True Crime with Kimbyr - A Family Torn Apart: The Chilling Story of the Coleman Murders : Part 2

Episode Date: February 26, 2025

As mysterious threats loomed over the Coleman family, fear took hold. Sherry and her two sons, Gavin and Garrett, became the targets of chilling messages. Chris, a security officer for televangelist Joyce Meyer, claimed the threats were tied to his high-profile job. But as investigators dug deeper, shocking truths unraveled. What seemed like an external threat soon pointed to something far closer to home. In this True Crime with Kimbyr episode, we uncover the warning signs, the betrayals, and the lies that built up to a crime that shook an entire community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now, interestingly, I read this part which said that the ministry bought a $145,000 house where the chief of security lives rent-free to keep him close to the ministry headquarters. This was written in 2003. Chris was the head of security, so I thought, wait a minute, I thought he was paying rent. Maybe he wasn't. But by 2004, Chris got another raise and was making about $80 grand. And the family was finally able to afford to move out of the home that Joyce Myers Ministry owned. and into their own house.

That way they could finally set some roots down. They chose to go back to Illinois, Columbia, to be exact. They purchased a two-story, three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath home at 2854 Robert Drive. This was in the Columbia Lakes neighborhood. It had a big backyard with a deck, fireplace, and the living room. It's just really sweet for this family to have a place like this. They finally get to make somewhere their permanent home.

Somewhere they can make friends. Their kids can make friends. And it wasn't too far from Chris's parents, only about an hour from Chester. And Cherry's mom and brother in Chicago, that was only a four hour drive, but at least they were in the same state. As per usual, I wanted to see pictures of the house,

but I don't know why they're such bad qualities since they were on Realtor.com, but here they are. I'm also gonna show you what it looks like on Google Maps, but here's what the Realtor page had. Inside the living room was a brick fireplace, here's the kitchen area, a dinette, and then you look through the sliding glass doors

out to the back deck, and you can see the lake, and that's really pretty. They have a dining room, a jacuzzi tub in the main upstairs bathroom, off of the main bedroom, even a cute little den area in the basement. It seems like the perfect home for the Coleman's. It's also in a more upscale neighborhood. Here's Google Maps, very nice home,

and their house is one of the bigger ones on the block, if not the biggest. And here is the Columbia Lakes neighborhood from a bird's eye view. Columbia is a smallish town, definitely close-knit, great schools. It's just across the Jefferson Barracks Bridge into Missouri, where Chris works with Joyce. While Chris is at work, Sherry is getting to know their neighbors.

There are lots of families in this area with young children, just like the Coleman's. One of the first residents to welcome Sherry, Chris, and the boys into their new neighborhood was little Brandon Rigorex. His mom, Vanessa, and her fiance, who were both in their late 20s, had a house just up the road. And once Brandon, who was only five at the time, saw the Coleman's unloading and moving in, he was excited to play with Gavin, who was three, and Garrett, who was six. Vanessa escorted her son over to the new neighbor's home. She could hear the giggles and the voices coming from the backyard where the Coleman's put up a trampoline. She saw Sherry and the boys jumping around. That's when Vanessa met Sherry and introduced their boys to one another,

and it didn't take long for the pair to become best friends. It was great. Their boys played so nicely together, and the two of them could hang out, talk, and support each other, and that they did. When they weren't having girl time shopping or taking the boy somewhere to play, they would be there for one another. Vanessa needed some extra help once because she was hospitalized for a few days, and Sherry came to the rescue, making sure that Vanessa's family was taken care of because that's who Sherry was. She walked the walk. And it may have been because she was alone and had a lot of extra time because Chris was now required to travel a lot with Joyce. Sometimes he would be gone for up to two weeks, especially when they had an international event. But anytime he was back, he was in full-on dad mode.

He would even take little Brandon and the boys out to do fun things together like go see a movie and even drop them off and pick them up from school. And not only that, Chris was very hands-on but also handy and helpful. He would lend a hand to neighbors. They needed something fixed. He was their guy. If you needed decorations hung up for the holidays, Chris would do it. The Coleman's were a joy to have in the Columbia Lakes neighborhood. Everyone loved them.

Vanessa thought of them as wonderful parents and saw a couple of parents, and saw Chris as a lovely husband, a good father, and close friend to others. And she was there for them, too. She watched the boys when Sherry went on her missions trips. They trusted one another. And Sherry was able to make a lot of close friends very easily. And she kept in touch with old friends as well. Tara Lynch, remember her from the high school days?

Well, with the dawn of social media, Sherry spent time on sites like Myspace where she would keep up with her old friends, and Tara and her would talk on the phone all the time. She lived in Tampa, Florida. She had been married, but then divorced. So she was living a very different life, but Sherry was there to listen to Tara, who was all on her own trying to make ends meet, getting odd jobs here and there, even working at a strip club at one point and a cocktail waitress,

but Sherry was always there to be non-judgmental and to encourage Tara, even inviting her up to their home to spend time with her. One of Sherry's goals was definitely trying to guide Tara towards religion to get her to turn from her worldly lifestyle and give her life to God. Tara didn't really seem ready for that, but she would listen when she would listen when she, Sherry spoke and they remained close friends. That's just who Sherry was. She truly cared about others and she kept in touch as much as she could no matter how different their lives were. And Tara was very grateful for that. Besides, where Chris and Sherry were opposites Tara and Sherry couldn't be

more similar. They had the same outgoing personalities, infectious smiles, and the same desire for adventure. They even look similar. It was only when Sherry found out she was pregnant and decided to settle down that their lives went on different paths. While Sherry was in full-blown mom Tara was still trying to figure things out in her life, and that's okay. Not everyone is on the same timeline. But Sherry wasn't just going to abandon her friend just because they're on separate paths. Tara even attended birthdays and holiday celebrations with Sherry and Chris, and the family even took their boys out to Florida and visited Tara when they took a trip to Disney.

Besides, as a years past, Tara told Sherry that she was done with all the partying and the late nights, and that she wanted a family for herself, just like what Sherry and Chris had. Sherry was caring. She made it her mission to try to do what she could to be there for her friends, and to be a good role model. Another woman that became a really good friend to her was Megan Turnbow. She actually worked for Joyce Meyer and hired Sherry as an assistant. Something she can do when the boys were at school. And Sherry and Megan started as colleagues, but it wasn't long before Sherry's charm transformed their relationship into a strong friendship. It was great because Megan's husband Lonnie also worked for Joyce Meyer Ministries and was friends with Chris.

