On
this date, April 26, 2002, a spree killer, Alton Coleman was executed by lethal
injection in Ohio. I will post information about him from Wikipedia and please
go to ‘Victims’ Families for the Death Penalty’ Blog to hear from one of the
victims’ family members.
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Alton Coleman
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Background information
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Also
known as
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Robert
Knight
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Born
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November 6,
1955
Waukegan, Illinois, United States |
Died
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April 26,
2002 (aged 46)
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Cause of
death
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Execution
by lethal injection
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Sentence
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Death
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Killings
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Date
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May 29 -
July 20, 1984
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Location(s)
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Wisconsin,
Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, United States
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Killed
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7
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Date
apprehended
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July 20,
1984
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Alton Coleman
(November 6, 1955 – April 26, 2002) was an American spree killer. He was
executed by the state of Ohio for the murder of 44-year-old Marlene Walters of
Norwood, Ohio during a six-state killing spree in 1984.
Overview
Coleman
received four death sentences from three Midwest states: Illinois, Ohio (twice)
and Indiana. At the time of his execution he was the only condemned person in
the country to have death sentences in three states. His partner in crime, Debra
Denise Brown, was originally slated to be executed in Ohio, but in 1991 her
death sentence was commuted to life in prison by Governor Richard Celeste. She
still has a death sentence for the murder the duo committed in Indiana.
However, Brown is serving her sentence, without possibility of parole, in the
Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville.
During
the summer of 1984, 28-year-old Coleman and Brown, who was 21, embarked upon a
killing spree through several Midwestern states. By the time the couple were
caught, Coleman was charged or wanted for questioning in assaults on at least
20 people in 13 separate attacks, including seven murders. Almost all of the
victims were African-American like Coleman and Brown. Some authorities have
said that was simply because the duo knew they would blend better in the black
community, that there was no racial motive in the murders, but there is some
disagreement. John E. Douglas, a retired FBI profiler, argues that there was at
least some racial motivation in the attacks. On page 184 in The Anatomy of
Motive, he cites evidence that Coleman, in the middle of a vicious assault,
"went into a practically incoherent tirade about how blacks were forcing
him to murder other blacks." Coleman and Brown also left a racist slogan
in lipstick at the scene of the murder of Tonnie Storey.
Background
of the two
Coleman's
background
Coleman
was a middle-school dropout who lived with his 73-year-old grandmother in Waukegan,
Illinois. Coleman's mother was a hard worker with 3 jobs. Coleman was
well-known to the Illinois law enforcement community; he was charged with sex
crimes six times between 1973 and 1983. Two of the cases were dismissed;
Coleman pled guilty to lesser charges in two and was twice acquitted. Coleman
was scheduled to go on trial in Illinois on charges stemming from the rape of a
14-year-old girl when he fled and began his indiscriminate killing. Coleman was
diagnosed with mixed personality disorder with antisocial, narcissistic, and
obsessive features. Additional diagnoses included organic brain dysfunction, psychosis,
and borderline personality disorder.
Brown's
background
One
of 11 children, Brown was borderline mentally retarded, suffered head trauma as
a child, and a psychiatrist diagnosed her with dependent personality disorder.
She was engaged to another man when she met Coleman in 1983, but left her
family and moved in with him shortly afterward. Although a willing participant
in the assaults and murders, Brown was never violent or in trouble with the law
until she met up with Coleman.
In
commuting Brown's sentence, Governor Celeste cited her low IQ scores, ranging
from 59 to 74, and her "master-slave" relationship with Coleman.
Brown was one of eight Ohio death row inmates to have her sentence commuted by
Celeste - a staunch opponent of capital punishment - a week before he left
office. Four of those whose sentences were commuted were the state's only
female death row inmates.
Despite
her nonviolent history before the spree, Brown remains unrepentant for her
acts. During the sentencing phase of her first Ohio trial, Brown sent a note to
the judge which read in part: "I killed the bitch and I don't give a damn.
I had fun out of it."
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Alton Coleman
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Details
of the murders
May
1984
The
two began their crimes in May 1984, when Coleman befriended Juanita Wheat, who
lived in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Wheat was the mother of nine-year-old Vernita. On
May 29, 1984, Coleman abducted Vernita to Waukegan. Her body was discovered on
June 19, 1984 in an abandoned building, four blocks from Coleman's
grandmother's apartment. The body was badly decomposed and the cause of death was
ligature strangulation.
