Shownotes Transcript
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What is going on, true crime fans? I'm your host, Heath. And I'm your host, Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello, everybody. Thank you for tuning in. Big shout out to Taylor, Riley, Karen, Brittany, and Samuel, who all recommended this case today.
This story today is going to make you want to throw tables across the room in disbelief. Like, get ready to shout into the void with us. Yes, we're going to be talking about a big old piece of shite today and Chris Coleman. And others, which we'll get into. I'm already frustrated. And others, it'll make your blood boil. Well, without further ado, let's dive into this incredibly infuriating and devastating story.
All right, guys, this is episode 499, almost 500 of Going West. So let's get into it. ♪♪♪
In May of 2009, the 31-year-old wife of a televangelist security guard was murdered in her Illinois home alongside her two sons.
For months prior, her husband had been receiving threatening messages via email, and he told police that he feared his anonymous stalker had finally acted on their warnings. But as the investigation into the tragic murders unfolded, a shocking scheme and sinister cause was revealed, and it was closer to home than anyone could have imagined. ♪
These are the murders of Sherry Garrett and Gavin Coleman. Sherry Weiss was born on July 3rd, 1977 to parents Angela and Donald and joined an older brother named Mario.
Born in Berwyn, Illinois, which is a western suburb of Chicago, Sherry grew up moving around West Chicago frequently, which is a city she completely adored. Sherry was described as the life of the party from a young age, so she never shied away from being the center of attention. A friend of hers named Kathy would later say of Sherry, quote, She always made me laugh. She was hope in a bottle.
At 10 years old, Sherry's family moved her to Largo, Florida near Clearwater. And as a new Florida girl, she played softball and even attended the nearby Barbizon Modeling and Acting School. She also went on to attend Largo High School and it was there that she met Tara Lintz, who would become her high school best friend.
After graduating in 1995, Sherry worked as a waitress for a year and then decided, actually somewhat on a whim, that she was going to go into the Air Force. So she moved out of Florida and onto the Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
Later that year, Sherry graduated from basic training and at age 19, moved to Quantico in Virginia, where she was assigned to the canine unit and assumed the responsibility of patrolling the military base with her trained German shepherd. This is when she met a Marine named Chris Coleman in February of 1997.
By August of that year, the couple was headed to Chris's hometown of Chester, Illinois, to meet his parents because they are both from the same state of Illinois. But Chester is located in southern Illinois, about five hours from Chicago.
In Chester, Chris's parents, Connie and Ron, ran Grace Church Ministries, where Ron was a pastor, as the Coleman family were strict evangelical Christians. I really liked the emphasis on strict. Yeah, very strict. Yeah, we're going to get into how that's actually not true, really. Oh, we are indeed. So Sherry wasn't quite a hit with Chris's parents. No.
Ron recalled later, quote: "She was a worldly little girl, little short shorts, tattoo on her leg. Not the person we thought he'd be with." They want him to be with a nice evangelical gal. Yep. But they were in love, so afterwards they headed to Chicago to meet Sherry's family. And funny enough, her brother Mario was also underwhelmed by the introduction, and found him to be devoid of personality, so he didn't really like Chris.
However, on August 8th of 1997, the third day of their Chicago visit, and just six months into dating, Sherry and Chris got married at a courthouse in downtown Chicago, without any of their friends or family present. Mario was kind of concerned that they hadn't dated all that long, but he questioned why Sherry, at 20, wanted to rush into marriage with a man who was so devoutly religious when she wasn't.
So Mario asked her if she was pregnant, and Sherry lied, and she said no. But the truth was that that had been the cause of their decision to move forward so quickly.
Chris called his parents after the brief ceremony to share the news, and Connie and Ron admitted that they were shocked at the development, and they later admitted that they believed that Sherry had trapped Chris with the baby, and they even told Chris that his marriage to Sherry was, quote, Later, speaking about their son getting pregnant out of wedlock, Ron stated, quote,
And then his mom Connie echoed this by saying, Chris, who was the oldest of three brothers, was described by his parents as gentle, stoic, and quiet. From a young age, he was responsible and devoted to the strict teachings of his parents and their church. Though they disapproved of the foundation of the marriage of their firstborn son and his new wife...