So the four of them would hang out, they would have dinner together, and it was fine if the boys came too because they were so well-behaved. Some people could not believe it. I guess, like I said, being head of security and former military paid off because Chris seemed to know how to get his boys to obey him and be very respectful. It could have also been the influence God had on their lives. Sherry was very devoted to her faith, and it showed. She would participate in daily prayer groups, reach out to friends and family back home to encourage them to convert, and was always a church. She was committed to spreading the word any chance she got, especially when it came to her boys. They were involved in church events like the youth group, learning all about God.

They were also surrounded by other people and kids that were of the same beliefs. Another woman that was working for Joyce Myers became very close. Her name was Kathy Laplante, her and her husband, Bob, who was a pastor at an inner city church that was owned by Joyce Meyer. They had four kids, three boys and a girl, and they lived in a big house with a huge backyard, perfect for playing. Sherry would drop the boys off on a regular basis, and they would all play together. It was great because Aaron and Audrey Laplante, they were the Laplant's older teen children, they could babysit the younger kids. And the younger kids, Austin and Alex, were close in age to Garrett and Gavin.

Bob's kids loved Chris. They thought he was so cool with his shaved head and his sunglasses. They actually thought he was a part of the Secret Service. The Coleman's were thriving. By 2006, Sherry had began to, attend a new church in the St. Louis area, it was called Destiny Church. And by 2007, she actually left her job with Joyce Meyer ministry and was working at Destiny Church as an assistant to the pastor, Phil Stern.

Kathy, as one of Sherry's closest friends, began attending with her on Saturdays with Gavin and Garrett and Kathy's younger kids. The more she hung out with Kathy, the closer they got. They were like sisters. She would confide in her all the time about anything from her own sadness, from her parents' divorce to not loving the fact that Chris was gone so much. Even though by this time he was making somewhere near six figures, she was very grateful for that, but she just wished Chris could be home more. She missed him. She even mentioned talking to Chris about possibly starting his own security

company and resigning from Joyce's company. And then there were Chris's parents, who of course accepted Cherry, but never seemed to really embrace her as a person and truly love her. There's just always seemed to be this distance between them. She went so far as to tell Kathy that she had heard gossip that Chris's parents actually believed that she got pregnant on purpose to trap their son. Instead of them becoming closer with her, it was the opposite.

They seemed more and more detached. No matter how much effort she put in, and she did put effort in, she was always driving to Chester with the boys, attending family events, going all the way to Chester every Wednesday to attend their church services and watch Ron preach.

Members of the congregation really like Sherry. They found her to be kind, outgoing, a gentle person, and a true believer, but it was Connie who just seemed to genuinely dislike her. And that's really sad, and I've been there. It's hard because you want to bally to please these people who are close to your partner, their parents. But Connie would actually talk badly about Sherry behind her back to other church members, and it would get around. She even called her disgusting once. Albeit it was in the beginning of their relationship, but it was merely because she enjoyed cheerleading. And it still hurt Sherry hearing those rumors years later.

It seemed like Connie and Ron still held a grudge against her for getting pregnant before marriage, even though it literally takes two. Their son included, and most importantly, to make something like that happen, right? But he seemed to do no wrong. Maybe it was because they couldn't really control Sherry. She would abide by the rules to an extent, but remember, she was also very strong-willed. Ron and Connie, as heads of the church, were used to people bending at their commands and sucking up to them. But Sherry had her limits.

Over the years, Ron had actually become more aggressive in his teachings at the church. Sometimes he was even accused of yelling at his congregation and having a God complex. It was like his way or the highway. He'd even tell people if they didn't like the way he preached, they could leave. And he'd point to the door. Even threatened them saying that they weren't going to heaven if they didn't stay at his church because it was the only one that was truly in alignment with God. It was a very cult-like mentality, even ostracizing individuals completely if they decided to go somewhere else.

I mean, he would tell people to cut them off his friends, not to talk to them. And that's really sad. So many people stayed out of fear, not because they liked Ron and Connie. Not to mention how they felt elite, because their son was now in such a powerful position with Joyce. They had more than a son with an inside job. He had insider info. And whether he truly told them things about Joyce or they were just making them up and pretending Christ did, they acted like they had the scoop on everything from like where she spent her money to personal issues

she was facing aside from her work. Chris was closer to Joyce than ever before because she had now chosen him to be her personal bodyguard. Yes indeed. He would go everywhere. Even literally when she needed to try on clothes of the mall, he would be right outside the dressing room, privy to everything down to the size of her bras and panties. It was almost like he was a personal assistant more than a security guard. And Chris admitted to a few friends that he didn't really think she needed much protection in places like the mall, for example, but that she wanted that air about her, that she was important. And he was getting paid, so he didn't mind it all. Easy peasy. Even his role was somewhat of a facade. He would joke around that it was all about looking the part, more than anything,

that appearing intimidating was pretty much all it took. And Chris had got into this role. He was working out. He put on like 30 pounds of muscle after getting hired on the security team. He definitely looked apart, spending many hours in the gym to maintain that look. Some say he was even doing steroids, but I can't confirm. Sherry definitely didn't mind that, but she really wanted to just spend more time with him. Totally understandable. She has two young boys, and she wanted some time to undertake her own goals. She had been very inspired to become a medical technician after going on mission trips,

so she was eager to free up some time to take classes. Chris understood this, and he tried to come up with a plan, to even leave Joyce's ministry, possibly start a company of his own or even a gym. He also really desired more time to himself and his family, but Joyce just kept presenting him with offers he couldn't refuse. She gave him another raise at the beginning of 2008. Now he was making well over $100,000. It was just so hard to turn down.

It was a very secure job with a lot of perks, and his family needed him if they wanted to maintain their lifestyle. The boys who attended Parkview Elementary School were very active. Gavin definitely made his mark wherever he went. He was always laughing and smiling and dancing so much so. Sherry actually put him in hip-hop classes when he was six. By 2008, Garrett was 10 and Gavin was eight. And he had taken up baseball and Garrett's favorite was football.

