Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / 'Bubbly' mom’s remains just found on side of road in obscure woods: WHO MURDERED CHERYL COKER?

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'Bubbly' mom’s remains just found on side of road in obscure woods: WHO MURDERED CHERYL COKER? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: for you for free. Goodbye, friend, keep the faith. A
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Speaker 1: young mom goes missing what is the latest in the
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Speaker 1: disappearance of Sheryld. Coker in the last hours, A major
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Speaker 1: break in the case. I Nancy Grace, this is crime Stories.
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Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
2:05
Speaker 1: Let's take it off with our friends at w d
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Speaker 1: T n TV. This is Ethan FitzGeralds would say. It's
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Speaker 1: definitely not normal. This is an odd case, to say
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Speaker 1: the least. Wednesday Night, Detective Abney says, the department recovered
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Speaker 1: Coker's car in a parking lot of Burkhart and Spinning Road.
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Speaker 1: Coker has two thousand and sixteen Toyota Highlander was found
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Speaker 1: your Clancy's ta her a car locked, her belongings were
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Speaker 1: still inside. All her personal belongings did remain inside the vehicle,
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Speaker 1: her purse, cell phone, wallet, ID, credit cards, etc. Which
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Speaker 1: added to the suspicion, to say the least. Coker is
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Speaker 1: a mother of two, and her family says the circumstances
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Speaker 1: just don't add up. No one in the family has
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Speaker 1: heard from Coker since she dropped off her daughter on
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Speaker 1: Tuesday morning. She had also missed work that day, which
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Speaker 1: again very odd, not a character and according to her family,
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Speaker 1: she's never done anything like this before. Seems to be
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Speaker 1: very a good mother from what we've been told, and
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Speaker 1: again all this is out of character according to the family. Well,
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Speaker 1: it certainly is. Cheryl Coker missing missus work, drops her
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Speaker 1: daughter off first, and why is her highlander part outside
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Speaker 1: Clancy's tavern in the middle of the day with me
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Speaker 1: an all star panel. Jim Elliott right now to attorney
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Speaker 1: with Butler Snow, legal counsel for multiple municipalities. You can
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Speaker 1: find him at Butler Snow dot com. Cheryl McCollum, founder,
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Speaker 1: director of the Cold Case Research Institute and crime scene Expert,
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Speaker 1: Professor Forensics, Jasonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My
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Speaker 1: Feet on Amazon. Joseph Scott Morgan, death investigator, Psychoanalysts to
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Speaker 1: the stars, joining me out of Beverly Hills. Doctor Bethany
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Speaker 1: Marshall at doctor Bethany Marshall dot com. But first to
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Speaker 1: Crime Online dot Com. Investigative reporter Levi Page. Levi major
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Speaker 1: break in the case. But I'd like to start at
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Speaker 1: the beginning. Tell me about the day Cheryl Coker last
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Speaker 1: scene alive, So Nancy. It is October two, twenty eighteen
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Speaker 1: in Riverside, Ohio, and Cheryl Coker. At seven to fifteen am,
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Speaker 1: she drops her daughter off at school, and then at
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Speaker 1: seven thirty five she returns home, and she walks into
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Speaker 1: Facebook and she shares some post on Facebook, and then
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Speaker 1: all of her social media activities stops at seven slow down,
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Speaker 1: slot down, slot now stop stop. So we see her
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Speaker 1: at dropoff of daughter at seven thirty five. Is that correct?
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Speaker 1: Seven fifteen? Thank you significant, thank you. Seven thirty five
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Speaker 1: she returns home. That's about right. Drops She's about twenty
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Speaker 1: minutes away from the school. How old is the daughter?
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Speaker 1: She's in middle school, middle school, so that's usually six
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Speaker 1: to eight yea sixth grade to eighth grade drops her
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Speaker 1: at seven fifteen. She's back at home in her Highlander
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Speaker 1: around seven thirty five. How do you know that, Levin?
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Speaker 1: Because there are social media hosts on Facebook and it
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Speaker 1: pinged her cell phone pinged near her home. Excellent, Just fyi,
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Speaker 1: you can post from anywhere in the world, all right,
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Speaker 1: you can post. You don't have to be at home.
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Speaker 1: But that ping convinces me. Her cell phone pings she
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Speaker 1: made it back home reminds me a lot. Jackie of
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Speaker 1: Jennifer Dulos. How her cell phones that Connecticut mom we
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Speaker 1: all know is dead, but she's classified as missing. Her
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Speaker 1: cell phone pinged back in the home. It never made
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Speaker 1: it out of her suv in the garage. Back to
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Speaker 1: you Levi page. So we got a cell phone ping
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Speaker 1: seven thirty five am. What day is that? October? What
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Speaker 1: October second? Can you get the day of the week
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Speaker 1: of that for me, Jackie? Please? And was that any
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Speaker 1: special day? Like was it Columbus Day? Was it whatever day? Anyway?
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Speaker 1: Daughters in school? That's significant? Back home seven thirty five am.
