EP. 117 ILLINOIS - The Coleman Family Killings: Lies, Prayers & Murder
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He's the most terrifying serial killer you've never heard of. Haddon Clark has confessed to several murders, but investigators say he could have over 100 victims. At the center of the mayhem, a cellmate of Haddon's that was able to get key evidence into Haddon's murder spree across America,

Because Haddon thought he was Jesus Christ. Born Evil, The Serial Killer and the Savior, an ID true crime event. Premieres Monday, September 2nd at 9. Watch on ID or stream on Max. Set your DVR.

Warning. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned. The Coleman's were your ideal American family.

Chris Coleman, the patriarch, was an ex-Marine who at the turn of the 21st century started working with televangelist Joyce Meyer as her head of security. The job not only gave him recognition and respect, but also a pretty good paycheck, making enough money where his wife Sherry could be a stay-at-home mom for their two young boys, Garrett and Gavin.

But trouble was right around the corner for the Coleman family. On November 14th, 2008, Chris received a threatening email from DestroyChris at gmail.com. The email referenced his employer, Joyce Meyer.

And in part, it read...

With Joyce Meyer's big platform, it wasn't uncommon for her to get death threats. But this email was different.

It was directed at her employee Chris and his family. I'm sure Sherry Coleman, Chris's wife, was petrified at the thought that someone out there wanted to harm her and her children. And sadly, that wouldn't be the only threat on their lives.

After a number of emails, they started hand delivering the threats right into their mailbox. And then six months later, that person would make due on their promise. On the morning of May 5th, 2009, Chris started to get worried when his wife wouldn't answer his texts or phone calls. So he called his neighbor who happened to be a detective and he asked him to check on her and the boys.

and what he would find would forever change the city of Columbia, Illinois. On the first floor of the Coleman home was bright red spray paint all over the walls that read, "'Fuck you. I'm always watching. I saw you leave. Fuck you, bitch. Punished. You have paid.'"

The detective then cautiously made his way up the stairs, knowing deep down that he was about to find a horrible scene. And he was right. Lying in all of their respective beds were the bodies of Sherry Coleman and her two boys, 11-year-old Garrett and 9-year-old Gavin. But the investigation into their murders would prove that the emails were coming from Chris Coleman himself,

the ex-Marine and devout Christian who is having an affair with his wife's childhood friend. This is the story of the Coleman family murders. I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. ♪♪

Sherry Weiss was born on July 3rd, 1977 to her parents, Angela and Dawn. Sherry had an older brother, Mario, and the two grew up in Cicero, a town located about seven miles outside of Chicago, Illinois. Here, the Weiss family had a lot of friends and were well-liked in their community.

Growing up, Sherry and Mario were very active and could always be found playing stickball in the streets with the other neighborhood kids. Their mother Angela always encouraged them to participate in extracurricular activities, so from a young age, Sherry was involved in Girl Scouts and she played drums for her school's band. Sherry was a very happy child and could always be seen smiling and laughing. She was described as the life of the party and an overall people pleaser.

In 1988, her father Don got a new job so the family relocated to Largo, Florida when Sherry was just 10 years old. The transition to a new city was hard on Mario, who was more shy than his outgoing sister. But Sherry thrived in her new environment and was quickly able to make a bunch of friends in Florida. She had always been very social. In high school, she was a cheerleader and played for the school's volleyball team. At one point, she even wanted to try out modeling.

So her parents paid for her to attend the Barbizon School for Modeling in nearby Tampa, Florida. She was attractive enough to pursue a modeling career, but one thing held her back. She was only 5 feet tall. So she decided to give up on that and soon joined the drama club at school.

Many of her peers believed she was good enough to be a famous actress, including one of her best friends, Tara Lentz. The two met in drama club, and soon enough, they were inseparable and would often spend their time hanging out at the beach scoping out cute guys. But Sherry's parents weren't impressed with their daughter's best friend. They believed Tara was very materialistic and superficial. Her parents also noticed that Tara always seemed to be jealous of Sherry.

And something deep down told them that she wasn't a genuine friend, a parent's intuition. But of course, Sherry was young and naive. And no one wants to listen to their parents at that age, so the two remained best friends throughout high school, especially during their senior year when Sherry's home life started to unravel. After 20 years of marriage, Dawn Weiss wanted a divorce.

He believed the marriage had run its course and he was tired of the constant bickering. So when Sherry graduated from Largo High School in 1995, they separated, which was obviously really hard on the kids. Soon enough, their father moved into his own apartment and Sherry felt abandoned. And this period of her life was really hard.

Her family was falling apart. She had just graduated from high school and didn't really know what direction she wanted her life to go. The year after high school, she started working as a waitress. But then one day, out of the blue, she sat her mom and brother down and told them she was going to join the United States Air Force.

She wanted a fresh start, something new. Now, at first, her brother thought that she was joking. Sherry didn't seem like the type that would excel under strict military rules, but she had already made up her mind. And in September of 1996, she was sent to Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio for basic training. And she really excelled.

Sherry ended up graduating in November and afterwards she was sent to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia, where she was assigned to the military police's canine unit. Here she learned how to handle military dogs and spent most of her time patrolling the base with her German Shepherd.

She didn't know exactly what her future held, but she had high hopes. And little did she know, her life was about to change forever, when in February of 1997, she crossed paths with a 20-year-old Marine named Chris Coleman.

Chris was born on March 20, 1997, to Ron and Connie Coleman. Now, as a little background on his parents, they were high school sweethearts who married in the early 1970s, and they lived in a small coal mining town in southwest Illinois named Percy. Ron Coleman had dropped out of high school to be a coal miner, and over the next few years, he and his wife had three boys. First was Chris, and then came his younger brothers, Brad and Kether.

Now, after his sons were born, Ron started to take his religion more seriously and eventually started bringing his family to a Methodist church about 90 miles away outside of town.

One member of this church, named Dr. James Craig, would hold prayer meetings in his basement, and eventually, the people that attended these prayer meetings would decide to start their own church. This new group rented out an old bar called the Nighthawk Tavern and turned it into a church that they would name Grace Bible Church. And Ron Coleman became one of the part-time pastors there. He was good at his job and found a lot of meaning in it.

At the time, it was the mid-80s, and he often found inspiration for his sermons from an up-and-coming evangelical preacher in St. Louis named Joyce Meyer. The Coleman's loved to hear her preach, and any time they would travel to listen to her sermons, they would take their three boys with them. And soon enough, Grace Bible Church started to grow. So much so, the old tavern that they were in was now too small for their growing congregation.

So they built a new and bigger church on the land of an old trailer park. The new building officially opened in April of 1994. With the growth of their church, Ron officially quit the coal mining business and became a full-time preacher. Now, Ron was not this warm and loving pastor. He was more rigid, but his congregation loved him nonetheless.

Soon enough, their parking lot was packed for both Wednesday and Sunday services. So the Coleman family moved from Percy to Chester to be closer to the church. And clearly they were a very religious family. They never missed a service, they prayed before every meal, and they turned to scripture anytime they needed to make a decision in life. And Ron and Connie were very proud of their oldest son and the direction he was heading.

Not only was Chris a good Christian boy, but he also thrived in school. He attended Chester High School where he played football and baseball, and he was known to be very kind and respectful. He didn't cuss or drink like most teenagers, and he spent most of his time at the Grace Bible Church with his family.

Chris sang and spoke in tongues whenever the Holy Spirit moved him. But his younger brothers, Brad and Keith, were more of the rebellious type. Chris was the good one. In a later interview, Chris's high school basketball, baseball, and track coach, Charlie Mattingly, would say, "...you couldn't ask for a better kid. He was very kind, a team player. I hardly ever saw him lose his temper."

He went out one night and had drunk a little bit. His parents were out of town, and he felt so guilty, he called his high school basketball coach and confessed." Chris was also the most sensitive of his brothers. His father, Ron, loved to take his sons hunting, but on one trip Chris had to skin a rabbit, and he was so traumatized by it, he never went with them again. His mother, Connie, said, "The first time we butchered a rabbit, he was just beside himself."