Sherry never missed a game. And Chris would come to every single one that he could go to if he didn't have work or other obligations. Chris made it a point to be a present father, one who would read his boy's bedtime stories, say prayers with them every night before bed when he was in town. July 4th weekend was coming up. That was the year 2008. Chris, Sherry, and the boys went to the Laplands to celebrate and it was a lot of fun. They had a barbecue together. They hung out. They shared chitchats. Sherry seemed even more excited than usual. Why? She told Kathy that Chris had finally done the planning to start his own company. With all the experience he had, he could now open

his own security firm and they would handle jobs for all kinds of people like Joyce and other high profile individuals. Having Joyce's ministry on his resume would put him in high demand. He would hire a whole team and eventually have more time by being able to relinquish some of his duties to others and Kathy was so happy for them. But there was something else to be happy about. Chris and Sherry's 10-year wedding anniversary was coming up, August 8th to be exact. They were so excited to spend time together and Chris wanted to make it memorable. He had some secret plans to renew their wedding vows. A church picked out and everything. So he went to Joyce's son David, who was in charge of schedule changes and whatnot. And Chris requested time off and wanted to start planning for someone

else on the team to accompany Joyce to Ethiopia on her next trip. Kind of get them up to speed before September came around because he planned to take a trip with Sherry. And it would take planning as well. It would be too hard to juggle planning Joyce's international trip and the wedding anniversary. One had to take presidents and of course his family came first. But to his surprise and dismay, David Meyer refused to give him time off. Chris had been such a faithful servant to Joyce all of these years, almost a decade. So he was taken aback. He was shocked.

He didn't know what to do. He knew Sherry would be crushed. So we asked David at the very least, could Chris just step away on the day of their anniversary? So we could just spend a little time with Sherry. And again, in utter disbelief, David said no. Why? Well, he said there was no one to take Chris's place. No one could protect his mother the way Chris could.

That was an issue. If Chris couldn't ever step away, how is that a life? There has to be a balance, which is exactly why he was entertaining the plan to have his own company. The fact he wasn't even able to use his vacation time that he earned really upset Chris, which made him confide in close friends about the not so glamorous parts of working for Joyce. That's what happens. When you don't respect your employees, they turn against you. Now he would have to figure something else out.

something way smaller and less extravagant to do with Sherry. It was not ideal. She had sacrificed so much time with Chris over the years as he worked his way up with Joyce. And his poor boys, they missed him so much. One year Chris was gone and estimated 260 days out of the year. And poor Gavin and Garrett, they would keep track of when their daddy would be home again.

It made me sad because they had this little calendar on the refrigerator and they would mark off every single day that Chris was gone. and when they expected him to be back, and it was just truly so tough on them. They would check it every day until their daddy came home. Chris told his friends, Joyce would do really, like, disrespectful things, like make him sleep on the floor when they overbook flights, and that she was rude and demanding.

She would sometimes actually throw empty water bottles at him when he was sleeping so that he would get up and fetch her a new one, not to mention all the mundane tasks unrelated to his job that Joyce expected him to do. It was like he was taken advantage of and doing a lot of things and assistant would do, like carry luggage, shovel snow in her driveway, things that were not security related. Curanted, he was getting paid well, but not for all the extra work, and not for no time off. That seemed like the last straw. Chris went so far as to tell Vanessa's fiance, also named

Chris, that he thought Joyce's ministry was a scam. Clearly, she struck a nerve with Chris. He felt unappreciated, but at the end of the day, he was very grateful for having a job, especially one that could afford sharing the boys nice things. He had no choice but to keep working for her. And his job was truly important. You can imagine if this is the way that an employee speaks about Joyce, outsiders would be even harsher. She would receive hate mail, rude emails, death threats all the time, and Chris had to wade through them, making sure none of them would turn into a real life problem. It's kind of like Joyce better treat him right. Because if she wants to continue to be protected, you'd think you'd be kind to him.

But Chris tried to make the best of it all. Perhaps the family could meet him in Florida for a trip to Disney. He had another trip with Joyce that was coming up in November 2008. It was a three-day conference in Tampa, and Sherry would be happy to see Tara again. So August comes around. This is when they were supposed to be celebrating their anniversary, but in light of the fact that Chris and Sherry wouldn't be able to celebrate the way that they wanted,

Sherry made plans with Vanessa. They had a little girl's trip to Chicago, and it was perfect because Gabby's. and Garrett were at summer camp at their grandparent's church and Vanessa's son was with his dad that weekend. The ladies had become very close over the years and it was exciting to get away for the weekend. Shopping, drinks, good food and fun, just the two of them. Sherry introduced Vanessa to her mom and her brother and then they hit the town together. Sherry wasn't completely over the fact that Chris's job wouldn't allow him to get away for their anniversary. She confided in Vanessa about how Chris was so consumed with

work, that he'd even forgotten to make a reservation for her and Vanessa at a hotel that weekend. She told Vanessa that he said he would take care of it, but he never did. And it was moments like that that Sherry just questioned what was important to Chris. And whether Sherry wanted to go on like this. Yes, it was a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, but it seemed like Sherry was second to Joyce. She tried to fill her time with the boys, with friends, with mission trips, shopping, activities with other families, and her faith.

And that October, she had an opportunity to make a difference in one of her best friend's lives. The trip to Tampa with her family during Joyce's conference in November. Well, that wasn't going to work out as planned. But she told Tara, guess what? It would be really great if you had some time to catch Joyce's sermon because she was sure it would be life-changing for Tara and bring them even closer. Now, Sherry didn't do this in a pushy way. It was more of an exciting tone, telling her friend, you know what?

Joyce is finally going to be in your town. The highly anticipated and frequently talked about Joyce Meyer, who had been responsible for so many life changes from Chris's parents to Sherry and Chris themselves, and the conference started on November 6th, and since Chris was an employee, he could get her a discounted rate, maybe even get it comped. The idea that her best friend may become enlightened,

Elaine enough to accept God and become a Christian, that would be very fulfilling for Sherry, something that would bring her joy. So she was over the moon when Tara accepted the invitation. Tara knew it was definitely time to make a change in her life. She wasn't so sure about it at first, but after some gentle encouragement from Sherry, she did book the tickets in hopes

that she would discover more about who she was and how to get what she wanted from life. Sherry was hoping that she and the boys could meet up with Chris after the conference was over and spend some time in Disney World. But what Sherry didn't know is that Chris's job was about to get even harder and more serious.

All of their plans came crashing down as the Tampa conference was wrapping up. Chris was supposed to have time off afterward, a couple weeks, but something happened. And it was something he couldn't ignore. It was the night of Friday, November 14th, when Joyce Meyer opened her computer to find a very disturbing message. She had seen plenty of them before, but this one seemed more ominous. It had been sent to her, her husband, David, as well as their adult children, David and Daniel, who were involved in her ministry. Chris routinely scanned Joyce's inbox,

and he had opened his own that night and was actually shocked to find that he had received the same message to his work-related inbox, and it caught his eye more than any of the previous threats because the subject line is what he noticed first. It read F, Chris. The whole word, though.

