Watch CBS News

Paper: Before Murders, Coleman Told Girlfriend They Would Wed

(Family Photo)
Chris Coleman, 32, and Sheri Coleman, 31, with their two children 11-year-old Garett and 9-year-old Gavin.

NEW YORK (CBS) Chris Coleman, the southwestern Illinois man accused of strangling his wife and two young sons to death, told his girlfriend in Florida that he would marry her in 2010, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Friday.

Chris Coleman, 32, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 31-year-old Sheri Coleman and their children, 11-year-old Garett and 9-year-old Gavin. All three were found dead in their Columbia home on May 5. He maintains his innocence.

The Post-Dispatch: "The girlfriend, Tara Lintz, was interviewed by police in St. Petersburg, Fla., in the days following the murders...she admitted to investigators that she had sexually explicit communications with Chris Coleman via her cell phone, email, and social networking accounts. She said their sexual relationship began in November 2008."

Lintz was a high school friend of Sheri Coleman, and had worked at strip club in Florida, according to the paper.

Chris Coleman admitted to police that he was having a sexual relationship with the woman according to court documents. And Lintz told police she had talked to her paramour the evening of May 4, just hours before the murders.

Read More at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch HERE,

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.