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Nancy Grace

Amber Alert for Missing Michigan 5-Year-Old Girl

Aired June 01, 2009 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. The desperate search for a 5-year-old Michigan girl vanishing into thin air from a local playground, the little girl riding her scooter with a little friend. Moments later, she`s gone. Only clue, her scooter left behind. Nevaeh, "heaven" spelled backward. Tonight, where is 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An Amber Alert has been issued for Nevaeh Buchanan, who lives in Monroe, Michigan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was gone. I couldn`t find her. I yelled for her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities found her bike abandoned in the parking lot of an apartment complex.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The little girl came in, and she said, Nevaeh is playing outside in the road on a scooter. So I go outside and I go to tell her not to play in the road, to stay on the sidewalk, and I couldn`t find her!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say the little girl`s in extreme danger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She could be anywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The incident is being investigated as an abduction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just bring her home. This is horrible!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police in Michigan have questioned a third man now in the search for this missing 5-year-old, Nevaeh Buchanan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are processing nearly 800 tips in the case, and they want to talk to the owner of a green mini-van seen parked at a school playground where the girl disappeared. Police have questioned two elementary school boys who may have witnessed something on the playground the day she vanished.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She`s never the type to wander off, so I`m almost 100 percent sure that she got snatched. I have no idea, and I really don`t want to think about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: And breaking news tonight in the case of a beautiful young mother and her two little sons found dead in their white-finished two-story home, strangled, each in their own bedroom. In a heartbreaking gesture, 31-year-old Sheri Coleman and her two little boys, Garett and Gavin, ages 9 and 11, laid to rest, the three of them, side by side. Manner of death, ligature strangulation.

A glove discarded, flung along I-255 minutes from the Coleman home, that glove set to crack this case wide open, allegedly spattered with red spray paint. Is the glove a direct link to a chilling message scrawled across the wall of the murder scene?

Shocking details emerge. The mother of two found left naked, lying face down in her own bed. In the home, police find airline boarding passes, a Home Depot receipt for red spray paint and latex gloves. Also discovered, a handmade noose. Husband-slash-daddy, former Marine and preacher`s son who worked for worldwide televangelist Joyce Meyer Ministries, keeps a secret post office box unknown to his wife.

Bombshell tonight. Is motive served up on a silver platter? As the specter of a mistress rears its ugly head, we confirm the name and identity of the so-called other woman whom daddy Chris Coleman convinces he`s already filed for divorce. Yes! In fact, we learn Coleman phones his Florida lover just before the murders and e-mails after. Sources reveal the two even planning a wedding ceremony! Will the bride wear white? I can tell you this much, the groom will be in orange.

The two meet for love connections as far as Hawaii, Arizona, while Mommy`s home with the boys. Prosecutors now must prove who -- who -- crept into the family home in the early morning hours to smother the life out of a stunning young mother and two little boys, leaving all three dead in their beds. Prosecutors say it was Daddy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had never complained about any infidelity. My aunt and my cousin, they know this young lady. She went to high school with Sheri. So it`s not some random girl he met off the Internet.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sources were telling us that the girlfriend told cops that Chris Coleman told her he was getting divorced, he was in the midst of a divorce.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators went down to Florida shortly after the murders and began interviewing this woman and many of the people close to her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I called my aunt. She was very, very surprised because Sheri had never complained to her family members about this. I don`t even know if Sheri knew.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He changes his e-mail address, as if that cannot be connected to him, e-mails this lady in St. Pete, and says, I have just been interviewed by the investigators, but I did not commit the crime, I have an alibi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Normally, a guy would say, Honey, I had nothing to do with this. Instead, we get a criminalistic forensic statement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They erase their families. A new future in which that family has no place, it seems to have somehow taken the place of divorce.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us. The desperate search for a 5-year-old Michigan girl, vanishing into thin air from a local playground. The only clue, her scooter left behind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nevaeh Buchanan was last seen playing with her friend out in the parking lot of her apartment complex. Well, now cops say the girl is believed to be in extreme danger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`s approximately 3 foot, 10 inches tall and weighs approximately 45 pounds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nevaeh`s outside riding her scooter in the road, but it`s a parking lot. And I went out there to tell her not to ride it in the road or parking lot, and she`s -- she was gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re getting new details about possible witnesses to little Nevaeh Buchanan`s kidnapping. Police in Monroe, Michigan, are questioning two boys who were at a playground just across the street from Nevaeh`s home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police wanted to know if they saw anything suspicious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don`t know exactly what they saw, if anything.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now cops are searching for a mysterious green mini-van and the driver.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But they think they might have seen this green mini-van. They think they may have seen Nevaeh right before she disappeared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to Rob Davidek with WWJ Newsradio 950. Rob, what can you tell us?

