Sheri and Chris Coleman - Part 2

0:00 Hi. I'm Tina, and I'm Rich. And if there's one thing we've learned in over twenty years of marriage, it's that some days you'll feel like killing your wife, and some days you'll feel like killing your husband. Welcome to love, Mary, Kill, Hi Rich, Hi Tina. How are where are you? I'm doing pretty good? How are you? You're so kind and thoughtful, Like some husbands bring their wife's flowers. What did you bring me today? I bought? I brought you a Reese's peanut butter big cup with caramel, and a diet and a diet. Ye, yeah, very nice. I would actually prefer those things to flowers most of the time.

0:47 I figured that I know you for a time you brought flowers home. Though it's been maybe a week or two, okay, maybe a little bit longer. You always tell me not to bring you flowers. You're always like, oh, that's say it a lot, it's a waste. No, I think that it's don't bring me flowers on Valentine's Day because then you know everything is four times is expensive. Okay, No, you are lovely. You are the best partner I could ask for. Honest to God, I could bring you flowers I mean sometimes I just buy them myself, and I think that's sometimes I'm like, eh, you know, if I see some like this time of year, tulips, I love tulips this time of year. So yeah, well, I had to buy the Reese's Big Cup with caramel because we saw an ad for it the other day. And I think peanut butter, chocolate and caramel go really well together. And you are a skeptic, so we're gonna find out. Yeah, and I brought you a snack as well, and I think we have a lot to cover today, so we should kind of have our snack and get right into it. We should get into it. And also my snack is warm. But before we begin, this is part two of Sherry and Chris Coleman just wanted to mention today's episode contains course language, adult themes, and violence against women and children, so please listen with care. You made me swear a lot on the last episode. I didn't make you. I think we both had to.

2:04 I think, yeah, those those letters were harsh. Yeah, Well, we're gonna do a quick recap, but first let's well, let's eat the bonus snack you got and then the one that I made real quick. Okay, well, I guess we should talk about my snack. Yeah, okay, she is reaching for the snack. Okay, so this is going with Like the snack, I think you saw it being prepared in the kitchen, but like the snack that we had the last episode was like the crackers, and like the pant it's kind of a pantry snack. Your version of checks mix, Well it's not my version, but yeah, but this snack, it's a sentimental snack. It's I remember when I was a little girl, I must have wanted to treat and my mom's friend was staying with us and she made these salt I don't know what you would even call them, saltines, s'mores, like ovens'mores. It's it's the simplest thing in the world.

2:57 But I love them. And you guys are gonna laugh. But it's just a saltine cracker with peanut butter on it, and then you put marshmallows on it and then you put them under the broiler. But my addition since I was a kid, is I put like five chocolate chips on it. Yeah, it's a lot like a s'more, but with a saltine instead. Of a gram cracker, which I think is genius, like a lot. Yeah, I think they're really good too. Yeah. So anyway, we're gonna have our snack real quick, because nothing goes better with podcasting than peanut butter. That's true. All right, we'll be right back. Is your tummy happy now? It's very happy? Those are good snacks, right, Yeah, peanut butter. But the peanut butter kramel cup better than I anticipated.

3:40 I thought it was really good. It was pretty caramel ads just a little hint of you know, caramel flavor. I thought the peanut butter seemed so different, maybe than the traditional Reese's peanut butter seemed maybe more compacted and less greeny. I don't know, but yeah, I would probably get a regular one. But it was good. Yeah, would you get the kernel over the regular and my little snack? It was really good. I mean I've had it before, but yeah, there's nothing not to like about it. Yeah, it's just if you just want like a little something sweet. Yeah. Do you think you can summarize what happened in the last episode. I can give it a try. I'm sure you'll fill in the pieces. But the stories about Chris and Sherry Coleman, Chris Coleman. This is set in southern Illinois, not far from Saint Louis. Chris Coleman got a job with what is the name of the ministry, joy Joyce Meyer Ministries. He was her head of security. You got the job really young, moved up through the ranks quickly. He was in charge of security. He traveled with Joyce Smyer, who was a very big televangelist, very wealthy, lots of money, and his position had a lot of status to it because he was, like you know, in charge of security and protecting her everywhere they would go.

4:57 Because of that, he was away from home a lot. Sherry had two boys, I can't remember their names, Gavin and Garrett. Garrett and Gavin. Scherry and Chris were both in the military. That's where they met. And they only had been dating about three months when she became pregnant and they got married. That's right. And remember Chris's dad because her parents didn't really approve of Sherry. They didn't love Sherry. Very religious, they were both pastors in their church, and yeah, they didn't love Sherry. Yeah, Sherry, lovely young woman, was from the Chicago area and she wasn't religious, wasn't very religious until she met Chris. She adapted and got involved in the religion. Yeah, and then on one trip to Florida that Chris took, Sherry had a friend who lived in Florida named Tara from high school, and Sherry thought that Tara could use some spiritual guidance. I think her she had worked at a gentleman's club and she worked as a cocktail waitress, and I guess Sherry felt like she needed some so, which was kind of a presumptuous. Yeah. Yeah, I mean they were really good friends, so I think maybe Sherry knew more. Yeah, So Sherry wanted her to go to the Joyce Meyer event that was happening, and Tara and Chris ended up hooking up and they were like in love within like two days. They were talking about having babies together and planning their future and all this stuff.

6:21 So then Chris started talking about divorce. But he knew if he was to divorce Sherry, that would cause a bit of a scandal in his position, he would probably get demoted or potentially even fired. And the Joyce did not like anyone to have an affair or Yeah, she wanted to maintain the moral standards of the church, of course. So yeah, I think that was pretty much it. I know at the beginning you talked about the fact that Sherry and the two boys were killed, and I'm sure we're going to get more into that in part two, and that's what. Yeah, that's where we're going to start. Oh, I forgot we should also mention the harassing messages. So Chris and Joyce and others at the ministry started getting these really threatening emails. That's when you had to swear a lot. Yeah, whom.

