Alton Coleman and Debra Brown: A 54-Day Reign of Chaos and Carnage

17 June 2024

In the summer of 1984, Alton Coleman and Debra Brown carried out a fifty-four-day crime spree that spanned six Midwestern states. Their path included eight murders, seven rapes, three kidnappings, and fourteen armed robberies, leaving behind a trail of fear, grief, and lasting disruption across the communities they entered.

⚠️ This article contains descriptions of violent or distressing events. Reader discretion is advised.

Backgrounds and Early Lives

Debra Brown

Debra Brown was born on November 11th, 1962, in Waukegan, Illinois, to a family of eleven siblings.

Her upbringing, while outwardly stable, was marked by troubling undercurrents. Court records later revealed that her father suffered from severe mental health issues, drank heavily, and was physically abusive towards family members, including the children.

There are indications that Brown may have been using drugs regularly, and in 1980, she experienced a drug overdose that required hospitalisation. Despite these personal and domestic challenges, she had no prior criminal record when she first came to the attention of law enforcement.

Brown met Alton Coleman in 1983 while she was engaged to another man. The relationship with Coleman developed quickly, and she soon left her fiancé and family to move in with him and his grandmother, to whom she provided home care for three years.

Life with Coleman, however, took a dark turn. He gradually isolated Brown from her family, making her increasingly dependent on him. Her mother recalled seeing Brown with visible injuries to her face and suspected that Coleman was exploiting her as a prostitute.

Coleman exerted a strong hold over Brown, and she appeared willing to comply with whatever he asked of her. Authorities later described their dynamic as a ‘master-slave relationship’. Brown faced intellectual challenges and was considered a slow learner, which impaired her judgement and made her particularly vulnerable to manipulation. And it was under his influence that she would soon become an accomplice in his crimes.

Alton Coleman

Alton Coleman was born on November 6th, 1955, also in Waukegan, Illinois, and was the third of five children.

His early life was shaped by neglect, instability, and abuse — traumas that began even before his birth.

His mother, Mary Bates Coleman, used drugs and alcohol during her pregnancy and, in a harrowing act, discarded him in a rubbish bin as a baby. Though his grandmother, Alma Hosea, retrieved him, she reinforced this rejection by repeatedly telling him he was trash.

Mary was known to be a gambler and a sex worker. Despite juggling three jobs, she still found time to abuse her son. Witnesses later recounted seeing her strike Alton with a baseball bat, a chair, or her fists.

Coleman spent much of his childhood under the care of his 73-year-old grandmother. But unfortunately, Alma offered no refuge from the violence. She was verbally and physically abusive, whipping him with extension cords and mocking him with the nickname “Pissy” due to his bedwetting.

Alma practised voodoo and involved Coleman in her rituals, which included the killing and dismemberment of animals. Sexual exposure was a constant in Coleman’s upbringing. While living in public housing with his mother, he witnessed her having sex with clients. Allegations later emerged that he was forced to participate in orgies and acts of bestiality involving both his mother and grandmother.

The sexual trauma Coleman endured during childhood left deep psychological scars. He would later be charged with multiple sex offences and commit appalling acts of sexual violence during his killing spree.

The shame and humiliation he experienced at home extended into his social life, where he was bullied by peers for his bedwetting. Fuelled by anger and a desire for revenge, Coleman dropped out of school in the ninth grade and became reliant on alcohol and drugs.

His yearning for belonging led him to join a street gang. However, being a gang member also involves trouble, and the violent inclinations that had been developing in him now had an outlet, resulting in several encounters with the law where his growing violent tendencies found an outlet. By the time he embarked on his killing spree, he already had a list of offences, including burglary, disorderly conduct, and rape. In fact, his first brush with the law had happened when he was 5, when he was arrested for stealing a wallet from one of his mother’s clients.

In 1980, Coleman married 25-year-old Beverly Perkins after a two-year relationship. The marriage lasted only six months. Perkins later testified that Coleman frequently beat her before sex and claimed that prior to their marriage, he had lived with his grandmother and a 12-year-old girl with whom he was sexually involved. According to Perkins, Coleman believed young girls were “pure and had never been touched”.