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Speaker 1: And then what happens after that? Leavi very quickly please,
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Speaker 1: So three hours later, her twenty sixteen Toyota Highlander was
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Speaker 1: seen entering a parking mall strip a strip mall. It's
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Speaker 1: about less than a mile from her home. Parking strip mall, No, no,
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Speaker 1: parking a lot of a strip mall. Yeah, it's a
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Speaker 1: Kroger there, along with a bar called Clancy's. Tas okay
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Speaker 1: Kroger and Clancys. But she parked closer to Clancy's and
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Speaker 1: not as close to Kroger. Yes, no, correct, okay. Question
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Speaker 1: do you is there a surveillance video there in the
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Speaker 1: parking lot? Yes, there is. Anne who got out of
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Speaker 1: the car her or somebody else. First, law enforcement was
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Speaker 1: not able to determine it. But then they further investigated
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Speaker 1: this and there was a person dressed in all black
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Speaker 1: and they had a hood covering up their face. Play stop,
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Speaker 1: stop right there, Play stop, Cheryl mccollin, Director, Coal Case
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Speaker 1: Research Institute. Can you just surprise me one time? Can
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Speaker 1: you not be having an affair with your secretary or
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Speaker 1: your assistant? Can you not be having an affair with
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Speaker 1: your husband's with your best friend the husband having affair
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Speaker 1: with your best friend? Can you not dress up like
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Speaker 1: a ninja all in black? Do you remember jovi Arius
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Speaker 1: what she said? Ninja's dressed all in black came and
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Speaker 1: attacked me and Travison I lived and they stabbed him
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Speaker 1: twenty nine times and shot him. What's what the ninja? Cheryl?
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Speaker 1: You know NANSA A lot of times people get what
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Speaker 1: they think about criminals off TV, and this is so classic.
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Speaker 1: I'm gonna hide my identity by dressing and all black
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Speaker 1: and cover my head without it, and you know what
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Speaker 1: that says to me. It's so not random. It's so
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Speaker 1: not random, because if some PERV broke in on her
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Speaker 1: while she's at home tapping away on her social media
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Speaker 1: and let's just say rapes and kills her and wants
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Speaker 1: to get rid of the car. Number one would not
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Speaker 1: dress all in black like Ninja, would still have on
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Speaker 1: their regular random burglary clothes. Maybe pull the cap down
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Speaker 1: that works, but then go to a parking lot and
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Speaker 1: park her car. That is somebody that knows she goes
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Speaker 1: to that Kroger. I bet you money, Cheryl McCollum. Well,
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Speaker 1: not just that, Nancy. What confirms me a little bit
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Speaker 1: is the time of day. It is seven thirty no no, no, no, no, wait,
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Speaker 1: hold on, seven thirty five is when she gets back
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Speaker 1: home from dropping off the daughter. And according to Levi
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Speaker 1: page unless he is about to be barbecued, but good,
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Speaker 1: three hours pass and then she drops the Highlander off.
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Speaker 1: Is that right leg? Around ten fifty is when the
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Speaker 1: Highlander is seen going into this stripmall parking lot. But Nancy,
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Speaker 1: for me, okay, so you can't even are you even
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Speaker 1: selling beer at Clancy's tavern at what did you say,
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Speaker 1: ten thirty eleven o'clock in the morning? What time exactly, Levi,
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Speaker 1: Ten fifty two is when it pulled in. You can't
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Speaker 1: even go into tavern and get a beer at ten
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Speaker 1: fifty two. Is that right? You're the expert. Okay, yeah,
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Speaker 1: so unless they're having brunch in there, what jump in
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Speaker 1: Cheryl McCollums. Again, my concern is the seven thirty five
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Speaker 1: that she gets home. You would think, okay, she's going
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Speaker 1: to peddle around a little bit and then get ready
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Speaker 1: to go to work. So what occurs between seven thirty
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Speaker 1: and ten thirty is what is so critical this person.
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Speaker 1: If they took her part to drop any clancy means
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Speaker 1: they walked to her house or didn't have a vehicle
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Speaker 1: of their own. Point, I've got a little info on that.
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Speaker 1: Let's listen to WHIOTV seven. This is Cheryl McHenry. October two.
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Speaker 1: Detective say Cheryl left her house on Christie Avenue about
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Speaker 1: seven fifteen, dropped off her daughter at Stevens High School,
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Speaker 1: then got back home around seven thirty five. She spent
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Speaker 1: the next few minutes sharing posts on Facebook about a
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Speaker 1: seven forty five that morning. Pretty much everything electronically with
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Speaker 1: her just stopped. Three hours later, surveillance video shows Cheryl's
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Speaker 1: SUV driving into the Kroger parking lot at Spinning in Burkhart,
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Speaker 1: less than a mile from her home. It isn't clear
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Speaker 1: who was driving that the pit of my stomach something
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Speaker 1: hurt and I knew something wasn't right. Margie Keenan called
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Speaker 1: Riverside police to report her sister missing after Cheryl's daughter
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Speaker 1: couldn't reach her. She wouldn't never, never be gone without
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Speaker 1: calling her fifteen year old daughter, but the family wasn't
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Speaker 1: alarmed until Cheryl's suv was found the next night, with
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Speaker 1: her purse and cell phone Inside Crime Stories with Nancy Grace,
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Speaker 1: guys are talking about a missing mom, cheryld Cocher and
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Speaker 1: in the last hours, a major break in the case.