7:08 You read those messages and they're basically saying you need to stop taking money from people or I'm going to kill your family to Chris, which is really bizarre because he's you know, he's had a security but he's not Joyce like. Yeah, it was a definitely an odd person to target. Yeah, and the emails there was two emails that I know of, and two letters. But the emails came from an account that was called destroy Chris okay, which is so ridiculous. Yeah, it is all right, here we go. On May fourth, Chris called and sick, which he never did. Joyce Meyer was surprised. In eleven years of working with Chris. She couldn't recall him ever missing work. We don't know what he did all day, but he drove his sons to school and later picked them up. The family had dinner together and then went out for snow cones. On May fourth, Gavin and Garrett had an annual sleepover with their friend to celebrate their mutual birthdays, but Chris told the boys they needed to sleep in their own beds that night. Maybe it was like a May fourth, like May the four will be with you. There were probably Star Wars guys. He tuck them in that night, said their prayers with them, and kissed them good night.

8:15 One last time, Sherry and Chris watched Batman Returns on the couch together. Chris texted Tara the whole time. Tara was at a karaoke bar in Saint Petersburg. Chris later claimed that Sherry had fallen asleep in his arms. He said during his interrogation quote, it was awesome. She fell asleep in my arms on the couch. Oh so beautiful. When Tara asked about the divorce papers that were supposed to have been delivered to Sherry that day, Chris claimed they were delayed because Sherry's name was spelled wrong, but he promised he would present them to Sherry the next day. But Chris had never even visited a divorce lawyer. He'd made other plans. The next morning, Chris left for Gold gym in Saint Louis at five am. So Saint Louis is like fifteen minutes from their house, Okay, So this takes us to where we started with part one. Chris called Sherry after leaving the house like just like a couple of minutes later, which I thought was a little strange, because if he wanted to wake her up and the boys up to Starthur day, why didn't he just wake them up before he left, Because he made a point of saying in his interrogation, I put my clothes on, and I was really quiet because I didn't want to wake anyone up, and then I called them right after I leave it, right okay, And Sherry didn't answer.

9:31 Chris got to the gym and he began his workout, and he called and text Sherry several more times. There was no answer. On the way home, Chris was concerned because you know, he hadn't got an answer, and he was like, they definitely should be up by now. He called Justin Barlow, who was his neighbor and a detective right, and Justin had given his number, and he's because of the threatening, harassing messages. Justin said, called me if you ever need help. So he called Justin, Justin nice guy, walked over there and didn't get an answer when he knocked on the door. He had called for police back up. So by the time the other officer gets there, they find a window open in the basement. They go through the basement and they go up the stairs and then they see the red spray painted messages on the walls, and then they keep going up to the second floor, and that's when they saw Sherry and the boys deceased.

10:26 The officers told Chris he couldn't come upstairs. They had him sit in the back of an ambulance while Justin Barlow delivered the news that his wife and two sons were dead. Whether or not too much emphasis is put on this moment and every murder investigation, is debatable, but the three officers at the Coleman House thought that Chris's reaction to his family's death lacked real emotion. The tears he did muster up seemed forced. He didn't charge inside the house and demand to see his wife and children to confirm their deaths for himself. He didn't ask how his family had been killed or where they'd been found. He didn't ask any questions, and he seemed eerily calm. The three law enforcement agents kept thinking about the three dead bodies. They just found something was off about the scene. Chris had been gone little over an hour, but Rigor Mortis had a firm grasp on all three Coleman's from the start. The timeline was problematic. The gym. It was a fifteen minute drive to the gym and fifteen minutes back, and Chris was only in the gym for about half an hour. It just seemed odd that he would go to the gym to only work out for half an hour. Yeah, and his usual gym was close. He had two gyms that he went to and he never went to this Golds gym. He normally went to this gym that was closer, and he had gone to the gym the night before after he had dinner with his family. Okay, interesting, I know it's impossible to know, but how do you think you would react if you're if you know me and the kids were dead. I think it really is hard to know because I can totally

11:58 see, like, if something like that happened and I heard that news, I could totally see myself just going into shock and not being able to talk, not being able to ask questions. So I could see that that could happen, and I think everyone just reacts differently to those things that people at the scene didn't feel that he was in shock. He was just quiet, Yeah, if that makes sense. Yeah. Chris told the police that he needed to call Joyce and his dad. The police chaplain was called in to talk to Chris. He was so calm that officers thought that he might be in shock and he didn't understand the gravity of the situation. As they prayed together, the chaplain noticed some scratches and a bruise on Chris's arm. When asked how he got them, he said he didn't know, but they could have been from when he'd taken down a satellite dish from the roof the previous day. A few minutes later, though, he pumped his arms and he hit his like purposely hit the gurney that was in the back of the ambulance, almost as if to say, oh, I scratched myself on the cat.

12:58 There was another case where the suspect did that exact same thing, and they were very suspicious that he was just doing that to try to basically have an excuse. Yeah, Chris's dad, Ron arrived soon as did Joyce Smyer and her son Dave, and they all prayed together. Officers asked if Chris had contacted Sherry's family. Chris that he didn't have their numbers. He told officers they should contact Sherry's best friend Tara in Florida. Though right away. We've had this happen in other cases too, when the victim's family is noted as like the last to know. That breaks my heart. Yeah. The Columbia Police Department called the Saint Louis Major Case Squad for backup. They knew this was an overwhelming case and they would need reinforcement. So remember Columbia is just this little town in Illinois. I'm surprised that they were able to utilize Saint Louis's resources. Yeah. Major Jeff Connor, a seasoned officer, was put in charge of the investigation. He called for the scheduled trash collection on the street to immediately stop, which I thought was pretty smart. The perpetrator may have thrown valuable evidence into a neighbor's trash can. He told officers to bring Chris to the Columbia station for questioning. Chris and Ron were already sitting in the back of the ambulance, so that's how he was transported to the police station. Robert Driver. The Colemans lived was filled with over twenty police vehicles and the media had already descended onto the neighborhood. Police quickly began by questioning neighbors. Angela Sherry's mother was informed of the horrible news finally around nine

14:31 am, not by her son in law of over ten years, but by a law enforcement The Columbia Police Department had contacted the Chicago Police Department to deliver the news to Angela personally, but she wasn't home. Detective Carla Hinde called her on her cell phone, but she was too choked up to get the words out to Angela. She had to hand the phone off to another officer. What a horrible phone call to get while you're out running errands. I can't even imagine. Detective Justin Barlow didn't know Chris Coleman well, but he was familiar with a threatening letter situation, and he lived on the same street, so he was chosen as the first officer to question him. The questioning began at ten oh five am. Chris was first read his Miranda rights.

