party of all financial holdings -- all that he has now and all that he may ever have," is the aim of the suit, said a statement accompanying the suit filed in Monroe County circuit court by Angela DeCicco and Mario Weiss, the mother and brother of Sheri Coleman.

"To allow one penny of ill-gotten gain to be derived at the expense of Sheri, Garett and Gavin is not acceptable to those who dearly love them."

The money would go to a memorial fund set up for Coleman and her sons, Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9 and "these funds will be used to erect a lasting tribute in the city of Columbia," according to the complaint.

"Our goal is to extract something positive from such a horrific and senseless tragedy and to honor the lives of my sister and her two young sons," Weiss said.

The wrongful death suit also names Coleman's father, Ronald, and the Joyce Meyer Ministries, where Coleman worked until shortly after his family was killed, as "respondents in discovery," which means they may be forced to hand over financial documents and information such as Coleman's personnel file, his work schedule and travel itineraries and the Ministries' employment policies.

In addition, the suit tries to establish a timeline of events before and after the killings, saying the Colemans took the deed to their home in 2005, but six months ago, ownership was transferred to Christoper Coleman alone.

"Sheri did not voluntarily sign the deed transferring title to the residence to Christopher," the document says.

Lawyers in the civil suit also allege that in the period between the killings and his arrest, Coleman removed personal property from the home.

The suit asks that Coleman and anyone "acting at his direction" be forbidden from entering the home again and that he provide a list of items already removed.

Coleman remains in jail after a judge denied bond.

Lawyers say Sheri Coleman Would Not Have Removed Her Name From Deed

SLPD--- Lawyers for Sheri Coleman's family allege in legal papers filed Tuesday in Monroe County court that she did not voluntarily remove her name from the deed of the house where she was found strangled with her two sons.

An emergency petition for injunctive relief asks that her husband, Christopher Coleman, 32, be barred from selling or otherwise disposing of the house at 2854 Robert Drive in Columbia. Chris Coleman has been charged with first-degree murder in the May 5 deaths of Sheri, 31, and their two sons, Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9.

The injunction was signed Tuesday by St. Clair County Circuit Judge Michael O'Malley and is in effect for 10 days. A hearing is set for June 5 on a extended protective order.

Six months ago, Sheri Coleman signed a quit-claim deed on her house, surrendering her ownership share to her husband.

"Is there a rational basis for her to take her name off a house held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship?" asked Belleville attorney Jack Carey, who filed a wrongful death suit on behalf of the family. "I can't think of a rational basis why she would voluntarily give up her claim to the marital home."

Monroe County property records show the Colemans' original mortgage filed March 2, 2005, for $202,269 had Sheri Coleman's name listed on the deed and the mortgage.

But Oct. 6, Sheri Coleman signed a quit-claim deed turning over complete ownership to Chris Coleman for $10. Records filed with the county show that on the same day, she signed a new mortgage for the same home for $230,850.

Enrico Mirabelli, Carey's co-counsel and Sheri's cousin, said the new mortgage reflected between $28,000 and $30,000 in cash equity that would have been realized as a result of the transaction.

"At this point, we have no idea what happened to that money, but we intend to investigate," said Mirabelli, a prominent Chicago divorce lawyer.

Mortgage experts said spouses sometimes agree to sign off of a deed but remain on the mortgage after pressure from a bank, if they have bad or weak credit. Additionally, if Chris Coleman died without a will, under Illinois law, his wife would have had a claim to the house, despite having signed off the deed.

On May 11, News-Democrat reporters showed two documents -- Sheri Coleman's voter registration card signed July 25 and the Oct. 6 quit-claim deed -- to handwriting expert Betty Butts, of Kirkwood, Mo.

Butts concluded the signatures were made by the same person.

Sheri Coleman and her children died without a will, leaving control of the house and other assets to Chris Coleman. The wrongful death lawsuit challenges his right to inherit any assets from the marriage.

"Sheri's mother told me that she couldn't imagine that her daughter would voluntarily take her name off the deed," Mirabelli said. "So, we are going to do due diligence as lawyers to find out."

Accused Killer Coleman Gets Visitors In Jail

SLPD- Chris Coleman, the father accused of killing his wife and two sons, has had a few visitors since being locked up at the Monroe County Jail.

Almost all of them, with one exception, are related to him.

Coleman's mother and father, Ronald and Connie Coleman. visited May 24. His brother and sister-in-law visited Sunday, according to records provided by the Monroe County Sheriff's Department through a Freedom of Information Act request.