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Speaker 1: Take a listen now to w d excuse me, take
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Speaker 1: a listen now to w d T and TV news
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Speaker 1: reporter Dana Smith. Coker's car was discovered right here in
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Speaker 1: this parking lot that I'm standing in, and it was
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Speaker 1: picked up by these security cameras right here behind me.
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Speaker 1: You're driving into the lot. However, the cameras did not
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Speaker 1: pick up who exactly was inside the car and what
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Speaker 1: happened to them. Cheryl Cocker's car was discovered in a
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Speaker 1: parking lot near Clancy's tavern. Her cellphone and purse were
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Speaker 1: still inside the car, but she was nowhere to be found.
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Speaker 1: We were in the back unloading a truck, so if
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Speaker 1: EI happened right up front, Cocker's arrival to the shopping
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Speaker 1: plaza was picked up by Joe Brumley's security cameras. One
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Speaker 1: camera was set to record constantly. One camera, which was
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Speaker 1: actually Clancy's camera, was set to only motion record, so
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Speaker 1: when the car pulled in, there's a few seconds where
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Speaker 1: they don't get out of the car and there's no
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Speaker 1: movement on the screen, the record is shut off. In
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Speaker 1: this surveillance video, Cocker's car can be seen driving down
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Speaker 1: Spinning Road before entering the back of the parking lot
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Speaker 1: and pulling into a parking space and stopping. But because
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Speaker 1: there wasn't enough motion on the screen, the motion activated
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Speaker 1: cameras don't pick up who left the car. You know,
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Speaker 1: another issue I'd like to find out. Let me know
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Speaker 1: if you know leave iPad age Crime online dot Com
12:01
Speaker 1: investigative reporter was where she parked in a parking lot
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Speaker 1: Because when I hear that a woman not in her
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Speaker 1: exercise clothes parked the last spot away from the Macy's
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Speaker 1: or the Walmart or whatever and walked the whole way
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Speaker 1: in in oh somebody else parked that car there. That's
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Speaker 1: just my gut reactions. So if you know that jump
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Speaker 1: in LEVI guys, Jackie tells me this happened on a
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Speaker 1: Tuesday morning. And an answer to your question, Cheryl McCollum,
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Speaker 1: everything goes dead at seven forty five am. No more posting,
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Speaker 1: no more cell phone, no transactions, no Amazon shopping, no PayPal,
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Speaker 1: no eBay, no nothing, seven forty five and then at
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Speaker 1: ten thirty somebody's dropping off her highlander. It's over. It's
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Speaker 1: over in about two and a half hours, I leaf
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Speaker 1: she's dead again. That's my window, Cheryl McCullum. That's the
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Speaker 1: concern that tells me that whatever happened to her happened
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Speaker 1: to her almost immediately at her home. It was quit.
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Speaker 1: Whoever took her car. It might have taken them an
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Speaker 1: hour to get her out of the house. It might
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Speaker 1: have taken her, you know, them more time to disguise themselves.
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Speaker 1: But that is so critical to me that again, almost
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Speaker 1: immediately that she arrived home, something bad happened. Sorry, and
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Speaker 1: take a listen to how her car is found by
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Speaker 1: her daughter, not by police, not by her husband, by
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Speaker 1: her daughter. Here's Chris said Escod WDTM. Sheryl Cooker's daughter
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Speaker 1: tells me she used to find my iPhone app on
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Speaker 1: her phone to try to track down her mother's cell phone,
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Speaker 1: and that led her to this parking lot behind me
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Speaker 1: on Burkhardt Road, where she found her mother's car with
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Speaker 1: that cell phone and purse locked inside. She tells me
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Speaker 1: that discovery alone was disturbing since her mother doesn't often
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Speaker 1: visit the businesses on this side of the Strip Mall.
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Speaker 1: She's always been there for both me and my Sister's
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Speaker 1: just hard not having her After a week with few answers,
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Speaker 1: Marissa Coker says it's hard to think about the possibilities
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Speaker 1: of what could have happened to her mother. Forty six
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Speaker 1: year old Sheryl Coker. Police say Coker was last seen
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Speaker 1: the morning of October second, dropping her other daughter off
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Speaker 1: at school. Marissa says she last saw her mom the
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Speaker 1: night before she went missing. I was there for about
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Speaker 1: three hours. We were having a good time, listening to
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Speaker 1: music and everything. You know. I want to go to
14:39
Speaker 1: doctor Bethany Marshall Psycholis joining me out of Beverly Hills.