Sherry and Chris did everything they could to appease his parents, especially Sherry. She went like way above and beyond to make this family happy and to make them understand that she was one of them. And this is the most annoying thing because it's not like Sherry is doing anything wrong. She just has a tattoo. She's not really religious like they are, but they're just so ass hurt that
that their perfect little son would be with Sherry. No, she was a great gal. But yeah, it's like they had this image. Like I said, they're very strict, not just strict in religion, but they're strict people and they have certain values that they expect their son to uphold, which is really going to be funny later. Oh, we're going to go full circle on this bitch. Well, here's how far Sherry went, though. Like in the fall of 1997, right after they got married,
Sherry actually converted to evangelical Christianity to align with the beliefs that Chris and his family held. And they relocated to a house in Chester to be closer to his parents' church. Shortly afterwards, welcoming their first child, a son named Garrett, born on April 30th, 1998.
Now retired from service, Chris was referred to Joyce Meyer's ministry by his parents, of course, and was recommended to apply for a job training the security team's guard dog. Now, for those who don't know, Joyce Meyer is a televangelist. You know, she's like a TV preacher. She's renowned worldwide for her preaching, her speeches, her books, and she has amassed an impressive fortune and following.
She opened her congregation, Joyce Meyer Ministries, in Missouri in 1987, so 10 years earlier. And Chris was granted a full-time position on the security staff there, located just outside of St. Louis, so about an hour away from his home.
And Sherry began to work at Joyce's ministry as well, taking on odd jobs around the church, but she mainly focused her energy on Joyce's World Outreach Mission Trip program and once even went to India to spread the church's teachings, which, you know, her life has taken such a turn. And there's no problem, obviously, if she wants to convert to Christianity, that's totally fine.
But as we're going to get into, we always say that. I know. As we're going to get into, it just feels like she's doing all of this for Chris and his family. Well, that's why it's really important to note all of this and how quickly her life has transformed to match and meet his standards, especially with what is to come.
So when she got back from India, Sherry actually decided that when her kids were older, she would train as an EMT because she realized that what she really wanted to do was physically help people. And on top of being a part of Joyce Meyer Ministries, Sherry and Chris frequented their local congregation, Destiny Church, and Sherry organized many events and fundraisers for them.
Now, just shy of two years after Garrett was born, Sherry gave birth to their second son, Gavin, on January 25th, 2000, and she loved those boys. As a family, they were respected and admired in their community, and one neighbor, Vanessa, described them as the Ken and Barbie of their St. Louis suburb.
The son of another neighbor, a teenager named Austin, used to babysit for the Coleman boys and recalls that Sherry kept an immaculately clean home. But he added that while Sherry was warm and loving with her sons, Chris was an authoritarian.
Austin recalls, quote,
In 2000, Chris applied to work as the head of Joyce Meyer's private security detail, and he was granted a promotion and a significant raise, now bringing home a comfortable six-figure salary, but with plans for his own boutique surveillance and training company on the side.
The family moved yet again, but this time to Columbia, Illinois, which is a South St. Louis suburb, now only 20-ish minutes from the ministry, and they moved into a waterfront property in a manicured neighborhood. There, they grew close with their neighbors, and the boys loved having a large yard to play in.
So when you first look at this family, it appears as though everything is working out for them. They move to a new home. It's this lakefront home. The boys have this massive yard. He's doing really well making six figures. But it's in reality, it's not as it appears. Well, I feel like it's always that way. But this is such a trend on this show and in true crime that things...
things seem one way and they are actually a different way. Oh, absolutely. And that speaks to cases like Chris Watts' case and many, many others. Which is so disheartening, really, because they have this amazing life. They're two people that got married...
They have wonderful friends. They live in a beautiful area. They have two healthy, amazing sons. They live close to church, which is very, very important to them. Yeah, exactly. Super community oriented, very close to his family, not far from hers. Why can't we just be happy? Right. But here's the thing.
They were having a lot of marriage issues, according to friends and neighbors, because people in their lives did know that they were struggling.
Chris seemed to really miss the free-spirited girl he had fallen in love with and came to resent her volunteer efforts. Isn't this like what you originally wanted? She changed for you and your beliefs. You can't get mad at her for that. She's literally changed everything about herself to fit your little narrative.