ROB DAVIDEK, WWJ NEWSRADIO 950 (via telephone): Well, it`s been a week and one day now since Nevaeh Buchanan was last seen in the parking lot of the Charlotte Arms complex in Monroe. It`s about 35 miles south of Detroit, right down I-75. The green van, as you heard a little bit of, was parked at a school right near the apartment complex. They`re looking for that van or the driver of that van.

And you also heard about the two little boys. The sheriff this afternoon told us -- or late this morning told us they have talked with those two young boys. He`s not releasing details about what they were able to gather as evidence from them. But the boys and the person with the mini-van are the two main focus and the two main topics today.

GRACE: Rob Davidek, why a green mini-van? Who spotted a green mini- van there near the playground? What do we know about it?

DAVIDEK: Well, it`s an older style mini-van seen near the site. And really, I think the police are looking for anything that they can get their hands on right now. Eight hundred tips have came in. This green mini-van was one of those tips, from what I understand. And so they decided they were going to follow up on it.

Obviously, you know, a 5-year-old can travel, or can walk here or there. If she`s on her scooter, you know, from here to a few hundred yards away where this school is at, definitely something that they can do. And obviously, the police want to follow up on all the tips that are coming in.

GRACE: Everybody, the tip line, 734-243-7070. Liz, keep the photos coming, every different photo we`ve got. Take a look at this 5-year-old girl, taken from a local playground.

Back to Rob Davidek with WWJ Newsradio 950. Rob, so you`re telling me that some of the tips say a green van was just sitting near the playground? Was somebody supposedly in the van?

DAVIDEK: From what I understand, yes, there was somebody in the van. They don`t know exactly where it is. And again, it`s simply a matter of following up on these -- you know, on the tips that come in. Police have been questioned -- you know, questioning a lot of different people. They went to the apartment complex a couple of times now and were asking, you know -- and following up on questions they asked from a week and a day ago, which was, what, Sunday the 24th of May.

GRACE: Take a look at this little girl, Nevaeh, "heaven" spelled backwards. She`s only 5 years old, snatched just yards from her own apartment.

Out to the lines. Samantha, Illinois. Hi, Samantha.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don`t understand why you would leave your 5-year-old unattended outside.

GRACE: Samantha, let me tell you something. I had the twins at a park this morning at 6:30 AM. I did not take my eyes off of them, knowing about this story.

Everyone, the tip line, 734-243-7070. Let`s unleash the lawyers, Eleanor Dixon, Peter Odom, Alex Sanchez. Eleanor Dixon, almost a week has gone by. Not good.

ELEANOR DIXON, PROSECUTOR: No, it`s not good, Nancy. And every minute counts when you`re looking for a child that`s gone missing. And I`m glad you`re putting this up on the show.

GRACE: To Matt Zarrell, also on the story. Matt, please tell me I`m wrong. Has Mommy failed a polygraph? And was Mommy dating a sex offender?

MATTHEW ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE STAFFER: Well, that`s what the reports are. Now, apparently, Mommy...

GRACE: My head is throbbing. Go ahead.

ZARRELL: Mommy was on probation for a home invasion conviction from 2006. At the probation office, she apparently met a friend who turned into a boyfriend, George Kennedy, who is now a person of interest in this case.

GRACE: A person of interest. Matt Zarrell, did the boyfriend take a polygraph?

ZARRELL: Yes. And he failed, as well.

GRACE: Good lord in heaven. Out to the lines. Dawn in Tennessee. Hi, Dawn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy.

GRACE: What`s your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Quick question. I want to know where were her parents or guardians or anybody watching. I just find it really strange that there`s nobody monitoring...

GRACE: I agree.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... these kids, especially with all the cases of missing kids coming up. When I was coming up, I had to be on the porch, and definitely in the house when the street light came on. I`m not understanding.

GRACE: Joining me right now, a primetime exclusive, Michael Buchanan, the uncle of Nevaeh. Michael, who was supposedly watching Nevaeh when she went missing?