Now, as time passed, Chris was nearing the end of his high school career, and he really didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. But then, a recruiter for the Marines came to his school and spoke with Chris about a future in the military. Chris really admired the man's confidence, and after their conversation, he decided he was going to enlist in the Marines. So, after graduation, he moved to Quantico, Virginia, where he began his military career. And in May of 1997, he took a K-9 training class, where he met 21-year-old Sherry Weiss.

Shortly after meeting, the two fell in love. And just three months into their relationship, Sherry found out she was pregnant. Now, after finding this out, Chris and Sherry make a trip to Chester, Illinois, so that she can meet his family for the first time. But strangely enough, Chris didn't introduce her as his girlfriend. In fact, he told them that she was just a friend who needed a ride to Chicago, and he was just helping her out.

It's clear that he was scared of telling his parents the truth. And it wasn't until after they left Chester, when Chris called his parents to tell them that not only was Sherry pregnant, but they had actually gotten married. As you can imagine, Ron and Connie were not very happy about this, especially since Chris had been having premarital sex. Even further, they were not huge fans of Sherry.

Part of them believed that she got pregnant on purpose to trap their son into marrying her. And Ron would later say that they didn't have a great first impression, saying, quote, "She was a worldly little girl. Little short shorts, tattoo on her leg. Not the person we thought he'd be with." End quote. They also didn't like Sherry because she was Catholic. Now, following their marriage in early 1998,

Chris and Sherry would leave the military and move to Chester, Illinois, where Sherry would convert to Christianity and was baptized into the faith. She was now a born-again Christian and an active member of the Grace Church where Chris' parents were pastors. And life seemed to be going pretty well.

They were settling into married life. They rented a house near the church. Chris took a new job as a security therapy aide at the Chester Mental Health Center. And on April 30th, 1998, Sherry gave birth to a healthy baby boy who they named Garrett Dominic Coleman, who happened to be the spitting image of his father.

Now, one important thing to note here is that Chris's parents, Ron and Connie, were good friends with televangelist Joyce Meyer.

She was this very popular preacher who at the height of her career was bringing in about 100 million dollars a year. So she was very successful in her ministries and my parents actually watched her all the time growing up on TV and she would just go around the United States and all over the world and preach the gospel. Ron and Connie knew her for years after meeting her at a conference. And around 1998,

They reached out to her about a possible job opportunity for their son Chris, and because he had spent some time in the Marines, Joyce hired him on to her security team. Here is Joyce Meyer herself. How long have you known him? Since he was a little boy. How was that? His parents came to some conferences that I did over in Illinois. I did a weekly meeting over there and his mother came to it, brought him with him.

Now, at some point, did he become an employee of Joyce Meyers Ministry? Yes, he did. And about when was that? Probably about 1998. Okay. So, and through 2009, he was with you about 11 years. Is that correct? Yes. What kind of employee was he? What was his responsibilities there? He was in the security department.

Now, Joyce's church was based out of St. Louis, Missouri, so Sherry, Chris, and their newborn son Garrett packed up all of their things and moved to a suburb of St. Louis called Afton. And Joyce's church let them rent out one of their three-bedroom homes that belonged to the ministry. And life was really good. Chris loved his job, he was making a good amount of money, and Sherry loved being back in a big city. Well,

While Chris was traveling around the United States for work, Sherry spent a lot of her free time taking Garrett to the park, the local library, and strolling him down the main shopping strip on Gravois Road. And as if life couldn't get any better, they found out they were pregnant with their second child, another boy, who was born on January 25, 2000. His name was Gavin Christopher Coleman, and he completed their family. Chris and Sherry had always talked about just having two children, so following Gavin's birth, Chris got a vasectomy.

Now, in late 2000, Chris applied for Joyce Meyer's head of security. On his resume, he listed that he had worked for the United States Secret Service while he was in the military, and he bragged that he had no vices or use illegal drugs. And Chris ended up getting the job, which came with a lot more responsibilities. Now, he would have to travel internationally.

Nick Pister, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter said, "Joyce Meyer does conferences all throughout the world in countries that have, that don't necessarily respond well to women who are preaching a Christian message." So she wanted some deeper security. Here is Joyce describing Chris's position.

Was he in general security? Did he move up through the ranks? What happened with that? If I remember correctly, he started in general security and then he became the supervisor of that department. And then when a personal security person that I had left our employee, we offered Chris that job and he took it.

And what did that job entail then? Did he travel with you? He traveled with us when we did conferences, when we did speaking engagements, and when we went out of the country and did crusades in other countries. Soon enough, he was traveling the world with one of the most famous televangelists to date. When Joyce was scheduled to go somewhere out of town, Chris would often go before her to make sure the location was safe.

He would even meet with police officers to plan escape routes if necessary. The Ministry was very impressed with Chris and how dedicated he was to his job. But not everyone liked him. George Wise, who worked in the communication department, described his coworker as arrogant.

He was staunch and erect in his bearing, very spiffy and military-like. He definitely didn't have a friendly demeanor. He was also a perfectionist and very tightly wrapped. He struck me as being potentially explosive, the kind of guy who was always struggling to keep his temper under control. He'd get upset over seemingly minor things, like somebody being on a computer when they weren't supposed to be.

Now, every year Joyce Meyer had about 13 conferences in the US and 2-3 international conferences. And on top of that, she was constantly speaking at churches around the country. So Chris was gone a lot, leaving Sherry at home with the boys. But in the beginning, she didn't really mind.

Chris was bringing in over $100,000 a year, which is roughly $140,000 today. So that meant Sherry could be a stay-at-home mom to Garrett and Gavin. And the boys were getting older, so Sherry didn't feel so alone. Their son Gavin was described as a jokester who loved being at the center of attention.

He was a lot like his mom, and Garrett was a lot like his dad when he was a boy. He was more shy and quiet, but very sweet and respectful. When their father was home, he was definitely more of a disciplinarian. Chris would discipline the boys if they were being too loud or left their toys lying around the house. While Sherry, on the other hand, was more of the laid back and lenient parent.

Now in 2004, Chris got a raise, so they decided to finally purchase a home of their own in Columbia, Illinois. It was a cute two-story white house on a cul-de-sac and a really nice family-friendly neighborhood. They even lived across the street from a detective, so they felt really safe there. And Garrett and Gavin especially loved it because there were a ton of kids in the neighborhood to play with.

Sherry quickly befriended their neighbor, Vanessa, who had a young son named Brandon. While Garrett and Gavin were playing with him, Sherry and Vanessa would go to work on home projects and gardening. And although Chris spent most of his weeks traveling for work, Vanessa had a close relationship with him too.

Chris would even take Brandon and his boys to the movies on the weekends, drive them to school, and he helped her husband hang Christmas lights during the holidays. Chris was very respected in their neighborhood, especially since he worked with Joyce Meyer. Vanessa would later say, quote, during those early years, I thought he was an absolutely awesome husband and father and friend, end quote.

She even referred to him and Sherry as Ken and Barbie because they seemed so perfect.

And obviously, Chris was loyal to Joyce Myers' ministry, but their home was about two hours away from her church in St. Louis. So, Sherry and the boys started going to Destiny Church, where she organized fundraisers, hosted parties, and loved to go all out for the holidays with her kids. But even though she kept herself busy, Sherry missed having her husband around. She would confide in her friends that she hated he was always away, and that she kind of wished he didn't work for Joyce anymore so he could spend more time with his family.

Sherry told a friend that she talked to Chris about this in January of 2008, and at first he seemed to agree with her. He even started talking about quitting and starting his own video surveillance company, gym, or tanning salon. But in reality, Chris had no intentions of leaving his job, especially because of how much money he was making. It was also around this time when people started noticing a change in Chris. He was a lot more cocky and became overly obsessed with his appearance. He started dressing better, buying designer clothing for himself.