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Speaker 1: Doctor Bethany, there's just something about a violent felony. First
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Speaker 1: thing in the morning. I remember trying to raust witnesses,
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Speaker 1: locate witnesses, get their statements, and I would go to
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Speaker 1: hike crime areas first thing in the morning because I
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Speaker 1: knew you that'll be asleep from partying and committing evil
15:08
Speaker 1: all night long. So I would wait. I'd get there,
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Speaker 1: get in position, and they'll bust up in their bam
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Speaker 1: bam bam about seven thirty in the morning. It worked
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Speaker 1: because they're all asleep. I find there's something twisty about
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Speaker 1: committing a murderer or a kidnap or a ray at
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Speaker 1: seven forty five in the morning. Nancy, whoever did this,
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Speaker 1: had been contemplating it for some time. This was planned.
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Speaker 1: This was not random, as you said. The perp knew her,
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Speaker 1: who was she dating? Somebody was somebody stalking her, had
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Speaker 1: with Sara. Wait a minute, Bethany, I could see some
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Speaker 1: freaky dude. I mean commit anybody, delivery guy, amazon guy,
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Speaker 1: a construction worker, yard person that seizes her leave, dropping
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Speaker 1: her daughter off, maybe a do it before Caesar come back.
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Speaker 1: Come now, she's the one at that time in the morning,
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Speaker 1: and go in to try to write her or go
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Speaker 1: in and try to burgle, and then she comes back.
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Speaker 1: I could say that happening, But what messes that theory
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Speaker 1: up is hiding the car. So what happened in that car?
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Speaker 1: What happened in the car? Why would car need to
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Speaker 1: be hidden. I'm not a forensic expert, I'm a behavioral expert.
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Speaker 1: And what I will say is the guy dressed up
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Speaker 1: like a ninja is very interesting to me because sometimes
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Speaker 1: these criminals are what we call histrionic, which is the
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Speaker 1: clinical term for drama queen. They love sort of the
16:42
Speaker 1: suspense and the excitement, and you know, planning the crime,
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Speaker 1: planning it out is very exciting to them, and they
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Speaker 1: have this big plan in their head. And they dressed
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Speaker 1: like Tearla mccollins said, like a criminal that they've seen
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Speaker 1: on TV. But who in her life would match that
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Speaker 1: behavioral profile? Who was a drama queen, who was preoccupied
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Speaker 1: with her? Who if it was a delivery man, who
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Speaker 1: was the Amazon guy? Was there somebody who you know,
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Speaker 1: hung around the house and kept trying to talk to
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Speaker 1: her or was preoccupied with her. Whoever did this had
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Speaker 1: a big personality, that's all right? Trying to say, well,
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Speaker 1: you said, I'm quote just a psychoanalyst, Well you're anything
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Speaker 1: but doctor Bethany Marshall. But I do happen to have
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Speaker 1: a forensics expert in addition to Cheryl McCollum joining me,
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Speaker 1: Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University and author.
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Speaker 1: So what do you believe is the primary crime? Saying
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Speaker 1: the home or the car the vehicle is nothing more
17:45
Speaker 1: than a methodology of transporting her. That home is where
17:51
Speaker 1: everything went down. And and you know, back to what
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Speaker 1: Cheryl was saying earlier, you know you've got this window
17:58
Speaker 1: that you're dealing with in time. It almost smacks to
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Speaker 1: me that someone was laying in wait for her as
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Speaker 1: she arrived back at home. And I think from an
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Speaker 1: evidentiary standpoint, from an examination, you've been in the business
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Speaker 1: way too long, Joe Scott. When you're imagining somebody hiding
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Speaker 1: in the bushes, lying in wait, if you're going down
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Speaker 1: the random rapist road, lying in the bushes, not lying
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Speaker 1: in wait in the bushes, I think somebody's in her
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Speaker 1: house and they are waiting for her to show up,
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Speaker 1: and then they took her out and put her in
18:36
Speaker 1: that vehicle and transported her away. That's the only well
18:40
Speaker 1: catch this, And I want your expertise on this because
18:45
Speaker 1: suddenly the investigation changes. Take a listen to wt w
18:52
Speaker 1: DTV TV. I'm gonna start that over w dt N
18:57
Speaker 1: TV two news reporter Adam Roy. They're now treating this
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Speaker 1: as a homicide investigation. There's a lot of information that
19:04
Speaker 1: we cannot discuss a homicide, but still no body in
19:07
Speaker 1: the missing person's case that's gripped in Miami Valley since October.
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Speaker 1: William Coker, Cheryl's husband, as our one and only suspect
19:15
Speaker 1: at this time, Please say, William Coker has been largely
19:18
Speaker 1: indifferent to the investigation, showing little interest and finding out
19:21
Speaker 1: what happened to the woman he married nineteen years ago.
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Speaker 1: So one time in four and a half months, we've
19:26
Speaker 1: been contacted by mister Cookers in regards to Cheryl's whereabouts,
19:31
Speaker 1: you know, concerning whether enough she's even alive, where she at.