MICHAEL BUCHANAN, MATERNAL UNCLE (via telephone): Hi. At that time, it was supposed to be my sister, Jennifer. My mother has custody of Nevaeh at this time. And when she goes to work, then Jenny is usually the one who watches Nevaeh.

GRACE: Well, isn`t it true the mother cannot be alone with the little girl?

BUCHANAN: No, that`s not true.

GRACE: I thought she had to be with someone. Did she lose custody of the little girl?

BUCHANAN: No. She had a previous case that she was going through with the home invasion. And at that time, we knew that she was going to be sentenced, so my mom had just went and took forth and applied for custody for Nevaeh.

GRACE: I`m just worried that this little girl never had a chance. Please, look at Nevaeh, 734-243-7070.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ve been everywhere, looked everywhere. I`ve been up all night, all hours of the night. I`ve searched woods, ditches, canals, dumpsters through the whole county. And there`s nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every night since 5-year-old Nevaeh went missing, there has been a prayer vigil around a tree outside of the apartment where Nevaeh lives with her grandmother and her mom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anybody`s out there that`s watching, they know where she`s at, bring her home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In other developments surrounding the case, two young boys playing at a park near Nevaeh`s apartment when she disappeared have been located and questioned. Police wanted to know if they saw anything suspicious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The incident is being investigated as an abduction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why would anybody take her? I have no idea. I mean, we had no enemies. This -- why would someone take her? She`s only 5 years old. She just graduated pre-school two days ago.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m scared. I would like to know where my baby is. She`s like my own kid!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If anybody has her and she`s still alive, just bring her back to me! That`s all I ask of you. And I won`t ask no questions. I just want to hold her and keep her near to me! And if she`s not, then let me lay her down and let her be peaceful with the good Lord up above.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Five-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan missing from a playground -- a playground! The only clue left behind, her little scooter.

To Matt Zarrell. The uncle is with us, Matt, and he is telling us it`s an informal kind of thing, that the mom could see the child whenever she wanted. What do you know?

ZARRELL: Well, it`s our understanding that she did not have custody, that the grandmother had custody. This is according to our reporting and the father of Nevaeh. Both say that she did not have custody. And what`s interesting to note is the boyfriend, George Kennedy, is a registered sex offender, and he was not allowed to have any contact with children at all.

GRACE: Back to Michael Buchanan, in a primetime exclusive. He is the uncle of this little 5-year-old girl. Why was the mom dating a registered sex offender and allowing him around the child?

BUCHANAN: Nancy, to be honest with you, I have no idea. When it comes to George, I had found out probably a few months prior and -- about his background. And I had, you know, had my concerns and I talked to Jennifer about it. And as far as that goes, you know, I can only do so much without...

GRACE: What did Jennifer say?

BUCHANAN: She said, basically, you know, she`s watching everything. She felt like she didn`t want to be judgmental.

GRACE: Well, OK. OK. Michael, look, I`m not coming down on you, all right? You`re giving me information about this missing little girl. And I am very, very grateful.

BUCHANAN: I appreciate it.

GRACE: Lillian Glass, we need a shrink. Dr. Glass, the mom didn`t want to be judgmental? She`s dating a sex predator, and she`s got a 5- year-old little girl? To top it all off, local reports are telling us this guy`s about to be cleared. This is after he failed a polygraph. And everybody, lost in the sauce is a 5-year-old little girl who did nothing but go to the playground to ride her scooter! Lillian Glass, help me out.

LILLIAN GLASS, PSYCHOLOGIST: This is horrible. I mean, the mother`s judgment is atrocious. I mean, how could she be with a sex offender and have a little girl in the home? It`s just horrible.

GRACE: To the lines. Marsha in Michigan. Hi, Marsha.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, Nancy, it`s an honor to speak with you!

GRACE: No, you know what? It`s an honor that you called in to our show. What is your question, dear?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, if the person that abducted Nevaeh had to wrestle the scooter away from her, would his fingerprints be on the scooter?

GRACE: Excellent question. John Lucich, investigator and author of "Cyber Lies," what did about it?

JOHN LUCICH, FORMER INVESTIGATOR: Yes, absolutely. Any time the suspect touches something, he`s going to leave either DNA or he`s going to leave fingerprints. And by the way, "mom" is a title of honor. She doesn`t deserve that title. She was never a mother. She`s home invasion mom. This is a woman who commits crimes and has nothing to do with being a real mom.