He also grew out his goatee and shaved his head because he said it made him look tougher and more intimidating. It was also clear that Chris had this superiority complex where he thought he was better than everyone because of his job, and a lot of his coworkers didn't like him. He was known to put on a charm when speaking to higher-ups, but then was cold and dismissive to others. There were problems brewing in the Coleman household, but

but most people thought they were the perfect family. A boy named Austin LaPlante often babysat for Chris and Sherry, and he said, quote, their house was always very clean, everything in place, everything just perfect, end quote. Austin said he enjoyed being around Sherry because she was the fun mom, always allowing her boys to be boys. But Chris was the opposite.

He said, quote, Chris was always telling them, don't do this, don't do that. He was kind of distant, very disciplinary, very reserved and collected, end quote. In the spring of 2008, the Coleman family seemed to be flourishing.

Garrett and Gavin played football for the Columbia Blue Jays' Pee-Wee team. Garrett was number 18 and Gavin number 16. Sherry made it a point to attend all of their games, cheering them on from the sidelines. Garrett even earned the nickname "The Claw" because he would grab onto the opposing team's jerseys until they fell to the ground.

Chris couldn't always make all of their football games because of his work schedule. He always made an effort to coach them and took them out for treats after their games. He enjoyed watching sports and movies with his sons. And every night that he was home, he would put the boys to bed and say their prayers before he turned out the lights. And although he did care for his boys, his relationship with Sherry was rocky.

In 2008, Chris started to spend more time with his neighbor, Chris Buechler, who would later say that Chris often complained about his marriage. I'm ashamed we had a shotgun wedding, and I work 80 to 90 hours a week protecting some millionaire lady I don't even like while my old lady gets to sit at home in this nice big house. In May of that same year, Chris and Buechler took their sons to see the Indiana Jones in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

During the movie, Chris leaned over and asked his neighbor what he would do if his wife put $1,000 on his credit card. According to Buechler, Chris then said, I'm making $100,000 a year. I've got to drive around in a clunker. We're so far in credit card debt.

And this wasn't the first time Chris complained about Sherry. Buechler often heard about how dissatisfied he was with their marriage and how he just wanted to move on with his life. The only thing that was stopping him, he said, was his job. If he divorced Sherry, he would likely get fired from Joyce Meyer's ministry, since divorce is clearly frowned upon within their religion.

Now, it was around this time when friends of the Coleman's started noticing bruising all over Sherry's body. No one ever mentioned anything about it because they didn't want to pry, but one weekend Sherry's friend Megan got a text from her that read, Chris is gone right now, but he just beat me up. I'm okay though. Megan quickly called Sherry and told her to pack her bags and come stay with her. But Sherry was insistent that she was alright and that Chris had left to go out of town. She didn't want her friend to worry about her.

Then a couple months later, Sherry seemed more happy and upbeat. She would later tell them that Chris was finally going to leave his job and open up his own security business. But that wouldn't end up happening. In reality, Chris would never leave his job because of the security. He would always tell Sherry that he was doing all he could to get more time off, but that Joyce wouldn't let him. And according to Joyce, that just wasn't true. Did he ever express any concerns to you about spending more time with his wife or his family or taking more time off? No.

What was your general attitude, would you say, as far as Mr. Coleman being able to take time off and spend with his family? I mean, obviously he had a pretty hectic travel schedule based on what you testified to earlier. He did, but he also got sufficient comp time and he was allowed to make his own schedule. I even encouraged him to take more time off than what he did. And

suggested to him that he spend more time with Sherry during the weekdays when he was home. In reality, Chris liked his job. One could even argue he enjoyed spending time away from his wife. While on these work trips, Chris said he spent a lot of time with Joyce Meyer. He would even go shopping with her and on occasion, she would buy him designer clothes.

At one point, he even told his parents that he was so close to Joyce, he quote, "knew her bra and panty size." And the more time he spent at work, the more his marriage started to crumble. Their neighbor Vanessa claimed that it was around this time. She was talking to Chris and he started banging his fist on the table screaming, "I'm going to divorce her." Apparently because Sherry was spending too much money.

Vanessa said that she was shocked and kind of scared. She had never seen Chris lose his temper like that. Two days later, Vanessa got a call from Sherry who was sobbing on the other end of the phone, saying that Chris was threatening to divorce her. Sherry went on to say that she would do anything in this world to save her marriage.

But there were other areas of concern that went beyond financial problems. Sherry said that Chris never wanted to have sex with her. And on the rare occasion that they did have sex, Chris would say things like, just shut up and turn over. Or don't let this go to your head. Just because I have sex with you doesn't mean I love you. So he's pretty much the worst person alive.

Now, in November of 2008, Chris was scheduled to travel to Tampa, Florida for a conference. And remember Sherry's childhood friend, Tara Lenz, that we mentioned in the beginning of the episode? Well, Sherry and Tara had kind of drifted apart over the years. Sherry was now very involved in the church, and Tara wasn't living a very Christian lifestyle and was working at a gentleman's club.

So they lost touch, but Sherry still loved her very much. Tara was her oldest friend, and she always made sure to include her in her prayers. So when Sherry found out that Joyce Myers was having a three-day conference in Florida near Tara's house, she called her and asked if she wanted to go.

Sherry was hoping that Joyce's message would speak to her and that she would finally find God. And Tara took her up on the offer. The conference was set to begin on November 6th, 2008. And while there, Chris decided to call her and invite Tara out to dinner. Now, the two had met several times before this.

Chris came to visit Sherry while they were stationed in Quantico, and she came by their house years prior when they lived in Afton. And then another time she met up with them when Chris and Sherry took the boys to Disney World. But there had never been any sparks between them, clearly because Sherry was around.

But this time, when Chris and Tara met up for dinner, sparks were flying. So much so, they pretty much spent every second together when Chris wasn't working. They took pictures of them kissing. And Chris even told Joyce that he was going to stay there a few extra days to hang out with friends. Joyce said she found it odd, but she didn't question him. Is there anything else?

Did the defendant go on a trip with you during that period of time to the state of Florida? Yes. Was there anything about that trip, again, something you observed directly of the defendant, that caused you now to be suspicious? Well, he stayed there. He said he wanted to stay down there for a few days after our trip was over, after the working part of our trip was over. He said he was going to visit these friends, a girlfriend of Sherry's. After I found out that that was the girl that he'd been having the affair with, made me kind of...

suspicious then as to why he stayed there. And that was sometime during this period of time, late 2008, early 2009? Yes, I think it was in 2009. Okay. And was that unusual for him to stay after when you'd gone on a trip? Yeah, and especially he was by himself, so. Okay. And again, in retrospect, that made you wonder. Yeah. Okay.

By the time Chris was leaving Florida, both he and Tara claimed that they were in love. And as soon as he got home, Chris went down into the family basement, opened his laptop, and created a document titled, All About Tara. Here he obsessively listed everything he knew about her. Her birthday, her height, weight, bra size, her favorite songs, her dog, her favorite perfume, favorite flowers, which were tulips and pink roses, and her favorite ice cream.

He then wrote about her sexual fantasies, which included sex on the beach. He wrote, Disturbingly, he and Tara even picked out a name for their future daughter, Zoe Lynn Coleman.

Over the next few days, he and Tara exchanged numerous text messages. They planned to get married in Florida within the next year. They talked about Tara relocating to the St. Louis area so Chris could keep his employment with Joyce Meyer's Ministries. They exchanged sexual texts and pictures and talked about how they would spend their nights together after they were married. They talked about snuggling and watching movies before heading to the bedroom to practice new sex positions. But there was still one thing in the way of their new plans. Chris was still married to Sherry.

Tara insisted that Chris should start the process of divorce, but Chris knew that if he divorced Sherry, he would lose his job and his hefty paycheck. This was pretty well known with the Joyce Meyer Ministries. I have to ask you, if the defendant were having an affair, if you had known that at the time, and I understand you've testified that you didn't, what effect would that have had on his employment? If he would have been having an adulterous affair while he was still married...

then it could have definitely affected his job. Were there persons

So Chris started being even more mean to his wife.

doing everything he could so that she would initiate the divorce so that he wouldn't get fired. He even mentioned divorce to Sherry again, but she was adamant that she would do anything in this world to make their marriage work. So it was here where Chris started to come up with another plan. If he couldn't divorce his wife, then he was going to kill his entire family

so that he could start a new life with his wife's childhood best friend. Disturbingly, just nine days after meeting Tara in Florida, Chris sits down at his computer and creates an email named destroychris at gmail.com and then he types out a very disturbing message that he would send to his employer, Joyce Meyer.

