Chaos and Carnage: The 54-Day Reign of Terror by Alton Coleman and Debra Brown
During the summer of 1984, Alton Coleman and Debra Brown embarked on a violent killing spree across the Midwest, which included eight murders, seven rapes, three kidnappings, and fourteen armed robberies. Their terrifying rampage across six states lasted 54 days and left a lasting impact on numerous communities.
This article contains descriptions of violent or distressing events – reader discretion advised
Backgrounds and Early Lives
Debra Brown
Debra Brown was born on November 11th, 1962, in Waukegan, Illinois. She was one of eleven siblings.
Brown came from a relatively stable family background, although court documents do reveal that her father had severe mental problems, drank excessively, and physically abused family members including the children.
Brown may have been using drugs regularly, and in 1980 suffered a drug overdose which required hospitalisation.
However, despite her domestic difficulties, she had no prior criminal record by the time she became known to the authorities.
When Brown first met Alton Coleman in 1983, she was already engaged to another man. However, Brown and Coleman soon fell for each other, and she left her fiancé and family to move in with Coleman and his grandmother. She provided home care to Coleman’s grandmother for three years.
However, Brown’s life with Coleman began to take a dark turn. He isolated her from her family making her completely reliant upon him. Brown’s mother would often see Brown’s face beaten up during her time with Coleman and believed he was using her as a prostitute.
Coleman was controlling, and Brown would do whatever Coleman asked her to do. Authorities claimed that Coleman and Brown had a ‘master-slave relationship’.
Brown struggled with intellectual challenges and was considered a slow learner. As such, her decision-making was impaired, and she was easily manipulated by Coleman. And it was under his influence that she was soon to become an accomplice in his crimes.
Alton Coleman
Alton Coleman was born on November 6th, 1955, in Waukegan, Illinois. He was the third of five siblings.
Coleman’s childhood was fraught with neglect, instability, abandonment, and abuse which started before he was born.
His mother, Mary Bates Coleman, abused drugs and alcohol while pregnant with him. She discarded him in a trash can when he was a baby. His grandmother retrieved him, but he grew up being told by her he was trash.
His mother was a gambler and a prostitute. Despite working three jobs, she still found time to abuse her son. Witnesses describe seeing Mary beat Alton with a baseball bat, a chair, or her fists.
Coleman spent much of his childhood being raised by his 73-year-old grandmother, Alma Hosea. However, Alma did not provide any respite from the abuse and neglect he received from his mother because his grandmother was also verbally and physically abusive towards him. She whipped him with extension cords, and she gave him the nickname “Pissy” for wetting the bed.
Alma also practised voodoo and pushed Coleman to participate in her rituals by killing and dismembering animals.
Sex was a normal part of Coleman’s childhood. When Coleman lived with his mother in the public housing project, she would often have sex with clients in his presence. Coleman was also allegedly forced to take part in orgies and bestiality with his mother and grandmother.
The deviant sexuality Coleman encountered growing up affected him psychologically as he would go on to be charged with sex crimes multiple times and commit horrific acts of sexual violence during his killing spree.
The shame and humiliation Coleman received from his family also carried through to his peers who bullied him for his bedwetting. With anger and revenge fuelling his journey into adulthood, he dropped out of school in ninth grade and grew dependent on drink and drugs.
The longing to belong and the need to feel like part of a family drew him into joining 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. Before going on his murderous rampage, he already had a list of offences under his belt including burglary, disorderly conduct, and rape. In fact, the first time he got into trouble with the law was when he was living with his mother, and at just 5 years old, he was arrested for stealing a wallet belonging to one of his mother’s clients.
In 1980, Coleman married 25-year-old Beverly Perkins with whom he had had a two-year courtship. They would divorce after just six months of marriage. Perkins would later go on to testify that during their marriage, Coleman frequently beat her before having sex. She also claimed that before they married, he lived with his grandmother and a 12-year-old girl with whom he had sex. Perkins said that Coleman had sex with young girls because “they were pure and had never been touched”.
