The Coleman family had been receiving threatening emails and letters for months, leaving them terrified and on edge.

One even said, ‘Your family is done. I will kill them all as they sleep.’

Dad Christopher was head of security for a high-profile US TV evangelist and the messages said he needed to leave his job with the preacher, or his wife and children would be harmed.

The police stepped up their protection of wife Sheri, 31, and sons Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9, but within months, they were all found dead in their beds.

The death threats had become a reality and when the killer was unveiled – it was someone no one could ever have predicted.

Chris, 34, was head of security for the wealthy Joyce Meyer, a job that made him £65k a year and saw him travelling all over the country.

He’d been the son of a minister and had worked his way up the ranks after leaving the marines.

Joyce is reported to be worth a fortune, owning a £7million private jet and a £1million home.

It was a world that Chris was addicted to – he was financially comfortable and it gave him freedom that he took advantage of.

Chris and Sheri were married for 12 years

At his home in Waterloo, Illinois, stunning Sheri was the perfect wife and mother.

Children Gavin and Garett were polite and well-mannered, and Chris would kick a ball with them outside before tucking them into bed with prayers.

But his job enabled him to live a secret life. Since 2008, he’d been having an affair with a cocktail waitress, Tara Lintz, who he’d met because she was a childhood friend of Sheri.

Chris would arrange to meet Tara while he was away and he seemed utterly besotted. He gave her a promise ring, sent endless texts and talked about marriage.

But divorce was unthinkable in Chris’s world. His boss Joyce had made a recorded statement saying that employees would be demoted or fired if they divorced.

Then, out of the blue, Joyce and Chris both received an intimidating email saying Chris had to give up working for Joyce’s company – which has been criticised for the lavish lifestyle of its members.

When more threats came, police stepped up patrols around the Colemans’ home, but by 2009, letters turned up on their doorstep.

"Time is running out for you and your family…"

It looked like someone was trying to get to Joyce – but no one else was receiving these threats but Chris.

Christopher with his lover Tara (
Image:
Monroe County Circuit Court)

In the meantime, Tara had given Chris an ultimatum. She wanted him to leave Sheri by May 4 so they could get married.

When the deadline arrived, she called Chris. He told her the divorce papers were ready and he’d hand them over to his wife the very next day.

Early on May 5, 2009, Chris had been to the gym when he phoned his neighbour, a police detective who knew about the threats.

The officer even had a camera in his driveway set up to watch their home.

Chris said he couldn’t get hold of his family and they were usually awake by now. So the detective called the station and with other officers, he went round to check.

When no one answered the door, they entered through a window and found red spray paint writing on the walls. "U have paid," one read. Another said, "Punished," followed by "I am watching."

One of the messages sprayed on their walls (
Image:
CBS News)

Inside Sheri, Garett and Gavin were dead. They’d been strangled in their beds with a cord that was never found.

Chris arrived and was held back from the scene.

When officers told Chris his family were dead, they noted that his tears seemed forced.

He didn’t ask how they’d been killed and he tried to cover scratches on his arms.

Straight away, he became the prime suspect. Chris was taken in for questioning.

He insisted his family had been alive when he’d left but reports proved that Sheri, Garett and Gavin were all dead by 5.30am – the time Chris said he left the house.

The police quickly found out about Tara, which gave him a motive.

CCTV from the neighbour’s home showed that no one else had entered the house after Chris left and there was no other DNA on the bodies.

Credit statements revealed that Chris had bought spray paint in the same colour and make that was used at his home.

Worse, the threatening emails were traced back to an account Chris had set up six months before his family were killed. Had he been planning the crime all along?

Chris was arrested and charged with murder.

In April 2011, his high profile trial began. He admitted having an affair but pleaded not guilty and wore a bulletproof vest for his own protection.

The public were glued to developments. It was a dream case for the media – the trial had sex, religion, a glamorous mistress and a wealthy preacher.

Chris had served as a Marine

Experts testified that Sheri and her boys had died between 3am and 5am, when Chris was at home.

Family members cried as the court was shown images of the two boys dead in their beds. Swear words sprayed on their covers matched Chris’s handwriting.

The prosecution said Chris had been desperate to keep hold of both his highly paid job and his lover.

Explicit photos, messages and a sex tape of Chris and Tara were shown to the jury.

Tara testified that Chris had promised to serve divorce papers the very day his family were found dead.

"He felt his own children die in his own hands," the prosecution argued, "He’s not like us. He doesn’t value life the way we do."

The verdict was handed down two years to the day that Sheri, Garett and Gavin were killed. Chris was found guilty on three counts of first degree murder and sentenced to life with no possibility of parole.

The family were put through further agony when Chris appealed, but in 2014, his conviction was upheld.

His innocent family paid the price for his obsession with his job and lover.

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