15:13 I thought you only were read Miranda rights when you were arrested, and he was not arrested. Well, I just gave it a quick google and I found that if a suspect is in custody, if it's if they want to potentially use the suspect statements later at a trial where they think they might need to, then they have to give them their Miranda rights even if they're not arrested. Okay, that makes sense. I think police knew right away that this was more of an interrogation than just an exploratory questioning. Yeah, I think he was obviously a suspect from the get go. Chris asked for a blanket because he was cold. He was I'm sorry, this is just ridiculous.

15:54 He was wearing a sleeveless T shirt and shorts. He hadn't changed after his workout. The scratches and abrasions on his arms were clearly visible. He took the blanket and only covered his arms with it, and Justin Barlow, who was questioning him, recalled the room being hot. He said he was sweating profusely himself Justin First, Justin asked to see Chris is BlackBerry to confirm his call and text message history. Chris had called Cherrie at five forty three when he first left the house, He said, to make sure that they were awake. He texted again at six twenty three and told her he was almost done with cardio and he'd leave the gym. After that, he texted once again at six twenty seven. He then called three times with no response, at six thirty four, six fifty three, and six fifty eight.

16:41 Chris broke into sobs a few times during the interview. He was put his hands over his face and drop his head down and cry, but his tears seemed forced. The detectives noted, like a little kid, you know, like you know what I'm picturing, like a little kid covering their face and pretending they're crying. You really wanted to fake crying, but you knew you weren't gonna be able to muster some tears that would be the way to do it. Here is a clip of Chris' interrogation. We kind of talked about universally bit this last December. Yeah, and uh uh I went to Joyce with it, told her about it or Danny, I can't remember which a lot and uh they knew about it, and they suggested that we meet with somebody and see if we could work out whatever it was. Really all it was was just communication, not communicating very well. And so did you meet with somebody? Yeah, Mike Shepherd, the guy that's here down the stairs in the lobby. Okay, he's a and we're gonna meet with him pretty regularly and thinks of Gobi pretty awesome. How often do you meet with him?

17:41 I mean he says he travels overseas a lot too, and so as often as me and have a schedule. I'd say average maybe once a week. When when you left the house this morning, was your wife alive? Oh? Yeah, okay, that's right. What would you say if I told you I that that I don't think she was n't No, I don't know what to say. Yeah, I mean I think she was. That she was, Okay, sus Leonard, decide me right, And I'm not doubting that. I'm not doubting that that you were there, and I'm not doubting that you care, but I am. I am doubting that she was alive when you left this night. Physically what we have a different ways to tell how long a person's been deceased. That was done, and what do you think that showed. I don't know. I guess the time for when I was doing I mean, no, you gets wrong, Chris. We we need to get this resolved. Okay, that you can't argue with physical evidence, right, I'm not trying to argue with it, alright. No, what what I'm telling you is there is no other explanation. There's no other reason that the information we have would support what you're telling us that they can't. They can't. You've told us the story, and we've gone over numerous times. You know what, we will walk out to justin maybe maybe we missed this. Let's go in and talk to him about this and just

19:11 make sure that we're not missing something. Let's give him every opportunity to tell us exactly what happened, and and maybe we're missing something. So that's why we go while when we come back in and we go wile and we come back in. I didn't have to use the restroom. That was legitimate. But we go out and we come back in, and we felt very comfortable that we've given you every opportunity to tell us something that was gonna contradict the information that we had. Alright, we we've got this information, you're saying it and and and we're giving you opportunity is to give us something to contrary to what you've told us before. So that okay, yeah, alright, that would make sense. That hasn't happened. M just tell that hasn't happened.

19:55 Listen, man, she wasn't alive when when you were left. See what us a lot it was. I love a good police interrogation when they walk that fine line between like, I'm your friend, I understand you know you loved her, and but at the same time they're accusing him. I would be incapable of doing that. Yeah, he sounds like a little boy. Yeah, doesn't hey that it's in trouble and the tone of his voice, he's, yeah, kind of flippant and well there was like a point when he like giggled it. Just yeah, the whole thing that was creepy. Yeah. The two officers that were interviewing Chris kept coming in and out of the room, and like he said, sometimes I went to the bathroom, but one time he went out and he got a tip that Chris had a girlfriend in Florida named Tara Lynz. Time detective, I know he must have been so excited to have that information. A detective from the Saint Petersburg Police Department was sent to interview Tara stat the investigation was moving at a rapid pace. Friends, family, and neighbors had already been questioned by the police.

21:03 By eleven am, search warrants were being processed to gain access into the Coleman's home, and the two officers were en route to question Tara. Meanwhile, at the police station, Chris light about the health of his marriage and denied having an affair. You heard a little bit of that on the clip. He said. Marriage counseling was going great. It was awesome. Oh. Sherry had told her friends that Chris was attentive during their counseling sessions, but as soon as they left, he would yell at her and berate her for things that she had said during the therapy session. Meanwhile, Tara was being questioned in Florida and being very cooperative. Chris was interrogated until about three twenty pm. He continued to deny everything, but the police could tell he was close to caving under pressure. If Chris were innocent, or anyone in that situation is innocent, that must be such a grueling day, like you've lost your family and then you have to sit with Yeah, but we're not giving Chris any sympathy. No. Chris gave a DNA sample, was fingerprinted, photographed without clothing, and asked for a handwriting sample before he was allowed to leave the police station for the day. That evening, Joyce Meyer released the following statement, quote, Chris Coleman is a very dear friend. Dave and I are grieving with him over this unexpected and devastating tragedy. Words are not enough. He knows that our love and our sincerest prayers are with him.