The years of neglect, abuse, and a lack of positive role models in his life led Coleman down a dark path of escalating frustration. When he met Debra Brown in 1981, he had not only discovered someone he could control but also someone who would support and enable his need to manipulate and exert power over others through physical and sexual violence.
Coleman and Brown were together for three years before embarking on a terrifying journey together which would leave a devastating trail of death and destruction across six states.
Coleman’s Pre-Spree Crimes
When Coleman was 18 years old, he committed his first known sexual offence. On December 27th, 1973, he and an accomplice abducted 54-year-old Eleanor McIntire at gunpoint. They raped her and stole her money and car.
However, through plea negotiations, the rape charges were dropped, and Coleman was only convicted of armed robbery. He spent two years at Joliet Penitentiary until he was paroled in 1976.
Just three months after his release from Joliet, on September 13th, 1976, Coleman tricked 17-year-old Sherri Patterson into driving to an isolated area. He then dragged her into an abandoned building and raped her.
He was acquitted when he convinced the jury that the act was consensual.
However, while being held in pre-trial detention at Lake County Jail, he was charged with sexually assaulting three fellow 18- and 19-year-old male prisoners.
He was given six months for battery.
On July 11th, 1980, Coleman met 22-year-old Dorothy Hawkins at a disco. Dorothy was a member of the U.S. Navy and told him she was looking for an off-base residence. Coleman offered to show her some apartment complexes, but instead got her to an industrial area of Waukegan where he raped her.
Despite Dorothy identifying Coleman as her attacker, the jury acquitted Coleman.
In 1981, Coleman was involved in the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.
The case was dropped due to lack of evidence.
In July 1983, Coleman was charged with twice molesting his 8-year-old niece, Melinda Snow. In the first incident, he was accused of kissing her and fondling her over her clothing. Coleman’s girlfriend, Debra Brown, was allegedly present. In the second incident, he was accused of going into the bathroom with his niece and fondling and penetrating her with his fingers.
Three weeks after reporting the incident to the police, the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence.
On February 26th, 1984, Coleman met Dorthea Thompson in Chicago as she waited for her 14-year-old daughter, Chalandra, to get off work. After discussing job possibilities, Dorthea gave Coleman her address and telephone number. Two days later, Coleman went to Dorthea’s home with the pretext of dropping off a job application. Dorothea was not present, but Chalandra let him in, and he raped her at knifepoint.
Afterwards, Coleman tried to give himself an alibi by forcing Chalandra to write in her journal:
AI, I really enjoyed tonight, and we must do this again real soon. Love Chalandra Thompson.
P.S. Let this be our little secret.
Coleman was arrested and arraigned on May 30th. However, the case did not end up being pursued because he went on the run and was about to get multiple murder prosecutions under his belt.
The Crime Spree
The crime spree of Alton Coleman and Debra Brown spanned multiple states, including Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky.
For 53 days they committed a series of heinous acts including eight murders, seven rapes, three kidnappings, and fourteen armed robberies.
The spree began in May 1984. Up until this point, Coleman had been repeatedly getting away with his crimes. However, now, the stress caused by his impending rape trial was unbearable, prompting him to embark on an interstate rampage.
He was scared, stressed, and angry, and ultimately, he had nothing to lose.
Illinois & Wisconsin
For a few weeks in May, Coleman had befriended Juanita Wheat in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Using the alias ‘Robert Knight’, he instilled trust in Juanita and her two children, 9-year-old Vernita and 5-year-old Brandon. The family were not afraid of Coleman, and Juanita even believed he was a positive role model for her children.
On May 29th, the day before Coleman was arraigned for the rape of Chalandra Thompson, Coleman takes the family to a local carnival. Upon their return that night at approximately 10:30 pm, Coleman tells Juanita he has a gift for her, a stereo, and Juanita agrees to let Vernita help him carry it from his apartment.