Ronald Coleman is a minister at Grace Church in Chester, Ill. He delivered a radio message for the church last weekend titled "The Abundant Life,'' but didn't mention his son's arrest. It's unclear when the message was recorded. Derek Doiron, an associate pastor at Grace Church, also visited Coleman.

Most of the visits lasted about 35 minutes, according to the records.

Chris Coleman, 32, formerly worked as security manager for televangelist Joyce Meyer. He resigned over an unspecified "morals violation'' shortly after the murders. Meyer has not visited Chris Coleman in jail, according to the records.

Chris Coleman was arrested last month. Police allege he strangled his wife Sheri Coleman, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9, on May 5. Coleman has pleaded not guilty.

Search warrants released last week detailed his affair with a Florida woman and his plans to marry her after divorcing his wife.

Coleman Monster Wanted to Remarry

Family slain; dad to remarry? 2:39
Chris Coleman, in an Illinois jail charged in the deaths of his family, reportedly was hoping to marry his girlfriend.

'I Told You So' Written on Wall of House Where Woman, 2 Sons Found Strangled

We knew from past reports that the message was something like "I told you this would happen", so I'm not shocked.

Fox News: Four haunting words were spray-painted in red on a wall of the Illinois home where a woman and her sons were found strangled: "I told you so."

That and other new details have emerged since Wednesday, when Chris Coleman, 32, pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, accused of killing his 31-year-old wife, Sheri Coleman, and their children, 11-year-old Garett and 9-year-old Gavin.

Major Case Squad Deputy Commander Major Jeff Connor told FOX affiliate KTVI-TV that it was not one piece of evidence but several factors that prompted police to arrest Coleman on Tuesday. He is being held without bond.

"I can tell you this investigation took us all over the place, several states, businesses, worship centers, residential areas, all over, so I don't want to key in on any one piece of evidence," Connor told KTVI.

He said the bodies of Sheri, Gavin and Garett were found, strangled, in separate bedrooms in the family's Columbia, Ill., home, and that a basement window of the home was found open on the morning of May 5.

Shari Coleman's family will file a wrongful death lawsuit against her husband next week, KTVI reported.

People lined the street near the courthouse as Coleman arrived Wednesday morning, heckling him.

"Murderer!" some yelled at the car in which Coleman rode. "Baby killer!" yelled another, KTVI reported.

'It's what he deserves," an unidentified man told KTVI.

During a roughly five-minute court appearance Wednesday, Coleman stood next to his attorney shackled at the ankles and waist.

Judge Stephen Rice told Coleman that prosecutors will decide whether to seek the death penalty and told him that he also could get up to life in prison. Coleman's next court appearance is June 10.

He was arrested Tuesday at his parents' home in Chester, about 40 miles from Columbia, and charged with the three first-degree murder counts, according to authorities.

"We've done all we could to solve this as quickly as we could but as efficiently as we could," Jeff Connor of the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis said Tuesday. He declined to discuss motive. "We feel very comfortable in these charges."

Police had said they believed one person was responsible for the murders.

The Major Case Squad presented evidence in the case to Monroe County State's Attorney Kris Reitz last week, but Reitz did not file charges pending the results of forensic tests. At the time authorities declined to name the suspect.

The day the bodies were found, Coleman called police from a gym and asked a Columbia police officer who had investigated prior threats related to the family for a well-being check around 7 a.m., investigators have said.

Coleman told officials that he called the house and no one answered, authorities said.

Officials have declined to discuss details about the alleged threats. Some neighbors in the well-kept subdivision have also said the Colemans received threatening letters and their mailbox was tampered with.

Police got to the suburban home that morning before Coleman arrived and discovered the bodies. Shortly after, officers had to restrain the visibly upset man in his yard.

Coleman worked security for Joyce Meyer Ministries, a Fenton, Mo.-based evangelical Christian group.

Joyce Meyer spokesman Roby Walker said last week that Coleman resigned after an internal inquiry found he failed to follow a ministry policy. Walker would not say what policy Coleman allegedly violated.

Click here for more on this story from KTVI-TV.

Suspect Called 'Baby Killer' Outside Court

(CNN) -- A southwest Illinois man accused of strangling his wife and two young sons appeared in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to murder charges, officials said.

Christopher Coleman, 32, will remain jailed without bond pending a June 10 preliminary hearing, according to the Monroe County, Illinois, district court clerk's office.

He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sheri Coleman, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9. Their bodies were found May 5 in the bedrooms of the Coleman's two-story home in Columbia, Illinois, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.