Years of abuse, neglect, and the absence of any positive role models had shaped Coleman into a man driven by frustration and a need for control. When he met Debra Brown in 1981, he found not only someone he could dominate, but also someone who would support and enable his desire to manipulate and harm others through violence.

Together, Coleman and Brown spent three years in a deeply toxic relationship before embarking on a harrowing journey that would leave a trail of devastation across six states.

Coleman’s Pre-Spree Crimes

Alton Coleman’s criminal history began long before his killing spree. At 18 years old, on December 27th, 1973, he committed his first known sexual offence. Alongside an accomplice, he abducted 54-year-old Eleanor McIntire at gunpoint, raped her, and stole her money and car. Despite the severity of the crime, plea negotiations led to the rape charges being dropped. Coleman was convicted solely of armed robbery and served two years at Joliet Penitentiary before being paroled in 1976.

Only three months after his release, on September 13th, 1976, Coleman lured 17-year-old Sherri Patterson to a remote location under false pretences. Once there, he dragged her into an abandoned building and raped her. He was later acquitted after persuading the jury that the encounter had been consensual.

While awaiting trial at Lake County Jail, Coleman was charged with sexually assaulting three fellow inmates — young men aged 18 and 19. He received a six-month sentence for battery.

On July 11th, 1980, Coleman met 22-year-old Dorothy Hawkins at a disco. Dorothy, a member of the U.S. Navy, mentioned she was seeking off-base accommodation. Coleman offered to help, but instead led her to an industrial area in Waukegan where he raped her. Although Dorothy identified Coleman as her attacker, the jury acquitted him.

Then, in 1981, Coleman was implicated in the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl. The case was ultimately dropped due to insufficient evidence.

Two years later, in July 1983, Coleman faced charges for molesting his eight-year-old niece, Melinda Snow, on two separate occasions. In the first, he was accused of kissing and fondling her over her clothing, allegedly in the presence of his girlfriend, Debra Brown. In the second, he was said to have followed Melinda into the bathroom, where he fondled and penetrated her with his fingers. Despite the disturbing nature of the allegations, the case was dropped three weeks after it was reported, again due to lack of evidence.

On February 26th, 1984, Coleman approached Dorthea Thompson in Chicago while she waited for her 14-year-old daughter, Chalandra, to finish work. After a conversation about job opportunities, Dorthea gave Coleman her contact details. Two days later, he arrived at her home under the guise of delivering a job application. Dorthea was not in, but Chalandra let him in, and he raped her at knifepoint.

After the assault, Coleman attempted to fabricate an alibi and coerced Chalandra into writing a journal entry that read:

AI, I really enjoyed tonight, and we must do this again real soon.
Love Chalandra Thompson.
P.S. Let this be our little secret.

Alton Coleman was arrested and arraigned on May 30th, 1984, for the rape of 14-year-old Chalandra Thompson. But the case would never proceed because within hours, he was on the run.

The Crime Spree

The spree began in late May 1984. Coleman, long accustomed to evading serious consequences and often escaping conviction or receiving minimal sentences, was now facing the likelihood of imprisonment. The pressure was mounting.

Fuelled by fear, rage, and desperation, he escalated his violence. With nothing left to lose, he targeted a family in Kenosha, Wisconsin, whom he had recently befriended under the alias Robert Knight.

Illinois & Wisconsin

Juanita Wheat welcomed Coleman into their lives, believing he was a positive role model for her two children: 9-year-old Vernita and 5-year-old Brandon. On May 29th, the night before his scheduled court appearance, Coleman took the family to a local carnival.

Later that evening, at around 10:30 pm, he told Juanita he had a gift for her — a stereo — and asked if Vernita could help him carry it from his apartment. Juanita agreed.

However, in the early hours of May 30th, Coleman raped and strangled Vernita.

When Vernita failed to return, Juanita grew anxious. She went to the address Coleman had given her, only to find the building abandoned. Around 1:00 am, she contacted the police and identified Coleman from photographs. But she only knew him as Robert Knight. In that moment, she realised she had unknowingly entrusted her child to a predator.