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Speaker 1: We have asked mister Coker to take a polygraph at
19:40
Speaker 1: this current time, after multiple request for a polygraph, mister
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Speaker 1: Coker is reluctant to do so. At this time. I
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Speaker 1: can't wait to find out what is it that they found?
19:52
Speaker 1: What evidence? Was it blood spatter? Was it? Well? What
19:56
Speaker 1: could it be that they found that suddenly turned this
19:58
Speaker 1: case on its head. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace to you,
20:18
Speaker 1: Jim Elliott, high profile lawyer with butler Snow, what do
20:24
Speaker 1: do lawyers tell their clients how to behave? Because or
20:29
Speaker 1: maybe they should because showing absolutely no interest and the
20:34
Speaker 1: disappearance of your wife, that's a problem. No interest in
20:40
Speaker 1: four months the husband calls what maybe once and almost
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Speaker 1: four and a half months. I mean, can't you just
20:50
Speaker 1: teach them to pretend they care? Well, Jim Elliott, you're
20:55
Speaker 1: the little defense lawyer. Well, I mean there are other
20:59
Speaker 1: great are experts on here than me people's behavior, but
21:06
Speaker 1: a client cannot cannot become something they're not concerned carrying
21:11
Speaker 1: that apathetic whatever it is they are. Well, that's true.
21:13
Speaker 1: That's going to show after this long and actually in
21:16
Speaker 1: this case, they had just filed for divorce, so cops
21:23
Speaker 1: may have said, oh, he's totally faking it. He's calling
21:26
Speaker 1: every days in the middle of a divorce. He doesn't care,
21:29
Speaker 1: although just once in four months, Jim Elliot, Jim Elliott,
21:33
Speaker 1: do you remember does this name ring a bell to you?
21:35
Speaker 1: Scott Peterson absolutely remember that name. How turns out he
21:41
Speaker 1: was cheating on his pregnant wife, and everything about him
21:46
Speaker 1: just seemed fake. Every interview he gave, every statement he gave,
21:53
Speaker 1: he really didn't seem that interested in finding Lacy. Do
21:57
Speaker 1: you remember the big vigil that was held in the
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Speaker 1: park and at first he wasn't even speaking out her family,
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Speaker 1: her mom and stepdad were speaking out, not the husband.
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Speaker 1: I mean, that just smells bad, Jim Elliott. Certainly, words
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Speaker 1: are one thing, Nancy, but a person's demeanor tells an
22:16
Speaker 1: awful lot more about the man. You are so right
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Speaker 1: about that, Jim Elliott. Now, of course, in court, defense
22:26
Speaker 1: attorney's sad to say, like Jim Elliott, that's why he
22:29
Speaker 1: wins a lot of cases because he seems so earnest.
22:33
Speaker 1: But he's right about that. Gerard's look at the demeanor
22:37
Speaker 1: of a defendant, Cops look at the demeanor of a defendant,
22:42
Speaker 1: and he's right. If you try to get your client
22:45
Speaker 1: to fake it, that's not going to work either. In
22:48
Speaker 1: the last hours, a major break in the case. But
22:51
Speaker 1: I want you to first hear WHIOTV seven Mike Campbell
22:57
Speaker 1: speaking to the husband. Did you ever see Cheryl come
23:02
Speaker 1: back after dropping off? No, but I got up to
23:08
Speaker 1: for a few minutes and shootes in the shower. But
23:11
Speaker 1: I didn't see her, and this would have been after
23:13
Speaker 1: she dropped mkaal off. Yes, okay, so then, um, you
23:17
Speaker 1: didn't see her at that point, then did you go
23:19
Speaker 1: back to sleep and then when you woke back up
23:22
Speaker 1: she was gone. Yes, and her car was obviously then
23:25
Speaker 1: gone as well. So who do you think that is
23:29
Speaker 1: on camera at the Kroger lot park in that car
23:32
Speaker 1: and then walking away. I don't know. Someone from that,
23:40
Speaker 1: someone from that because she was meeting people and probably
23:44
Speaker 1: wanted me to think, you know, I don't know. I'm
23:48
Speaker 1: just cussing. Well, I don't know what I expected, but
23:52
Speaker 1: I got. I don't know. Right there, Cheryl McCallum. It's
23:57
Speaker 1: making my teeth hurt because no matter what time I
24:00
Speaker 1: get up in the morning today it was five o'clock
24:03
Speaker 1: in the morning, my husband is right there. What do
24:08
Speaker 1: you mean she gets up and takes the children to
24:10
Speaker 1: work to school, then she has typically goes to work
24:15
Speaker 1: and he's still laying in the bed idle hands the
24:22
Speaker 1: Devil's workshop. Go ahead and laugh, but that's the truth,
24:25
Speaker 1: Cheryl McCollum. He went back to sleep, well, he went
24:29
Speaker 1: back to sleep, so he doesn't have to have any memory.