The three died of strangulation by ligature -- a string, cord or wire -- police said. Coleman was arrested Tuesday at his parents' home in Chester, Illinois.

As a police patrol car carrying Coleman arrived at the Monroe County courthouse for Wednesday's hearing, a waiting crowd shouted "murderer" and "baby killer," according to video posted on the Web site of CNN affiliate KSDK.

Coleman told police he left the house at 5:43 a.m. the day of the deaths and drove to a gym to work out.
Watch report of Coleman's actions after deaths »

"Shortly thereafter, he started calling his house, realized that nobody was answering and on his way back at around 6:50 a.m. is when he made the phone call to the Columbia Police Department, said Maj. Jeff Connor, commander of the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis.

Coleman said he was calling the house to make sure the boys were waking up for school, Connor said.

Threatening messages were found on the walls inside the home, Connor said, but would not disclose the exact wording. In an article posted on the Major Case Squad's Web site, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reported the message said something to the effect of, "I told you this would happen."

A glove with red spray paint on it was found along Interstate 255, which would have been on Coleman's route to the gym, the newspaper reported. The message in the Coleman home was written in paint of a similar color, the article said.

Coleman previously worked in the security department for Joyce Meyer Ministries, an evangelical Christian organization based in suburban St. Louis, said spokesman Roby Walker.

Walker told CNN Coleman resigned last week after the two met regarding "a violation of moral conduct." He would not elaborate.

The Post-Dispatch cited police sources as saying Coleman had more than one romantic rendezvous with a Florida woman, a friend of his wife, during out-of-town ministry trips. Neither Coleman nor his attorneys have commented on that report, the Post-Dispatch said.

Police said Tuesday they did not have a motive for the killings.

Joyce Meyer Ministries said in a statement Wednesday that it had learned of the charges against Coleman.

"This horrible tragedy has deeply saddened us all and although nothing can compensate for the loss of this beautiful family, our ministry remains fully behind the diligent efforts of the law enforcement community," the statement said.

Chris Coleman ARRESTED!

(CNN) -- Police arrested a southwestern Illinois man in connection with the slayings of his 31-year-old wife and their two young sons.

Christopher Coleman was arrested Tuesday at his parents' home in Chester, Illinois.

Coleman faces three counts of first-degree murder, said Maj. Jeff Connor, of the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis.

Coleman is being held without bond and was expected to appear in court Wednesday, according to Connor.

Police found the bodies of Sheri Coleman and the children, Garret, 11, and Gavin, 9, in the bedrooms of their two-floor home in the St. Louis suburb of Columbia, Illinois, on the morning of May 5.

Connor said the three died of ligature strangulation, meaning a item such as a cable or wire was used.

Coleman told police he left the house at 5:43 a.m., and drove to a gym to work out.

"Shortly thereafter, he started calling his house, realized that nobody was answering and on his way back at around 6:50 a.m. is when he made the phone call to the Columbia Police Department," Connor said.

Connor said Coleman told police he started calling his house shortly after leaving it because he "was making sure the kids were getting up for school."

Connor said threatening messages were found on the walls inside the home, but he would not disclose the exact wording.

Earlier this month, police said they had an idea who committed the slayings, but they were waiting on prosecutors to build a strong forensic case.

Police said Tuesday that they do not have a motive for the killings.

Bloody Glove Found In Coleman Triple Murder Case

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Glove Found In Coleman Killings

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH- A glove found along Interstate 255 may be a key clue to who killed Sheri Coleman and her two sons in their home in Columbia, Ill., law enforcement sources said Monday.

They said the glove appeared to have stains from red spray paint. A similar color paint was used by the killer to scrawl a message on a wall inside the Coleman home, according to a police source.
Investigators are testing the glove for fingerprints and DNA, the sources said, and otherwise checking whether it can be linked to the crime scene.

Coleman, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9, were found dead in their bedrooms May 5. Neighbors told reporters that police said the victims had been strangled, although no official cause of death has been reported.

Christopher Coleman, the surviving husband and father, told detectives he left home around 5:45 a.m. that day to go to a gym in south St. Louis County. He called police shortly before 7 a.m., worried that he could not reach his family by phone and asking that officers check their well-being. Police found the bodies.

Within several days, investigators walked stretches of Interstate 255 near the Jefferson Barracks Bridge checking the roadsides for something. They wouldn’t disclose what.

Last week, police announced they had identified a lone killer who targeted the family, and turned evidence over to Monroe County State's Attorney Kris Reitz. He has deferred a decision on charges, pending unspecified forensic tests.