As time ticked by, Juanita grew increasingly concerned about her daughter and went looking for her at the address ‘Robert Knight’ had given her. She discovered the building was abandoned.
At around 1:00 am, she contacted the police and identified Coleman from the photos they showed her. However, she identified him as Robert Knight, and in that moment came the horrific realisation that she had left a sexual predator alone with her child.
The FBI was contacted, as is the case with missing child reports, and they visited Coleman’s grandmother’s house where he lived. Debra Brown opened the door, and they questioned her about Coleman’s whereabouts on the night of the murder. Brown admitted he had been gone all night and returned to the house in the morning to collect a suit for his court appearance. Brown also stated that Coleman had told her that he had done something really bad the night before, though he did not tell her what.
The authorities spoke to local cab drivers and offered a $5,000 reward. On May 31st, a cab driver alerted the authorities that he had just had a call from Coleman to be picked up. The police pursued the cab, but Coleman jumped out and escaped.
Over the next two weeks, the authorities continued searching for Vernita, hoping to find her alive. But unfortunately, it was too late. On May 30th, during the early hours of the morning on the day of his court appearance, Coleman had raped and strangled Vernita Wheat. Vernita’s badly decomposed body was found on June 19th, covered with a blanket in the bathroom of an abandoned building in Waukegan. Her feet and hands had been bound with electrical cord, and there was wire around her neck used as a ligature. Her underwear was on inside out and pulled halfway down her legs.
Coleman’s fingerprints were found at the scene, and a federal warrant for kidnapping was issued by the FBI as Coleman had crossed state lines.
On June 1st, Coleman befriended Robert Carpenter and stole his car. Coleman now has transportation, and he goes on the run taking Debra Brown with him.
Indiana
On June 18th, 7-year-old Tamika Turks and her 9-year-old aunt, Annie Hilliard, were on their way to a candy store in Gary, Indiana.
The two girls were approached by Coleman and Brown who were riding pushbikes. The couple started chatting to the girls and offered them new clothes.
There was no reason for Tamika and Annie to distrust the couple. They were riding bikes, so they must have been local. Plus, the presence of a female would have also lowered the girls’ guards.
The girls accepted the offer and followed Coleman and Brown to a secluded wooded area. Coleman then proceeds to cut off Tamika’s shirt and uses the strips of cloth to tie the girls up and gag them.
When Tamika started crying, Brown held her to the ground and covered her nose and mouth while Coleman brutally stomped on her chest and face until her ribs fractured and punctured her vital organs.
Believing Tamika was dead, they then returned to Annie. Traumatised from watching her friend stomped to death, Coleman told her that if she looked, he would do the same to her. Annie was forced to perform oral sex on both Coleman and Brown before being raped by Coleman.
When the two heard Tamika moaning, they strangled her to death with a belt. They attempted to do the same thing with Annie, but miraculously, she survived, and was later found by a passerby. Tamika’s body was discovered in the woods the next day.
Annie had been raped so violently and had cuts so deep that her intestines were protruding into her vagina.
Annie suffers long-term injuries including PTSD, severe headaches, screaming fits, and is fearful of adults. However, despite her trauma, she did go on to identify Coleman and testify at his trial when he was eventually caught.
The FBI now realised that Brown was an accomplice and not just a witness to Coleman’s crimes. An FBI profiler said Coleman was acting out of stress because of the rape trial, and they feared his anger would only escalate.
Indiana & Michigan
On June 19th, the same day Tamika Turks’ broken body was discovered in the woods,
Coleman and Brown befriended 25-year-old Donna Williams from Gary, Indiana. Donna was a devout Christian, and she enjoyed speaking to the couple – who were now posing as ‘Phil and Pam’ from Boston – about joining her church.
However, that evening, Donna was reported missing. She had last been seen leaving her church to pick up her new friends, ‘Phil and Pam’.