The subject line read, "Fuck Chris's family. They are dead." I'm sure this will make it to someone in the company. If you jackasses are like any other company, this will be someone's account. Pass this on to Chris. Tell Joyce to stop preaching the bullshit or Chris's family will die. If I can't get to Joyce, then I will get someone close to her. And if I can't get to him, then I will kill his wife and kids.

I know Joyce's schedule, so then I know Chris's schedule. If Joyce doesn't quit preaching the bullshit, they will all die. During the Houston conference, I will kill them all as they sleep. If I don't hit there, then I will kill them during the book tour or the trip to India. I know where he lives and I know they are alone. Fuck them all and they will soon die. Tell that motherfucker next time let me talk to Joyce. She needs to hear what I have to say and now she will.

As you can imagine, when Joyce Meyer's ministry received this email, they were disturbed. It wasn't uncommon for Joyce to get death threats with her line of work, but for someone to go after her head of security and his family, that was unusual. And the emails wouldn't stop there. Later that night, Chris would send another email to himself. - Go to hell, your family's done. - Then a few minutes later, he sends another.

They will be done when you're gone at the Houston conference. I know you will be out of town. Chris then sends two emails to Joyce Meyer's son, Daniel. Houston death. Tell Chris his family is dead. I know his schedule and they will die. Next time that motherfucker will let me talk to Joyce. Tell Chris his family is dead. They don't deserve to live with someone that protects that SOB Joyce.

After sending the numerous death threats about his family, Chris closed his computer and decided to call it a day. But the emails wouldn't stop there. The following day, two more came through to Joyce Meyer's ministry. The subject read, "Fuck you all."

I know you all got my fucking email. You think I'm full of shit. Just wait. I will shoot their asses with my 40. Kill them all. I am so sick of bitches like her taking everyone's cash so she can fly her jet and pamper her white ass. Fuck you all. Tell Chris I will kill them. He has no idea when, but it will happen. I'm sure you motherfuckers are going to try putting your pussy ass security team at the house or police. Whatever. I kill them, then I'm coming after Chris. Then you, Danny. Then David.

I may not be able to get to Joyce, but I'll get the rest of you motherfuckers. Fuck you all. I know when you read these. Just wait, you will see. Fuck you all. Tell that bitch Joyce to give me my money back and talk to me and this will all stop. Until then, everyone will die, starting with Chris's wife and kids. I know his fucking schedule. Every time Joyce is gone, he's gone. You motherfuckers are probably wondering how I got your emails. You stupid fucks. Just like every company, so fucking predictable. Dumbasses.

Now, clearly these emails were causing a bit of a panic within the ministry and they voiced these concerns to Chris, who decided to report them to the police in Jefferson County, Missouri. In response, they sent out some patrol cars to his Columbia Lake subdivision. Officer spent a couple of days sitting outside of the home, keeping a close eye on anyone wandering nearby.

But little did anyone know, the true danger wasn't outside on the streets. He was inside of the Coleman household, putting his kids to bed, plotting their murder.

By this point in the story, Chris was fully dedicated to Tara. He spends all of his free time texting her and sending her racy pictures. And the more he fell in love with her, the more he hated his wife. He was disgusted with Sherry and even stopped sleeping in the same bed as her. Instead, he spent his nights in the basement on the couch where he could freely text Tara all night long.

On November 28th, 2008, Chris told Sherry that their marriage was over and that he wanted a divorce. His reasoning was that her and the kids were in the way of his career at Joyce Meyers Ministries. Later that day, Sherry texted her friend, absolutely devastated. "Can you pray for me?" "Of course, friend. What's up?" "Chris wants a divorce." "Girl, I will definitely be praying for you. When did all this happen?" "Couple days ago. He said me and the kids are in the way of his job." "Sherry, I'm so sorry."

By mid-December 2008, Chris was back in Florida to drop Joyce off on a cruise she was going on. So of course, he and Tara got a hotel together in Orlando and went to a New Kids on the Block concert. It was also on this trip where they exchanged promise rings. Now, Chris was in Florida for a while, a lot longer than he initially planned.

And by December 21st, just a few days before Christmas, Sherry calls him and wants to know why he hasn't come home. The two end up getting in a pretty nasty argument, ending with Chris telling her that he didn't love her anymore and that he wanted a divorce. He also said that she and the kids were holding him back from quote, realizing God's destiny for his life.

There's nothing more disgusting than people using God as a weapon. And poor Sherry was devastated. She texted an employee at their church that night asking them to pray for her, saying quote, "Things just got worse with Chris. I'm tired of hiding it. I think I know what's going on with him and I'm so disgusted. I don't even know where to go with it. I'm not giving up on my marriage. I love Chris way too much."

This seems like a horrible dream." By Christmas that year, Chris had finally come home, but he spent most of his time down in the basement talking to Tara. He couldn't even put on a happy face for his children on what would be their very last Christmas. Now, it's unclear how Sherry found out about the affair, but she did know that her husband's mistress was her childhood friend, Tara Lentz.

We know this because a few weeks after the holidays, Sherry had one of her good friends over and she told her, you want to see the woman my husband's having an affair with? And then she showed her a picture of Tara. Sherry told her friend that Tara had always been the type of girl that you'd have to watch around your boyfriends. It's giving Raquel, if you know, you know.

But Sherry would have never imagined that Tara would start sleeping with her husband. And she was also disgusted with the fact that she had been the one to connect them after telling Tara about the conference in Tampa. Sherry contemplated on whether or not she should tell Joyce Myers about what was going on, but she decided not to, just in case Chris had a change of heart. But he wouldn't.

and soon enough, he would send more death threats to his family. Just two days into 2009, Chris and Sherry found a letter in their mailbox. There was no stamp on the letter, meaning someone had hand-delivered it. And to Sherry's horror, it was another death threat. This one read, "'Fuck you. Deny your God publicly or else. No more opportunities. Time is running out for you and your family. Have a good time in India, motherfucker.'"

Now, Chris had a work trip to India scheduled for mid-January, meaning Sherry and the boys would be left at home all by themselves, which was terrifying to Sherry because whoever this person was knew where they lived and they were risky enough to deliver it to their home.

So Chris brought the letter to the Columbia Police Department, and Officer Steve Patton promised to keep a patrol car in the area during the days he was going to be away from home. Sherry was scared. She didn't want Chris to leave. But to her surprise, they actually had sex for the first time in months before he left. However, the excitement was short-lived because afterwards, Chris told her, "Don't get the wrong idea. This doesn't mean anything. I'm just horny."

To ease Sherry's mind, an officer did patrol the neighborhood while Chris was gone. And surprise, surprise, no one came to harm her and the boys. Then when Chris got back from the trip, he immediately started packing to go to Tampa. He told Sherry that he was going to the Super Bowl with a male friend of his. But she knew better than that.

Sherry knew exactly why he was going to Tampa and she begged him not to go. She told Chris that she missed him and that she wanted things to go back to how they used to be. But Chris wasn't moved and he told Sherry that when he returned from Tampa, he was going to divorce her for good and with no other options.

Sherry decided that it was now time to contact Joyce Meyer's son, Daniel, who relayed the message to his mother. Soon after this, Joyce approached Chris and suggested they see a marriage counselor at their church. How were you aware that they were having marital problems? She talked to my son, Daniel. And did he relate that to you? He told me so I could...

talk to Chris about it. And did you in fact talk to the defendant about the situation? I did. And just generally, what was that conversation? He felt that Sherry was very controlling, that no matter what he did, she wasn't happy, and that they just in general, you know, were not getting along, and that he was just really tired of it. And at that point, I asked him if, you know, they'd be willing to get some marriage counseling from a pastor that we have at our office, and he

Now, clearly Chris only attended these counseling meetings to please Joyce Meyer. He even pretended the counseling was working. He started helping Sherry with the dishes, held her hand as they watched TV, and he told her that she and the boys meant the world to him.

and that he would do anything to save their marriage. It's likely that he was trying to pretend their marriage was doing better so that when he finally annihilated his family, no one would be pointing the finger at him. And Sherry believed the facade. Her friend said that she seemed so much happier. She would even dance around the house to her favorite song, "Pocket Full of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield.