The FBI became involved, as is standard in missing child cases. Agents visited Coleman’s grandmother’s home in Waukegan, Illinois, where he had been living. Debra Brown answered the door. She confirmed Coleman had been out all night and had returned only briefly to collect a suit for court. She also told investigators he had confessed to doing something “really bad” the night before, though he hadn’t elaborated on what he meant.

Police canvassed local cab drivers and offered a $5,000 reward. On May 31st, a driver reported receiving a call from Coleman requesting a pick-up. Police pursued the cab, but Coleman fled on foot.

For two weeks, investigators searched for Vernita, hoping she might still be alive. Tragically, their hopes were shattered on June 19th, when her decomposed body was found in the bathroom of an abandoned building in Waukegan. It was covered with a blanket and showed clear signs of restraint: her hands and feet were bound with electrical cord, and wire had been used as a ligature around her neck. Her underwear was found inside out and pulled halfway down her legs. Coleman’s fingerprints were recovered at the scene.

Because he had crossed state lines, the FBI issued a federal warrant for kidnapping.

The day after murdering Vernita, on June 1st, Coleman befriended Robert Carpenter and stole his car. Now with transportation, he embarked on what would become a prolonged and increasingly violent interstate rampage. Brown, already under his influence and emotionally tethered to him, followed.

Together, they carved a path of devastation and left behind a trail of chaos and carnage that unsettled communities and left investigators scrambling to anticipate their next move.

Indiana

On June 18th, 7-year-old Tamika Turks and her 9-year-old aunt, Annie Hilliard, were walking to a sweet shop in Gary, Indiana. As they made their way through the neighbourhood, they were approached by Coleman and Brown, who were riding pushbikes. The couple struck up a conversation and offered the girls new clothes.

There was little reason for Tamika and Annie to feel uneasy. The pair appeared local, and the presence of a woman likely helped lower the girls’ guard. Trusting the offer, they followed Coleman and Brown to a secluded wooded area.

Once there, Coleman tore strips from Tamika’s shirt and used them to bind and gag both girls. When Tamika began to cry, Brown held her down, covering her nose and mouth, while Coleman repeatedly stomped on her chest and face. The force of the attack fractured her ribs and punctured vital organs. During the assault, Coleman told a traumatised Annie that if she looked, he would do the same to her.

Believing Tamika to be dead, Coleman and Brown then turned their attention to Annie. She was forced to perform oral sex on both Coleman and Brown before being raped by Coleman.

When they heard Tamika moaning, they returned and strangled her with a belt. They attempted to do the same to Annie, but she survived and was later discovered by a passerby. Tamika’s body was found in the woods the following day.

Annie had been raped with such violence that the injuries left deep lacerations, and her intestines were protruding into her vaginal canal. Annie continues to suffer long-term physical and psychological trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder, severe headaches, and episodes of screaming. She remains fearful of adults. Despite the extent of her injuries and the trauma she endured, Annie later identified Coleman and testified against him at trial.

Following this attack, the FBI recognised that Debra Brown was not merely a witness to Coleman’s crimes but an active participant. One profiler noted that Coleman’s behaviour was driven by stress related to the impending rape trial, and warned that his anger was likely to escalate further.

Indiana & Michigan

On June 19th, the same day Tamika Turks’ body was discovered in the woods, Coleman and Brown approached 25-year-old Donna Williams in Gary, Indiana. Donna was a devout Christian, and she enjoyed speaking with the couple — who were now posing as ‘Phil and Pam’ from Boston — about her church and the possibility of them joining the congregation.

Later that evening, Donna was reported missing. She had last been seen leaving her church to collect her new acquaintances, ‘Phil and Pam’.

A week passed before Donna’s car was located on June 26th in Detroit, Michigan. Inside, investigators found a fake identification card bearing Brown’s photograph but the name ‘Lisa Fisher’. Coleman’s fingerprints were also recovered from the vehicle.

Donna’s body was eventually discovered on July 11th in an abandoned building near where her car had been found. She had been strangled with a stocking. The level of decomposition made it impossible to determine whether she had been sexually assaulted, although investigators believed it was likely.

Michigan

On June 24th, Coleman and Brown abducted a 28-year-old Detroit woman at knifepoint outside her home, demanding she drive them to Ohio. Realising escape was unlikely, she deliberately crashed her car into a parked truck and fled. Coleman and Brown escaped in the damaged vehicle.