Like, for example, Sherry used to enjoy, like, stocking up on supplies for the homeless, and then she would drive around and distribute supplies to people in need, which is an amazing thing to do. But one time, she returned from one of these little jaunts, and their friend and neighbor, Vanessa, remembers Chris telling Sherry, "'Oh, chill out, you holy roller. She used to be so wild and crazy.'"
Which, like, again, then why are you, why do you want her to be a part of your church and your evangelical Christian life if you don't want that type of wife? She wasn't that way before. Just the most annoying person. This is like tip of the iceberg annoying. It's going to get so much worse. So Chris also seemed to resent having to go to work when Sherry was able to stay home with the kids. And he felt like she was spending his hard-earned money too freely. Yeah.
He even told Vanessa's fiance, whose name is also Chris, that he was working up to 90 hours a week, quote, protecting some millionaire lady I don't even like, so Joyce Meyer, while my old lady gets to sit at home in this nice big house.
Vanessa's fiance, Chris, remembered, quote, he said, I'm making a hundred grand a year and I've got to drive around in a clunker. We're so far in credit card debt. I knew he wasn't happy. He was always talking about not wanting to be with her, not knowing what to do. He said if he got divorced, he'd lose his job.
He and Vanessa even recall Chris Coleman coming over to their home one evening in the fall of 2008, so 11 years after he and Sherry got married, and saying that he was going to divorce her.
In December, Sherry texted the youth pastor at their church saying, quote,
Well, later that month, Sherry admitted to her neighbor Kathy that she felt that she and their sons were in Chris's way, and that he told her she and the kids were keeping him from, quote, "...God's destiny for his life."
Around Christmas, Sherry told the assistant youth pastor at their church, quote, Exactly. And then after she told the assistant youth pastor about this person, she pulled up a Facebook picture to show her.
In January, Sherry told a friend that she and Chris slept together for the first time in a while, but that Chris had told her afterward not to confuse that with him being in love with her, even though they were married. Imagine your husband saying that to you, like, what do you mean? Slap in the face, literally. Well, Sherry said sadly, quote, Which is just so sad.
In February, she called Kathy in hysterics one night, telling her, quote, But at the suggestion of Joyce Meyer, the couple began attending Christian counseling, and within a few months, friends recalled that Sherry's warm and bubbly nature had returned.
Christy, another employee at Destiny Church, remembered that by April, Sherry and Chris's relationship seemed like new again. However, Chris hadn't fully committed to treating Sherry better. Just days before Sherry was murdered, they were having drinks with their friends Vanessa and Chris, who noticed that both Sherry and Chris were drinking more than usual. At one point, Sherry asked Chris to get her another beer, and he snapped, saying, quote,
Get up off your ass and get it yourself, you lazy bitch. That's insane. Just insane work for a man who claims to be a Christian. Yeah, and especially, I mean, not especially in front of their friends. You shouldn't be saying that in private either. But like, that's so aggressive. She just asked you to get her a beer. And it's just so demeaning. Well, in addition to their marital woes, the couple was facing something even more sinister.
A few months earlier in November of 2008, menacing emails began to arrive that threatened the Coleman's peaceful suburban existence.
That is truly insane. By the way, dead had three exclamation points after it. And the email read, quote,
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 to 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, then they will die. During the Houston conference, I will kill them all as they sleep. If I don't hit then, 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 die soon. Tell that motherfucker next time to let me talk to Joyce. She needs to hear what I have to say and now she will.
So clearly very, very unhinged here, like just making like crazy threats. But let us note that it seems like this person is trying to get to Joyce, right? That's what it appears like, right? So then why are they not only threatening Chris, but threatening Chris's family instead of Joyce's family? Obviously, Chris is her security guard.
But then threaten Chris or those close to Joyce. Why are you threatening those close to Chris because of Joyce? Well, that's the first kind of little inkling that something is off here. Indeed.