24:31
Speaker 1: That's going to be his story. My concern starts when
24:35
Speaker 1: the sister has to report her missing again. He doesn't
24:39
Speaker 1: even report her to the police of missing. He shows
24:42
Speaker 1: no concern at all from the beginning. I don't care
24:46
Speaker 1: what's going on in that marriage. That woman was the
24:50
Speaker 1: mother of his child, and he should have been concerned
24:53
Speaker 1: enough for that child. You know, the girls were scared.
24:56
Speaker 1: I mean, this makes no sense that he's so lacks.
24:59
Speaker 1: Today's lit and his response to what's occurred. Guys, in
25:03
Speaker 1: the last hours, there has been a major break in
25:06
Speaker 1: the case. Take a listen to Greene County Sheriff Jane Fisher.
25:10
Speaker 1: The afternoon, about five thirty, we received a phone call
25:13
Speaker 1: from a resident on Waynesville Jamestown Road who was out
25:18
Speaker 1: mushroom hunting and found what appeared to be bones in
25:22
Speaker 1: the field. The officers went down, detectives were called out.
25:27
Speaker 1: We recovered several bones and a skull that after that
25:32
Speaker 1: evening and went back out to the scene today with BCI.
25:37
Speaker 1: The bones that were recovered were taken to the green
25:41
Speaker 1: County or the Montgomery County Crime Lab, and those bones
25:47
Speaker 1: were identified this afternoon as that of Cheryl Cocher listing
25:51
Speaker 1: out of Riverside. The remains, now skeletonized of Sheryl Cocher
25:56
Speaker 1: have been found. To Crime online dot Com investigative reporter
26:01
Speaker 1: Levi Page, what happened. So, this person was looking for
26:05
Speaker 1: mushroom in a remote wooded roll area fifteen minute drive
26:10
Speaker 1: from Cheryl's home, and they discovered her skull. It's about
26:14
Speaker 1: seventeen miles away from where she as a matter of fact,
26:17
Speaker 1: take a listen to w dt in two news reporter
26:22
Speaker 1: Kristen Esco. It's devastating, but yet when I talked to
26:26
Speaker 1: the family, it's, you know, it's a little bit of
26:29
Speaker 1: peace of mind right now because they at least they
26:33
Speaker 1: know where Cheryl is. David Raiders says he never gave
26:37
Speaker 1: up hope Cheryl Cooker would be found. He and his
26:40
Speaker 1: team from Texas Equa Search helped organize fourteen searches for Coker,
26:44
Speaker 1: the most recent one two weeks ago. He says they
26:47
Speaker 1: covered a lot of ground but never looked in the
26:50
Speaker 1: area along Waynesville Jamestown Road where a mushroom hunter found
26:54
Speaker 1: her remains Saturday evening. I found some bones along the
26:58
Speaker 1: side of the road. Okay, well, actually we're in clue.
27:02
Speaker 1: We probably went out ten to twelve miles in every direction,
27:06
Speaker 1: and from what I understand, this was probably anywhere from
27:10
Speaker 1: seventeen to twenty miles from her resident to Joe Scott
27:15
Speaker 1: Morgan joining me, Professor of Forensics Jacksonall State University. What
27:19
Speaker 1: does the location and the manner in which Cheryl's skeletonized
27:24
Speaker 1: remains are found tell you about the killer's mo Well,
27:28
Speaker 1: the fact is is that this is an isolated location.
27:32
Speaker 1: But yet but yet it's still within an easily drivable distance.
27:37
Speaker 1: You know, you can make that trip in that period
27:40
Speaker 1: of time from when she last was seen or last
27:44
Speaker 1: known to be on her social media until we see
27:46
Speaker 1: that car being parked, and that's significant. We're only talking
27:50
Speaker 1: fifteen to seventeen miles away from her home. And this
27:53
Speaker 1: is also an area that individuals around this particular town
27:58
Speaker 1: would probably be at least passing familiar with. You know,
28:01
Speaker 1: they know that there is a wooded area, they know
28:04
Speaker 1: that there's a rural area where something could kind of
28:07
Speaker 1: lay up in an obscure way, and yet there's not
28:12
Speaker 1: a lot of work there that you have to do.
28:14
Speaker 1: You know, from my understanding, Nancy, where these remains were fair.
28:18
Speaker 1: There was not even any evidence at all that a
28:22
Speaker 1: grave had been dug. And that's significant because the remains
28:26
Speaker 1: are laid on top of the ground. On top of
28:29
Speaker 1: the ground, we still have skelter remains, a skull, and
28:33
Speaker 1: we have clothing, and that's a big piece of this name. No,
28:37
Speaker 1: it's interesting about that. It's the first thing our producer,
28:40
Speaker 1: Brett said, was what idiot his words, not mine, would
28:46
Speaker 1: try to hide a body and leave identifiable clothing on it. Plus,
28:53
Speaker 1: if you have, especially any type of synthetic fiber, that
28:58
Speaker 1: is not going to deteriorate over time. Crime stories with
29:15
Speaker 1: Nancy Grace guys. In the last hours, there has been
29:20
Speaker 1: a major break in the case of missing mom Cheryl Coker.