I'm going to say F, but it had the whole four-letter F word. And it went on to read F. Chris's family, they're dead. What he saw next was where the email was coming from. An email address called Destroychris at gmail.com. What in the world was this about? Yes, Joyce had gotten plenty of threats over the years, but now Chris was being targeted. That was terrifying.

Here's what the email said. And I'm going to put it up on the screen. It is a piece of evidence, so it does have some redacted sections. But here goes. You can see the date and time. It's around 8.36 p.m. November 4. 14th and that Joyce is cced among others. It said, quote, I am 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. And then there's three exclamation marks after that. The next paragraph says, quote, 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, they will 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 door or the trip to India. I know where he lives and I know they're alone. End quote. Wow. Now this next part is redacted,

but I'm pretty sure it's the F word like F them all and they will die soon. It says quote, Tell that mother effer next time to let me talk to Joyce. She needs to hear what I have to say, and now she will." Wow, I told you that there are some fanatics that do not like Joyce, and they want to get close to her, and this isn't new to Chris or Joyce. But the concern was how Chris's family was now being targeted. Of course, they're going to take that seriously. Who wouldn't?

Chris was the first line of defense protecting Joyce from crazed fans and haters, and now it looks like he's paying the price. That wasn't the only message. Chris got an additional one sent to only him, just minutes after the first one. The subject line was, go to hell. The body of the email just said, quote, your family is done, end quote. Minutes after that, yet another message is sent to Chris's work email address. All from the same email account destroy Chris at Gmail.

This next one said, quote, they will be done while you're gone at the Houston conference. I know you'll be out of town, end quote. Following that message, another was sent to Joyce's son, Daniel, with a subject line reading, Houston Death. Once opened, it said, quote, tell Chris his family's dead. I know his schedule, and they will die. Next time that mother effer will let me talk to Joyce, end quote. This is insane. This person seems unhinged.

But it doesn't come as a surprise to me after everything I've read online about how some people feel about Joyce's ministry. Oh, and that wasn't the last email either. These were sent like one after the other, after the rapid fire. Yet another two, Daniel, again saying to tell Chris his family is dead, that they don't deserve to live with someone that protects the son of a bitch, Joyce. That was sent to Joyce's son. And it caused quite a stir to say the least. But of course, the team kept it between themselves trying to figure out what to do next.

It's the weekend. Chris definitely doesn't usually share work-related threats and situations with Sherry, But because this concerned her and their kids, he let her know what was going on, especially because into Saturday evening more messages were coming in. He sat Sherry down and let her know that someone was putting out threats on their lives. The additional messages that came through said, quote, and be prepared for a lot of F moms, of course, I'm going to say F instead of the whole word. But it said F you in the subject line.

And then it went on to say, quote, I know you all got my effing email. You think I'm full of shit. Just wait. I will shoot their asses with my 40. Kill them all. I'm so sick of like her taking everyone's cash so she can fly her jet and pamper her white ass. F you all. Tell Chris I will kill them. He has no idea when, but it will happen. I'm sure you mother effers are going to try putting your beep beep security team at the house or police, whatever. I'll kill them, then I'm coming after Chris, then you Danny, then David. I might not be able to get to

to Joyce, but I'll get the rest of you, mother effers. F you all. I know when you read this, just wait. You will see. F you all, tell that choice to give my money back and talk to me, and this will stop. Until then, everyone will die starting with Chris, his wife, and kids. I know his effing schedule. Every time Joyce is gone, he's gone. You mother effers are probably wondering how I got your emails, you stupid Fs, just like every company, so effing predictable, dumbasses, with three exclamation points at the end of that paragraph. No one knew what to think. The ministry didn't know whether to take these threats seriously or not.

They are so poorly written, they're so hard for me to even read because the bad grammar, punctuation doesn't even really exist. And no one knew who they were actually coming from. So how could they carry out the person's wishes to let them speak to Joyce or give their money back? It was anonymously sent. Chris stood in the way of people over the years, people that may have wanted to hurt Joyce. Who knows who this person could have been? It could be anyone.

After Chris relayed the messages to Sherry, she was terrified. There was no other choice. They had to report these emails to the police, and that's exactly what Chris decided to do. On Monday morning, Chris shows up at Columbia Police Department. He tells the local office that this is what's happening. But they tell him he really needs to file a report over in Missouri because that's where Joyce's headquarters are, and because the threats are due to the relationship between him and his employer.

Chris is worried about his family, though. He won't leave into the police agreement. to keep an extra eye out and patrol their neighborhood, especially because he's away a lot, and he's really concerned. But no one knew again whether to take these threats seriously. And then as quickly as they started, they just stopped. They all had tried to put it behind them.

They moved on. Thanksgiving came and went, and next was Christmas. But first, right before the holidays, Chris had to take Joyce all the way to Florida so that she could board a cruise safely for her winter vacation. And then he would be back with his family. with his family. The threats were hardly in their minds because so much was going on. Before Sherry knew it, Chris was back for Christmas and there was a lot to update him on and so much going on, but they could

hardly enjoy the holiday because by January 2nd, something terrifying happened. It was worse than an email. Someone had actually deposited a threatening letter into Chris and Sherry's mailbox right outside their home, and it was not mailed. It was placed there. This person knew where they lived. and had gotten that close to them without being seen. Chris immediately called the Columbia PD. They sent Officer Steve Patton over there to view the letter and to speak with Sherry and Chris and take a police report.

The letter was typed. It said, quote, F you, deny your God publicly or else. No opportunities. Time is running out for you and your family. Have a good time in India, mother ever. And quote, Chris was scheduled to leave in less than two weeks for a trip with Joyce to India on January 15th through 18th.

And he was very concerned that this lunatic would use his absence as an opportunity to do harm to his family, especially since they had already made their way to his home. So Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards went ahead and increased security in that area. This made Sherry feel a little bit better. At least when she looked outside, she would see a cop car and she felt safer. But she had been in the military. She knew how to use weapons and she owned a firearm. So she loaded it and prepared to have it ready in case someone came into their home to harm her family.

She also asked a friend Jessica Wade from Destiny Church if she would stay with her while Chris was gone. Jessica had never seen Sherry so uptight and scared. She even showed Jessica her firearm and taught her how to use it saying that she had to know just in case. They were all the kids had. They had to be ready to protect them. It was a life or death situation in Sherry's mind, and she needed to be sure that every adult in that house was well-versed in how to defend them. Chris let Joyce know what was going on as well. She could tell how worried he was, especially after this letter showed up in his mailbox.