GRACE: You know what I`m worried about, Marc Klaas? Everybody, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. Marc, I`m worried that everyone is going to write off the little girl and not get on board with a search because the mom is dating this flake, a sex predator who fails a polygraph.

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Yes. I hope that not everybody writes this little girl off. We have to continue to pursue this until she`s found.

But I think it`s instructive, Nancy, that some of the most -- some of the most vulnerable people in our society are single mothers of young girls because their options are so terribly limited. And the offenders know this, and they gravitate toward these women, knowing that they`ll be easy marks, that they`ll be able to get a relationship with them easier than they would perhaps a woman who`s not so burdened down.

And I think what people have to understand, what these women have to understand, is they can go onto any Megan`s Law Web site and they can determine whether or not, through a cursory search, that individual may have nefarious designs upon their young children. And if more people did that, perhaps these kinds of situations can be avoided.

For instance, in this town, there are 159 registered sex offenders, yet it`s a town of only 23,000 people. And Jennifer seems to have a relationship with at least two of these characters, and there`s another one sort of lurking off in the background. And this should never have been allowed to occur in the first place.

GRACE: You know, Marc -- let me see Klaas. There he is. Marc, she knew he was a sex predator. She knew. She didn`t have to go on line. She already knew.

KLAAS: Well, and again, this is why -- this again is why, you know, we have to re-look this whole Amber Alert scenario. This is a woman who had lax supervision over her children. She fraternized with sex offenders. This plays out in a series of horrible scenarios that scream Amber Alert. Yet, she recognized the girl was gone at 6:30. She contact -- she last saw her at 6:30, realized she was missing at 8:30, called the police at 9:20. And they didn`t issue the Amber Alert for three more hours, the time that we know that if the child is going to be murdered as a result of an Amber Alert, she would already be dead. It`s a broken system that doesn`t help the children that need it most.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wake up and I think about her. I go to bed, I think about her. I`m constantly making sure that she`s out there. I don`t know if she is, but it bothers me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I still miss her. But I ain`t giving up hope. I`ve told everybody that. I am not giving up hope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sherry Buchanan is holding on to hope tonight that even though it`s been a week since her granddaughter Nevaeh disappeared, there`s still a chance she`ll be found alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s rough. It`s rough for all of us. Still on a positive note, hoping for the best for all of us. That`s all we are wanting to think about at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Back out to the lines, Sheeba in Illinois. Hi, Sheeba.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. I hope you know how much you are loved and respected in this country, and other countries.

GRACE: Sheeba, thank you. Thank you so much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You sure are. I`ve got a couple of little questions.

GRACE: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has the mother been investigated thoroughly? And could she face charges of child endangerment or welfare? And also, has this George character and her met up at the parole officer more than once?

GRACE: Out to the lawyers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

GRACE: To Peter Odom. Thank you, Sheeba. Peter, what charges, if any, could the mother be facing by allowing her daughter to be around a sex predator?

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, the government could end up bringing charges for child -- for deprivation or for child endangerment. My question in all this, Nancy, is where is the government? Where was the government that`s supposed to be supervising these two people?

GRACE: OK, yes, you know what? Hold the thought. Alex Sanchez, it`s not the government`s fault that the kid was out by itself on a playground. I`m asking about possible charges against the mother.

ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, you know what, Nancy? A mother has an obligation to watch their child. And if the mother`s not watching a 5-year-old child outside in a parking lot, she may be committing a form of neglect, and she`ll be investigated for this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chris Coleman had an affair with a woman who went to high school with Sheri and was Sheri`s friend and that he carried on that affair through the time up to the murders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was a friend of the family, a friend of their daughter`s, their sister`s. So they felt betrayed, and they`re upset.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She went on to tell the St. Petersburg homicide detectives, she told them that this affair had been going back to November `08, that he told her he would be divorced by June 14th of this year, and that they would be married by January of next year.

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Did he discuss killing his wife? Did he discuss leaving his wife? Did he, like Scott Peterson, say his wife was already dead?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t have to prove motive as a prosecutor, but boy, did it help when you can explain to a jury from a common sense perspective why the defendant committed this crime. It goes a long, long way towards getting you a conviction.

GRACE: All those jurors need to hear is this potential motive that we`re talking about here, which is, you know, a mistress in the background. And that`s it. That`s it. He`s gone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he`s toast. And he ought to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Tonight we confirm the name and identity of the so-called other woman. That`s certainly putting perfume on the pig. Not only do we have her name and identity, we have learned she was actually a friend on MySpace with the dead mother of two. That`s right.