On June 26th, Donna’s car was found in Detroit, Michigan. A fake ID with Brown’s photograph but the name ‘Lisa Fisher’ was found inside the car, as well as Coleman’s fingerprints.
Donna’s badly decomposed was eventually found on July 11th, inside an abandoned building near where her car had been found. She had been strangled with a stocking. The decomposition was so bad that it could not be determined whether she had been sexually assaulted, although it is believed she most likely was.
Michigan
On June 24th, Coleman and Brown kidnapped a 28-year-old Detroit woman at knifepoint in front of her home and demanded to be driven to Ohio.
The woman, realizing she would not get out of the situation, intentionally crashed her car into a parked truck and ran away. Coleman and Brown fled in the damaged vehicle.
On June 28th, Coleman and Brown invaded the home of 62-year-old Palmer Jones and his wife, 59-year-old Marge Jones, in Dearborn Heights, Michigan.
Palmer and Marge were badly beaten, robbed of $90 cash, and their car was stolen.
Marge required 20 stitches and had a broken arm. 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 out of the moving vehicle. The other man was luckily released.
On July 2nd, Coleman and Brown befriended 55-year-old Mary Billups after meeting her on a street corner. They had a conversation, and Mary was so charmed by the couple that she invited them to her Detroit home where they ate dinner and slept the night.
The next day, Mary introduced them to her friend, 55-year-old Marion Gaston, who had offered to give them a ride. However, despite Mary’s kindness, Coleman punched her in the face and knocked her unconscious. Both Mary and Marion were dragged to the basement, tied up, gagged, and beaten with a wrench. Marion’s car was then stolen by the pair, who drove to Ohio.
Coleman and Brown were surviving life on the run by relying on the kindness of strangers. However, they were repaying them by assaulting them and robbing them.
Ohio
On July 5th, the couple befriended Ernie Jackson, an associate minister of New Light Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio. Coleman had told Reverend Jackson he was from Alabama and on leave from the army, making him instantly trustworthy. Brown was using the alias, Doris Smith. Once again, the couple used their charm to get invited to his home.
Once in the reverend’s home, the pair were introduced to 30-year-old Virginia Temple, who was visiting 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 went to the house where Virginia lived with her five children and had dinner with them.
After dinner, a news report came on the television about the couple. Coleman quickly ordered the TV to be turned off and shuttled the younger children to bed. Virginia and her older daughter, 10-year-old Rachelle, were not present when the news came on. However, seeing themselves on the TV as wanted criminals induced stress in Coleman and Brown.
When the younger children had been put to bed, the two forced Virginia and Rachelle into the basement, beat them and strangled them, and then placed their bodies inside a crawl space.
It could not be determined whether Virginia had been sexually assaulted, although Rachelle had been as blood flowed from her vagina to her feet.
The house was robbed of clothing and jewellery with some of the jewellery found in later crime scenes.
Before fleeing, Coleman cut his hair to change 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 could then use to tie him to the crime scene.
When Virginia’s younger children awoke on July 6th to find their mother and sister missing, they were so traumatised that Virginia’s 6-year-old son would not even 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, of Toledo, Ohio. They used the ruse of needing to use their phone.
Once they were let into the home, Frank and Dorothy were bound with electrical cord and gagged with paper tissues. Their car, cash, and jewellery were stolen.
On July 7th, Coleman and Brown go to the home of 79-year-old Reverend Millard Gay and his wife, 77-year-old wife Kathryn Gay, in Dayton, Ohio. They stay at their home for three days and even go to a religious service with the reverend.
Interestingly, they did not harm the couple at all for the duration of their stay, potentially because of Reverend Gay’s status as a religious leader.
On July 11th, in Cincinnati, 15-year-old Tonnie Storey was reported missing by her parents when she didn’t return home from school. She was last seen the day before in the company of an African American man and woman, later identified as Coleman and Brown.