22:29 Chris has a long journey ahead of him, but we know that his faith is strong. End quote. As the sad news spread, Sherry's friends all said the same thing, Chris killed Sherry and her sons. During the investigation, law enforcement found a piece of baling twine near the Jefferson Barracks Bridge that Chris would have crossed on his way to the gym on the morning of May fifth. The twine appeared to be in the shape of a noose. Officers thought this twine could have been used to strangle Sherry, Garrett and Gavin. The Colemans had several bales of hay in their backyards secured with the same kind of twine. Also around the bridge, a latex glove with what appeared to be red spray paint was found, along with the base plate of a DVR that was likely used in a security system. The DVR from the Coleman's security system was missing the base plate and its recording hard drive. It's what you're saying there is the front of the DVR was off of the box in their house, and the hard drive, which would be inside the DVR was gone. When I read this part, I messaged you because I was kind of confused because I was picturing a VCR or something that you could put a disc order, right, But this is a closed unit, right. Yeah, a DVR has like a hard drive inside of it, so that was taken out. Yeah. So the plate, the front plate was off of it and the hard drive was removed. Yeah, so nothing was recorded there was no sign of forced entry into the Coleman's house, and no forensic evidence

24:02 was found in the home belonging to anyone outside of the family. The open basement window could have been a point of entry for an intruder, but investigators had no reason to believe anyone except for the officers themselves, had entered the home through the window. The call that Chris had made to Justin Barlow that morning was at six forty three am as he was crossing the Jefferson Barracks Bridge. It was a seven to eight minute drive from the bridge to the Columbia Lake subdivision, but Chris didn't arrive until six point fifty six am. So if he was truly worried about his family, wouldn't he have sped home right. Twenty five officers from the Major Crime Unit were assigned to the case.

24:44 They'd done a thorough job of investigating the Coleman's house and the Columbia Lakes neighborhood. They had interviewed all of their friends, family, church acquaintances, and co workers. Law enforcement was in possession of all electronic devices belonging to Chris, Sherry and Tara. We point out bad police work all the time, but I think they did a great job here. Seems like it. The Columbia Police Department knew they were in over their heads. They called this major Crime Units reunit in as quickly as they could, and they were able to find, you know, the glove and the twine. I thought that was pretty amazing that they found those things that quickly too. Kathy Laplant, a close friend of Sherry's whom she had worked with at Joyce Meyer, received a call from Joyce's son, David Meyer, cautioning her to answer the detective's questions, but not to give them any commentary or opinions on Chris and Sherry's marriage.

25:38 When the officers arrived to question Tara, they found her cooperative. She told the detectives about their love affair and how they planned to get married and start a new life together. She was honest, even when it made her look bad, like canceling the Disney World trip. She said she did everything because she was deeply in love with Chris. He had assured her that he he had nothing to do with his family's murders, but the detectives could tell doubt was beginning to seep in. She was shocked when they told her Chris had never contacted a divorce attorney. If you recall, Detective Justin Barlow had mounted a surveillance camera on the second story of his house, trained on the Coleman's house on the morning of May fifth. The only person caught on tape leaving or entering the house was Chris, Justin and the other police officers.

26:26 There was also a security camera located at the entrance of the Columbia Lake subdivision, and there didn't appear to be any unusual activity recorded. Chris had just had cameras installed as part of his new security system, but with the DVR hard drive being removed, nothing was recorded. Yeah, but I'm a little surprised because Chris knew that the detective across the street had a camera, right, So that's interesting that he Well, there's a difference though, between the camera that Justin had on the house it was. It wasn't the whole house, it was just the end of the triumph, Okay. So the cameras on Chris's house would have captured a lot more. They would have captured the front yard, the front door. Chris could still plausibly say that, oh, somebody must have come in a different door that wasn't captured on the camera.

27:17 The three autopsies were performed on May sixth. Remarkable findings in Sherry's autopsy include the double ligature marks around her neck, two black eyes, and other extensive bruising on her body indicative of a severe beating. Male DNA was found under her fingernails, but it was inconclusive. The boys both had ligature marks around their necks. Gavin, the younger boy, had scratches and bruising as if he'd fought his attacker. Several of Sherry's hairs were found on Gavin, thought to be transferred from the ligature. No drugs or alcohol were found in any of their bodies. They were likely awake during the attacks on them. The cause of death of all three was strangulation and the manner of death was homicide. Frustrating to investigators was that the pathologists couldn't say for certain how long the three Colmans had been dead when their bodies were discovered. Chris had only been gone an hour, Rigor Mortis and liver Mortis had already set in, signaling to investigators that they had likely been dead for hours. Forensic pathologists and crime scene investigators use a number of tools to determine time since death to aid them in investigations to help eliminate suspects and establish a timeline. Alger mortis is the cooling of the body after death. The hypothalamus regulates body temperature, but ceases after death. The body typically loses about one point five degrees every hour relative to the ambient temperature of the room. Alger mortis is the most accurate

28:49 method of estimating time since death in the early post mortem phase, usually tested in the rectum and sometimes the brain, is the stiffening of muscles after death because of the body's depletion of a dicocene triphosphate yes that rigor mortis appears approximately two hours after death and is first visible in the smaller facial muscles, then progresses to the limbs over the next few hours, completing between six to eight hours after death. Rigor Mortis then remains for another twelve hours till twenty four hours after death, and then disappears after about thirty six hours. In children, rigor mortis is highly variable, usually setting in quicker and lasting for a shorter duration. Liver mortis is the purplish blue discoloration of the skin in parts of the body due to the collection of blood in skin vessels caused by gravitational pull. So depending on what position the body is in, it's wherever the blood settles due to gravity. It begins somewhere between thirty to one hundred and twenty minutes after death and is complete at around twelve hours. So all of these processes are contingent upon the environment in which the body is found. All of that was to say that the bodies of Sherry, Garrett and Gavin had definitely been deceased more than an hour more than the time that Chris had been gone. Yeah. I'm curious though, because you said earlier that the pathologists

30:22 were unable to provide at time since death. So the investigators were sure because of the rigor mortis, but the pathologists didn't. Pathologists would not commit. Wow. Interesting, hold on, there's more to come on that, all right, Well, let's get to that after a break. Mario and Angela, to their great frustration, were given very little information about the deaths of Shery, Garrett and Gavin. Chris wouldn't call them back, and his father, Pastor Ron, was rude and offensive, telling them that they were welcome to come to the funeral, but didn't allow them to have any input on the arrangements. With the help of a cousin who was an attorney, they filed a restraining order to stop the burial of the bodies. After Mario talked to Chris the next day, Chris agreed to allow the three bodies to be transferred to Chicago so Sherry's family could have a funeral for them there in addition to the funeral and Chester, but Mario wasn't sure he could trust Chris at this point. Sheherry's family wasn't suspicious of Chris, okay, but they didn't trust him either. I think they were upset about the funeral because their input wasn't welcome. So it wasn't suspicion, it was just the whole funeral thing.