Out to Ellie Jostad, our chief editorial producer, what do we know?

ELLIE JOSTAD, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Yes, Nancy. This woman, Tara Lintz, went to high school in Largo, Florida with the victim, Sheri Coleman. They were good friends. In fact, it was actually Christopher Coleman`s father, who is a minister, who told police, Sheri has a very good friend in Florida.

So they talked to this woman. That`s when she admitted to police she`d been having an affair with Chris Coleman going back to November of last year.

GRACE: OK. Ellie, what can you tell me about the wedding date? The two had already actually planned a wedding, as I mentioned earlier. Will the bride wear white? Because groom will definitely be wearing orange, Ellie, as in jumpsuit.

JOSTAD: Well, not only did they have a wedding date planned for January 2010, but apparently Christopher Coleman told the girlfriend that he would be divorced by just two weeks from now, June 14th.

GRACE: Let`s unleash the lawyers. Eleanor Dixon, Peter Odom, Alex Sanchez. OK. Fellow members of the bar, marriage license, check. Flowers, check. Reception, check. Wife. That`s a problem, Alex Sanchez, when you`re planning your wedding to the stripper -- excuse me, hostess -- you`ve got to get rid of that first wife. That`s a problem, Alex Sanchez.

ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I know. But one of the things you`re not mentioning to the audience, Nancy, is that this guy had repeatedly been given warnings and been given threats by mail which he went to the police on more than one occasion.

GRACE: Put Sanchez back up.

SANCHEZ: So I`m not so certain that the police have ruled out anybody that has given those threats and maybe had participated in the commission of this crime.

GRACE: OK. Alex, have you read the threats?

SANCHEZ: I have received some notice of the contents of those threats.

GRACE: All right.

SANCHEZ: But they were threatening enough. And he had gone to the police. That`s what`s important. And went to the police before this incident.

GRACE: They were right down to, "I know what time you left the house this morning. I know what you`re doing"? It might as well have said, "I know you had a latte.` I mean this guy according to police fabricated these. They were not even sent through the mail.

SANCHEZ: Wait a minute.

GRACE: Put Sanchez back up.

SANCHEZ: How do we know that they are fabricated? Just because the police are saying they`re fabricated the issue is over?

GRACE: No.

SANCHEZ: We don`t know that they`re fabricated. The police are not the judge and jury in this case, Nancy.

GRACE: And that`s not what I said. I didn`t say that. In fact, I didn`t get to finish what I was saying before you latched on to a very obscure point so you could argue about it. The point I`m making is they didn`t even come through the mail, Alex Sanchez. They were hand-delivered.

So either it`s somebody right there in his neighborhood who sneaks over and puts it in his mailbox at night or the killer travels hundreds of miles to get there and then instead of killing his real target he kills a 9-year-old and an 11-year-old. Think about it, Alex.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I know. Whoever was involved in this was obviously a madman. So to try to look at their conduct and try to say, well, you know, that`s illogical, what they`re doing, that`s not really the right way to look at this. Try to look through the eyes of a madman.

And whoever did this was a madman. And so far I`m not so certain that there is not some madman lurking out there that was involved in the commission of this crime.

GRACE: Really? It`s a madman, Eleanor Dixon, who wasn`t afraid to kick back and take his time, covering the walls with spray-painted messages, hokey messages. All those messages that they lifted from "Helter-Skelter" and the Charles Manson murders.

ELEANOR DIXON, PROSECUTOR: I think he`s been reading too many novels. And I can`t believe defense attorneys are even arguing this. We`ve got premeditation. We`ve got motive. With these letters, with the glove, with the spray paint. I mean, who else is going to have done this, Nancy? He wanted to do it so he could be with his lover.

GRACE: To Dr. Zhongxue Hua, Union County medical examiner. Dr. Hua, last week we learned when police got there the husband is saying he left around 5:30 a.m. to go work out. We learn when cops get there less than an hour later rigor mortis had already set into the bodies. What does that say to you about the time of death?

DR. ZHONGXUE HUA, UNION COUNTY, NJ, MEDICAL EXAMINER: The time of death must occur at least two or three hours before.

GRACE: So daddy was home?

HUA: It would sort of suggest that direction.

GRACE: OK. Odom, respond.