So Joyce and a few other members of her staff received emails as well. And although Chris and the other recipients were obviously alarmed, they assumed that the claims were baseless, which I don't know why the fuck anybody would do that, especially because she's a public figure. If someone is threatening murder upon you or anybody you know, you should probably take that seriously. Yeah, and apparently they didn't. I don't know why. But then in January of 2009, so like two months later,
A handwritten, hand-delivered letter was put in the Coleman's home mailbox. And get this, guys, the letter read, quote, So Chris reported the letters and threats to the police, and Joyce Meyer herself offered to pay for a security system for them, but Chris declined.
saying, quote, "We don't need one. Sherry's got a gun, and she knows how to use it." That doesn't mean you should not be extra safe, especially when you have two children and someone is literally threatening you and knows where you live. Another suspicious part to this story. But Sherry was so scared that she began sleeping with the gun in the top drawer of her nightstand to keep it close.
Their neighbor, who also happened to be a police officer, Columbia Police Department Detective Sergeant Justin Barlow, offered to mount a camera on his home, which faced the mailbox in order to keep tabs on the front of the Coleman's house.
The final letter delivered on April 27th, 2009 read quote: "Stop today or else. I know your schedule. 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." One week later, the day before the murders, Monday, May 4th, 2009, was like almost any other day, except that Chris had happened to call in sick from work, which was a rarity for him.
Joyce later told police that Chris was a devoted and hardworking employee and that he hadn't missed a day in 11 years. He ran a few errands and picked the boys up from school and when Sherry arrived home, they all shared dinner together and then walked to the local snow cone stand for a treat. Then Chris played catch with the boys and they went to bed while Sherry and Chris watched a movie before also retiring to sleep.
So that night, Garrett had actually, uh, their son Garrett had actually asked to spend the night at the home of Vanessa, who had a son Gavin's age, but, uh, Chris said that it wasn't a good night to do so. The following morning, Tuesday, May 5th, Chris woke up early, dressed for the gym, and he left. And as he drove there, he called back to the house to wake up his wife, or so he says, though why he couldn't have just woken her up before he left, he didn't really explain.
Like, this guy left the house for the gym at 5:43 AM and called her as he's pulling out of the driveway. Makes no sense. But, of course, she didn't answer, so he continued on with his workout and just let her sleep. He also texted her a few times from the gym, but those went unanswered as well, which he later claimed instantly concerned him, given the threats the family had been receiving.
But even so, he did another 15-minute set at the gym. When he left and she still hadn't called him back, Chris called his police officer neighbor again, Justin Barlow, and suspiciously,
Though Chris was only five minutes from home at this point, he requested that Justin check on his family, admitting that he was paranoid about their safety. So not paranoid enough to leave the gym earlier, but paranoid enough to have someone else check when you're almost finally home. Right. Well, here's where things get really strange, because according to his cell phone data,
He actually drove past his exit on the highway and wound up six miles or just shy of 10 kilometers north of his city, even though he was supposedly so desperate to get home. So he eventually doubled back and arrived home shortly thereafter where police cars were swarming his residence.
But before police arrived and even before they were called, Justin walked the perimeter after Sherry failed to answer the door and noticed that the screen of one of the windows had been knocked out. So as a precaution, Justin called for backup.
He and another officer entered through the open window, ascended the stairs, and as they reached the kitchen, they noticed red spray paint that read, "'Punished. I am always watching, and you have paid.'" Upstairs, three officers marched into the bedrooms, and one by one, they found 31-year-old Sherry, 11-year-old Garrett, and 9-year-old Gavin."
All three of them were in their beds and all three of them were dead by strangulation. Outside, Chris pulled up and was anxiously awaiting an update. And actually, Justin Barlow, who, by the way, is an amazing neighbor, was the one to come out and break the news, telling him, quote, they didn't make it, Chris. They didn't make it.
So Chris collapsed in sobs and called his parents, and his father arrived shortly afterwards before Joyce Meyer herself arrived at the scene.
But the crime scene was so puzzling that it drew comparisons to the Manson murders. Yeah, I mean, the spray paint all over the walls, the different messages. Yeah, because actually there was spray paint in the bedrooms as well. Actually, aside Gavin and his blankets, the words, fuck you, were sprayed on the mattress. Yeah.
There was no sign of the boys fighting back because they were believed to have been asleep when the attacks began, and we will touch on that again later on. But Sherry had put up a fight, which had netted her two black eyes. A short while later, Chris was interrogated in his gym clothes as he gasped for air, sobbing with his head in his hands.
When he collected himself, he requested a blanket, claiming to have been cold. And as he attempted to cover up with this blanket, detectives noticed that he had scratches on his wrists.