But Chris was the security guy. He's the one everyone would go to. So though he was concerned, he still wasn't convinced that it wasn't just someone trying to annoy his family, someone who took issue with their lifestyle or rejoice herself. As for Sherry, she had every reason to be afraid. Someone had already come to their property to hand deliver that threatening letter. They seemed unwell. who knows what they're capable of.

Sherry was texting and calling everyone, including her in-laws, letting them know what was happening, hoping someone would help them, protect them, or ease Sherry's fears. And she had a lot of friends that she reached out to. Kathy Lapland, her friend Karen from Destiny Church, and others from there as well, like Phil and Linda Stern, who were the founding pastors of that church.

She just asked them for prayers. She texted Larry Bridges. He also worked at Destiny Church as a youth pastor and knew her boys very well. He told her to keep in touch with him and let him know if there's anything that he could do. Sherry just said that she was going to be a church next week, and until then, she was going to go to prayer meetings every day. She also let Pastor Vincent Hall know all about what's going on. She wanted to reach out to as many people as possible because she believed that what they could offer,

that would be the most powerful was prayer. And that's what she was asking for. Poor Sherry reached out to everyone, anyone. She needed prayer. She called Stephanie Jones. the Destiny Church worship leader again asking to pray for her and her family. Sherry wasn't done. She also let Tara know what was going on.

She was far away, but she lent her an ear and encouragement. Then Sherry went on to exchange texts with Christina Sincoda, a longtime friend who also worked for Joyce. Even though Sherry had so many people praying for her, comforting her and offering their time and support, it didn't make her feel any better. Even with Chris texting her almost every hour when he was in India, Nothing helped. The stress was getting the best of her. Between not having her husband there to merely help out with the boys, to taking on so much responsibility, trying to help others study for her medical technician classes and now deal with a psycho that could harm her family. Sherry was on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Jessica, who was staying with her, tried her best to console her, and friends would drop by to check in. Finally, Chris came back, but he was exhausted. Traveling overseas is very draining, not to mention having to be. deal with crowds of people and Joyce's demands. Chris was doing his best to be there for Sherry, but also relax a bit after he worked so much. A longtime friend from childhood actually gifted him with Super Bowl tickets. So he was looking forward to a few days of kicking back

and celebrating, especially to get his mind off of everything. But that meant going out of town yet again. Not too long after he got back. It was the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Arizona Cardinals, and they were playing out in Tampa. And Sherry wasn't thrilled. She didn't want to come off as ungrateful for how hard Chris was working because, after all, she got to go off to Chicago with her friends and go shopping and eat at nice restaurants, socialize. And all Chris ever did was work.

But Sherry was concerned and she couldn't hide it. She gave Chris a hard time. She was kind of guilt-tripping him just about being out of the country, the boys needing their dad, missing their anniversary. Sherry needed him. She begged him not to go. To be frank, Sherry had had it. She truly lived a good lifestyle, but what was all of this without a husband? She started to think that he cared about Joyce over her,

maybe even had some kind of weird, emotional connection with Joyce, because if Joyce told Chris to jump, he would jump. Sherry had no one to place her frustration on, and Joyce seemed to be the real issue. Even the threats were because Chris worked with her. So she decided to go to the source with her concerns, Joyce herself. The best she could do was get in contact with Joyce's son Daniel, who handled all things related to his mom's business,

and Daniel gladly listened to Sherry's concerns and said that he would bring it up to his parents and see what they could do. That was a pretty bold move. Joyce called Chris into her office the very next day and spoke to him, and he was pretty disappointed that Sherry had gone behind his back and spoken to the Myers, especially because this was God's path for him

and their main source of income. He called Sherry before arriving back home, and he expressed his disapproval, but when he walked through the door, he did his best to be there for his wife. This was a stressful time for them. He let Sherry know he would do whatever he could to make sure she was happy.

He told her how much he loved the boys and how much they meant to him, how much he loved her. Over the next few days, they had a great time together. They did everything that Sherry loved. And maybe it was because, you know, you want to make things right so that he could go to the Super Bowl because ultimately she told Chris

that she had no problem with him going. Or maybe it was because, you know, things were good again. Everyone had even put the threats on the backburn. It was out of their mind. And when Chris was gone, Sherry kept the positivity and connection going by texting and flirting with him, even sending him a few risque pictures to say like, oh, look what you're missing back home. And by February, Sherry was back to her old self.

She even got a part-time job at the mall at a store called Buckle. That way she could feel like she was contributing to the household and keeping herself busy. By this time, she actually completed all of her required schooling to become an emergency medical technician, and she hoped that she would be able to find work in her area. More importantly, she wanted to volunteer her time on mission trips helping people in need. By mid-February, Chris and Sherry were planning a summer vacation for them and the kids. The plan was to fly to Orlando and go to Disney World. Sherry called and made the reservations for July well in advance so Chris could request off.

But it seemed no matter what was going on, there was something brewing. All of a sudden friends were calling and texting Sherry concerned about something they noticed on Facebook. She was like, what's going on? They said, we saw your marital status. It went from married to single. And then your name changed back to your maiden name. What is going on? As Christians, divorce was a big deal.

Everyone looked up to Chris and Sherry's role models of the perfect family and relationship. So that really confused many of them. But Sherry was like, slow down. I can explain. It's not what it looks like. It turns out Sherry had decided to change her name and disconnect herself from Chris and her family because she was scared. She started to be harassed on Facebook. Someone was sending hateful messages about how much she didn't deserve her life or the family she had.

She wasn't good enough for Chris. But changing her name did nothing to stop these messages. Why was someone so adamant about causing the Coleman so much stress? What had they done to them? The messages wouldn't stop. So finally, Sherry just deactivated her entire Facebook account. It's like this family cannot catch a break. In March, Chris was in Arizona at a charity football event,

and he would be on tour with Joyce, visiting destinations all over the world from Hong Kong to Singapore, and then across California. He would be back for a little while, but then he would be off again to Hawaii by April 15th on another trip with Joyce. Meanwhile, Sherry put up curtains to cover their bay windows. Something she thought would be wise in case the person that was sending these threats was watching them like they said they were. She still had her guard up, and it was actually Kathy's idea for her to get something to cover those windows. She didn't think Sherry was taking the threat seriously enough, especially because Sherry would joke around that she didn't need to be protected

and she really didn't even be scared because she had the best protection of all, her Smith and Wesson. That thing went everywhere with her. She had it by her side, in her bag, on her nightstand. It's a gun. She didn't know that. Everyone that knew her knew she had a gun,

and she even brought it to church with her. By Easter Sunday, April 12th, Chris and Sherry had Chris's parents over, as well as his brothers, Keith and Brumannes. It seemed like things had finally gotten back to normal. But of course, Chris would be leaving once again in just a couple days, so it was back to worrying. And Sherry was right to worry. On Monday, April 27th, Chris was once again back at home and at the Columbia Police Department holding yet another threatening letter.