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Nancy, as all this circumstantial evidence mounts up, now is the time that the police -- if they can connect all these dots, Nancy, it looks bad for him.

Now`s the time that they have to step back and look at all the other avenues that have to be explored before you can focus on just his guilt. If they don`t do that, they could make a misstep.

GRACE: You know what, you`re right about that, Peter Odom, especially when it comes to trial. You can`t count your chickens before they hatch, before you get to trial, you can`t sit back now.

But to you, Alex Sanchez, weren`t you the one ranting about a madman? Did you take into account the timeline? Rigor mortis, the stiffening of the bodies, had already set in when cops got there less than an hour after daddy leaves the house.

SANCHEZ: I know, but what I`m hearing from some of the other fine guests on the show is that he had a motive to commit the crime, the motive being he loved this woman from Florida.

So his motive, he decided he was going to strangle his own two sons and his wife because he wanted to engage in a relationship with this woman. And right now I`m not prepared to come to that conclusion until they rule out who wrote those letters, Nancy.

GRACE: I asked you about the rigor mortis. I asked you about the rigor mortis.

SANCHEZ: Well, that`s something that`s -- can be challenged in court. Again, just because the police may set (INAUDIBLE) right now.

GRACE: It`s something that can be challenged in court how? I assume, Alex Sanchez, that you`ve been to enough crime scenes that you have seen rigor mortis set into a human body because it`s really hard to challenge an arm that`s as stiff as a board.

SANCHEZ: You know, just because police have issued a report or forensic pathologists have issued a report, that`s not the last -- that`s not the last to be stated about that.

GRACE: All right. OK. You know what?

SANCHEZ: I will hire my own investigators to look into that matter to see the value of that evidence.

GRACE: You know what, Sanchez, you do that.

Out to Nicole Partin, investigative reporter on the story. Nicole, I understand -- and this is what I`m taking away as being forensically probative. Forget the girlfriend. But he calls her before the murders occur and after. Do we know that, Nicole?

(ON THE PHONE)

NICOLE PARTIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Good evening, Nancy. Yes. We know that he did indeed call Tara the day before the murder, she says to authorities that she did speak to Chris the evening before the murders. And then after he was investigated and interviewed by the homicide unit, he then changed his e-mail address to a different e-mail account and e-mails Tara in St. Pete, explaining to her that he had been interviewed by police but that he did not commit the murders. He says he had an alibi.

GRACE: John Lucich, former investigator, author of "Cyber Lies." He changed his hammer. His name online. That`ll trick them.

JOHN LUCICH, INVESTIGATOR, AUTHOR OF "CYBER LIES": Oh, yes. You know it`s the same thing. It`s when a wise guy gets a new cell phone he thinks the cops are not going to get up on that cell phone. He`s going to some place that he thinks the cops are not going to be able to watch because it`s a brand new e-mail, they can`t get up on it that quick, because he`s probably going to be figuring they`re going to be watching everything he does and they`ve probably got warrants by now since he`s been -- you know, investigated.

The cops did a great job. They went right down -- they picked up on that glove. And I believe what you`re saying, also, the madman`s in jail, and he`s not a madman, he`s just a criminal and a very bad guy at that.

GRACE: I still can`t get the vision out of my mind of two little boys, ages 9 and 11, I`ve seen their baseball outfits and their trophies that they got, going down the hallway to each of the three bedrooms and methodically strangling the life out of an entire family. A 31-year-old mother and two little boys aged 9 and 11.

We are taking your calls. As we go to break, a special happy 90th birthday to Mattie Adams, Crestview, Florida. Mother and grandmother.

Happy birthday, Mattie.

And congratulations to Zack Abrams, (INAUDIBLE), Georgia, hitting a whopper homerun as the Tigers Elite Division beat Georgia Bulldogs 15-13.

Congratulations, Zack. It`s a homer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Chris. Chris, did you kill your wife? Chris, do you have any comments?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This guy reminds me of somebody who`s decided I want to commit a crime so I`m going to write a mystery story, like a mystery novel and I`m going to follow it through.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are the letters. The profanity-laced threats Christopher Coleman says his family received by mail. The contents now revealed. One in January read, "Deny your God publicly or else." "No more opportunities. Time is running out for you and your family."

A second in late April read, "It is the last warning. I will be watching. Your worst nightmare is about to happen."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We also found out that Chris Coleman admitted to police that he had had a sexual relationship with this woman. However, he denied he was responsible for the murders.