A week later, on July 19th, Tonnie’s badly decomposed body was discovered in a vacant apartment building. She had been strangled and probably raped, although again, the advanced decomposition did not make it possible to ascertain this.
Allegedly, a racial slogan was written 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.
Again, forensic evidence linking Coleman and Brown to the scene was found. Brown’s fingerprint was found on a Michael Jackson badge Tonnie was wearing, and a shoe print matching Coleman’s was also found. A bracelet belonging to Virginia Temple was discovered under Tonnie’s body, and an envelope linked to the Gay residence was also found inside the abandoned building.
Police in five states were now involved in the hunt for Coleman and Brown. Alton Coleman was deemed to be so dangerous that he was placed eleventh on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list with an eleventh slot made just for him.
On July 13th, Coleman and Brown entered the house of 45-year-old Harry Walters and 44-year-old Marlene Walters, in Norwood, Cincinnati. They used the ruse of wanting to purchase a camper van the couple had put on sale.
When the Walters’ 19-year-old daughter, Sherri, came home in the afternoon, she found the house ransacked. She attempted to call her grandparents, but the phone line had been cut.
Fearing for her parent’s safety, she searched the house. When she went down into the basement, she found them bound, gagged, and badly beaten. Her mother was dead, but her father was semi-conscious, and barely clinging on to life.
Marlene’s hands and feet had been tied with electrical cord. She had been struck more than 20 times with a crowbar; she had lacerations, some of them made with pliers; parts of her skull and brain were missing; and she had been raped. She had died from multiple blunt-force injuries.
Harry’s hands were handcuffed, his feet were tied, and he had rope around his neck. Harry had been hit with a candlestick so violently, a piece of his skull had lodged in his brain. He was in a coma for two months, but miraculously, was later able to identify his assailants.
Coleman and Brown had stolen their car.
Kentucky
On July 16th, Coleman, Brown, and an accomplice named Thomas Harris abducted a 33-year-old teacher, Oline Carmical, Jr., from a Lexington, Kentucky, motel parking lot. They then placed a phone call to Oline’s wife demanding a ransom. However, they never showed up at the agreed location to collect the money.
Oline was eventually found, still alive in the trunk of his car, which had been abandoned in Dayton, Ohio.
Just as FBI profilers expected, the couple was now heading back towards their home and their comfort zone. The profilers had correctly deduced that Coleman wouldn’t be able to stay away for too long from someplace he found familiar and secure.
Ohio
On July 17th, Coleman and Brown once again visited the home of Reverend Millard Gay and his wife, Kathryn, the couple who had hosted them while they were in Toledo.
By this point, the couple had realised who Coleman and Brown were. When Reverend Gay told them he recognised them, they pulled out guns, and Coleman said to Brown, “Well honey, I guess we’ll have to burn them”.
Kathryn quickly knocked the gun out of Coleman’s hand and a scuffle ensued resulting in the reverend being pistol-whipped.
Kathryn and Millard were then tied up, and an unsuccessful attempt was made to strangle Kathryn.
Before leaving with money and their car, Coleman made another attempt to kill Kathryn by shooting her with his gun, but the gun jammed.
Whether the fact that Kathryn escaped death twice is seen as divine intervention or not, she was undoubtedly lucky to have escaped one of the most dangerous men in America.
Clothing belonging to Virginia Temple was found on the scene.
Indiana
On July 19th, the lifeless body of 79-year-old Eugene Scott was found in a ditch outside Indianapolis. He had been shot four times and stabbed repeatedly.
July 19th was the date of Scott’s birthday.
Thankfully, this was the last murder Coleman and Brown would carry out because the next day, they were finally apprehended.
Capture
The nationwide manhunt for Alton Coleman and Debra Brown ended on July 20th, 1984, when they were apprehended in Mason Park Evanston, Illinois following a tip-off by a childhood friend of Coleman who recognized him.
Brown tried to leave the park but was apprehended at the exit. She was searched and a gun was found in her purse.