On
May 31, 1984, Coleman befriended Robert Carpenter in Waukegan, and spent the
night at his home. The next day he borrowed Carpenter's car to go to the store
and never returned.
June
1984
In
June 1984, Coleman and Brown appeared in Gary, Indiana, where they encountered
two young girls, 9-year-old Annie and her niece, 7-year-old Tamika Turks.
Tamika's partially decomposed body was discovered on June 19. Both Coleman and
Brown sexually assaulted Annie, who survived.
The
day Tamika's body was found, Donna Williams, 25, of Gary, disappeared. On July
11, Williams's badly decomposed body was discovered in Detroit, about a
half-mile from where her car was found. The cause of death was ligature
strangulation.
On
June 28, Coleman and Brown entered the home of Mr. and Mrs. Palmer Jones of Dearborn
Heights, Michigan. Coleman handcuffed Palmer and beat him badly. The pair also
attacked Mrs. Jones. Coleman ripped the Joneses' phone from the wall and stole
their money and car.
July
1984
On
July 5, Coleman and Brown came to Toledo, Ohio, where Coleman befriended Virginia
Temple, the mother of several children. Her eldest child was Rachelle, age
nine. When Virginia dropped out of communication with relatives, they became
concerned about the children and, entering the home, found the young children
alone and frightened. Virginia's and Rachelle's bodies were discovered in a
crawl space. A bracelet was missing from the home and later was found in Cincinnati
under the body of Tonnie Storey. The cause of death of both Virginia and
Rachelle was strangulation.
The
same morning as the murders of Virginia and Rachelle, Coleman and Brown entered
the home of Frank and Dorothy Duvendack of Toledo, where Coleman proceeded to
bind the couple with appliance and phone cords which had been cut. Coleman and
Brown took money and the Duvendacks' car. One of Mrs. Duvendack's watches was
stolen and found later under another victim.
Later
that same day, Coleman and Brown appeared at the home of Reverend and Mrs.
Millard Gay of Dayton. They stayed with them and then accompanied them to a
religious service in Lockwood on July 9. The next day the Gays dropped off
Coleman and Brown in downtown Cincinnati.
On
July 12, Tonnie Storey of Over-the-Rhine, disappeared and her body found 8 days
later, strangled. Coleman and Brown were later convicted of the murder and
sentenced to death for it, but Brown's death sentence was commuted, and later,
in a separate proceeding, Coleman's sentence of death overturned.
By
this time, Coleman had come to the attention of the FBI, which on July 12 added
him to its Ten Most
Wanted List as a "special addition". Coleman was just the
10th person since the initiation of the list in 1950 to merit inclusion in such
a manner.
Coleman
and Brown bicycled into Norwood on July 13 at about 9:30 a.m. Less than three
hours later they drove away in Harry Walters' car, leaving Harry Walters
unconscious and his wife, Marlene, 43, dead.
Harry
Walters survived, and later testified that Coleman and Brown inquired about a
camper he had put up for sale. Walters sat on the couch as he and Coleman
discussed the trailer title. Coleman picked up a wooden candlestick and, after
admiring it, hit Walters on the back of the head with it. The impact of the
blow broke the candlestick and drove a chunk of bone against Mr. Walters'
brain. From that point on, Mr. Walters remembered little else.
Sheri
Walters, Harry and Marlene's daughter, came home from work at about 3:45 p.m.
At the bottom of the basement steps, she found her mother dead and her father
still alive. Both had ligatures around their throats and electrical cords tied
around their bare feet. Her mother's hands were bound behind her back and her
father's hands were handcuffed behind his back. Her mother's head was covered
with a bloody sheet.
The
coroner indicated Marlene Walters had been bludgeoned on the head approximately
20 to 25 times. Twelve lacerations, some of which were made with a pair of Vise-Grips,
covered her face and scalp. The back of her skull was crushed to pieces. Parts
of her skull and brain were missing.
The
living room hallway and basement were splattered with blood. Shards of a broken
soda bottle, bearing Coleman's fingerprints, were found in the living room.
Strands of Marlene Walters's hair were found on a bloodstained magazine rack
located in the living room. Bloody footprints, made by two different kinds of
shoes, were found in the basement.
The
family car, a red Plymouth Reliant, was gone. Money, jewelry and shoes had been
stolen. Left behind were two bicycles, clothes and shoes.
