2011.04.25 - The Trial Begins

[Kimster]

I'm glad you explained that Wrinkles. I've been sitting here worried that Gavin went in while his parents were fighting. I've always prayed that they were all asleep and didn't know he was killing them. Otherwise, it would be like the Jeffrey McDonald case and oh my gosh, I can't bear to think it happened again like that. May they all have gone to heaven without knowing the evil that beset them.

 

[Wrinkles]

Ccup and Stella...

Thanks for hopping in with the inside scoop based on what you are hearing and what you know of the area!

Kimster and Panthera thanks for your kind words,

Brian, it is good to have you here... You have my heart, it would be tough to have been a neighbor.

 

[Wrinkles]

CHRIS COLEMAN TRIAL

(put that there in case someone is trying to find info in Google like I am with those search words

ATTENTION everyone! Hallo? Has anyone heard anything about the core temperatures of the bodies? Also, Brian, do you remember what the temperature was that night in 2009, or about what it was like how warm, cold?

Does anyone know how to look up the weather temps in Columbia on May 4th and 5th in 2009?

 

[Wrinkles]

Kimster,

I don't know that we are in the clear about that hair being found yet (as in the child was asleep previous to death). I think it is entirely possible that we could learn that there was evidence of a struggle with the child, that they might have heard noise going on in their parent's room and gone to investigate, then entered into a struggle with Chris as a result There may be evidence that the little one died elsewhere then was put in their bed at a later point in time.

I'm wondering why a "circle" was drawn on the sheets, was it a circle with one of those diagonal lines through it? Why a circle? Why a curse word on the linen? Was it as if to say, "You weren't supposed to know anything, you were supposed to stay asleep."

 

[Wrinkles]

Questions...

Can anyone find this information:

1. What time did the coroner arrive at the scene?
2. Has anyone heard the core temps of the bodies, and which temp for each

 

[panthera]

CHRIS COLEMAN TRIAL

(put that there in case someone is trying to find info in Google like I am with those search words

ATTENTION everyone! Hallo? Has anyone heard anything about the core temperatures of the bodies? Also, Brian, do you remember what the temperature was that night in 2009, or about what it was like how warm, cold?

Does anyone know how to look up the weather temps in Columbia on May 4th and 5th in 2009?

Weather information: http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KCPS/2009/5/5/DailyHistory.html?req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA

Current information available for Columbia, however when I searched for May 5, 2009 it came up as Cahokia. Perhaps that is the weather station.

 

[Stella5]

Wrinkles... haven't heard core temp yet. I'm also wondering how much we will hear on a daily basis because the judge has ordered very responsible reporting so we don't have this end in a mistrial.

As for the temperature that day/night... I remember we talked about this early on in this case and I remember it being mild but don't remember the exact temps... i'll try to see if i can find it, but there was dew on the grass that morning and I seem to remember the dew wasn't disturbed by the "intruder" breaking into the basement window as the defense would have us believe.

 

[ynotdivein]

Found this site with weather from May 4 2009 for zip code 65201

 

[CCup]

I was told that they did liver temperatures on Sheri and Garret at the house around 11 am and I believe it was Dr. Raj Nanduri that testified to this. They did not do Gavin's due to the hair evidence in the nook of his elbow.

I was also told that it was not a couple of strands of bar, but more a large wad of hair in the nook if his elbow. Apparently you could see it in the full body photo of him, but them they also showed a zoomed in photo of the hair and his elbow area.

ETA: Shoot guys, now I can't remember who it was that did the liver temperatures. It was either Dr. Nanduri or Debra Von Nida. Sorry....can a mod tell me if I should delete this since I don't know which one of these people if was???

It may have been Debra Von Nida, an investigator for the Madison County Coroner's Office who was called to the Coleman house for her expertise in taking body core temperatures, described that process.

ETA again: Ok I think I figured it out, the bnd.com reported that Dr. Nanduri did the autopsies (http://www.bnd.com/2011/04/25/1683635/coleman-triple-murder-trial-getting.html) and I was told that liver temperatures were done at the Coleman home. And stltoday.com reports Debra Von Nida as being the one who took body core temperatures (http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/illinois/article_c293b985-a54c-5be1-8540-5c4b7a98432d.html)

 

[CCup]

So 8 of the 40 witnesses testified today, it really makes me wonder who the other 32 witnesses are? Obviously Baden, Det. Barlow, Kathy LaPlante, Meegan Turnbeaugh, Jessica Wade but what other people would be witnesses?

 

[ynotdivein]

So 8 of the 40 witnesses testified today, it really makes me wonder who the other 32 witnesses are? Obviously Baden, Det. Barlow, Kathy LaPlante, Meegan Turnbeaugh, Jessica Wade but what other people would be witnesses?

Ccup, you're ok not knowing who did the liver temps. We'll find out soon enough.