At one point, he mentioned to the police chaplain at the scene of the crime that he believed the gurney had scratched him while getting into the ambulance. But he told another officer that he believed he had gotten the scratches at the gym. Hmm. So, which one is it, buddy? Well, investigators also noted that he didn't seem curious for any details about the murders of his wife and children.
Now, this obviously could have been chalked up to pure shock about, you know, what had happened that day, but detectives followed their instincts and continued to push for more context from Chris. When asked if there was a conflict in their marriage, he admitted that they sometimes had problems communicating and that they had even temporarily considered separating, but that marriage counseling had been really helping them. An officer said, quote, Listen, man,
She wasn't alive when you left. Which I'm so glad they pointed out because there's spray paint all over the house, like horrific messages, and your wife had two black eyes. Like you don't just miss all of that on your way out of the house to the gym. And I feel like a lot of parents check on their kids before they leave. So even if he didn't do that that day, how are you missing all of this? It makes no sense. Well, it's because he wasn't missing all of this.
But Chris did protest that he hadn't known that she had been dead, whining, quote, "She was alive! She was! She was lying right beside me!" So he's basically saying that the murders had to have occurred when he was gone.
So he kept playing the grieving spouse, but it was only a matter of time before news of an affair proved that he had a clear motive, which he, of course, denied. But his story quickly unraveled when they discovered that he had recently struck things up with an old friend of Sherry's, and that the conversations had certainly been flirtatious. ♪♪
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so
Chris met Sherry's high school best friend, Tara Lintz. Remember her? Sure do. Who still lived in Florida when the couple and their kids were in Florida visiting Disney World. And Tara's life had taken a completely different direction than Sherry's had. She worked as a hostess at a gentleman's club and then moved to a dog track where she worked as a cocktail waitress, which honestly kind of bothered Sherry and her new religious stance. Like,
Like she actually told another friend that she wished that Tara would find Jesus, which is really interesting because now Sherry is almost in a similar position to Chris's parents. Like Tara is now the wild one that somebody is kind of judging. Right. Obviously with Sherry's new views, she's not trying to like shit on her old friend. She just cares about her.
But it is kind of weird how much she did change for the church and how Tara kind of has a lot of these traits that, you know, Sherry herself had before she and Chris got married. And Chris, like we said, missed the wild side of Sherry. And now he finds that in Tara. Yeah, exactly. It's perfect for him because he wants a party girl.
But Chris maintained that he had not had an affair with Tara and admitted only to sending and receiving flirty text messages with her. Chris even told the police, quote, I wouldn't do that to my kids. I've seen too many divorces and stuff. Which is funny because you literally want a divorce, so shut the fuck up. Yeah. But when police contacted Tara for an interview, she immediately asked if she would need a lawyer.
Tara, who lived in St. Petersburg, Florida, was brought in for questioning and Chris was quickly caught in a lie because guess what? They were very much having an affair and she even had photographic evidence to prove it.
It turned out that Tara had met up with him on multiple work trips that he had taken, joining Joyce Meyer at her conferences and taking advantage of the hotel room and the time away from his wife and kids to explore a physical relationship with his wife's friend.
He had even canceled a trip to Disneyland that he and Sherry had been planning for their kids to take a cruise to the Caribbean with Tara. Like, he literally went on vacations with Tara. But here he is telling the police that he was not in an affair. And telling his kids, hey, sorry, kids, we can't go on this vacation because I'm going to be with Tara. Yeah, daddy's got to be with his mistress. Yeah.
While Tara showed police pictures of herself kissing him on the cheek and sexual texts that they exchanged, then a search of his phone and computer would reveal dozens of sexual exchanges and pictures.
Some of which he shared via email with his pastor father for unknown reasons. That's so crazy to me. And his pastor father is just like, oh, nope, this is totally normal. Yeah, like his dad knew. Like, seriously, the hypocrisy of this. It is so frustrating when people push for others to practice like better ways of life and don't even practice it themselves. Like you're a pastor and you're accepting your...
evangelical married son who has two kids, you're accepting his adultery? Yeah, and it's just so funny, you know, looking back to how he and his wife judged Sherry, and now he's just accepting that this is totally normal and fine. It's just the worst, and it's gonna get even more so. Well, according to Tara...