31:40 Well. Pastor n took over very quickly. He wanted his church and he wanted control over it. Yeah. I always feel so bad for families in this situation. It's I don't know, Yeah, it's like you wish that everyone could could work together right and come up with a solution, But they also wanted to have the bodies in Chicago. On Saturday, May eighth, the funeral was held at Grace Church in Chester, Illinois, ron Coleman's church. The first thirty minutes was a private, open casket memorial for family and close friends. Later the caskets were closed and the public was welcomed. Don Weiss, Sherry's father, was her only family member to attend. Sadly, he and Sherry were still estranged at the time of her death. It's really sad. It is more than a thousand people attended the funeral, a thousand people in a town of a small town. Missing was Tara Lintz, but Chris was texting her during the funeral, telling her that he loved her and missed her. The funeral only lasted thirty minutes, which is pretty short for three people who were related so closely to the church's pastor. I'll say you would think that he would have eloquent things to say about his loveliness passing.

32:50 Friends and family were not welcomed to speak of the funeral. The bodies were transported to Chicago for a funeral the following Monday for Sherry's family. After the second funeral, their bodies were brought back to Chester to be buried at Evergreen Cemetery. A candlelight vigil was held for Sherry, Garrett and Gavin in Columbia and hundreds of people attended. On Monday, May tenth, Chris was given limited access to his house. He and his family went to the house on Robert Drive with a large trailer and began loading it with the house's contents, clothing, furniture, and other miscellaneous items. The house was nearly empty when they were done. Why. Yeah, I don't know, it's so soon. Yeah, like five days after his family's death. He was packing everything up. Heartbroken. Neighbors, friends, and community members had erected a memorial to Sherry, Garrett and Gavin in front of their house. Teddy Bears, flowers, balloons, and even some lego models a friend made in their honor were left as a tribute. Chris gathered all of the items from the memorial and threw them into a garbage can. Oh my gosh. Oh yeah, that's just it's horrible. Yeah. As detectives waded through the thousands of salacious text messages, pictures, and videos between Chris and Tara, can you imagine No, they were also trying to find a link between Chris and the threatening emails and typewritten letters he'd received about his work at Joyce Meyer Ministries.

34:14 One interesting connection was the word opportunity was spelled wrong in one of the letters. It was spelled opp u r t U n I t y. The detectives found seven in instances where Chris had misspelled the word the same way, and other documents in his again good police work. Chris's handwriting was compared to the spray painted messages on the walls of the Coleman home that showed some consistencies between the two samples. The can of spray paint was never found, but it was determined to be a color called Candy Apple Read by Ristolium. A detective painstakingly waded through hundreds of credit card purchases to find that Chris had indeed purchased a can of Candy Apple Read from a hardware store in February February for three dollars and seventy seven cents. Wo. So the murders took place on May fifth, four months that is a lot of planning. They also found that the destroyed Chris account had originated from the IP address of Chris's laptop.

35:20 Okay, I mean that's so. That's pretty damning. It's pretty dumb, as they suspected he had created the account to send the threatening emails in an attempt to build another suspect in the murder of his family. The Gold's gym Chris went to on May fifth was not his regular gym. As we said before, he had only attended the gym twice before, once in November two thousand and eight and once in February. So could the reason that he went to that gym not part of it? Maybe because it's farther away, but was it also over this bridge and he thought maybe he could get rid of some of the evidence. Yeah, I think that's a great observation. Joyce Meyer herself began to question chris involvement. She contacted the police and told them Chris's work had suffered recently he was distracted. She also questioned Chris taking the day off before the murders and the use of a new private cell phone.

36:12 It might be nothing, but she thought it was worth mentioning to the police. I would say so, so she went. I mean, I thought that was pretty impressive that she went back to the police after she'd already been questioned and said like, oh, I've got some stuff here that I've been thinking about. One odd thing investigators were learned was that in November two thousand and eight, Sherry's name had been removed from the deed on the Coleman's home. It's unclear. Possibly it could have been because of refinancing. A week after his family was murdered, Chris resigned from his job at Joyce Meyer. He stated the reason is quote, violation of moral conduct. It was obvious that he was pressured to resign. He would never have done so willingly. Here's Joyce on Chris's resignation. Once you were aware that he was having an affair, and obviously he's no longer employed with you, what happened to his employment he resigned? Did he discuss that with you? No, that was handled through our CEO? Okay? Did you fire him? Did you deployment?

37:10 Okay? So, once that situation became common knowledge, the defendant resigned employment with Georgemier Ministry. He asked to resign, yes, and you accepted his residen Yes. I should know that that was from a deposition that Joyce gave. One of the investigators on the Coleman case had met world renowned pathologist doctor Michael Bodden previously. He reached out to him and asked him to review the case. He did so, and his findings were surprising, to say the least. Doctor Bodden believed that Sherry, Garrett, and Gavin had been killed no later than three am and as early as eleven PM. Upon receiving this news, a warrant for Chris's arrest was drawn up and officers drove to his parents' house in Chester to arrest him. He was taken into custody without incident. He was charged with three counts of first degree murder. He pleaded not guilty to all three charges. Sherry's friends and family felt conflicting emotions of redemption and disgust. They were glad there was enough evidence to arrest him, but sickened over what he had done to his family, that he had been part of their lives and had relationships with their children. How could a man with a pastor for a father, who worked for a major ministry and called himself a man of God be capable of such horrible crimes? Very good question.