As for remaining witnesses: Tara Lintz and Joyce Meyers come to mind. The remaining 25 I'm not sure of. Other LE? People who investigated the computer forensics?

 

[CCup]

Thanks Ynot! Didn't even think about the computer forensics scientist. And Dan Meyer. Should we make a thread of witnesses??

 

[Fairy1]

So good to see this trial finally beginning. Hope to see it over with soon and CC behind bars for the rest of his miserable life.

Thank you all for the updates.

 

[ynotdivein]

Sure, start a thread for witnesses, and we can either decide to Sticky it or not as things develop.

(ETA and a bit OT: While waiting around for Sheri and her boys to receive justice, I got very interested in the Caylee Anthony case here at WS. Never having lived in a "Sunshine" state, I find the amount of information available under sunshine laws to be sometimes overwhelming. But overall, I am more in favor of them than not... Of this, perhaps more in a possible future thread.)

 

[panthera]

Sure, start a thread for witnesses, and we can either decide to Sticky it or not as things develop.

(ETA and a bit OT: While waiting around for Sheri and her boys to receive justice, I got very interested in the Caylee Anthony case here at WS. Never having lived in a "Sunshine" state, I find the amount of information available under sunshine laws to be sometimes overwhelming. But overall, I am more in favor of them than not... Of this, perhaps more in a possible future thread.)

Just a suggestion for the Witness Thread - perhaps a brief synopsis what they testified regarding for future reference, and for those of us who are unable to follow the live testimony?

 

[Wrinkles]

Umm...

In the event anyone wants to read a bit about what we will probably hear about from Dr. Baden, this webpage is interesting.

I guess I should say that all the many things that we know are important in indicating Chris, but my thinking is that Chris really was the one that hung himself. He said the family was alive when he left and we know when he left. The time of death based on many many things is really going to assist the jurors, I believe. All it will really take is to convince the jurors that based on the condition of the bodies, through a multitude of proofs, or even the condition of one body -- that body could NOT possibly have been alive when Chris left.

If only one of the bodies almost absolutely speaks to having been dead for several hours before it was found at 7AM (1 hour and 17 minutes after Chris left having "seen his family alive"), Chris is toast. Of course, an argument of the murdered killing one, then hiding in a closet, and killing the rest after he left might be flung, but how far will it wash with him saying the family was alive?

I would really like to see the autopsy reports. I am still very interested in this "mention" of a broken jaw by either Chris or his mom at the funeral. If Sheri's draw wasn't broken, then who fed that information to the family and what were they trying to emit by feeding it to them? A quizzical look from Chris as he thought, "Wait, how could I have broken her jaw?"

The hair over Sheri's face... Did she sleep face down with hair over her face? How many people do that? I have to have my hair out of my face (I have longer hair). Was Sheri taken from behind, and the hair fell over her face OR was she taken other wise, then flipped over and the hair put over the face to cover it (the sign of someone who knew her taking her life, I believe.)

The hair on the nape of my neck would easily get caught in a noose if someone put one at the back of my neck.

And...another question...was there an indication of sexual activity just previous to Sheri's death? Might Chris have done what Sheri's friend mentioned, ie. awakened Sheri by an act of sex, then slipped a noose around her neck while she was completely overwhelmed by what he was doing? That would just be the epitome of wickedness to begin the killing spree of a family. Distract by intimacy, then murder.

If there is any indication of the above, can you imagine what 10 women jurors will think?

 

[CCup]

WARNING Kind of Graphic

I told that Sheri was face down on the bed and her had was sort of hanging off the side of the bed in a way that her hair was dangling to the floor. Does that make sense? I had a hard time even typing that. I was also told that in the pictures of her after they rolled her over her leg was kind of suck in an upward position.

 

[panthera]

Is the general consensus that Sheri was indeed killed first, with the boys killed immediately afterward or after a few hours had elapsed? :waitasec:

 

[ynotdivein]

Umm...(snip)my thinking is that Chris really was the one that hung himself. He said the family was alive when he left and we know when he left. The time of death based on many many things is really going to assist the jurors, I believe. All it will really take is to convince the jurors that based on the condition of the bodies, through a multitude of proofs, or even the condition of one body -- that body could NOT possibly have been alive when Chris left.

If only one of the bodies almost absolutely speaks to having been dead for several hours before it was found at 7AM (1 hour and 17 minutes after Chris left having "seen his family alive"), Chris is toast. (snip)

Respectfully snipped and bolded.

We have the first officer on the scene indicating that Sheri's head, neck and shoulders seemed "locked" when he tried to roll her over to check her. An adult would not go into full rigor in under 2 hours.

The facts of her being discovered nude and face down with her hair over her face just add to the potential horror, in my opinion.

 

[*~Aimee~*]

didn't joyce meyers do a deposition? If so do they still testify or is the dep submitted into evidence? Just curious...also for personal resaons.