Things had been so good between her and Chris, she even let him go to Tampa for the Super Bowl. While he was there, she sent her husband a provocative photo of herself. Of course, Chris was with Tara at the time. When Tara saw the picture, she grabbed his cell phone and texted back, quote, "Honey, you've really gotta stop this. I'm not in love with you anymore," end quote. And once again, Sherry was crushed.

By February of 2009, Chris was feeling a lot of pressure because Tara gave him a date, May 4th, 2009. She said if Chris didn't serve Sherry divorce papers by that day, then she was leaving him. By then, she had already started a wedding registry and was now scouring the internet for jobs in St. Louis. Chris and Tara also shared a joint credit card that paid for Tara's travel expenses when she came to meet Chris.

He also opened a new credit card for himself where he could buy Tara all the gifts she ever wanted. Now, the only phone that he had was the company Blackberry he was given, and eventually people within the Joyce Meyers ministry started to notice a phone number that was constantly showing up on his bill. And knowing that he was going through marital problems, they confronted him about this. Chris admitted that it was his wife's friend in Florida, but he said he was only calling her to get marriage advice, since he and Sherry had been struggling.

The ministry didn't ask any more questions about it, but from here, Chris decided to get his own Blackberry, and now he could send Tara whatever he wanted. He started sending videos of himself masturbating in the shower, and videos of his erection while sitting downstairs in the family basement. In one message, he wrote, "Just finished texting you and I've still got a heart on. Wanna see it?" When he was finished sending the risque videos to his mistress, he would put his sons to bed, pray with them, and kiss them goodnight.

In early March 2009, Chris had to attend a charity event in Arizona for Joyce Meyer's ministry, and he bought a flight for Tara to come out as well. And according to some people there, they weren't even hiding in a hotel room. In fact, Tara was seen out in public, whispering in Chris's ear and stroking his stomach. Meanwhile, Sherry was at home with the boys.

and she seemed to have sensed that something was terribly wrong. She even told her friend, "If anything happens to me, Chris did it." Then on April 15th, 2009, Chris had to go to Hawaii for work and again, he brought his mistress, ordering room service, having sex, and making very sexual videos.

In one of the videos they would take, Chris filmed them frolicking throughout the hotel suite. Tara, naked in front of a bathroom mirror, giggled as Chris pulled out the camera and said, "What are we doing here in Hawaii, Tara?" Tara responds, "We're being bad." When Chris left Hawaii to go back to Missouri, it was clear that he was very fed up with his life.

He even started drinking a lot, which was out of character for him. Then on April 27th, 2009, another death threat was placed in their mailbox. This one read,

Fuck you. I'm giving you the last warning. You have not listened to me and you have not changed your ways. I've warned you to stop traveling and to stop carrying on with this fake religious life of stealing people's money. You think you're so special to do what you do protecting or you think you are protecting her. She's a bitch and not worth you 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. 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. Now, like we mentioned earlier, the Coleman's lived right across the street from Detective Justin Barlow. And when he got word about the death threats getting hand delivered to their home, he offered to set up a security camera in his son's bedroom, which faced directly at their house.

That way, whenever the person hand delivered the next note, they could get a license plate number or description of the person or something. But surprisingly, after the camera was set up, the letter stopped coming. However, Chris didn't need to write any more death threats. He felt as if the last letter got the message across with him saying, "Your worst nightmare is about to happen."

And it was about to happen. On May 4th, 2009, the day before his family would be murdered, Chris took a sick day at work, which was strange because he rarely ever called out sick throughout his 11 years on the job.

Instead of going to work, Chris took Garrett and Gavin to school that morning. He then ran a few errands and picked them up from school later that day. Once the boys got home, they immediately went over to their neighbor, Brandon's house, to play football. It was his birthday the following day, and every year Garrett would spend the night with him the night before. It was a tradition. But this year, Chris wouldn't let him spend the night. Garrett was really upset about it, saying, "'I don't know. My dad just said it wasn't a good night for a sleepover.'"

At 8:30 p.m., the boys went home for dinner and then went to get snow cones. While they were out, Tara texted Chris and asked if he had served Sherry the divorce papers. It was May 4th, the very day that they agreed upon. Chris told her that he noticed a few typos on the document, so his attorney was looking over everything, but he would have it the following day. Of course, this was a lie.

Chris never got divorce papers because he had other plans on how he could get rid of his wife and kids. Plans that were about to take place in just a few hours. After snow cones, the boys came home and played video games until it was time for their shower. Gavin had poison ivy from a camping trip he had been on the weekend before, so Sherry applied steroid cream to his skin. Then Chris came upstairs and took the boys to bed. He prayed with them and then turned the lights out for the night.

Downstairs, he sat next to his wife on the couch and watched Batman Returns, texting Tara the entire time. The next morning, on May 5th, 2009, Detective Barlow's security camera shows Chris' car pulling out of their driveway at 5:43 AM. He was going to Gold's Gym to get in an early workout. Then at 6:23 AM, he sent Sherry a text message.

"Hey babe, are you up yet? I'm almost done with my workout. I just have 5 more minutes of cardio and then I'll head home." Now, Sherry doesn't immediately respond to his message, so 4 minutes later, at 6:27 AM, he texts her again. "Hello? You up? Time to get the kids up." After 16 minutes, Sherry still hadn't responded.

So Chris decides to call his neighbor, Detective Barlow, and he asks him to check on Sherry and the boys.

which was a little strange because Chris claimed that he had been sitting at the gym worried sick after his wife wasn't responding to him for 20 minutes, but his gym was only five minutes away from their house. So if he was that worried, why would he wait around for 20 minutes instead of driving home and checking on them himself? Now, when Detective Barlow gets this call, he immediately gets dressed,

walks over to the Coleman house and calls for backup. After the numerous death threats they had been getting, he wasn't sure what he would walk into. A few minutes later, Officer Jason Donjon pulls up to the house and he heads around back to find an open basement window with the screen removed. From here, the officers radio for backup and then climbed through the basement window.

With their guns drawn, they slowly crept up the basement staircase and were soon met with the harsh smell of paint fumes. After making it up the stairs, they're now standing in the kitchen area. And there, on the wall in red spray paint, reads, "'Fuck you. I'm always watching. I saw you leave. Fuck you, bitch. Punished.'"

From here, the officers carefully make their way up to the second floor, muttering "Oh my God" several times under their breath. Spray painted on the wall going up the stairs are more threatening words, reading "You have paid." The second story to the house was quiet, with no movement, and Detective Barlow steps towards 11-year-old Garrett's room. At first glance, it looked like he was sleeping,

But that wasn't the case. As Detective Barlow neared closer, he could see that Garrett's skin was a grayish color. He was dead, and he'd been dead long enough that his skin was cold to the touch. Horrified, Detective Barlow then moves on to 9-year-old Gavin's room. He too is in his bed, deceased, wearing Spider-Man pajamas.

Gavin was face down, but you could see that his skin was gray and his lips were purple. And on the sheets next to him were the words "Fuck you" and red spray paint. Some of the red paint was actually on his skin. While Detective Barlow was making the horrible discovery in the kids' rooms, Officer Donjohn found 31-year-old Sherry deceased in her bed.

Now, at first glance, the boys didn't have any obvious signs of trauma to their bodies. But Sherry was a different story. She was lying face down with her head hanging off the side of the bed. The underside of her body had turned a purplish-red color from the blood pooling after her heart stopped beating. Her dark hair was matted around her face and she had a black eye. It was clear that Sherry put up a fight.