Two
days later, the Reliant turned up abandoned in Kentucky. The couple kidnapped
Oline Carmical, Jr., a Williamsburg college professor, and drove back to Dayton
with their victim locked in the trunk of the car. They abandoned this stolen
vehicle in Dayton on July 17, and Carmical was rescued by authorities. Coleman
and Brown later received 20 years on a Federal kidnapping charge for this crime.
Coleman
and Brown reappeared at the home of Millard Gay, a reverend, and his wife
Kathryn Gay. Millard recognized Coleman, who at this time was the subject of a
huge nationwide manhunt, and Coleman accosted Millard and Kathryn with guns.
Reverend Gay asked Coleman, "Why you want to do us like that, like
this?" According to Gay, Coleman responded: "I'm not going to kill
you, but we generally kill them where we go." Coleman and Brown took their
car and headed back toward Evanston, Illinois. Along the way they took time to
steal another car in Indianapolis, killing its owner, 75-year-old Eugene Scott.
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Alton Coleman and Debra Denise Brown
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Capture
and trial
On
July 17, 1984, Alton Coleman became the 388th
fugitive listed by the FBI on its Ten Most
Wanted list.
On
July 20, Coleman and Brown were arrested in Evanston. Someone from Coleman’s
old neighborhood pulled up to a red light. While he waited for the light to
change, Coleman and Brown crossed the street in front of his car. He knew
Coleman only casually but did recognize him. As Coleman and Brown continued
walking west, the witness drove north to a gas station where the police were
notified.
The
information was dispatched and a description of the two was broadcast. As
officers pulled into the area a detective saw Coleman and Brown sitting on
portable bleachers in empty Mason Park, but noted they were wearing different T-shirts.
The detective informed the other units just as two sergeants were driving by
the park. As they heard the broadcast they turned and saw the two. As Coleman
was approached, the officers observed Brown walking away from Coleman toward
the rear of the park.
The
detective joined the two sergeants and Coleman was approached for questioning.
While Coleman was being interviewed, two other officers stopped Brown as she
tried to exit the park. She was searched and a gun was found in her purse.
Coleman had no identification and denied he was Alton Coleman. The pair were
taken into custody without incident and transported to the Evanston Police
Department, where both were identified by fingerprints.
In
the police station Coleman was strip-searched and a steak knife was found
between two pair of sweat socks he was wearing. When taken into custody they
had a shopping bag full of different T-shirts and caps. It was learned as the
two walked they would stop every three to four blocks to change shirts and caps.
A
week after they were arrested, more than 50 law enforcement officials from
Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio met to plan their
strategy for prosecuting Coleman and Brown. Michigan, which does not have the
death penalty, was quickly ruled out as the place to begin and eventually Ohio
was given the first shot at the alleged spree killers.
"We
are convinced that prosecution (in Ohio) can most quickly and most likely
result in the swiftest imposition of the death penalty against Alton Coleman
and Debra Brown", U.S. Attorney Dan K. Webb said.
Appeals
and execution
The
state of Ohio convicted Coleman and Brown on a pair of aggravated murder
charges - in May 1985 for the murder of Tonnie Storey, and in June 1985 for the
murder of Marlene Walters - as well as numerous other violent crimes. They were
both sentenced to be executed, and the appeals process began. Coleman's case
went to the U.S. Supreme Court several times between 1985 and 2002, but his
numerous arguments that his conviction and death sentence were unconstitutional
failed to sway the justices.
On
April 25, 2002 the Ohio Supreme Court rejected a claim by Coleman's attorneys
that the state's plan to accommodate the large number of victims and survivors
who wanted to view the execution would turn it into a "spectator
sport". There were so many victims and survivors who were allowed to
witness the execution that prison officials had to set up a closed-circuit
viewing outside the death house.
For
his final meal, Coleman ordered a well-done filet mignon smothered with
mushrooms, fried chicken breasts, a salad with French dressing, sweet potato
pie topped with whipped cream, French fries, collard greens, onion rings,
cornbread, broccoli with melted cheese and biscuits and gravy. He washed it all
down with a Cherry Coke.
On
April 26, 2002, reciting Psalm 23, Alton
Coleman was executed by lethal injection in the death chamber at the state
prison in Lucasville. Reginald Wilkinson, director of the Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction, said Coleman had not directly expressed remorse
for the killings, but that he had "admitted what he's done in his own
convoluted way."
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