Their affair started in the fall of 2008. Around the same time, the family began receiving threatening emails and letters. Of course they did. And get this, Chris told police, quote,
I didn't think it was an affair. An affair is when you're, like, living with them, and you're gonna get married and everything. Dipshit, you were already fucking married! But also, like, how is having an affair when you're living with them? Wouldn't that have been after you split up with somebody? But as ridiculous as this already is, investigators also poked holes in it because Chris and Tara were about as serious as an affair could be. I mean, they opened credit cards and bank accounts together...
And Tara had penciled in her ideal wedding date. Wow. So it really was that serious. It goes even further because Chris had even offered to get his vasectomy reversed in case they wanted to have kids. Even discussing the name Zoe if they had a girl.
According to Tara, Chris had promised to present Sherry with divorce papers by May 5th, which is the very day his entire family was murdered.
My eyes are literally twitching. Yeah, there's just so much hate for this guy. Well, his community was absolutely stunned and disappointed to find out about the affair, but really didn't think that he was capable of murdering his wife and kids. But Sherry's friends did not agree.
In the months before her murder, Sherry had confided in multiple friends that her marriage was crumbling, and that Chris had become very confrontational and even aggressive with her, maintaining that he was no longer willing to work on their relationship.
Even though, you know, he told police counseling was working wonders for he and his wife. Chris was actively pushing Sherry into being the perpetrator of the divorce because he worried that he would lose his job at Joyce Meyer Industries if they discovered that the divorce was due to his infidelity, which it was. Sherry didn't even want a divorce. It was all him. Yeah, it was always all him.
Well, Sherry's friend Kathy admitted later that upon hearing the news of her friend's death, she told her husband, quote, After the funeral, she told Columbia PD, quote, She also added that Sherry had told Chris in a recent fight, quote, What are you going to do? Kill me?
Investigators carefully combed the home for clues and took note that several windows had been left unlocked, which would leave easy access points for an intruder. But beyond the unlocked windows, there had been no sign of an intruder. Also, the camera that Justin had installed outside facing the mailbox had its recorder removed.
And Chris's own home security cameras failed to catch anything. Which, that doesn't make any sense. And who was one of the only people that even knew that this recorder existed? Chris. So some random person, even somebody who's stalking you, isn't going to know about the camera that the neighbor has.
Even if it was a little bit visible, like what are the chances? Yeah, like this intruder apparently just happened to come upon a camera, hidden camera, you know, pointed at the mailbox. Well, the most damning evidence came from the autopsies. Chris purported to have been at the gym at the time that Sherry, Garrett, and Gavin were killed, but the rigor mortis that set in begged to differ.
By the time officers got to the house, the bodies had already stiffened, and the medical examiner determined that they had actually been killed around 3 a.m., so hours before they were found. The expert forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, who was also in to consult on the case, told detectives, quote,
This isn't even a close call. They had to have been dead before he left the house. And I just wanted to state, Michael Baden is a very, very famous pathologist. He even had a TV show literally about autopsies. So just a little fun fact for you guys. The man knows what he's talking about. Thus, on May 19th, 2009, Chris was charged with and arrested for the murder of his wife and sons.
His parents stuck behind him, no shock there, with his dad Ron saying, quote, you couldn't put something around your kid's throat unless you were a monster. Well, your son is. And get this, in addition to the information revealed in the autopsy, forensic experts discovered a match between the scrawling lettering found on the wall at the scene of the crime and a handwriting sample that Chris himself wrote.
And Chris's work computer was found to have been the origin of those threatening emails to himself, his family, his employer Joyce, and his co-workers. Investigators also recovered the receipt for a single can of spray paint.
whose composition matched what was found inside the house after the murders. I mean, it is all just coming together right now. Boom, boom, boom. And the can of apple red spray paint was purchased on Chris's credit card at a True Value hardware store on February 9th of that year. So three months before the murders. Investigators also tapped a forensic linguist to examine the emails that the supposed harasser was sending.
side by side with emails that Chris was known to have written. An analyst noticed that he frequently flipped his apostrophes to the outside of words with contractions, which is really weird. Obviously, that's not the point of an apostrophe. Like he did this with won't, doesn't and don't. Obviously, you guys know the apostrophe goes before the T on all those words.