29:26
Speaker 1: We now know that her remains have been found skeletonized
29:31
Speaker 1: in an isolated and wooded area. But the dichotomy remains
29:36
Speaker 1: that while her killer took her remains to this isolated
29:40
Speaker 1: area only found by people hunting from mushrooms in a
29:44
Speaker 1: densely wooded spot, the body was not buried straight back
29:49
Speaker 1: out to you, Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State.
29:53
Speaker 1: That tells me so much about my killer. Way in
29:57
Speaker 1: very quickly. Yeah. What it tells me is this was
30:01
Speaker 1: an area that had been identified for a dump location,
30:05
Speaker 1: but it was quickly done. We're gonna get this body
30:08
Speaker 1: from the roadway where we park on the side of
30:10
Speaker 1: the road perhaps, and we're gonna take this body out
30:13
Speaker 1: as far as we can humanly, take it away from
30:16
Speaker 1: anybody that could physically see it, and just lay it
30:18
Speaker 1: on the ground. And that's what this individual did. And
30:21
Speaker 1: what about the clothing. Clothing found with the remains has
30:25
Speaker 1: been turned over to a higher bureau criminal investigation. But
30:28
Speaker 1: hold on, I need to shrink on that other question,
30:31
Speaker 1: doctor Bethany. What does it tell you that the prop
30:33
Speaker 1: takes the body that far out and then doesn't bother
30:38
Speaker 1: to bury it? Nanthe you could do one of two things.
30:41
Speaker 1: It could be complete and utter contempt for Cheryl Coker,
30:46
Speaker 1: because we know even the worst of criminals will place
30:49
Speaker 1: a blanket over the body, or they will bury it
30:52
Speaker 1: in a shallow grave, or there's an active decency at
30:55
Speaker 1: the very end. It's always so strange, but they do that.
30:59
Speaker 1: So this is complete and utter contempt. Or whatever happened
31:04
Speaker 1: to her was so quick, so violent, so unpremeditated in
31:10
Speaker 1: her home that the purp didn't even have a chance
31:13
Speaker 1: to prepare a dumped sight. I mean he just thought
31:15
Speaker 1: hastily of the most wooded area, the most remote dumped
31:19
Speaker 1: and then needed to get back to work or show
31:22
Speaker 1: up somewhere so that he would have an alibi as
31:25
Speaker 1: to win a ryl went missing. At crime online dot Com,
31:29
Speaker 1: you can actually see the video the body came footage
31:33
Speaker 1: from the cops where two male mushroom hunters lead them
31:37
Speaker 1: to the spot where they find Sheryl Coker's remains just
31:41
Speaker 1: lying out there to be attacked by animals to really
31:46
Speaker 1: showing contempt for her. The clothing found the remains turned
31:49
Speaker 1: over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation. What do
31:55
Speaker 1: you think, Sheryl McCollum, about the possibility that forensic evidence
31:59
Speaker 1: maybe found on that clothing. I don't think there's any
32:01
Speaker 1: question that's gonna be. You're gonna have a hair, you're
32:04
Speaker 1: gonna have in sales left from touch DNA. There's gonna
32:08
Speaker 1: be a lot of evidence owned back clothing. The most
32:11
Speaker 1: important thing is what was she wearing. Was she wearing
32:13
Speaker 1: the exact same clothing that she wore? Was she dropped
32:15
Speaker 1: a daughter off or is she already started to change
32:18
Speaker 1: clothes to go to work. Everything is going to be relevant.
32:21
Speaker 1: The most relevant thing on top of the forensic evidence
32:24
Speaker 1: is the manner of death. Was she stabbed? Was she strangled?
32:28
Speaker 1: Was she shot? Was she thankfully assaulted? All of these
32:32
Speaker 1: things are gonna give us a lot of answers. I
32:34
Speaker 1: don't know, Levi Page. Was she totally skeletonized? Is there
32:37
Speaker 1: any tissue left? Not tiss you left? She was totally skeletonized, Nancy,
32:42
Speaker 1: and the clothes were actually it was not distarted beside
32:45
Speaker 1: of her. The skeleton still had the clothes on it.
32:48
Speaker 1: I don't know why. That just struck me wrong. It's
32:50
Speaker 1: a grotesque picture just to think of. It's a horrible
32:55
Speaker 1: visual that her children are going to have to live
32:58
Speaker 1: with the rest of their life, their mother's body left
33:02
Speaker 1: out in a wooded area, practically on the side of
33:05
Speaker 1: the road, unburied until she's skeletonized. Joe Scott, what, if anything,
33:12
Speaker 1: do you believe what forensic evidence could possibly be attained
33:14
Speaker 1: from those clothes? Well, if there are any kind of tears, rips,
33:18
Speaker 1: or you know, we call them defects in the continuity
33:21
Speaker 1: of the clothes. Let's say a bullet has passed through
33:24
Speaker 1: the shirt might be able to find that if there
33:27
Speaker 1: is a slicing or cutting wound that might potentially be there, say,
33:31
Speaker 1: for instance, on the shirt, if there is any kind
33:34
Speaker 1: of blood staining, that might be there. But Nancy, keep
33:37
Speaker 1: in mind, this body's been out there for quite some time.
