A former Marine security guard. A red spray-painted message on the wall: I told you this was going to happen. A wife and two young sons strangled in their beds. The husband claimed a stalker did it. The jury said he was the stalker.
On May 5, 2009, Christopher Coleman called police from a bridge, frantic that his family was not answering their phones inside their Columbia, Illinois home. Officers found 31-year-old Sheri Coleman and her sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9, strangled in their beds. Red spray-painted graffiti covered the walls. An open window suggested a intruder had entered. Coleman said he had received threatening letters and emails for months because of his job as security chief for televangelist Joyce Meyer.
But prosecutors painted a different picture. Coleman was having an affair with his wife's high school friend Tara Lintz. He feared divorce would cost him his six-figure job. A handwriting expert matched the graffiti to Coleman. Threatening emails were traced to his own laptop. A glove with red spray-paint residue was found along a highway near the home. Dr. Michael Baden testified the family died hours before Coleman left for the gym, not during the 90 minutes he claimed to be gone. Coleman was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to life in prison.
Turn down the lights, put on your headphones, and press play because the man who wrote I told you so was telling on himself.
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