Four days later, on June 28th, the pair invaded the home of 62-year-old Palmer Jones and his wife, 59-year-old Marge Jones, in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Both were badly beaten, robbed of $90 cash, and their car was stolen.

Marge sustained a broken arm and required 20 stitches. Palmer suffered 25 inches of lacerations and suffered long-term dizziness from his injuries.

On June 30th, Coleman and Brown carjacked two men at gunpoint, throwing one from the moving vehicle. The second man was released.

On July 2nd, they met 55-year-old Mary Billups on a Detroit street corner. Mary invited them to her home, where they shared dinner and stayed the night. The next day, she introduced them to her friend, 55-year-old Marion Gaston, who offered them a ride. However, Coleman’s response to Mary’s kindness was to punch her in the face and knock her unconscious. Both women were dragged to the basement, tied, gagged, and beaten with a wrench. Marion’s car was stolen and used to flee to Ohio.

Coleman and Brown were surviving life on the run by relying on the kindness of strangers. However, they were repaying them with violence and theft.

Ohio

On July 5th, the couple befriended Ernie Jackson, associate minister at New Light Baptist Church in Toledo. Coleman claimed to be from Alabama and on leave from the army, a ruse that made him instantly trustworthy. Brown used the alias Doris Smith. They were invited into the reverend’s home, where they met 30-year-old Virginia Temple, a guest of the reverend’s wife. They all had dinner together, and Coleman and Brown learned of Virginia’s address.

The next day, on July 6th, Coleman and Brown visited Virginia’s home, where she lived with her five children. They shared dinner. Later that evening, a news report aired identifying the couple as wanted fugitives. Coleman quickly ordered the television to be turned off and sent the younger children to bed.

Virginia and her older daughter, 10-year-old Rachelle, were not present when the news report aired. But when Coleman and Brown saw themselves identified as wanted fugitives on television, the mood shifted. The broadcast appeared to trigger a surge of panic and urgency. Shortly afterwards, the pair forced Virginia and Rachelle into the basement, where they beat and strangled them before hiding their bodies inside a crawl space.

There were signs Rachelle had been sexually assaulted as blood flowed from her vagina to her feet. The house was robbed of clothing and jewellery, some of which appeared at later crime scenes.

Before fleeing, Coleman cut his hair to alter his appearance, clearly aware of his description on the news broadcast he had seen earlier. However, he did leave hair clippings in the bathroom, which the police would later use as forensic evidence tying him to the crime scene.

When Virginia’s children awoke and found their mother and sister missing, her 6-year-old son was so traumatised he refused to open the door to his own grandmother.

Later that day, Coleman and Brown entered the home of 77-year-old Frank Duvendack and 73-year-old Dorothy Duvendack in Toledo, posing as strangers in need of a phone. Once inside, they bound the couple with electrical cord and gagged them with paper tissues. Their car, cash, and jewellery were stolen.

On July 7th, the pair stayed at the home of 79-year-old Reverend Millard Gay and his wife, 77-year-old Kathryn Gay, in Dayton. They remained for three days, even attending a religious service with the reverend.

Interestingly, they did not harm the couple at all for the duration of their stay, possibly due to Reverend Gay’s status as a religious leader.

On July 11th, 15-year-old Tonnie Storey from Cincinnati was reported missing when she didn’t return home from school. She had last been seen with a man and woman, later identified as Coleman and Brown. Her body was found on July 19th in a vacant apartment building. She had been strangled and likely raped, though decomposition prevented confirmation.

Allegedly, a racial slogan was scrawled in lipstick on the wall above her body, saying, “I hate n**ger. Death,” leading experts to believe the murder could have been racially motivated because Tonnie was not an African American like the majority of Coleman and Brown’s victims had been.

Forensic evidence linked the pair to the scene: Brown’s fingerprint was found on a Michael Jackson badge Tonnie wore; a shoe print matched Coleman’s; and items from previous victims, including Virginia Temple’s bracelet and an envelope from the Gay residence, were recovered.

By this point, police across five states were involved. Alton Coleman was deemed so dangerous that the FBI created an eleventh slot on its Ten Most Wanted list specifically for him.