When approached by officers, Coleman denied being Alton Coleman but surrendered without incident.
Coleman and Brown were taken into custody and taken to Evanston police station, where they were identified by fingerprints.
Coleman was strip-searched, and a steak knife was found hidden in one of his boots. They could have used their weapons against the arresting officers but chose not to.
Trials
Because Michigan did not have the death penalty, it was determined that Ohio would have the best chance of getting the death penalty against them, and so Ohio was given the first attempt at sentencing.
Alton Coleman
Coleman faced trials in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois for his crimes.
Altogether, he was convicted and sentenced to death four times, one for the murder of Marlene Walters in Ohio, one for the murder of Tonnie Storey in Ohio, one for the murder of Tamika Turks in Indiana, and one for the kidnap and murder of Vernita Wheat in Wisconsin.
He was also sentenced to twenty years for the interstate abduction of Oline Carmical as well as 100 additional years on charges of kidnapping and child molesting.
During his Ohio and Illinois trials, Coleman acted as his own lawyer, even calling on Brown as a rebuttal witness. He personally cross-examined her in an attempt to make it look like she had murdered Marlene Walters, not him.
Coleman never showed remorse for any of his crimes. His demeanour in court was often unrepentant and defiant, leaving a lasting impression on all who followed the proceedings.
Coleman’s Appeals
Coleman began the appeals process shortly after his 1985 conviction. He made multiple appeal attempts, but all were rejected.
In 2001, the Ohio Supreme Court set an execution date of April 26th, 2002. However, once an execution date is set, the state clemency process begins.
During his clemency hearing before the Ohio Parole Board, Coleman’s attorneys argued that he was mentally incompetent.
Court-appointed psychiatrists found Coleman to be of above-average intelligence. He was diagnosed with mixed personality disorder displaying antisocial, narcissistic, and obsessive features. Additional diagnoses included epileptic spasms, psychosis, and borderline personality disorder. He was found to be a manipulative sociopath.
However, Coleman’s attorney’s pleas were rejected, and the Parole Board did not recommend that Coleman should be granted clemency.
Coleman then filed suit in federal court, alleging that the state’s clemency process was flawed. That suit was rejected by both the district and appeals courts.
Coleman’s attorneys continued petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court with various arguments as to why Coleman should not die including Coleman’s genetic predisposition for disordered behaviour, the in utero poisoning due to drug and alcohol abuse by his mother during pregnancy, early maternal rejection and abandonment by his mother during vital developmental stages, Coleman’s drug and alcohol addictions, and Coleman’s brain dysfunction causing him to lack the ability to make non-Impulsive, considered choices.
During the last two weeks of Coleman’s life, he sent six unsuccessful petitions to the High Court, all of which were rejected without comment.
Execution
On the day of Coleman’s execution, so many of the victims’ family members wanted to watch Coleman die that a private viewing area was set up outside the prison to watch the proceedings.
His special meal, served the night before, was filet mignon with sauteed mushrooms, fried chicken breasts, cornbread, biscuits and brown gravy, French fries, broccoli with cheese, salad with French dressing, onion rings, collard greens, sweet potato pie with whipped cream, butter pecan ice cream and a cherry Coke.
On April 26th, 2002, Alton Coleman was executed by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. He was 46.
He had no final words; however, he recited Psalm 23 as the syringes’ chemicals emptied into his body.
He was pronounced dead at 10:13 am EST.
At the time of his execution, he was the only condemned person in the United States to have death sentences in three states.
Debra Brown
Brown initially received two death sentences, in Ohio and Indiana, for her role in the murders of Marlene Walters and Tamika Turks.
She was also sentenced to twenty years for the interstate abduction of Oline Carmical as well as an additional 40 years on charges of kidnapping and child molesting.
She showed no remorse. During the sentencing phase of the trial, she gave the judge a note which read:
“I killed the bitch, and I don’t give a damn. I had fun out of it”.