38:29 I mean that is upsetting. If you know this guy's over at your house play ball with your kids. He's a coach on the teams and totally find out he's a murderer. Ron Coleman professed his son's innocence to his parishioners. He mentioned it at every service. He forbade them to follow the news and insisted that anyone there who thought his son was capable of the murders should find a new church. He claimed the judge in the case would be cursed if Chris had was found guilty. He used his church as a platform to air his grievances and intimidate his parish. The vast number of church members supported Chris, although some did leave the church Sadly, he never mentioned his sweet daughter in law or his beautiful grandsons. He and Counnie only seemed to be worried about defending their son, disgusting. In August of two thousand and nine, the Monroe County State's Attorney, Chris Writes, announced his intention to seek the death penalty against Chris Coleman, a huge defeat for Chris, However, it allowed him to access the Illinois Capital Litigation Trust Fund. If he was able to prove that he was indigent, the state would be required to pay for his defense. A hearing was held in March twenty ten to determine whether the trial should be moved. The trial was slated for late October. Chris was led into the courtroom in an orange jumpsuit, looking wan and smaller than expected, his confident swagger long gone. He appeared to have lost twenty pounds.

40:00 If you recall, it was rumored that Chris had used steroids previously, and he probably didn't have access to steroids in prison. Probably not. The judge rescheduled the hearing for May, citing he wasn't ready to make the decision about whether to move the case. Months of pre trial hearings ensued. Inevitably, the judge ruled the trial would be pushed back to April twenty eleven. It would be held in Monroe County, where the murders took place, but the jurors would be chosen from surrounding counties. Some evidence would not be allowed, such as the sex tapes between Chris and Tera. The judge seemed to be fair and impartial. On March ninth, twenty eleven, the state of Illinois signed a bill that abolished the death penalty. The law was not activated until July first, and Chris's trial was set to begin in April, so there was still some gray area, but in all likelihood the death penalty was off the table. Joyce Meyer and her son David both gave depositions behind closed doors before the trial because she had a conference scheduled. She said her testimony was honest and truthful and she was praying for Chris. On April twelfth, twenty eleven, jury selection began in Pinkneyville, Illinois, about seventy miles from Columbia. The jury was seated a week later ten women and two men, with four men serving as alternates. The jurors would be required to take a boss every day to the courthouse in Monroe County. The bus ride was over an hour both ways. The trial was expected to last two weeks that would

41:32 be grueling yeah. The trial officially began on Monday, April twenty fifth, in a packed courtroom in Waterloo, Illinois, about ten miles from Columbia. Scherry's family and Chris's families both attended in full force. The first day was difficult when autopsy photos of Sherry were shown on a big screen. Several members of her family evacuated the courtroom, while Chris's family sat stone faced. Chris refused to look at the screen, keeping his head down. I think Chris's family felt like they had to sit there and if they left, it would be Yeah, it wouldn't look like they were supporting exactly. The pathologist testified. She said she was uncertain of the time of death, but if press she thought that Sherry, Garrett and Gavin were killed somewhere between three and five am. And a two of the trial, the star witness for the prosecution, esteemed forensic pathologist, doctor Michael Bodden, testified that guy testifies like it's on every show at every trial. Yeah, he was a strong witness.

42:31 He said it was medically impossible that Sherry, Garrett and Gavin had been killed after five forty three am, when Chris left for the gym. Doctor Bodden also gave heartbreaking testimony that to strangle each victim to death, their strangulation would have had to last between four and five minutes. That's so horrible to think about. I can't Also, on the second day, Justin Barlow testified while he was on the witness stand, he saw Chris's brother Brad mouth to him, your are dead. There was no doubt in justice justin's mind that that's what he saw. After he was finished with his testimony, he walked over to Brad and said, I saw what you mouthed to me. You're dead. I will not accept that. I want no repeat performance and no threats to my family. Do you understand. Brad denied it, but apologized and then shook his hand. On day four, to everyone in the courtroom's discomfort, the video of Chris masturbating and the shower was shown with appropriate pixelation.

43:30 Chris must have been mortified, but he stayed seated, and his father later said that they felt like they couldn't leave either, that they had to support him, so because I inconceivable. Yeah. Tara Lynz appeared on day four to testify. A large crowd of people gathered outside the courthouse to catch a glimpse of the woman that Chris had thrown his family away for. Tara didn't want to come. Two officers accompanied her from Florida. She was still wearing the promise ring Chris had given her two years earlier. Her testimony was largely uneventful, though she was only on the stand for thirty minutes. She did admit that she and Chris were still in contact. Oh wow, that's surprising.

44:14 I'm not sure to what degree. Yeah, I don't have any more information on that. Chris did not take the stand in his own defense. Closing arguments were delivered on May fourth, twenty eleven, two years to the day that Sherry, Garrett and Gavin had last but alive. The jury began deliberations at three pm. They worked for four hours that day and began at ten am the next They asked to see the basement window again and asked the judge for a definition of reasonable doubt. The first vote was seven to five not guilty. At seven pm on day two, the verdict was reached. Here's a clip. When they looked at the back of this picture of Chris Coleman and Tera Lynd's kissing, they noticed it was taken on off October twenty first, two thousand and eight. I think actually what I said was oh my god, And I said, what was the date that he said the affair started? Yeah, the dates didn't wasn't until November November and the picture was created in tall Over Way before they said they had been seeing each other.