You could also see two ligature marks around her neck, indicating that someone had strangled her multiple times. And like the boys, her body was stiff, meaning she had been dead for a couple of hours.

Around the time that Barlow and Donjon were finding the bodies, Chris finally pulls up to his house. He actually pulled up at 6:53 AM, 13 minutes after he asked Detective Barlow to check on his family. And again, his gym was only 5 minutes away from his house. So why did he wait nearly 10 minutes to drive over, if he was so worried about his family? Outside, the detectives told Chris the news. His entire family had been murdered inside of his home.

Now, Chris did shed some tears, but he never asked how his family died or asked to go in and see them. He just stayed on the front lawn. When the EMTs arrived at his home that morning, they put Chris in one of the ambulances. By this point, their neighborhood was swarmed with emergency personnel, reporters, and curious neighbors who had stepped outside to see what the commotion was about. And as word got around that Sherry, Garrett, and Gavin had been murdered, the entire community was devastated.

Reporter Nick Pister said of the neighbors, "They saw the young boys playing touch football with their father on the front lawn. These were little boys that they knew." Sherri's friend, Kathy LaPlante, said, "You could see the pain on everyone's face. It devastated the community. Sherri was a loving mother, loyal friend, and sister to me. My life's not the same. It put a hole in my heart." Joyce Meyer and her husband, Dave, actually arrived on scene and prayed with Chris in the back of the ambulance.

After this, one of the EMTs noticed scratches all over Chris' arms. Strangely enough, when they asked him about the scratches, he started punching the gurney as hard as he could. This was strange, but they thought that maybe he was just in shock. At the time, no one knew if this was the work of the crazed stalker or if the murderer was someone closer to the family.

The police hoped that Chris Coleman could point them in the right direction. So, at 10:05 a.m., they took him to the police station for questioning, as the bodies of Sherry, Garrett, and Gavin were taken away by the medical examiner. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. We're sad to announce that there's been a, we're investigating a triple homicide here in the city of Columbia. Deceased at the home at 2854 Robert Drive is a female by the name of Sherry Coleman.

She's 31 years old and her two children, Garrett Coleman, who's 11 years old, and Gavin Coleman, who is 9 years old. The Columbia Police Department was called to this house this morning just before 7 a.m. and they then discovered these bodies. And shortly after that, Chief Edwards felt it his responsibility to give this investigation the most he could. So he activated and authorized the use of the major case squad.

Since that time we've gathered together with investigators and we have around 25 investigators working this crime. The Illinois State Police is involved. They're continuing their efforts at the scene and we have investigators currently working this homicide. The autopsies are being conducted as we speak so we don't know what the cause of death is but we do believe that the manner of death is homicide.

Well, this time is so early on, I don't want to speculate into any motive. And if I go into random, then that means there's maybe a motive behind that. I really don't know. We just, we're following leads. We have leads in this case. We're following them. And, you know, I would just let everyone know that we're doing all we can to find out what happened in this house.

Back at the police station, Chris was brought into an interrogation room, still wearing his gym clothes. And Detective Barlow started the interrogation by asking Chris to walk him through his morning. I'll tell you what, from the beginning, let's just start off from when you got up this morning until the time you pulled up at the house. Just kind of walk me through that first. And then we'll go through and kind of explain, you know, talk about some different things as far as the emails you've been getting. Okay? Okay.

I set my alarm clock for 5:30 and used my phone for my alarm clock. And got up at 5:30, went to the bathroom, put these clothes here on, and went to the bathroom basically. Got in the truck and left. And drove off, I got to, I don't know where I was at, but called Sherry to wake her up, get her going, and she didn't answer, of course.

So I went on to the gym, to Gold's gym, over by Ronnie's closet in South County. And I started working out. I text her at some point. I might even call her again. I don't remember.

I could probably look at my phone if you want me to. - Do you guys have a home phone number too or just cell phones? - We just use cell phones. So I text her and then she still didn't respond and probably now, it had to have been well after six o'clock sometime when I text her or called her. I'm sure it's still on her phone, what time it was. And she didn't respond and it's not like her because the kids should have been up and stuff or getting up and going by then.

Detective Barlow then asked about his job with Joyce Meyer's Ministry and the threatening emails and letters.

Those kind of go back to when you first came here back in November last year you were getting some of those emails sent to your work email address, right? Do you still have those on your computer? They might be on the server. Okay. I doubt if they're on the computer because it deletes them after so long. Yeah, purges them out. I would think they're going to be on the server. How many threats like that, I mean up until November have you ever gotten threats like that before?

- No, people have been upset with me, but I haven't gotten anything. I mean, I've had people yell at me and upset me and everything else, but, you know, I'm in the net store and walk the property and all that stuff, you know? - If I had just been there, this wouldn't have happened. - Well, we're gonna do, you know, Chris, we're gonna get past that, okay? We're gonna work this out and get through it, all right?

But what we need, the best thing you can do for us is help us. You are, you're doing a good job, man. But the best thing we can do is work together and try to figure all this out, okay? And you're doing that, I mean, I'm not. The detectives then asked if Chris and Sherry were having any problems in their marriage. He said they were, but they were working through them, and things had been a lot better. I went to Joyce with it, told her about it, or Danny, I can't remember which one, and, uh...

They knew about it and they suggested that we meet with somebody and see if we could work out whatever it was. And really all it was was just communication.

not communicating very well. - Did you meet with somebody? - Yeah, Mike Shepherd, the guy that's here downstairs in the lobby. We've been meeting with him pretty regularly and things have been going pretty awesome. - How often do you meet with him? - He travels overseas a lot too, and so as often as me and him schedule, I'd say on average maybe once a week.

Chris eventually asked for a blanket and used it to cover up his arms, likely to hide the scratches, but they had already seen them. When they asked Chris about the scratches, he says he thinks he got them when he was punching the gurney in the ambulance. But the detective spoke to the EMT, who said that he started punching the gurney after he was asked about the scratches.

Now, from here, they switched gears and asked him if anything stood out that morning. And Chris says that he did see a car that he had to slow down for as he was backing out of his driveway. But coincidentally, he didn't remember any details about it. Anything as far as that sticks out in your mind from this morning when you left? Did you notice anything? The only thing I told somebody was...

The only thing I can remember is having to slow down for a car backing out of the driveway. That's it. - From the horse driver with it backing out of the driveway? - I don't know, I guess, or the same thing. It was like three or four out, I don't know, on the left-hand side. That's the only thing I remember. - You notice anything about the car? - It was just the darker colors, I think. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been more observant. - Anything that sticks out? Were you able to tell him what kind of car it was? Did you recognize it in the neighborhood at all?

Now, interestingly enough, Detective Barlow's security camera didn't pick up any car that Chris had to slow down for that morning. The detectives receive a message that he had been in contact with a woman in Florida named Tara Lenz, so they confront Chris about it. The part of this video is really difficult to hear, so we will reenact it.

Had you seen anyone else outside of your wife? What do you mean? In a romantic way? No. Tara in Florida that you guys are going to talk to. I talk to her a ton lately, but... And what's with that? Just a friend. Someone to talk to. Tara is Tara Lentz, a cocktail waitress and an old high school friend of Sherry's. Okay, you said you had a close friendship, but were you actually doing anything that you felt wouldn't be approved by your wife?

- Some of the conversations, probably. - During the entire interrogation, Detective Barlow asked most of the questions while Detective Bivens scribbled on a yellow notepad. At one point, the detectives excused themselves from the room and while they were gone, Chris grabbed the notepad and started reading what the detectives wrote down. It was clear he was nervous and he had every reason to be.

If the story he was telling the detectives was true, that his family was murdered while he was at the gym, then that means they would have only been dead for about an hour when their bodies were discovered. But the medical examiner said that that couldn't have been possible. You see, our bodies go through different stages after death.

and with each stage it tells you how long the person has been deceased as a little science lesson the first stage of death is called pallor mortis which starts to occur right when we die and that's where the color drains from our bodies making our skin look discolored usually a grayish color

Then the next stage is Liver Mortis, where your blood starts to pool in whatever position you're lying in when you die, where our body's temperature starts to go down, and it usually takes at least 3 hours for our bodies to be cold to the touch. Then Rigor Mortis, where your body starts to stiffen due to the chemical changes happening within, and that usually starts around 3-4 hours after death.