In January 1991, her Ohio death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Indiana Supreme Court due to her diagnosed mental retardation and perceived subservience to Coleman. She had been diagnosed as borderline intellectually disabled with dependent personality disorder.
In 2018, her Indiana sentence was similarly commuted to 140 years of imprisonment.
The families of Brown’s victims were furious that her death sentence was commuted. The mother of Tamika Turks argued that she had been right there with Coleman, and she should face the same punishment. The families are particularly angry because she showed no remorse during original trial.
However, in 2005, Brown did express remorse for her crimes and apologized to the victims’ families by video.
Brown remains incarcerated, serving her life sentence without the possibility of parole at the Dayton Correctional Institution in Ohio.
Conclusion
The relationship dynamics between Alton Coleman and Debra Brown have been of particular interest to criminologists and psychologists. Brown’s compliance and participation raise important questions about manipulation, coercive control, and the psychological manipulation of vulnerable individuals.
Thus, one of the biggest questions raised by this case is just how responsible Debra Brown was, with the case prompting discussions about the treatment of mentally impaired individuals in the criminal justice system and the appropriate sentencing for those who participate in violent crimes under duress or manipulation.
Some have also questioned whether Coleman’s crimes could have been racially motivated.
Coleman was a thrill killer who attacked indiscriminately. He was disorganised, even striking in broad daylight, and leaving evidence behind at multiple scenes. This suggests that any of the attacks against non-Black individuals were purely opportunistic.
The racial slurs used by Coleman during the attacks are more likely to be because of the societal frustrations he faced as a Black man.
It is also more likely that targeting Black communities was purely a way of fitting in and avoiding detection.
Sadly, some of Coleman’s and Brown’s victims never got justice, meaning their families also haven’t had the closure they deserve.
These include mother and daughter Virginia and Rachelle Temple from Toledo; Eugene Scott from Indianapolis; and Donna Williams, whose body was found in Michigan which does not have the death penalty.
For 54 days, the indiscriminate nature of Alton Coleman and Debra Brown’s crimes created widespread fear across the nation.
They left a trail of devastation in the communities they touched and caused long-lasting trauma and grief to the victims and their families.
Ultimately, Alton Coleman should not have had the opportunity to carry out his killing spree. Had he been punished sooner and made to face the consequences of his actions for his crimes leading up to the spree, his rampage across the Midwest may never have occurred.
Sources
Court Documents
- Brown v. State. Supreme Court of Indiana. July 17, 1998. Available at FindLaw.
- Clemency Report. Available at Murderpedia.
- People v. Coleman. 544 N.E.2d 330 (Ill. 1989) (Direct Appeal).
- State v. Coleman. 525 N.E.2d 792 (Ohio 1988) (Direct Appeal-Walters).
Newspaper Articles
- Cincinnati Post. Alton Coleman: His time to die. Randy Ludlow. April 26, 2002.
- Madison Courier. Assault Victim Says Coleman Killed Niece. 5 Apr 1986. Via Google Books.
- Toledo Blade. Killer Described as Angry at Absent Mom. 14 Apr 2002. Via Google Books.
- Toledo Blade. Police Hunt for Pair Continues. Jul 1984. Via Google Books.
Websites
- All That’s Interesting. Inside the Multi-State Murder Spree of Alton Coleman and Debra Brown in 1984. Margaritoff, Marco. April 26, 2021.
- Chicago Tribune. Coleman’s Ex Says He Liked Pure Girls. April 6, 1986.
- Crime Library. Alton Coleman and Debra Brown: Odyssey of Mayhem.
- Murderpedia. Alton Coleman.
- NWI. Mom, Two Sons Accused of Beating Man with Baseball Bat During Robbery. Brown, Susan. July 27, 2012.
- NWI. We Have No Justice: Serial Killer’s Death Sentence Canceled to the Shock of Local Victim’s Family. Dolan, Bill. December 30, 2018.