On July 13th, Coleman and Brown entered the home of 45-year-old Harry Walters and 44-year-old Marlene Walters, in Norwood, Cincinnati, under the pretext of buying a camper van the couple had put on sale.

Their 19-year-old daughter, Sherri, returned home to find the house ransacked and the phone line cut. Fearing for her parents, she searched the house and discovered them in the basement — bound, gagged, and severely beaten.

Marlene’s hands and feet had been tied with electrical cord. She had been raped and struck over 20 times with a crowbar. Her injuries included lacerations made with pliers, and parts of her skull and brain were missing. She died from multiple blunt-force injuries.

Harry’s hands were handcuffed, his feet were tied, and he had rope around his neck. He was struck with a candlestick so violently that a fragment of his skull lodged in his brain. He was semi-conscious and barely clinging on to life. He remained in a coma for two months but later identified his attackers.

For all the brutality inflicted on Marlene and Harry Walters, the only thing Coleman and Brown left with was a stolen car.

Kentucky

On July 16th, Coleman, Brown, and an accomplice named Thomas Harris abducted 33-year-old teacher Oline Carmical, Jr. from the car park of a motel in Lexington, Kentucky. There are no available details explaining how Harris knew the couple, nor how he came to be travelling with them. Shortly after the abduction, the trio placed a phone call to Oline’s wife demanding a ransom. However, they failed to appear at the agreed location to collect the money.

Oline was later found alive, locked in the boot of his car, which had been abandoned in Dayton, Ohio.

As FBI profilers had predicted, Coleman and Brown were now heading back towards their home and familiar territory. Investigators had long suspected that Coleman would find it difficult to stay away from somewhere that felt secure and eventually return somewhere close to home.

Return to Ohio

On July 17th, Coleman and Brown returned to the home of Reverend Millard Gay and his wife, Kathryn — the couple who had previously hosted them in Dayton. By this point, the reverend and his wife had recognised their guests from news reports and confronted them.

When Reverend Gay acknowledged who they were, Coleman pulled out a gun and turned to Brown, saying, “Well, honey, I guess we’ll have to burn them.” Kathryn reacted quickly, knocking the weapon from Coleman’s hand. A struggle followed, during which the reverend was pistol-whipped.

Both Kathryn and Millard were tied up, and Coleman unsuccessfully attempted to strangle Kathryn. Before fleeing with money and the couple’s car, he tried once more to kill her — this time by shooting her. But the gun jammed.

Whether Kathryn’s survival is attributed to divine intervention or sheer luck, she escaped death twice at the hands of one of the most dangerous fugitives in America. Clothing belonging to Virginia Temple was later found at the scene.

Return to Indiana

On July 19th, the body of 79-year-old Eugene Scott was discovered in a ditch outside Indianapolis. He had been shot four times and stabbed repeatedly. The date of his death coincided with his birthday.

Thankfully, this would be the final murder committed by Coleman and Brown. The following day, their spree came to an end with their arrest.

Capture

The nationwide manhunt for Alton Coleman and Debra Brown ended on July 20th, 1984, when they were apprehended in Mason Park, Evanston, Illinois. A childhood friend of Coleman had recognised him and tipped off the authorities.

Brown attempted to leave the park but was stopped at the exit. A search revealed a gun in her handbag. Coleman, when approached by officers, denied being Alton Coleman but surrendered without incident.

Both were taken into custody and transported to Evanston police station, where fingerprint analysis confirmed their identities. During a strip search, a steak knife was found concealed in one of Coleman’s boots. Though armed, neither attempted to resist arrest.

Trials & Sentencing

Following their arrest in Illinois, the question of where Alton Coleman and Debra Brown would first face trial became a matter of legal strategy. Michigan, where one of their crimes had occurred, did not have the death penalty. Ohio, however, did, and its legal framework offered the strongest likelihood of securing capital punishment. Prosecutors agreed that Ohio should be given the first opportunity to convict the pair before other states pursued their own charges.

