Theories before trial begins

[robinparten]

Wrinkles, very interested to see how both the prosecution and defense present their cases. When does the case start, and will it be televised?

 

[stmarysmead]

Excellent, Wrinkles!

Now I'm just speculating here but remember Tara had been back to the area house-hunting with Chris at one point. There is also a mention that someone posted on Sheri's Facebook..."You don't deserve Chris." There was mention of Sheri shutting down her Facebook account because someone hacked into it.

And there is Tara's admission that Chris let her hear some of his discussions with his wife..I imagine speaker phone???

Were these two into tormenting Sherri into leaving? Were they into these "tricks" together? Sure sounds like the new girlfriend telling the wife.."You don't deserve" her own husband.

So if there was a video of the Stalker...was it Tara? Disguised and grainy, of course. Did they make it together when Tara came up to house-hunt?

Maybe Tara thought it was just "fun" tormenting Sherri...and a help to speed things up since her wedding plans were underway..but Chris had it figured out differently. He was creating the alibi he needed.

Even if he could get a divorce...Tara was an expensive plaything. How was he going to start a new family and buy her a house and take her on cruises...with that unwanted old wife and kids draining his paycheck?

Wonder what Tara has told them...

 

[Brian5671]

another odd tidbit I heard early on somewhere that CC cooked a "last supper" the night before and it was noted to be odd since he never cooked dinner....it's these little things even, that once added up will likely toss him into the slammer forever.
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trial starts monday for the poster above wondering (4/25)

 

[panthera]

Here's an interesting article we can chew on while waiting for the trial to begin:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/pat-gauen/cf44d1f4-ef54-5f7e-b3d6-690d9ed67c71.html

Definitely a good read, Kimster!

Back in the beginning, just this part caused me to believe in his guilt:

" Christopher Coleman, now 34, said they were alive when he left for a south St. Louis County gym at 5:43 a.m. Alarmed that nobody answered the phone about 7 a.m., he called a neighbor, who found the bodies."

Who would be panicking an hour and fifteen minutes after going to the gym, when only one phone call went unanswered. Normally you'd think they could be in the bathroom, and try calling again in a few minutes. Or just go home if you were that worried since you were only a few minutes away. But send a neighbor over? Oh, that's right - you want the neighbor to find the dead bodies and spray painted walls which only an hour and fifteen minutes ago were very much alive and the house pristine. The "real killer" must have been parked right outside the house waiting!! MOO

 

[CCup]

Snipped.....

Now that I think about it, La Plante's mention indicates that Sheri saw that video, because "they couldn't tell who it was." Did Sheri really see a video OR did Chris see it (supposedly) and say, "I couldn't recognize them." Now you would think that if Sheri was not just "wooped" by Chris totally (and she might have been), that she might have said, "Look buddy, I want to see the video, mask or no mask, I want to check out what you caught on film. After all, it is MINE and my kids lives that have been threatened."

Something odd here...hmmm...

Back to the serial killer... Whoever wrote those notes said "I am watching you." Why would a creep wait until a man who traveled a lot was back in town to do the deed? Why not do it when they are away from town? Maybe Chris had a pattern of going to the gym, so the serial killer (yeah right) figured Chris would be gone the few minutes he (the SK) needed to slay the family. That is one brazen SK, did he think that CC might not turnaround and come home to pick up his cup of coffee he forgot? Or that neighbors wouldn't "hear" or "see" something?

That reminds me of the trash cans in the neighborhood... Wasn't it trash day that day? What does LE have that we don't know about?

Yes, it was trash day, there was news videos of detectives going through the trashcans. As for this video of someone putting something in the mailbox...I have a really hard time believing that there was actual video footage. The town on Columbia is a town FULL of noisy people who are constantly watching out their windows. The Coleman's lived in a very busy neighborhood that has a good mix of retired elderly people and stay at home mom's. I am not sure Chris would risk have a masked person put something in his mailbox. And if Sheri actually saw the video, I would think she would insist it be turned over to the PD or even the neighbor cop across the street. Surely if the PD received a video of a masked person putting something in the mailbox they would have investigated it. IMO, there was no video, that was just part of Chris' plan.

Maybe Tara thought it was just "fun" tormenting Sherri...and a help to speed things up since her wedding plans were underway..but Chris had it figured out differently. He was creating the alibi he needed.