Now she says that after he`s interrogated by police he e-mails her from a new e-mail account and tells her about this he police interview, tells her that he didn`t do it and he has an alibi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he`s e-mailing his girlfriend. He`s refusing to contact her family. He tells them that he will give them -- let them take the bodies up to Chicago for a showing and then changes his mind about that.

What this guy has done is he`s created the ultimate betrayal and he has destroyed lives in his family and in his wife`s family, many of whom will never recover.

ENRICO J. MIRABELLI, COUSIN OF MURDER VICTIM SHERI COLEMAN, FAMILY SPOKESPERSON: She had never complained about any infidelity. She had not complained about any verbal or physical abuse to any of the family members. Surprised is one emotion. Betrayal is another emotion because my aunt or my cousin, they know this young lady.

She went to high school with Sheri. So it`s not some random girl he met off the Internet. This was a friend of the family, a friend of their daughter`s, their sister`s. So they felt betrayed and they`re upset.

But they were stunned to read Nick`s story. Nick called me and gave me the heads up. The story was coming out. I called my aunt. She was very, very surprised. Because Sheri had never complained to her family members about this. I don`t even know if Sheri knew.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Straight out to Marlaina Schiavo, joining us from St. Petersburg, Florida, also on the story. Marlaina, what can you tell me about this woman, Tara Lintz?

(ON THE PHONE)

MARLAINA SCHIAVO, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER, COVERING STORY: Well, I can tell you, Nancy, that she is still working at a dog track. She`s a cocktail waitress.

GRACE: Whoa. Whoa. What? She`s where?

SCHIAVO: She`s working at a local racetrack down here in St. Petersburg. She`s a cocktail waitress. I actually went into her place of work yesterday, and I approached her to talk to her. She shied away. Not shockingly. But did not want to speak at all whatsoever.

And her demeanor at work, honestly, wasn`t -- wasn`t different. I mean she seems -- and she was smiling. She was talking to people. And that`s pretty much what I observed.

GRACE: So her high school friend is dead, murdered, cops say by her lover. Two little boys murdered in their own beds. And she`s smiling and serving cocktails, no problem?

SCHIAVO: She didn`t seem to have a problem. I was in there for about 40 minutes just checking out the scene and looking at the establishment itself and watching her a little bit just waiting to talk to her, and she didn`t seem troubled in any way, shape, or form.

GRACE: Ellie, I understand warrants have been released. What did we learn?

JOSTAD: Right. Well, those warrants point out that when Chris Coleman reported one of those threatening letters back in April he actually gave police a list of people that he thought may have been responsible for those threats, and he claimed that other employees of Joyce Meyer Ministries had also been threatened.

GRACE: Has that been confirmed, Ellie?

JOSTAD: Not.

GRACE: That other employees have been threatened other than him?

JOSTAD: Not as far as we know at this point.

GRACE: And do we have any idea who he put on his list of possible hitmen?

JOSTAD: Don`t have a list at this point. Apparently, he also provided photos, however.

GRACE: My goodness. He certainly was prepared.

Out to the lines. Conley in Florida. Hi, Conley.

CONLEY, CALLER FROM FLORIDA: Hi, Nancy. Thank you so much for taking my call.

GRACE: Thank you for calling.

CONLEY: I would like to know if Coleman has ever served in combat.

GRACE: Interesting question. To Ellie Jostad. I know that he had been in the military police, as had she. What do we know about combat?

JOSTAD: Right. He was in the Marines. She was in the military police also. But as far as I know, neither of them served in combat. But I`ll double check that for you.

GRACE: Ellie, what can you tell me about these two trysting as far away as Hawaii and Arizona? I wonder if Sheri, the wife, had ever been taken on a vacation to Hawaii. What do you know?

JOSTAD: Yes, I don`t know if Sheri had been taken on a vacation. But the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" is reporting that they have a source who told them that there were opportunities, they met up while he was on business, ostensibly as a security guard for Joyce Meyer, he met the mistress in both Hawaii and Arizona. Also, he apparently had told Tara Lentz that they would go on a trip together this summer.

GRACE: OK. And that`s what, a kind of a pre-wedding honeymoon?

JOSTAD: You got me.

GRACE: To Lillian Glass, psychologist and body language expert, author of "I Know What You`re Thinking." Dr. Lillian, aside from the killer, what level of deception is it that you`re sleeping with your high school girlfriend`s husband and you strike up a MySpace friendship with her, you become friends online?