But he would write the apostrophe after the T on all those words, which makes absolutely no grammatical sense. So not only is he a murderer, but he's also a moron. Yeah. And Chris would also incorrectly compound words that shouldn't have been conjoined. Remember, there was that email about the book tour. And instead of book space tour, it was book tour, one word. And then other things like good time instead of good space time, it would be one word.
He also always misspelled opportunity as opernity. And when the linguist cross-referenced these mistakes with the emails that Chris himself knowingly sent, the same mistakes were present in both. He's so fucking stupid. I mean, yeah, like, you've got to be kidding me. Well, Chris's trial commenced in April of 2011.
His defense attorney chose not to put him on the stand, but multiple other former friends testified against him, including Tara. Risqué pictures they captured and explicit videos they exchanged were even played for the courtroom.
But even after the evidence that was paraded in front of them, his parents have continued to preach his innocence. On top of this, they even made amends with Tara after their son's arrest, with Ron Coleman later saying, quote, Oh my God, it's so stupid.
She asked for our forgiveness, said she recognizes now that it was wrong. But both Chris and his mom Connie were angry that Tara was on the witness stand sporting the promise ring that he had purchased for her.
Connie said after Tara's testimony, quote, he's not a romantic. After she testified, he said, do you believe she had that stupid ring on? I just fuck you guys. You know, like Chris is trying to take no responsibility and him and his parents are just trying to deflect and point fingers at other people. What? Well, now I want to read a really powerful closing argument by the prosecution.
The prosecutor said, quote, As the jury deliberated, there was discontent and reasonable doubt.
Five people feared that Chris may not be solely responsible. And there was one person who, astonishingly, didn't think that he was involved at all. Are you with us in the room, sir? Yeah, what is, where is your mind at here?
But while they were deadlocked and pursuing the evidence again, one juror took note of a picture of Tara and Chris together that bore the date October 2008, around the time that Tara and Chris's affair began. But Tara had testified under oath, by the way, that it began in December, likely to distance herself from the timing of the threatening emails, which again began showing up in November.
And even though there was no proof that Taryn knew about the murders before they occurred, this detail seemed to secure the prosecution's case because the jury returned a guilty verdict on May 5th, 2011, two years to the day after the murders occurred. And 34-year-old Chris was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In a subsequent phone interview with CBS, Chris maintained, quote,
Yes, it is. When asked to explain the affair, Chris said, quote, quote,
Chris then blamed Tara for what he believes was a forced narrative surrounding the wedding date and the divorce and claims that he lied to her about having filed for divorce, which is the only thing he took accountability for. But like, we know he wanted a divorce. We know he didn't treat Sherry well. So the fact that he's saying,
well, you know, selfishly, I wasn't getting what I needed at home from my wife, so I got it from somewhere else. When we know that Sherry told her close friends, like, Chris is never affectionate with me, and we finally slept together after it had been a while, so I'll take what I can get. Like, that doesn't match up. Yeah, and then the only thing, like you're saying, that he's willing to admit is that he lied to Tara and said that...
He did file for divorce when his whole plan this entire time was to just get rid of his family. Well, when asked who he thought had done it, who had really killed his family...
Chris said he didn't know, but that he had made his peace with it, as well as his fate because of it, which doesn't feel like something an innocent person would do. You're saying that somebody else killed your entire family, and you're just gonna accept taking the fall for it? Yeah. Why? You're going to prison for the entirety of your life, and you just went down for murder, but...
You're at peace with that fact. He's accepted it. Well, with martyrdom, Chris said, I just had to stop and give it to God. Just release that and do my best to forgive that person and move on. Yeah, move on while being in prison. No! God, I just hate him so much. Well, we're about to get into somebody I really hate. His
His parents have continued to stick beside him throughout the ordeal, with his dad, Ron, even defending his son's affair. This is, oh my God. He said, Ron said, quote,
Tara was just meeting a need at the time that Sherry wasn't taken care of. Well, I mean, every man has 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 gonna find respect someplace else. Just that at that short brief time, she stepped back from doing her job as a wife. Ew, Ron, ew. You absolute scoundrel, Ron. Like...