45:22 And what did that say to you? That was something black and white in front of my face. That said, if he could lie about this, he's lying about everything. That was what tipped them over the edge. That was it. I think there were so many other things that would have tipped me over the edge. But okay, Yeah, Chris Coleman was found guilty on three counts of first degree murder. The crowd outside of the courtroom cheered. Here's a clip of Sherry's mom talking about the verdict. I walked out of the courtroom man first words of my mind. Yes, we did it. We got justice. The next day, a hearing was held to determine if Chris was eligible for the death penalty. The governor had declared that he would commute any death sentences passed down in the window between when the bill was signed until it became law, so it was a formality. The jury declared him eligible for the death penalty in only fifteen minutes. It was within Chris's rights to have the jury decide his sentence or the judge. He decided to have the judge sentence him. The judge sentenced Chris to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has filed multiple unsuccessful appeals, but in March twenty nineteen, a judge granted Chris an evidentiary hearing on the grounds of an effective counsel by his defense, and to consider other physical evidence that was allowed in the trial that shouldn't have been allowed. Chris's petition was later denied, so the pictures that the jury said sealed his fate were not supposed to be allowed into evidence. Oh interesting, as you did say earlier that evidence

46:55 related to the affair between Chris sin Terra wasn't allowed in the trial, so I guess that picture would fall into that category, right. Yes, the judge, like I said earlier, tried really hard to be impartial and fair. He lets some of the evidence in, but not all of it. Okay, But these pictures were I mean, you have to wonder did the prosecution accidentally leave them in on pur poops. Ron and Connie Coleman gave an interview to ksd K. They were still in denial about their son's involvement in the murder of his family. Ron admitted that Chris did have an affair, but he loved his wife and his sons and wouldn't have killed them. He said Sherry could have written the threatening letters and a lot of the witnesses lied at the trial. He said they hoped the truth would come out someday.

47:44 He believed Sherry and the boys were killed by a highly trained mercenary hired by an enemy of Joyce. When asked how the family would react if Chris ever confessed, Ron said, quote, he would be forgiven by me and we would move on. That's the way it's supposed to be. I would never turned my back on him. Ron talked about Tara affectionately. He said she was born again. He said quote, she called me and said, Pastor Ron, this is Tara. My thought was, Tara, you shouldn't be calling me. She asked for our forgiveness. She said she recognizes now that the affair was wrong. End quote. Connie accused Tara of buying the promise rings for herself. She claimed Chris wasn't romantic. The Colemans claim that Chris had bought the red paint to make a target for the boy's NERF guns.

48:30 So they have an excuse for everything. Yeah, it seems like Ron is treating Tara better than he ever treated Sherry, which is really excellent point angering Yes, true. Ron continued to preach from his pulpit about his son's innocence. He claimed that the trial was the devil's handiwork and was meant to bring down Grace Church. Here's a clip, Okay, Tara was just meeting a need that Sherry at the time wasn't take care of. And but I don't understand. Well, I mean, every man's got his desires and every man has to be respected. It's built into every man. If your wife or doesn't respect you, then you're going to find respect someplace else. Sor are you saying that Sherry was a bad wife just at that just at that sharp brief time, she had stepped back from doing her job as a wife.

49:17 So it's all her fault. It's her fault that she was murdered and her son. Ron said that Chris's faith is stronger than ever and he's using his time in prison to read the scripture and have a closer relationship to God. He's ministering to fellow inmates. People write him letters seeking his spiritual counsel. A former member of the church said quote, a lot of the people in the church would stake their lives on Chris's innocence. They believe anything Pastor Ron tells them they're totally under his control. Ron rules through fear, anger, and intimidation. End quote. Like we said earlier, most members have stayed with the church, but several did leave after Chris's conviction. Cherry's family filed a wrongful lawsuit against Choice Meyer Ministries in twenty twelve, alleging that they knew of the threats against the family and they could have done more to prevent their deaths. A judge later dismissed the lawsuit. Here's one last clip of Chris from prison. Did you kill your wife and your children? No? Absolutely, I absolutely love my wife and my kids, and this you know is not is not me. How do you love your wife and be having an affair with one of her best friends. Maybe I wasn't, you know, selfishly getting what I thought I might should be getting at home as far as with my wife, you know, from the physical side of things. But I still absolutely loved her. Colman denies he was planning to divorce Sherry to marry his mistress, Tara. So why does Tara say that it was discussed

50:49 on several different things that you know, it was a conversation, but there was no specific plans or no dates and nobody asked each other to be married or anything like that. She also says that you had told her that you were serving divorce papers to Sherry. You know, unfortunately, and I feel horrible about it. You know, if I ever talked to Terry again, that would be something that I would apologize to her about that. That was a lie. I'd like to terror about that. So if he didn't murder his family, who did? I have absolutely no clue. Believe me, I've racked my brain for two and a half years trying to figure that part out. I just had to stop and give it to God. Just release that and do my best to forgive that, forgive that person and move on from one to ten. How much do you hate that man? Twenty six?

51:37 It would be infinity, But twenty six is good too. What a horrible man? Yeah, and he feels bad about lying it. That's the only time he has expressed any remorse is Oh, I feel bad because I like to tear off Chris was relocated to Dodge Correctional Facility in Wisconsin, where he continues to serve his life sentence. I don't think that he Tara are in contact any longer. I couldn't find any updates on Tara. Guess who else resides in the Dodge Correctional Facility in Wisconsin. You'll never guess, but guess, Oh, guess, yes, use your brain think really hard. I don't know. Would I be like, Oh my god, I can't believe they're in the same prison. I don't, I can't. I don't know. Chris Watts. Oh, Chris Watts is in the same prison as Chris Colin. Oh, this is in Wisconsin, the federal prisons. Yeah.

52:30 I mean, I think Watts was transferred because everyone hates him, and I think the same thing with Coleman. I think they're just you know, I just can't. I can't imagine. I'm not like hanging out. Oh god, yeah, they're probably best friends. Sherry's friends wanted to build a memorial in her, Garrett and Gavin's memory. They formed a nonprofit called Sherry and Her Boys, which raised over thirty five thousand dollars in donations through fundraisers and the hard work of many of Sherry's friends. Their goal was to build a baseball field in honor of Garrett and Gavin. They she turned over the money to Sherry's family, and they're not sure where the money went. The nonprofit was dissolved by a court order in twenty fourteen for failure to file an annual report. Oh disappointing. I think Sherry's brother might be a little shady.