LILLIAN GLASS, PSYCHOLOGIST, AUTHOR OF "I KNOW WHAT YOU`RE THINKING": This is the ultimate example of sociopathy.

GRACE: Sick.

GLASS: It`s the lowest, lowest, lowest thing a person can do, to go after their wife`s best friend or a friend in general. And to do the things that he`s done. He was a devil, literally, somebody who was so religious turned out to be the devil.

GRACE: To Cindy in Michigan. Hi, Cindy.

CINDY, CALLER FROM MICHIGAN: Hello, Nancy, and thank you for taking my call.

GRACE: Thank you for calling in.

CINDY: I just want to say you have the most beautiful boy-girl twins I`ve ever seen in my life.

GRACE: Thank you.

CINDY: And you are so blessed.

GRACE: I really am.

CINDY: I was just wondering if there`s any possible way now -- he e- mails her the night before and the night after. Is there any possible way she could have been in town and been in on this?

GRACE: What could we know about it, Nicole Partin?

PARTIN: We know that actually he called her the evening of May the 4th.

GRACE: Right.

PARTIN: So that was done on the telephone. And then the e-mail, of course, came into her computer from Yahoo! account. We do know that authorities have, of course, taken into custody the cell, all the computer hard drives, and everything involved that will show them exactly where these telephone calls were made firm, exactly where Miss Lentz would have been when she received the call, as well as where her computer was when all the information came in.

GRACE: So to Marc Klaas, president of KlassKids Foundation. Marc, clearly they could ping where the girlfriend was at the time she took those calls at their own cell phones.

MARC KLAAS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, KLAASKIDS FOUNDATION: Well, actually they`re very sophisticated in their ability to track both cell phone and Internet activities. So, you know, these characters changing a little bit here and changing a little bit there, in fact, this guy apparently even went into one of his wife`s online accounts and tried to manipulate that without her knowing it.

You don`t get away with that stuff anymore. Fortunately law enforcement is caught up, they`re quite sophisticated now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There`s no greater misfortune for a parent than to outlive a child. The pain and sadness of such an event is unimaginably multiplied when the misfortune entails not only the death of a child, but includes all of one`s grandchildren.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIRABELLI: Mr. Coleman told many authorities that when he left the home between 5:00 and 5:30, his wife and children were alive. If they can actually pin the deaths between 3:00 and 5:00, then clearly he was not telling the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: To the lines, Adrienne in Pennsylvania, hi, dear.

ADRIENNE, CALLER FROM PENNSYLVANIA: Hi, dear, sweet, compassionate friend.

GRACE: Thank you.

ADRIENNE: You are wonderful.

GRACE: You know I don`t think the defense lawyers would agree with you on that one.

ADRIENNE: Well.

GRACE: What`s your question, dear?

ADRIENNE: My question, Nancy, is can it be determined through the ligature marks on the throats of this beautiful family whether more than one person was involved in this, or a man and a woman? Or -- you know tat kind of thing? It just seems to me the timeline he lied, supposedly, allegedly, it just seems to be more than one person would have been involved.

GRACE: Good question, Adrienne. The Dr. Zhongxue Hua, joining us from New Jersey. He`s a Union County medical examiner.

Dr. Hua, if the family was asleep, and of course you`ve got a 9-year- old and 11-year-old boy, could one person have affected all three murders?

HUA: Sure.

GRACE: Explain.

HUA: It didn`t take -- I mean if all were asleep, I mean probably it would take a little bit more time to strangle the mother. The young kids probably wouldn`t take much time to strangle.

GRACE: Everyone, let`s stop and remember Army Staff Sergeant Thomas McFall, 36, Riverside, California, killed Iraq. Awarded three Army Commendation medals, four Achievement Medals, also served in South Korea and Afghanistan.

Would open his home to fellow soldiers who could not be with family on Thanksgiving and Christmas. He loved Guinness, he loved barbecue, famous for his ribs, favorite music, classic rock. Leaves behind grieving parents April and Thomas, six siblings. Widow Emily who also served the army and three children.

Thomas McFall, American hero.

Thanks to our guests, but as always, our biggest thank you is to you, for inviting us into your home. And tonight a special good night from L.A., friend of the show, Alex.

Everyone, I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern, and until then, good night, friend.

END