Coleman was ultimately tried in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Across these jurisdictions, he was convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to death four times: once for the murder of Marlene Walters in Ohio, once for Tonnie Storey in Ohio, once for Tamika Turks in Indiana, and once for the kidnap and murder of Vernita Wheat in Wisconsin. In addition to these death sentences, he received twenty years for the interstate abduction of Oline Carmical and a further hundred years on charges of kidnapping and child molestation.

This means, tragically, not all the victims saw justice. Virginia and Rachelle Temple, Eugene Scott, and Donna Williams were among those whose cases never led to capital convictions — leaving their families without the closure they deserved.

In his Ohio and Illinois trials, Coleman chose to represent himself. He called Brown as a rebuttal witness and personally cross-examined her, attempting to shift blame for Marlene Walters’s murder onto her. His courtroom demeanour was consistently defiant and unrepentant. He showed no remorse, and his conduct left a lasting impression on those who witnessed the proceedings.

Brown was also convicted in Ohio and Indiana. She received two death sentences for her role in the murders of Marlene Walters and Tamika Turks, along with twenty years for the abduction of Oline Carmical and an additional forty years for kidnapping and child molestation. Like Coleman, she showed no remorse. During sentencing, she handed the judge a note that read:

I killed the bitch, and I don’t give a damn. I had fun out of it.

In 1991, Brown’s Ohio death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Indiana Supreme Court. The decision was based on her diagnosed intellectual disability and perceived psychological dependence on Coleman. She had been assessed as borderline intellectually disabled and diagnosed with dependent personality disorder. In 2018, her Indiana sentence was similarly commuted to 140 years. The families of her victims were outraged, particularly given her lack of remorse during trial. Tamika Turks’s mother argued that Brown had been fully complicit and should face the same punishment as Coleman. However, in 2005, Brown expressed remorse and apologised to the victims’ families via video.

**Alton Coleman & Debra Brown in court**

Coleman began the appeals process shortly after his 1985 conviction. He filed multiple appeals, all of which were rejected. In 2001, the Ohio Supreme Court set an execution date of April 26th, 2002, triggering the state’s clemency process. During the hearing, Coleman’s attorneys argued that he was mentally incompetent. Court-appointed psychiatrists found him to be of above-average intelligence and diagnosed him with mixed personality disorder featuring antisocial, narcissistic, and obsessive traits. Additional diagnoses included epileptic spasms, psychosis, and borderline personality disorder. He was described as a manipulative sociopath.

The Ohio Parole Board rejected the plea for clemency. Coleman then filed suit in federal court, alleging flaws in the clemency process. The suit was dismissed by both the district and appeals courts. His attorneys continued petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court, citing a range of mitigating factors: genetic predisposition to disordered behaviour, in utero poisoning due to maternal substance abuse, early maternal rejection, lifelong addiction, and brain dysfunction impairing impulse control.

In the final two weeks of his life, Coleman submitted six petitions to the High Court. All were rejected without comment.

On April 26th, 2002, Alton Coleman was executed by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. He was 46. So many of the victims’ family members wished to witness the execution that a private viewing area was set up outside the prison. His final meal included filet mignon, fried chicken, cornbread, biscuits with gravy, French fries, broccoli with cheese, salad, onion rings, collard greens, sweet potato pie, butter pecan ice cream, and a cherry Coke. He had no final words, but recited Psalm 23 as the chemicals were administered. He was pronounced dead at 10:13 am EST.

At the time of his execution, Coleman was the only condemned person in the United States with death sentences in three separate states.

Debra Brown remains incarcerated at the Dayton Correctional Institution in Ohio, serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Conclusion

For fifty-four days, Coleman and Brown’s crimes cast a shadow of fear across the Midwest. Their path was marked by indiscriminate violence, leaving behind a trail of trauma that rippled through the communities they entered and the families of those they harmed.

But the case also prompted difficult conversations about coercion, culpability, and how the justice system treats mentally impaired individuals. Brown’s apparent compliance continues to raise questions, prompting wider reflection on manipulation, coercive control, and appropriate sentencing for vulnerable individuals who participate in violent crimes.

Ultimately, however, the fact that Alton Coleman was allowed to offend repeatedly before carrying out his rampage remains one of the case’s most haunting failures. Had earlier interventions been made, the scale of devastation might have been prevented.