Court records offer new details in triple killing
WATERLOO -- Orange twine fashioned into a noose found near a Mississippi River bridge resembles cord tied around straw bales behind the home where a woman and her two sons were found strangled, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.
Investigators have said Christopher Coleman used an unspecified ligature, perhaps a cord, to kill Sheri Coleman, 31, and their two sons, ages 11 and 9, in their Columbia home earlier this month. The bridge where the noose was found alongside Interstate 255 was on the route Coleman would have taken to a gym from his home the morning of the slayings.
The documents, unsealed at the request of the Belleville News-Democrat, also detail for the first time threatening anonymous notes Coleman said he received before the killings involving his work as a bodyguard with Joyce Meyer Ministries, a Missouri-based evangelical group.
One letter that Coleman said was in his mailbox on Jan. 2 read, "(Expletive) you. Deny your God publically (sic) or else! No more opportunities. Time is running out for you and your family!"
Coleman said he got another letter on April 27. "I am giving you the last warning!" the letter said. "You have not listened to me and you have not changed your ways. I have warned you to stop traveling and stop carrying on with this fake religious life of stealing people's money."
Investigators have said they believe Christopher Coleman acted alone in the killings, suggesting that he perhaps sent the threatening notes to himself and spray-painted vulgar slogans on some of the home's walls. One of those graffiti messages, according to an attorney for Sheri Coleman's family, read, "I saw you leave. (Expletive) you. I am always watching."
The graffiti echoed language in the April 27 letter.
Referring to an unidentified woman, the note said: "You think you are so special to do what you do protecting or think you are protecting her. She is a (expletive) and not worth doing it. Stop today or else. I know your schedule. You can't hide from me ever. I'm always watching. I know when you leave in the morning and I know when you stay home.
"I saw you leave this morning," the letter continued. "I will be watching. You better stop traveling and doing what you are doing. THIS IS MY LAST WARNING! YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN!"
Coleman, 32, has remained jailed without bond on three first-degree murder charges dating to his arrest last week. He has pleaded not guilty.
His attorney, William Margulis, declined to discuss the newly released documents, saying, "Unfortunately I can't get into any of that."
Coleman told police his wife and children were asleep when he left the house on May 5, but grew concerned when he could not reach them by telephone and asked police for a well-being check, Columbia police Detective Karla Heine said in an affidavit.
Officers found Sheri Coleman naked and lifeless, face down on her bed, and Garett and Gavin dead in their beds, Heine wrote. All the bodies had begun turning purple, suggesting they had begun to stiffen in death, she said.
Sheri Coleman's mother and brother sued Christopher Coleman on Tuesday, accusing him of negligently causing the deaths of his wife and children.
The legal action prevents Christopher Coleman from immediately selling the home or its contents, at least for now, said Sheri Coleman's cousin, attorney Enrico Mirabelli. Sheri Coleman's name was taken off the deed last year, but her family questions whether she knew about it or was coerced into signing off on it, Mirabelli said.
The lawsuit seeks financial documents about Chris Coleman, including work history and financial information such as life insurance policies, profit-sharing and other possible assets.
Any proceeds from the lawsuit, which seeks at least $100,000, would be used to erect a monument to the victims, attorneys said.