He was so tired of this. He showed them the letter. It was just like all of the others that said, F 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 think you're protecting her. She's a bitch and not worth you doing it. Stop today or else. I know your schedule. You can't hide for me. 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. And in all caps it read, quote, this is my last warning.

Your nightmare is about to happen. Exclamation point, end quote. And that is so scary. The police decided it was time to put a detective on the case and not just any detective, a neighbor of the Coleman's who lived just across the street. Here in the Columbia Lakes neighborhood, his name was Detective Justin Barlow. This case was personal to him because this was his neighborhood too. And even though he hadn't seen anything unusual, he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

After going over the case with the chief, they decided to set up a video camera in Detective Barlow, three-year-old son's bedroom of his house, facing out the window toward the Coleman's front yard with the mailbox in full view. This is what the viewpoint looked like. Then Barlow explained everything to Chris and they exchanged phone numbers. If Chris and Sherry heard or saw anything suspicious, Detective Barlow told him to give him a call. The camera was all set up by Tuesday, April 28th, and everyone was trying to help. Even Chris's younger brother Keith offered to see to stay with Sherry when Chris was gone, but that could wait for now. They felt secure knowing a detective was on the case and a camera was recording everything in the

front yard. Besides Chris himself was installing a security surveillance system. They would have cameras that would capture video inside and outside of their residence. He just needed a few more things to get all up and running and the Coleman just tried to get back to normal. They had the Laplants over for dinner on May 1st and it was a fun family night. Chris even stopped Sherry from even bringing up any of the negative things that they had been in experiencing so that they could just have an enjoyable night together. The next couple of days were normal. Chris got a haircut. He had actually been growing his shaved head out, trying out a new look for the summer, I guess, and Sherry was getting her passport pictures

for a mission trip that she was planning. May 4th was another ordinary night. The family had dinner, and then they went to get some dessert together. Then Chris played catch outside with the boys until it was time to settle in while Chris went to the gym real quick to get into workout. He was back in time to tuck the boys in and say good night. Then Chris and Sherry cuddled on the couch together watching Batman returns. It was an ordinary night, but tomorrow would be anything but. On Tuesday, 5th of May 2009, Chris left home at 5.30 a.m. and drove to the gym for his morning workout. It was a route that he'd taken hundreds of times before.

He called Sherry on the way to make sure she was out of bed and getting the boys ready for school. Except on this day, Sherry didn't answer the phone. A few minutes later, he called again. And once again, there was no answer. When he got to the gym, he sent a few texts to his wife, all with no response. Part of him thought she was just busy with the boys or her morning routine, but another part of him was really worried considering all of the threats. But they had a camera. There was a detective on their case. He'd only be a few more minutes and then he would come home.

So Chris completed his workout around 6.42 in the morning, and he drove home, but he made another call. This time it was to one of his neighbors, detective. Detective Justin Barlow, who was the detective with the Columbia Police Department in charge of the camera facing Chris's mailbox. Chris was concerned that Sherry wasn't answering his calls, so he asked Barlow if he could walk over to the house and check on Sherry and the boys, telling him he has reached out via text and called her a number of times, and he's still not able to make contact. At this point, Chris told the detective that he would be home soon. He was just racing across to J.B. Bridge, just five minutes away. Detective Barlow was acting as a concerned neighbor and friend, but also as an officer. He agreed to go over and make sure everything was okay.

He immediately jumped into action. He grabbed his weapon, handcuffs, and a radio, and reported the situation to a dispatcher. He needed to make sure that he had backup just in case. Then he ran across the road to the Coleman's home and began banging on the front door, just as a police vehicle was arriving to the address. The second officer on the scene was officer Jason Don John. While Barlow continued knocking and ringing the doorbell, he looked into the windows by the front door and you couldn't see anything. It was dark inside. There were no lights on at all and he couldn't see anyone moving around inside. At the same time, Don John walked around to the back of the house to see if anything was out of place or if you could make contact with anyone.

Moments later, he radioed to Barlow to say that he found an open window and a security screen was missing. It looked like there had been force entry made into the basement. So Barlow immediately called dispatch for backup and joined Don John at the back of the home. Barlow had a bad feeling. With everything he knew about the threats against the Coleman family, he believed they were in danger. One after the other, they climbed in through that open window and into the dark basement. With their guns drawn and flashlights, they slowly mounted the steps that led to the main floor of the home. They were announcing themselves all along the way yelling, Columbia police, as they got to the top of the stairs,

that's when they smelled something. It was a very distinctive smell, and they could smell it before they could see it. It was a strong smell of spray paint. These steps led them into the Coleman's kitchen. As they continued into the home, that's when they saw it. Blood red on the walls. It was spray paint.

Across the kitchen wall, the word of the words, F-U, I'm always watching. Right away, this looks just like the message is in the threats. They had jumped off the computer screen into the family's mailbox, and now they were written on the walls of their home. This wasn't good. By this time, Officer Patton had arrived. He radioed in and Barlow tells him to come inside and meet them in the kitchen.

Just as Barlow and Don John turned the corner, they see another message on a connecting wall in the kitchen. It says, I saw you leave. It was as though this message was directed at Chris. We know the letters warned that the person was watching and that they knew Chris's schedule, that they were going to wait until he wasn't home to carry out his worst nightmare.

All three officers were in shock. Had it really come true? So many thoughts were probably going through their minds, but they needed to act fast and press on to try to make sure that Sherry and the kids were okay. As they moved out of the kitchen into the living room, yet another message was on the wall. It said,

F you, bitch. Underneath it, it just said one word. Punished. Officers moved past this area and quickly to the stairs that led up to the floor with the bedrooms. As they approached the staircase, they could see another horrifying message on the wall that led upstairs. This one said, you have paid. And they were about to understand what all of these messages meant. All three bedrooms were on the top floor. To the left was Sherry and Chris's bedroom and to the right,

were both Gavin and Garrett's rooms. All three officers chose a different bedroom to enter, each one with their own horrifying fate. Of course, there was a lot of yelling to one another about what each of them had found. And then they met back up in the hallway upstairs, shaking, shocked, and in disbelief because all three of them had found someone deceased.