What does Chris know about respect? He called his wife a lazy bitch in front of their friends, and he continuously mistreated her when she showed him love. And the fact that his dad is just like, well, she wasn't doing her job as a wife, and he had to do what he had to do. Guess what, guys? Adultery? Totally fine. Murder? Acceptable. Divorce? Absolutely not. That's basically what they're saying.
And Ron then stated definitively, quote, Sherry told Chris all the time that he was moody and he wasn't affectionate enough. She never did compliment him. That's why he was so attracted to this Tara. I hate this man. I hate this family. I... It's just so bad. It's funny though because...
As we know, again, they judged Sherry back in the day. And now here's Tara, who seems more wild than Sherry was, but...
Because she asked for forgiveness and because she said, Pastor Ron, blah, blah, blah. They're good with her? Yeah. And I also just want to say that these are your fucking grandkids that you're talking about. Like, your grandkids were murdered. Your daughter-in-law was murdered. Yup. And this is your mindset? That's actually such a good point. They lost their two grandchildren and it seems like they don't give a shit.
All they care about is proving that their precious, amazing eldest son is not responsible when there is so much evidence that he is. Do you think they truly believe that in their heart? I want to know. Do you think they actually believe that he's not guilty? Because I don't think so. I think they are shoving it down.
And it just gets even more annoying because his parents maintain that the spray paint that Chris purchased was for a project that he was making for the boys, a bullseye for target practice with their Nerf guns. Right. So that means he couldn't have used it to spray paint those horrific messages to frame some fictitious person.
Naturally, his parents mused that mercenaries were most likely to blame for the murders of Sherry and the kids. But they claim that they are proud of their son for making the best of his situation. How did he? I don't. How did he make the best of the situation? Because he's accepting and he's looking to God, Heath. Duh. And then they said that Chris has stepped into his father's role of counseling other inmates about their relationship with God. Last person I want religious advice from, by the way.
And also thrown himself into reading scriptures and religious texts that Connie brings to him. I know how this might be coming off. I know we're being a little...
about the religious angle, but it's just because of what we said earlier, just the hypocrisy of it all. It just feels so truly hateful and it feels phony as hell. Absolutely. I mean, I have no problem with whatever religion you want to practice, but in this particular instance, you are acting holier than thou and which is just not the case. You are not.
And Ron also said that he made his peace with the future when he was awaiting his sentencing, explaining, quote, Chris said,
He had heard in the spirit realm to just dismiss the jury, and he didn't know he could. It is what it is, and we feel like we had deceit and twisting of the truth throughout the whole thing. Which is just how we feel about Chris lying. Big ol' piece of shit.
Sherry's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Joyce Meyer Ministries, especially implicating the faith-focused counselor whom they feel should have recognized how dire the situation had become and likely knew that it was Chris himself who had been sending the menacing emails and letters. But the lawsuit was eventually dismissed.
Sherry's remains, initially buried in southern Illinois near Chris and his family, were eventually moved up to Chicago to be nearer to her family, and she was laid to rest right next to her sons. ♪
Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. I'm sure a lot of you guys have probably heard this story because it is so insane. But for those of you who haven't or who just heard it today on this podcast, please don't forget to subscribe to our channel.
Head on over to our socials, go check out the photos from this case, and let us know what you think about it. Yeah, please, I want to see all the comments of how just enraged you guys are because this is, it's just one of those cases that absolutely infuriates you. There is just so much bullshit in this story. And we didn't even really go into kind of the motives other than he wanted to kill his family because he didn't think he could get a divorce because he would get fired from his job.
So he wanted to go off and be with Tara and have a new family with her. But like, why are you making your sons pay for this? They are innocent young boys who did nothing wrong. Sherry didn't either. But like, why kill your sons too? Because he is so evil that he thought that that would make more sense if it was, you know,
somebody killing his whole family than just his wife. Yeah, like they were collateral damage. Exactly. It's truly so sick. Well, thank you guys so much for tuning in. Thank you again to everybody who recommended this case. And we will see you on Tuesday for episode 500. It's going to be a really special one.
Yeah, we have a fun little thing for you guys on episode 500, so stay tuned for that. Actually, for the first time ever, we have a guest, a guest that many of you are going to be very familiar with. Yes, absolutely very excited about that. So thank you guys again, and for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. ♪
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