Now, when the Madison County Coroner's Office arrived at the home to take the body's core temperatures, she went into Sherry's room first and rolled her onto her back. When they flipped the body, Sherry's left leg went straight into the air and didn't move. So rigor mortis had definitely set in, meaning Sherry had been dead for at least three hours. And all of the bodies were cold.

meaning all of them had been dead for hours. So Chris's story that they all died while he was at the gym, it just didn't make sense. Science doesn't lie. So the detectives decide to turn up the heat and confront him with these findings. - When you left the house this morning,

Was your wife alive? Oh yeah. What would you say if I told you that I don't think she was? I don't know. I don't know what to tell you. I mean, I think she was. She was. She was laying right beside me. Then I'm not doubting that. I'm not doubting that you were there and I'm not doubting that you care. But I am doubting that she was alive when you left us.

Physically, what we have are 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 frame when I was gone. I mean... No, you guessed wrong. Chris, we need to get this resolved. Okay? You can't argue with physical evidence. I'm not trying to argue with it. 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 it can't.

it can't you've told us a story and we've gone over it numerous times you know what we walk out to justin maybe maybe we missed this let's go in and talk to him about this and just 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 out and we come back in and we go out and come back in i did have to use the restroom that was legitimate but we go out and we come back in and

We felt very comfortable that we would give you every opportunity to tell us something that was going to contradict the information that we had. Alright? We've got this information, you're saying it, and we're giving you an opportunity to give us something contrary to what you told us before, so that, okay, yeah, alright, that would make sense. That hasn't happened. Just tell me that hasn't happened. Listen, man.

She wasn't alive when you left. She was alive. She was. She was laying right beside me. Listen to me. We can go back and forth with this all day long, but the physical evidence doesn't lie. She was not alive when you left this room.

the children weren't alive when we left this morning. - Yes they were. - No, come on Chris. We gotta get over this. Now there's reasons, there's reasons. And that's the point we're at. I wanna hear the reasons. Now is when we need to find out what happened, man. It's so important. You're at a great point to be able to help us to try to figure this out. We already have a new,

We already know what happened. We need to know why it happened. All right. Listen, you do know what to tell us. Come on, Chris. She was not alive when you left. The children were not alive when you left. You know that's true, and I know that's true. We need to clear this up now.

Nothing happened! The truth. The truth. How did...

How did we get to this point? That's what I need to know. I need to know how and why we got to the point we're at right now. We both know you're not telling me the truth. We both know that.

I've done this a long time. I'm looking into your eyes and I can tell you, you're not being truthful, Chris. We need an answer. Our answer is as bad as this sounds, as bad as this looks, or you may think it looks, we understand. And I've talked to many people who have given me reasons and it's like, you know what? Okay. All right. I can understand how somebody might've been feeling that at that time.

and maybe they acted on it and they shouldn't have and they regret it. There's no way to turn clocks back. You can't turn clocks back. You understand that, don't you? You can't turn the clock back. The only thing we can do is go forward from this point and we need to know what and why it happened. Come on, Chris, help me out with this. - I'm telling you, I've already told you. I've told everybody. I told the guy in the ambulance. I told you, I told him. - The more we go back like this, the more it makes me think that there maybe even isn't a good explanation for it. I mean, I mean,

We need to know what happened. We can't keep going on this. It didn't, you know, she was alive when I left. We know that's not true. And there's nothing we can do about changing that. We know she wasn't alive when you left this morning. There's got to be an explanation. Now is the time to tell us. Now is the time to get this out of the open.

I don't know what else to tell you. Yes, you do. No. You have to tell me the truth, Chris. I'm telling you the truth. Were you involved in her death? No. Okay. Was someone you know involved in her death? I don't know. Did you talk to anybody about arranging her death? No, absolutely not. Okay.

Chris wasn't budging, and he continues to deny any involvement in his family's murder. Now, they didn't have an arrest warrant just yet. They still had a little more investigating to do. But before Chris could leave the police station, he had to submit a handwriting sample and a hair sample. When it was over, he left with his father, Ron, and the two drove to Chester, Illinois, where he planned on staying until all of this blew over.

That same afternoon, Joyce Meyer gave a public statement to the St. Louis media. She said, "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 sincerest prayers are with him. Chris has a long journey ahead of him, but we know that his faith is strong." The wake for Sherri, Garrett, and Gavin was held on May 8, 2009, at the Grace Church where Chris' parents, Ron and Connie Coleman, were pastors.

There was a 30-minute open casket service for close friends and family, followed by a closed casket service open to the public. And so many people showed up. Chris actually texted Tara during it, saying, "You wouldn't believe it down here. There's more than a thousand people." The caskets were taken to Evergreen Cemetery for a short service.

Chris stood with his parents, Ron and Connie, and looked at the caskets that held his wife and two sons. He hugged his parents and then quietly stepped aside to text Tara on his Blackberry. He told her that he loved and missed her. A few days later, after their home had been combed through by investigators, Chris was cleared to go by and retrieve some of his things. In the front lawn, the community had set up a memorial filled with Mother's Day balloons, footballs, teddy bears, and flowers.

Seeing this, neighbors watched as Chris gathered up all the items and threw them in the trash. Over the next few weeks, investigators worked hard to try and figure out who killed the Coleman's. They had an idea of who did it, but they needed proof. So they started by looking at the death threats that they had been receiving in the months before the murders. And they found out that whoever wrote them had misspelled the word opportunity.

The person put a U in place of the second O. So it was opportunity instead of opportunity. A very specific misspelling. The investigators then looked through Chris's computer and what do you know, when looking through his documents, they found seven instances where he too misspelled opportunity the exact same way the letter writer did.

They then looked into the email account that was created to send the death threats and surprise, surprise, the destroychris at gmail.com was in fact created on Chris's work computer. Another incriminating piece of evidence was back on the day of the murders. Investigators asked Chris if he had any spray paint in his house. He said that he didn't, but if he did...

It would have been really old spray paint, but this too was a lie. Investigators combed through all of Chris's credit card statements, and they found that on February 9th, 2009, just a few months before the murders, Chris spent $3.77 at the local handyman hardware store on apple red spray paint.

the exact same color spray paint found on the walls of his house. Now even in the end, when all of the evidence was piled up against Chris, his parents still stuck beside him and proclaimed his innocence. In reference to the spray paint, his father would later claim that the reason his son bought the spray paint was to paint a bullseye for them to practice shooting paintballs.

But if that was just a couple of months before the murders, wouldn't Chris have remembered buying that spray paint? He claimed he didn't. Now another piece of incriminating evidence against Chris was his handwriting sample was a match to the spray paint found on the Coleman's walls. Two handwriting analysis for the Illinois State Police

confirmed that Chris most likely spray painted the walls because of the similarities found in his eyes and the slant of his P's.

By this point, pretty much everyone besides his parents knew that Chris was responsible for the murders. Even Joyce Meyer herself started to believe he was a killer. On May 12, 2009, she contacted the major case squad and gave them new information about Chris. She told them that in the months leading up to the murders, Chris had seemed distracted and not fully engaged at work. She also noticed a personal cell phone charging in his car one day.

Okay, this was all from a conversation you had with police on May the 6th, but on May the 12th, did you again ask to talk to the police? Yes. Why did you do that? About a month prior to the beginning of May, say during the month of April, I just felt like he wasn't, I was just noticing that he wasn't as attentive to his duties. He was forgetting things that were just not normally him and just in general, not quite as engaged.

I noticed a personal cell phone in his car one day that was being charged up. And I asked him about that because I'd never seen him with it because he had a ministry phone. That was what he carried all the time. And he just said it was a personal cell phone. And I started asking other questions. And I just thought, you know, it's really none of my business if he has a personal cell phone. So I just, I let that go.

Two days after Joyce called the major case squad, Chris officially resigned from his position at Joyce Myers Ministries. Now, with all the evidence that they had, they were very close to making an arrest. But just to make sure, they brought in medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden.