I totally think Tara took some pleasure in Sheri's pain. We know that Sheri knew about Chris' affair and that she knew it was Tara. I imagine Tara also knew she knew and knew she was fighting to save her marriage, which probably infuriated Tara.

another odd tidbit I heard early on somewhere that CC cooked a "last supper" the night before and it was noted to be odd since he never cooked dinner....it's these little things even, that once added up will likely toss him into the slammer forever.
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trial starts monday for the poster above wondering (4/25)

I also recall hearing this tidbit of information. Wasn't this one of the factors that led to the Coroner having toxic screenings done?

 

[Kimster]

Hello RobinP,

Yeah, and this serial killer probably sent CC the offers for the credit cards he had with his girlfriend, and maybe the serial killer found out the card number while fishing around in the mail box and charged those Disneyland tickets on it. Maybe he sent CC brochures for a cruise too.

Hmmm...this makes me think about something that Sheri evidently told her girlfriend...

http://images.bimedia.net/documents/colemanfrienddoc.PDF

Per Chris...bottom of page 5, January 2009...about one of the threat letters that arrived in the mail: "We asked him if he thought it was serious and he said no -- just some crackpot." and "...Chris said he reported it..." (he "said" he did). P. 6 "Again while we were at their house, Chris brought up the threat letter and how Dave and Joyce offered to pay for a security system to be installed in his house."

Some serial killers don't like security systems -- What's the chances Chris actually told them? IF he told them and if they offered a system as a result of his telling them, he didn't let them get it for him. Wonder why not?

Page 6
Hmmm... La Plante mentions that at the end of the Florida trip (Chris isn't home yet from the trip)...Chris is said to have called Sheri and told her "it was over" (as in their marriage), he was leaving her as soon as he got home. At that point, she (Sheri) was mentioned to have called one of CC's employers to talk them about it.

La Plante states that CC's employers called him down (at the hotel?) and spoke with him...

"They told him that he would have to have marriage counseling and if he would not be willing to work through this that they would have to reassign him to another position."

IF the above is true, then I'm reading that CC was told, "If you can't work this situation out, and IF you end up divorcing your wife, we will have to reassign you to another position" NOT "We're going to fire you."

After the talk, evidently (La Plante mentions), "Chris called Sheri and really exploded." Interesting, I guess a guy who had a girlfriend, who had just told his wife that he was leaving her as soon as he got home, and who had just been told by his employers that he would have to be assigned to another position might think that he wouldn't be travelling anymore, as in to the next scheduled rendezvous with his chick? Then again, "obviously" CC worked on plan B -- move the chick to your work place in case you get reassigned to a job with no travel.

Bottom of page 7 (I'm finally getting to what I was first thinking about)

"Chris and Sheri mentioned a video that Chris had taken with his surveillance system that he had installed and said that it was of the "person" putting another letter in his mailbox. We didn't watch it. But Sheri told me they couldn't tell who it was or make any features out as they had on a mask."

SOOOO...where is that video? Do you think that when La Plante mentioned this to LE, they asked Chris for the video so that they could see if they could identify the serial killer? I'm betting he didn't produce a video for them when they requested it.

Now that I think about it, La Plante's mention indicates that Sheri saw that video, because "they couldn't tell who it was." Did Sheri really see a video OR did Chris see it (supposedly) and say, "I couldn't recognize them." Now you would think that if Sheri was not just "wooped" by Chris totally (and she might have been), that she might have said, "Look buddy, I want to see the video, mask or no mask, I want to check out what you caught on film. After all, it is MINE and my kids lives that have been threatened."

Something odd here...hmmm...

Back to the serial killer... Whoever wrote those notes said "I am watching you." Why would a creep wait until a man who traveled a lot was back in town to do the deed? Why not do it when they are away from town? Maybe Chris had a pattern of going to the gym, so the serial killer (yeah right) figured Chris would be gone the few minutes he (the SK) needed to slay the family. That is one brazen SK, did he think that CC might not turnaround and come home to pick up his cup of coffee he forgot? Or that neighbors wouldn't "hear" or "see" something?

That reminds me of the trash cans in the neighborhood... Wasn't it trash day that day? What does LE have that we don't know about?

:goodpost:

I thoroughly enjoyed the points made here, Wrinkles!

 

[Wrinkles]

I'm not sure how anyone will believe any sincerity in Chris, what?, calling to "check on" the family or "wake" the family or what, to have Sheri get his breakfast ready (i.e. okay, I'm heading home and I'm famished)?