All of them were just saying, oh my God, nothing could have prepared them for this. Arlo made the call. called a dispatch simply saying, we have three people down, one adult, and two juveniles. It's true. Sherry, Garrett, and Gavin were no longer alive. All three of them were murdered.

The Coleman family had been destroyed. At the same time, Patton called in for their chief, and Don Ron radioed for crime scene texts. All three officers were now going into another room, starting with ones that they had not yet had a chance to examine. Peaking out over the covers, Barlow could see the outline of Garrett's face. The boy appeared to be asleep, except his skin was gray,

and there was no movement under the covers. The 11-year-old was dead. There were marks around his little neck indicating he was strangled. It's just so sad. All of it is. When Barlow entered the main bedroom, 31-year-old mom Sherry was in the bed. You could clearly see three distinctive ligature marks on her neck.

This was a clear sign of a strange struggle. She was trying to break free from her killer every time they tried to cut off her air supply. She would move as much as she could to get out of their grip, but no matter how much military training she had, or how strong she was, or how strong her will to live was, knowing her boys could be harmed next. She was no match for this monster. She fought so hard she had bruises all over her face and a black eye. Don John was now in Garrett's room. He had never witnessed a child deceased before. He couldn't take it. He had two sons. This could not be real. Then he moved into Gavin's room. The scene in the room of the youngest member of the Coleman family was one Don John couldn't shake.

There was little Gavin, no more smiles, no more dancing or laughter. He was lifelessly laying on his bed in a pair of Spider-Man pajamas. And Don John's son had the same ones. What was even more morbid was the spray paint that was on Gavin's body. The message was heartless and obscene. It was across the bed spread and partially on Gavin. It read F.U. Who would want to hurt an innocent child? He too had been strangled to death. This point, it's been 13 minutes since Chris called Barlow asking him to go check on his family, and now he's literally pulling into his driveway. The three officers were still consumed with a heartbreaking discovery that they were startled when they heard someone yelling from downstairs.

They realized it's Chris. So they jump into action. They do not want this father and husband seeing what they just witnessed. Chris was asking, what's going on and already making his way inside the home. Barlow ran downstairs, practically pushing and forcing Chris to turn back around and get back out of the house. He told him, you cannot come in here. He felt awful speaking to this man in such a harsh tone, but he couldn't let him see what was upstairs. Barlow guided Chris out the garage door, while he kept asking, where is my family and why can't I go inside? Chris took a seat on the ground of the driveway,

waiting to find out what was going on. Barlow kneeled down, getting eye to eye with his neighbor. He looked at him, fear in his eyes, and said, Chris, they didn't make it. Chris confused and shocked was like, what do you mean? They didn't make it. But it didn't take long for Chris to realize what Barlow meant, and tears started to well up in his eyes.

He was sobbing as tears began to roll down his face. He told Barlow he thought he may throw up. Then he laid down in the fetal position. After minutes of this, Chris seemed out of it. Like, he didn't know what he should do. He started saying things like, oh my God, I have to call my dad, I've got to call my work, and he just kept repeating these things. Like, he wasn't sure where to turn or what to do.

But he did do those two things. He called Joyce Meyer's ministry so let them know that his family was dead. Can you imagine uttering those words? And next, he had to call his parents. He called his dad, screaming, saying something happened to Sherry and the boys. His father couldn't make sense of it. It was like Chris was in shock and he was out of it.

He told his daddy had no idea what was going on because no one would give him any information. All he knows is his family is dead. When Connie heard what happened, she couldn't even think. There's nothing that can ever prepare you to hear that three people you love had been killed. The ambulance sirens rang out as officers started to put up that yellow crime scene tape around the Coleman's property to secure the area. The small police apartment, they knew they could not handle a triple homicide on their own, so they called in the Illinois State Police for assistance. It didn't take long for the entire neighborhood to be buzzing with vehicles.

It was obvious to everyone who lived in close proximity to the Coleman's home that something terrible had happened. Neighbors began coming outside. They wanted to know what was going on. Vanessa Rigaro, Sherry's close friend, neighbor and Brandon's mother, is getting her son ready for school, and to take a little bit of her family. and to take little snacks to his classmates to celebrate his ninth birthday. When Brandon noticed all the commotion at the Coleman's home, he wondered what had gone on.

Just the night before, Brandon had played with his friends Gavin and with Garrett who had just turned 11 a few days ago. Brandon was supposed to have a sleep over last night. Something the boys did every year to celebrate their birthdays, but it didn't happen. And now cop cars were there. Vanessa texted Cherry immediately asking, is everything okay?

And of course, she never got a response. By this time, so many people close to Chris and his family were on the scene. His father, Ron, pulls up, doesn't even take the keys out of his car. He just runs to me by his son's side. And Joyce is also there. Ron is frantic. He's trying to figure out what is going on. It's apparent, his daughter-in-law and grandkids are dead.

And there's a lot of emotion swirling around. One was anger. Toward the police. He blamed them. He said they should have taken the threats more seriously, and now look what happened. He yelled that they hadn't done enough to prevent this from happening. Police Chief Joe Edwards is also present. He's assessing the scene and speaking with Chris as chaplain Jonathan Peters turned to Chris

and actually says the words, Your family has been killed. Now Chris has officially been informed of the real-life nightmare that is played out. An ambulance pulls up and they coaxed Chris to get inside to take a seat to calm down. He climbs inside with the chaplain and they pray together. Joyce and her husband come and pray with them as well. And that's when all of a sudden, Chris begins banging his fist against the gurney,

just letting out all of his emotions, anger, and fear. Anything that was inside of him in this unbelievable moment. Joyce and Dave Meyer tell the captain, Paul, that they're available if they need anything, and they exchange for numbers. They also tell him that they will notify Sherry's parents since they know all of her information and knew Sherry well. Meanwhile, the chief's help has arrived.

about 25 officers from the special major case squad of Greater St. Louis, led by Major Jeff Connor of the Granite City Police Department. He's there to take over. Chief Edwards didn't want just anyone. He didn't want to take his chances. He wanted this case solved and a psycho caught and taken off the streets as soon as possible. So he went with the team with the most expertise and they begin the investigation right away. Of course, even though they know it's going to be hard on him, they want to speak to Chris about the threats, about what he heard. or saw last, anything that can point them in the right direction. They also send crime scene technicians into the home

and call the medical examiner's office to transport the three decedents to the morgue for autopsies. It's all happening so fast. And it's major Conner's job to organize everything in this investigation. There's a lot of moving parts. He's surprised at the situation, of all of the death threats, of what Chris does for a living and for whom. There's people to interview in the neighborhood,

Chris and Sherry's family, of course, and to notify them. They asked Chris for Sherry's parents' number, and he's such a wreck that he tells him he has no idea, and he has a new BlackBerry that doesn't have any phone numbers program did he yet. The investigators also want to speak to Joyce and anyone in her ministry that may have knowledge of the threats on the Coleman family. The neighborhood also needs to be canvassed. The video footage needs to be collected from Detective Barlow's home, and units have been set up to make sure the killer is not still running around able to hurt Chris or anyone else. maybe finish the job now that Joyce is unseen.