53:14 Yeah. There is a memorial to Sherry Garrett and Gavin in the Columbia Lake subdivision with a bench, plaque and trees by the lake. The community has struggled with the senseless deaths, and some children were super traumatized and we're afraid that their fathers were going to kill them too. Oh man, such a hard thing to talk to your kids about. Yeah, this is the part where I always started to cry. So if I can't get through it, then I'm going to have you do it, okay, Rest in peace, Sherry Garrett and Gavin. Sharry was fun kind and generous. She loved SpongeBob and new kids on the block. Cherry loved to shop and she loved fashion. One of her best friends used the song Pocket of Sunshine for her ring tone. She was always happy and she was a talker. Gavin was a fight cracker. He was animated, funny, and full of energy.

54:04 He loved sports. Garrett was more introverted. He liked to read, but also enjoyed rough and tumble play and sports. The children were both sweet and respectful, and they are all missed by many people. So that is the heartbreaking story of Chris and Sherry Coleman, very heartbreaking. I want to make it clear that there is no evidence or reason to believe that Tara Lynd's had anything to do with their murders or knew what Chris was planning. She was all in on their future together, but she wanted Chris to get divorced. And you know, she did some things that I'm not defending her, but I'm sure she did a lot of things that she regrets, but I don't believe that she was in on the plan. Yeah, I'm not sure when, but Sherry, Garrett and Gavin were moved closer to Sherry's mother near Chicago after a long legal battle with the Colemans. So that's nice that they're able to rest near her family. The Coleman's home was auctioned off for just over two hundre in fifty thousand dollars in twenty fourteen. Chris's brother Brad, who worked at the Menard Correctional Facility in Chester, requested disability as from his job as a prison guard. He claimed that he has PTSD and can no longer work at the prison after everything he's been through with his brother. I have some questions for you. Do you think that Chris ever loved his family?

55:23 Not? Really? Do you think he was able to love anyone? I it's a hard question for me to answer. But anyone who is capable of killing the woman he's married to and his two kids, I just don't see how that person could ever be capable of loving anyone, right, And you know, he thought he was in love with Tara, but that might have just been lost. Yeah, So that destroyed Chris account was created just like a week after he and Tara had met. Wow, and he was starting to lay the groundwork from that moment. It seems like, Yeah, and this spray paint was purchased in February and the gym membership, It's just really he was playing the long game, yes, And the letter writing thing, it was just a bad idea, Like who would believe that anyone wanted Joyce's bodyguard dead rather than a member of Joyce's family. Is Chris religious? Does he believe in God? Does he think that God will forgive him for his actions. I mean, again, I'm not the best person to answer this question. I believe a lot of people who are religious believe that God would forgive them for whatever it is if you ask forgiveness. So it's very possible that he believes that. Yeah, I just have such a hard time with that, Like, I think God forgives everything because some things are unforgivable.

56:46 Yeah, and did Chris think he could outsmart law enforcement? All we see over and over with these guys, like you know, Chris Watt's same thing. They just they think they're smarter than the police. There's an arrogance about them that they just feel like they are smarter than anybody else. Yeah, it's like he believes that he is special in God's eyes, and his desires and destiny are more important than anyone else's. I guess that's narcissism. We know that Chris Coleman is a weak man, a coward and abuser, and a narcissist. Instead of protecting his family, he killed them and lacked the courage to admit to what he had done. He threw away three people who loved him unconditionally for a cocktail waitress in Florida, that he barely knew.

57:32 There's nothing wrong with being a cocktail waitress. No offense to cocktail reatresses. I don't. I'm not hating on Onta or her job. I'm just saying or the fact that he didn't know her right, Yeah, that he within a day of meeting her, he was like head over heels and starting to plan a murder of his wife and kids. Just the immaturity of that notion that I have this relationship with my wife, a woman that truly knows me, and then things are going to be better or different. And this other relationship that I just started with this person who really doesn't know me. Yeah, it's really naive. This case is so much like Chris Watts. I mean they have the same for the same It's really surprising to me that this case doesn't have more exposure. Yeah, I wonder why why would the Chris Watts case have so much more media coverage. I think there's a few reasons.

58:22 One is the sweet little girls. I mean, Gavin and Garrett were truly beautiful little boys, they weren't as little. I think the timing, like people are more obsessed with true crime and we knew more about Shenan and Chris's life because of the face posted a lot. Then there was also the bodycam footage. I think that was really compelling, the bodycam footage of Chris Watts when the police came in that day. I think a lot of people remember that both Chris Coleman and Chris Watts had no history of prior violence really and didn't have a record like neither of them had as much as a speeding ticket. Yeah there's another Chris, Chris Longo. I haven't looked that case up, but I saw a lot of comparisons online to Chris Longo, Chris Coleman, and Chris Watts. We have to do another Peterson project. We well know, I mean we've already done that two of the chrises. But I need to give credit to my sources. I read the book called One Last Kiss by Michael Cuneo. Michael did an excellent job. Pretty much everything from the case came from his book. He didn't miss a thing. You know. I did research, I found other sources, but all his information was spot on. Nice. I watched the episode Writing on the Wall from forty eight Hours. Some of the clips came from that episode and also an episode of Crime Watch Daily some of the clips came from, and also Joyce's deposition or where I got some of the clips from. I thought of one

59:55 more thing that I wanted to mention before we go about Chris Coleman and Chris Swats. Their families are both really similar to if you remember Chris Watts's family with like anything he did, he was still the golden boy and they still defended him whatever he did. Yeah, and his dad, I think his dad's name is Ronnie and Chris Coleman's dad is ron Weird, They're just kind of some weird parallels. Yeah, there is something about that though, Like when somebody grows up and they're considered the golden boy, they do like, I don't know, they feel like they can't do anything wrong, you know, they feel like the world's all about them. In a lot of not every case, of course, No, because I think you're the golden boy.

1:00:37 I mean you are. I mean in your family are you are? And I mean you're You're amazing and I'd lucky to have you. Well there are exceptions. Yeah, thank you so much for listening and hanging out with us today. We hope you enjoyed this episode. I know a lot of people are going through some hard stuff, so we're thinking about you and sending love. Yeah. Please rate, review, follow and subscribe, Find us on social media, or send us an email at Lovemarykill at gmail dot com. Please consider supporting us on Patreon dot com slash Lovemrykill one tier five dollars a month for early ad free access and a monthly bonus episode. Until next time. Don't kill your wife and don't kill your husband.