You would have to believe that Sheri didn't know how to wake the children for school (it was a school day?) when Chris was out of town working or cavorting? She didn't have a natural clock or alarm clock? Did LE find a clock by the bedside? What was the clock set to? Had it gone off? Did the boys have clocks? Were they set? Did they go off?

Sheri's friend said she was a responsible mom and went to their events. Seems like a responsible mom would know how to function with timing and without a "wake up" call. Did Sheri have a visible schedule in the house, get up at X o'clock, to bus/school at X o'clock?

We looked at where the children went to school, didn't we? Did we learn that Sheri drove the children to school or do we know if they took a bus? Again, bus or driving, seems Sheri would know how to time herself without a husband around.

So why would there be a "check in" call? He was gone a short while, how long did he plan on being gone? How long were his gym visits typically? Did he make a "check in" call because someone had a stomach ache from his dinner the night before and he was checking on them? (yeah right)

How about an "I'm just worried" call, due to the threats. Well then why would he tell someone he thought the person was a crackpot type person? Well then why didn't LE get a video showing the person with a mask? Well then why didn't he accept the offer of a security system? Well then why would he leave the house then or ever or not move the family to some place protective?

And "make me breakfast" call... Really? This woman had to get kids ready for school? OR maybe she knew he would expect breakfast? Maybe some of her girlfriends can speak to whether Sheri mentioned "he calls me to tell me what time to have his breakfast on the table after the gym."

Check in call when he had preceded all of this only a month before by "I'm leaving when I get back." Well if you are worried about threats to the family, do you "leave them?"

You have to buy that Sheri didn't know how to function as an adult, that Chris "cared" about the family's well being due to the threats. I can't get there based upon the above.

I "do" believe that Chris set his neighbor up to have to find the bodies. I "do" believe that he meant to come home in the timing that LE would be in the house with the bodies, and that he could play the part of someone "distraught."

Problem... He didn't ask, "My God, what has happened..." You could NOT have kept me out of that house if my family didn't make it (wasn't that the officers words?) I would NOT have been thinking about forensics, I would have been inside thinking LE was wrong and I could help a family member. I would have been screaming, "What do you mean they didn't make it!"

 

[Wrinkles]

Noose?

This is really bothering me... Was there really a "noose" found? Was strangulation the real cause of death or was there a preface to the strangulation? We haven't seen the autopsy reports and we don't have answers because we're not supposed to have them yet.

If these beautiful young people's lives were taken by a "noose"... How do you put a noose around someone that is sleeping? Lift their head to slip it over? They don't wake up, they don't shout when they realize what is happening? If they shout, they are not heard?

We are going to be learning some very sad and sickening things. I can imagine a number of things, I'll hold those imaginations back. What we hear will be awful enough.

I'm afraid we are going to hear of

 

[panthera]

Re: post #47, Wrinkles - so perfectly stated and worthy of more than just 'thanks'! :clap: Hopefully the State will have something like that in their closing argument. MOO

 

[CCup]

Another great post, Wrinkles! I would have never thought of the alarm clocks, I hope those types of questions are answered at the trial. It could be another nail in his coffin.

It was a school day. The boys attended Parkview Elementary and the school hours for Parkview are 8 a.m. to 2:55 p.m. I do not recall ever hearing whether or not the boys rode the bus, but I do recall some news coverage that showed a bus at the end of the street on the day of the murders. I cannot be sure if that pic/video was taken in the morning, mid-day, or afternoon. I imagine that if they rode the bus their pick up time would have been somewhere around 7:30-7:50. The school is about a mile from their home and with the amount of children in the neighborhood there probably wasn't any stops outside of Columbia Lakes.

 

[CCup]

Noose?

This is really bothering me... Was there really a "noose" found? Was strangulation the real cause of death or was there a preface to the strangulation? We haven't seen the autopsy reports and we don't have answers because we're not supposed to have them yet.

If these beautiful young people's lives were taken by a "noose"... How do you put a noose around someone that is sleeping? Lift their head to slip it over? They don't wake up, they don't shout when they realize what is happening? If they shout, they are not heard?

We are going to be learning some very sad and sickening things. I can imagine a number of things, I'll hold those imaginations back. What we hear will be awful enough.

I'm afraid we are going to hear of

Where did you get the noose info from? I feel like I heard this early on, but I can't remember if was actually in an article or if I read it in the comment section.

 

[who knew?]