William Margulis, the attorney representing Christopher Coleman, declined to comment Monday regarding discovery of the glove.

It was found along what would have been Coleman's route to the gym. Police have not named him as a suspect, although his fingerprints were taken by court order last week and he was under obvious police surveillance for a while.

Asked for comment about the glove, Major Case Squad commander Jeff Connor responded that it "is not a confirmed piece of evidence."

Police sources have said that someone painted words on the wall to the effect of "I told you this would happen."

Coleman had told police he had received some kind of threats in his role as a security manager for Joyce Meyer, an internationally known televangelist based in Jefferson County. He resigned from the job last week; the Joyce Meyer Ministries cited a violation of an unspecified employment policy.

Police sources have said that investigators interviewed a woman in Florida who had been a friend of Sheri Coleman's in high school and who had been involved in a recent romance with Christopher Coleman, meeting him sometimes when he traveled on business. His lawyers also have declined comment on that.

Makes Me Think..

I was just thinking about this after hearing on Nancy Grace a second time (I haven't noticed the first) that the woman Chris Coleman was having the affair with actually went to high school with the murdered wife.

They made a pretty big to-do of the fact that she worked at a strip club, but to me- the idea of the murdered wife Sheri going to school with this mistress could provide some motive- like if she was an old close friend but having some weird Fatal-Attraction-style type mentality about Chris, realizing he's not hers as he's married and has two children with Sheri.

I mean they're heavy into religion as well you have to remember, he apparently toured around the country working for his church while he continued on the lucid affair with this woman from Florida. The mistress might've had jealousy towards the idea he had the ideal family and she couldn't have him?

Then, the whole thing with the message scrawled out on the wall in the house- 'I told you this would happen'. (*note, Sherrif's office clarifyed it's not the exact phrasing as it's been released, but it's pretty much the idea..)


Soon after the murder, investigators travelled to Florida, interviewed the woman, and several people close to her. Hmmmmmm...


So, what's the point? Well, at first I assumed this adulterous scumbag killed his wife and children, but now I'm questioning this woman's intentions.
Crazy.

Illinois Man Whose Family Was Murdered Resigns From Security Job

An Illinois man whose wife and two sons were found strangled in their bedrooms resigned from his job working as a security guard for a televangelist.

Chris Coleman left his position at Joyce Meyer Ministries after an internal inquiry found he had failed to follow a company policy.

A spokesman for the company, a worldwide television evangelist organization based in Jefferson County, Ill., would not say which policy had been violated.

The latest news comes amid reports that Coleman had met up with a Florida woman described as his girlfriend while on trips for the ministry, a source told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Police reportedly interviewed the girlfriend in Largo, Fla. The woman, believed to be a friend of Coleman's wife Sheri since high school, has not responded to messages, the Post-Dispatch said.

Sheri Coleman and her sons, 11-year-old Garett and 9-year-old Gavin, were found murdered on May 5.

Police have identified a suspect in the murders, but have not disclosed the person's identity as they await further forensic results, a reporter for the Post-Dispatch told FOX News Friday.

Police have not said Coleman is a suspect but have been closely tracking his movements. On Monday, they got a court order to take his fingerprints.

Coleman’s attorney William Margulies says the family isn't commenting.

No charges have been filed.

Investigators working on the case turned over evidence to the prosecutor Wednesday and announced that one lone killer, whose name was not revealed, had been identified.

Detectives said that, as of late Wednesday afternoon, they had stopped their surveillance of Chris Coleman, who has been staying with his parents in Chester, Ill.

Click here for more on this story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Police: We're Close To Solving Triple Homicide

(CNN) -- Police say they believe they know who killed a 31-year-old Southern Illinois woman and her two young sons, but are waiting for prosecutors to build a strong forensic case against the suspect before disclosing his identity.

"We don't have a warrant for his arrest at this time, so we don't feel it would be prudent to give his name out until the state's attorney determines whether or not there's enough to charge him," said Maj. Jeff Connor of the Major Case Squad.

Connor heads the squad that is part of the St. Louis, Missouri, homicide task force. He made the comments during an appearance on HLN's Nancy Grace.

Police found the bodies of Sheri Coleman and the children, Garret, 11, and Gavin, 9, in the bedrooms of their two-floor home in the St. Louis suburb of Columbia, Illinois, on the morning of May 7. Indications were they had been strangled.

The killings shocked the suburb of about 10,000 residents. The Monroe County, Illinois, state's attorney's office is awaiting forensic test results, more interviews, documents and reports, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Watch Nancy Grace on the case »

Connor said threatening messages were found on the walls inside the home, but he would not disclose the exact wording.