He was a medical examiner in New York City and the best in the country. He even had his own television show on HBO called Autopsy. He took a look at the autopsy reports, crime scene photographs, and autopsy photographs. And it only took him one day to confirm that there was no way the victims were killed after Chris left for the gym at 5.43 a.m. He predicted the time of death was 3 a.m. When asked if there was any possibility that they died after Chris left that morning, Dr. Baden said,

This isn't even a close call. They had to have been dead before he left the house. So armed with this information, investigators finally had enough to make an arrest. Chris was arrested at his parents' house in Chester and taken to the Columbia Police Department, where he traded his everyday clothes for an orange jumpsuit and shackles.

He was taken to the Monroe County Courthouse for an arraignment, and when he stepped out of the police car, people in the crowd shouted, baby killer and murderer.

Chris maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder. During the prosecution's preparation for trial, they really wanted Joyce Meyer to testify, but her busy schedule wouldn't allow it. Instead, she agreed to a videotaped testimony on April 6, 2009. When she left the courthouse, she spoke to the reporters outside. I was asked to testify by the state's attorney, which I just did. I answered the questions honestly and

Chris Coleman's trial started on Monday, April 25th, 2011, and the prosecution walked the jury through it all. The emails, the affair, the spray paint receipts, the handwriting analysis, autopsy findings, everything.

His police interview was also played for the jury on a projector and Chris's parents, Ron and Connie, decided to leave the courtroom as they played it. Nothing had rattled them up until this point, but they couldn't bear to watch their beloved son be interrogated by detectives. And one thing I do want to mention is that Ron and Connie stood by their son until the very end, even with all of the evidence piled against them.

And they even placed blame on Sherry for not being a great wife. Here is Ron Coleman speaking with Crime Watch Daily. Tara was just meeting a need that Sherry at the time wasn't taking care of.

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 doesn't respect you, then you're going to find respect someplace else. So are you saying that Sherry was a bad wife? Just at that short, brief time, she had stepped back from doing her job as a wife. And this was just so disgusting to me. I don't care if Sherry was being a good wife or not. No one deserves to be murdered.

And from everything I've seen, Sherry fought hard for that marriage. Chris was the one being a bad husband. So the fact that this pastor of all people is defending his son, who killed his entire family, is just absolutely reprehensible. Now, Tara Lentz was also a witness in this trial, and she told the jury all about their relationship.

On cross-examination, she also mentioned that Chris had been in contact with her after the murders. He even texted her while he was at the police station being questioned. Tara's testimony took less than 30 minutes and from what I could find, they didn't find any proof that she knew anything about the murder plot, so she was never prosecuted.

But during Chris' trial, expert witnesses walked the jury through what they believed happened on May 4th, 2009. After eating dinner with his family, Chris put the boys to bed. He even said prayers with them before turning their lights out and going downstairs to watch a movie with Sherry. Later that night, the two would go to their bedroom. Chris usually slept on the couch in the basement.

but tonight he followed sherry up to his own bed then after she fell asleep using either a cord or a rope he wrapped it around her neck and began to strangle her but sherry woke up and put up a fight so chris began to beat her punching her in the face giving her a black eye once he gained control over his wife

He put the cord around her neck again. The strangulation would have taken around four to five minutes, according to experts, which means Sherry had four to five minutes to truly come to terms with what was happening. Her husband, father of her children and love of her life, was killing her.

I'm sure she thought about what was going to happen to her boys. Was he going to kill them too? These were likely the last thoughts running through Sherry's mind before she passed away in her bed. Following this, Chris went to 9-year-old Gavin's room. Experts figured this out because a piece of Sherry's hair was found on his arm. Hair that was ripped from her head in the struggle.

Gavin had scratches on his throat and bruises on his head and his arms, meaning he woke up to his father strangling him and he too tried to fight back. And like Sherry, Chris continued to strangle his son for 4-5 minutes before he passed. And then finally Chris moved on to Garrett's room and killed him the same way he killed Sherry and Gavin.

According to experts, the murders occurred around 3:00 a.m. and over the next two hours, he walked through his home, making it look like an intruder killed his family. He opened the basement window. He spray painted the walls. He even spray painted "fuck you" on his son's bed, right next to his little body. Then at around 5:00 a.m., Chris got dressed for the gym and left.

thinking that he truly would get away with this and start a new life with his mistress. Chris' defense claimed that all the evidence used against him was purely circumstantial. He was a clean-cut ex-marine, religious, and held a steady job for a popular televangelist. Defense attorney William Margulis said, "People like that just don't wake up one morning and slaughter their families." As for the death threats sent from his own computer, Chris claimed that someone hacked his computer and sent the emails.

Now, there was DNA under Sherry's fingernails that came back as inconclusive, and they really tried to run with this, but just because it came back inconclusive doesn't mean it wasn't Chris's DNA. But even with this DNA, it was clear that the defense did not have a strong case. At the end of the trial, State's Attorney Chris Wright's last words to the jury were, "...when he went to each of those little boys' rooms in turn and sat down on their beds and reached for them to strangle them, they didn't get up and run. They didn't scream. Of

Of course they didn't. Why should they? It was just Dad. The nine-day trial ended on May 4, 2011, the two-year anniversary of the murders. The jury would deliberate for a couple of days before coming back with a verdict. Guilty of first-degree murder of Sherry Coleman, Garrett Coleman, and Gavin Coleman.

On Friday, May 6, 2011, Judge Wharton called Chris to the bench and sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And with that, he was sent off to the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupin, Wisconsin to serve his life sentence. In 2018, Chris Coleman filed a petition for post-conviction relief. If granted, he would receive a new trial in Monroe County.

He stated that he was given an effective counsel and his constitutional right to due process was violated. But in 2020, an Illinois judge dismissed his petition for a new trial. And that's where the case stands today. Now we cover a lot of these stories, but this one has always stuck out to me. Chris didn't kill his family on a whim. He started the affair with his mistress

and just nine days later began sending his family death threats. He planned it out that when he did kill them, investigators would think it was the work of a stalker. Chris would go down into his basement, type out these horrific emails and letters, and then he would sit down with his family at dinner. He would play the part of a loving father, putting his kids to bed and saying prayers with them at night.

knowing that in just a few short months, he was going to murder them and then to make matters worse. He acted like he was this good Christian guy whose family was killed all because he was connected to a popular preacher. The acts of Chris Coleman show that people out there are evil and that they will do anything to get what they want, even if it means harming the people that they are supposed to protect.

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That's simplisafewithani.com slash inamerica. There's no safe like SimpliSafe. And now, let's get back to our story.

Hey everybody, it's Colin here. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. This story is so disturbing to me and I also just think it's crazy because I watched Joyce Meyer with my parents all the time growing up. So to know she was connected to such an evil monster is just crazy.

crazy. This is definitely a very hard story to get through and it's just eerie to kind of see the parallels between this case and the Chris Watts case. It's a very similar crime and it's equally as horrific. But yeah, I want to shout out our new patrons this week.

Oh my god, every single week we have so many more patrons. We are so thankful for all of you guys. If you don't know what Patreon is...

You can sign up to get the ad free versions of every single episode on our Patreon. They drop as soon as the episode goes live on all streaming platforms. So if you don't like the ad, sign up to become a Patreon on patreon.com today. If you want to help our show out and it's totally free, all you have to do is head to Apple podcasts and leave us a five star review. Let us know what you love about the show. We love hearing from everybody online. And if you want to see photos from all the cases that we cover, just head to our Instagram at murder in America.

We post photos from every case as soon as the episodes go live. So yeah, it's a great community, but we have some incredible new episodes coming up. Courtney has been working really, really hard on the scripts. I'm really proud of her. We're finally in the flow and yeah, we have some massive updates to the Patreon coming soon, including a ton of new bonus content. So right now is a great time to sign up on Patreon, but yeah, thank you all for listening. It's Colin here from Salem, Massachusetts reporting today. We love y'all and we'll catch you on the next one.

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