Didn't we hear about zip ties? I have wondered if they were slipped around the neck and locked in - they wouldn't have come loose, and it probably would have been quick. But Wrinkles, you have a great point. The kids and Sheri may have been medicated at dinner - I know TOD was way earlier than 7 am, but do I remember someone saying it could have been as early as midnight - 2 am?
I just can't see how a jury could find him innocent, or find reasonable doubt. There are so many UNreasonable explanations made by Chris. You'd think someone who had been planning this for months would have not made so many mistakes - indicates to me that he is someone who thinks he's smarter than everyone else.

 

[Wrinkles]

Hiya friends,

CCup, your mind is working well in bringing back reminders and info. You asked about the noose.

Here is one article... Do they have their facts straight?

>>Investigators have said the victims were strangled with a ligature, perhaps a cord. Police say they found orange twine fashioned into a noose near a Mississippi River bridge that would have been along Coleman's route to the gym, and that it resembled cord tied around straw bales behind the Coleman home.<<

Here is another article from BND.com

>>Detectives investigating the killings found an orange piece of twine with a noose tied on one end near the Jefferson Barracks Bridge that resembled twine used to tie four bales of hay found behind the Colemans' home.<<

WhoKnew, it seems there might have been a discussion about zip ties... Yes, they were discussed in here, but for some reason one of the posters at that time -- someone who lived in the immediate area and who seemed to know some things (but was later banned -- wrote that zip ties were not used (as if they somehow knew what was used.) Check out post 280.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84312&page=12

I guess the question is, did they know what was used in order to know what wasn't used? The hay bale twine came up maybe around that time? Security people keep these ties around, right? i.e. to restrain people's hands/feet if necessary? Like hand cuffs?

Post 148, one of the posters on May 18th, 2009 wrote:

>>There is a reason the caskets were closed. I'm sorry I can't reveal why but there is. <<

That thread has a lot of information in it, there may have been some people in it who knew a little bit of something from local authorities but who knows...

The closed caskets remind me that there was word that Sheri's jaw was broken. Again, we will hear far more when court begins. I think that what is already obvious will be far more obvious when the trial begins.

 

[who knew?]

Thanks Wrinkles! I had totally forgot about that poster - yes, she had a lot of info. Wish we knew what she knows.

Actually, in the beginning, a lot of people were posting who seemed to have a lot of info, but don't know if we'll ever hear from them again. And then, I'm not sure what was true info, what was rumor, and what was wishful thinking.

The guy from Texas seemed very intent about the zip ties - I'm thinking that is where I had zip ties in my head. Wish I had time to go back and read all the posts from old threads. Maybe some of our previous posters (including neighbors of Chris and Sheri) will get back on here when the trial begins. They were very helpful!

 

[GolferChick]

Hi fellow websleuthers -- justice for Sheri and her boys starts on Monday...

Thought you might enjoy reading this overview of how the prosecution and defense teams will present their theories and "reasonable doubt".

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...cle_cf44d1f4-ef54-5f7e-b3d6-690d9ed67c71.html

Have a wonderful Easter weekend (He lives!)

Sorry Kimster; you were way ahead of me in posting this article!!!

 

[CCup]

Thanks Wrinkles, I thought that the noose thing had been published but I wasn't sure if I had heard that from a news outlet or another source.

The broken jaw thing also has me wondering if that were speculation or if we knew that for fact. I guess we will soon find out.

 

[CCup]

Didn't we hear about zip ties? I have wondered if they were slipped around the neck and locked in - they wouldn't have come loose, and it probably would have been quick. But Wrinkles, you have a great point. The kids and Sheri may have been medicated at dinner - I know TOD was way earlier than 7 am, but do I remember someone saying it could have been as early as midnight - 2 am?
I just can't see how a jury could find him innocent, or find reasonable doubt. There are so many UNreasonable explanations made by Chris. You'd think someone who had been planning this for months would have not made so many mistakes - indicates to me that he is someone who thinks he's smarter than everyone else.

In the beginning, I so thought he had to drugged them with this whole dinner thing. I was certain he had! But the toxicology reports came back clean on them.

I also cannot understand how he seemed to have planned this for so long, yet he made so many crucial mistakes. I wonder if maybe he snapped or something happened that made him rush the actual murders. Like maybe he wasn't planning on doing it just yet, but then Sheri got mad about something or found out about something or maybe pressure from Tara made him commit the murders sooner then he had originally planned.

 

[CCup]

Coleman: Loving family man or killer?

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/illinois/article_6842c7e6-ee11-5345-820e-d014c91719c8.html