According to Connor, Christopher Coleman -- the boys' father and Sheri Coleman's husband -- left the house at 5:43 a.m., and drove to a gym to work out. "Shortly thereafter he started calling his house, realized that nobody was answering and on his way back at around 6:50 is when he made the phone call to the Columbia Police Department," Connor said.

Connor said Coleman told police he started calling his house shortly after leaving it because he "was making sure the kids were getting up for school."

Major Case Squad Says They Know Who Killed Columbia, IL Family

COLUMBIA, IL (KTVI-FOX2now.com) - There are big developments involving the Major Case Squad investigation into the murders of a Columbia, Illinois mother and her two young sons.

The head of the Major Case Squad, major Jeff Connor, says he believes he knows who killed Sheri Coleman and her two sons Gavin and Garrett.

But there is still nobody in custody.

That's because authorities including the Monroe County State's Attorney are waiting on lab results before any arrest is made.

"Our investigation reveals who's responsible for these deaths," said Connor on Wednesday. But Connor wouldn't reveal who he believes killed Sheri Coleman and her two sons because no official charges are being filed yet.

Connor says after a meeting with the State's Attorney, the prosecutor decided that any charges will have to wait until results come back from forensic evidence tests.

"Sometimes this takes anywhere from four to six to eight weeks. It just depends on the forensics when the reports come in," explained Connor.

These developments came on the same day that Sheri, Gavin and Garrett were buried. Chris Coleman, Sheri's husband and the father of the kids, was consoled by his parents at a cemetery in Chester as he stood over the caskets.

Investigators have had heavy surveillance on Chris Coleman.

In fact, they followed him to the cemetery then all the way to Cape Girardeau.

But later in the day, investigators pulled back and we're told Chris Coleman is no longer under surveillance.

Authorities are not calling Chris Coleman a suspect.

Sheri's cousin, Enrico Mirabelli, spoke with us on behalf of Sheri's family from Chicago.

He says he is encouraged by news of a suspect, but still nervous because there's no arrest. "We're waiting to see when will the state's attorney act. So there's some anxiety is that waiting process," said Mirabelli.

Major Connor says evidence was recovered from a stretch of I-255 that authorities searched near the Jefferson Barracks Bridge.

Mirabelli says Sheri's family is just hoping for justice.

He told us, "We're just waiting for an answer, we're waiting to get a resolution…We always have one question and only one question and that is who did it? That's the answer we're looking for." We have also confirmed that investigators have looked into an alleged relationship that Chris Coleman reportedly had with a woman in Florida.

Wednesday will be day ten of the Major Case Squad investigation.

We're told they will decide on Wednesday whether to continue or disband and wait for lab results.

Investigators Reveal Husband Was Home the Night His Family Was Murdered

COLUMBIA, Ill. (KMOV/AP) -- Investigators say the husband of a southwestern Illinois woman found dead with the couple's sons had called police for a well-being check at their house after no one answered when he'd phoned from a gym.

According to investigators the husband Chris Coleman was not at work on the overnight shift as had first been reported. Detectives are clarifying that Coleman was at home with his family and had left early Tuesday morning to go to the gym. According to police, while Coleman was at the gym he attempted to call his family, but when he could not get an answer he called police.

The Major Case Squad says it was police who first arrived at the scene and found the bodies of Sheri Coleman, 31 and her sons Garret, 11 and Gavin, 9.

They say Coleman arrived home a short time later.

Police will not go into timelines or give any specifics regarding what happened at what time.

On Wednesday, detectives were seen searching the Coleman’s two vehicles and looking around the house. They have not released any information about what they were looking for or what they have found.
Neighbors tell News 4 that for the past six months this family of four had been plagued by threatening letters. Neighbors say the Coleman family had a surveillance camera pointed directly at the mail box.

A police source tells News 4 that Garrett and Gavin Coleman were strangled. There are also reports that somewhere inside the home, there is a message in spray paint that reads "I told you this would happen."

The major case squad says that there are still no suspects in custody.

For people who live in this quiet neighborhood, the crime scene is a surreal sight.

Neighbors remember Sheri Coleman and her two sons as friendly and active.

Authorities are still asking that anyone in the Columbia, Ill. area who noticed anything unusual or anyone who knows the Coleman family and feels they might have helpful information to call police.


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Photos: Day 2 of investigation
Raw video: Day 2 of investigation
Video: Police news conference