Catch them all at their most vulnerable moment. Their biggest lead right now are all the emails and letters, some of which Columbia PD already have on hand from Chris's previous reports. This is the first thing they focused on. They gathered up all the known threats, and they were looking for patterns, something that would stand out. There was no handwriting in this case. But something that's apparent, and I notice this too,

I mean, of course the bad grammar, but even more the misspellings. For example, the word opportunities, and publicly were both spelled wrong. On one sentence where it said no more opportunities, it had a U instead of an O. And the sentence, Deny Your God publicly, had publicly spelled with two L's instead of one. And that matters. Things were happening so fast with so many experts on this case, they were getting stuff done quickly. They wanted to do everything they could for this family and for Chris, who was still at the crime scene. there was so much going on, so much no one would want to see, especially a loved one.

Like Gurneys, being rolled out of the house. Sherry and the boys transported off of the scene. I even saw a hearse in one of the videos. I thought victims were put into ambulances, but apparently there was a hearse called out. And then there was the media that started to show up, and Detective Barlow really didn't want Chris to have to face all of this. So we took him back to the Columbia Police Station, tried to calm him down, And of course the hard part speak to him about what could have happened.

So he's being transported by ambulance to the police station, his father's following close behind, and meanwhile officers are scouring this neighborhood. They're doing two things. They're knocking on doors. They're interviewing neighbors, but they're also looking for any evidence. This means collecting trash going through garbage bins, because the killer could have disposed of evidence or left something behind. They also call the sanitation department and they tell them to do a trash hold, meaning do not pick up from this area until further notice. This will give them some time to go through all the bins for clues. They even took the covers off the sewers. It's around 10 a.m. You can see Chris in this video.

He's just rocking back and forth with his head and his hands. He's sobbing. There's a lot of firsthand information to gather in this interview, which I think is very important as things progress. Since I have the footage, I'm going to show it, but I will also explain. And I don't know, I'll do my best to do subtitles as well. They don't always work correctly, sometimes getting it wrong and that would be worse than just listening. But at least the audio isn't really that bad in this video. So here they are giving Chris a place to sit in the interview room at the station. They give him a bottle of water, then they read him as Miranda rights, which are customary, and they ask him to recount his day.

Just, I'll tell you what, from the beginning, let's just start up from what 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 you the emails you've been getting okay um finally sent my hour one o'clock for 5.30 and then used my phone for a hour ago. I got up at 5.30 and went to the bathroom. But these clothes here got on to the bathroom basically got truck and left and drove off we got to where was that called the cherry to wake her up, get her going and she didn't answer her of course. And

So I went on to the gym, to Gold's gym, over by Ryan's closet in Southcadney. 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 let me do it. Do you guys have done, did you guys have a whole phone number two or just cell phone? Okay. So I text her and then now she still didn't respond.

And probably now after six o'clock sometime when I, texted her called her. I'm sure it's the old phone time it was. And she didn't respond and it's not like her because the kids should have been up and stuff are getting up and going by then, I believe. And so I called her again. Called her again on the way back or when I was getting ready to leave and she didn't respond again and started getting a lot of concerns because it's not like her not to answer the phone. Sometimes she won't answer if she's in the shower but she was calling her back right away. And so she didn't do that at all. So that's when I called you.

So what time did you text you back the second time? I can tell you. 623. So at 6.23 a.m. is when you first text this morning since he did you try to call before that I'm sorry. Yeah, I can call up to if you want to okay that just does text I'm sorry. All right so you just like that's it. So the first one is from you it says hey baby six point three I'm sorry not six twenty three eight. And she doesn't respond to you, correct? It would be on there. So you're right, okay, okay.

And so the second one from you says, I know he was tired last night. 623 says, I have about five minutes left on cardio, then I'll be fired. And she never responded at any one time. Because they could tell them, yeah, tell them, okay. And then 727 says hello, you up.

So, what's 20-7? I'm sorry, 627. 6.27. And then at the same time, 6.27, another one goes out, so it's time to get the kids up. We know everything I've already told you, but you're hearing it firsthand from Chris himself. We also know from Chris's phone.

The first text went out to Sherry from Chris at 623 a.m. saying, hey, babe, are you awake? And a couple others telling her he was almost done working out and that he would be home soon. And another asking, like, hey, are you up? Then Barlow asked if Chris is, notice anything out of the ordinary. And he says the only thing he recalls was a car backing out of a driveway. It was when he was leaving that morning, but he doesn't know what kind of car or which

driveway. Anything as far as that sticks out in your mind from this morning when you left. Did you know something? The only thing I told somebody was the only thing I can remember is having to slow down for a car back in the driveway. That's it. From the odd's driveway where they're I don't know. You asked for the same thing. It was like three or four up. I don't know. It's not left inside.

It's only been you remember. You notice anything about the car? It was just a darker color, I think. I'm sorry, I should have heard of it. Anything that sticks out, were you able to tell what kind of car it was? I mean, did you recognize that the neighborhood at all? No. No, it was just back in the driveway, but I didn't even.

Now about the evidence they had at this point. The biggest lead were the third. lead were the threats. So they made a point to go and backtrack to everyone who was ever connected to Joyce as someone who made a threat against her. Even people in other countries, they were tracked down and they all had solid alibis for the time of the crime. They asked Chris if out of all the emails he'd ever gotten any of those threats, has any stood out to him? And he said he just didn't know. And he repeated, he just wished he would have been there that day.

Kind of going 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, you know. Okay. I doubt if they're on the computer because it deletes them after so long. Kind of purges them out, technically. I would think they're 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 up to. upset with me, but I haven't gotten anything. I mean, I've had people yell at me and got said me and everything else, but, you know, and then that's going to walk the property and all that stuff, you know. Why you just been there this morning?

You know, Chris, we're going to get past that, okay? We're going to work this out and get through it, all right? They also asked him about the cameras that he had set up in the house. Remember that? He said, yeah, I had an entire system, and the video should be there. It's all in the basement.