33:41
Speaker 1: I think up to eighteen months if I'm not mistaken,
33:44
Speaker 1: so evidence could potentially be greatly diminished. I think that
33:48
Speaker 1: for me, as a forensics guy, I really want to
33:53
Speaker 1: take a close look at the skeletal remains, particularly the head.
33:57
Speaker 1: We don't have any soft tissue to go on, and
33:59
Speaker 1: skeletal now remains are the most difficult to determine manner
34:03
Speaker 1: and cause of death with. Are there any defects in
34:06
Speaker 1: the skull, any fractures, any trauma that you know what's
34:09
Speaker 1: very very odd? LEVI page please describe for Jim Elliott,
34:17
Speaker 1: renowned attorney joining us about the one of the last
34:21
Speaker 1: texts that Cheryl Coker sent to a co worker. Yes, so,
34:25
Speaker 1: Cheryl filed for divorce September twenty feet and then September
34:29
Speaker 1: twenty fourth, she was texting with a coworker and she said,
34:33
Speaker 1: I'll be in if I'm not dead, I'll see you
34:36
Speaker 1: tomorrow if I'm not dead, So why'll you marinate and
34:43
Speaker 1: that text? Jim Elliott, what's your advice? What would you
34:49
Speaker 1: have advised when the husband in midst of a divorce
34:53
Speaker 1: was asked to come take a polygraph? Now you and
34:57
Speaker 1: I know that unless it's stipulated ahead of time, a
35:00
Speaker 1: polygraph is not admissible in criminal court unlike civil court.
35:05
Speaker 1: Would you have advised him to take a polygraph or no?
35:08
Speaker 1: Jim Elliott resenting him, I would not, because, of course
35:11
Speaker 1: the value of a polygraph is that it leads to
35:14
Speaker 1: discovery of other evidence. Yes, there was some reason he
35:19
Speaker 1: didn't want other reverdence to be discovered. So you say, no,
35:23
Speaker 1: you agree with him not taking the polygraph if you
35:25
Speaker 1: were his client, I mean, if you were his lawyer. Okay,
35:28
Speaker 1: I'm sure if you were a cop you'd want of
35:30
Speaker 1: him to do otherwise. But I hear you. I mean, look,
35:34
Speaker 1: when they got oj Simpson to take a polygraph, you
35:35
Speaker 1: know he flunked at like a negative forty. It's horrible
35:39
Speaker 1: that didn't come into criminal court, did come into the
35:41
Speaker 1: civil case. So to doctor Bethany Marshall, what do you
35:44
Speaker 1: make of the text that Cheryl sent. Now, the defense
35:48
Speaker 1: is going to argue, hey, maybe she didn't send it.
35:51
Speaker 1: The alternative as somebody gets on her phone and sends
35:53
Speaker 1: a scary message that says, see you tomorrow if I'm
35:56
Speaker 1: not dead, leave. This is a really common story. Worry
36:00
Speaker 1: for women who are victims of domestic violence that they
36:04
Speaker 1: will let people know, and in particular coworkers. For some reason,
36:09
Speaker 1: I think a coworker is a person who's not in
36:12
Speaker 1: your inner circle. It's not like a mother or a
36:14
Speaker 1: sister or a brother that will go and confront the
36:17
Speaker 1: situation directly, but it is someone in your life to
36:20
Speaker 1: whom you're accountable and with whom there's predictability and regularity.
36:25
Speaker 1: So that person is the first person who's going to
36:28
Speaker 1: know if you've gone missing. Bethany, Bethanie, Yes, are you
36:33
Speaker 1: sitting down? You better lay down for this, Jackie, let's here.
36:38
Speaker 1: WHIOTV seven Cheryl McKinley. In the months leading up to
36:42
Speaker 1: her disappearance, there were a number of key developments in
36:45
Speaker 1: her personal life. Cheryl filed for divorce on September twenty first,
36:50
Speaker 1: seeking custody and alimony. Cheryl knew her husband had a girlfriend.
36:54
Speaker 1: Police have questioned both They've both been very cooperative with
36:58
Speaker 1: us at this point. And then there were suspicious texts.
37:01
Speaker 1: Bill Cocker's girlfriend told police Cheryl texted her on August
37:05
Speaker 1: twenty eighth, asking that if Cheryl were to die or
37:08
Speaker 1: wasn't in the picture, would she pursue a permanent relationship
37:11
Speaker 1: with Bill. It was reportedly sent by Cheryl, but we're
37:14
Speaker 1: not one hundred percent, and then says she actually did sing.
37:17
Speaker 1: Another text from Bill to Cheryl on September twenty fourth,
37:20
Speaker 1: thanks for putting the nail in my coffin, And that
37:23
Speaker 1: same day a text from Cheryl to a co worker,
37:26
Speaker 1: I will be in tomorrow if I'm not dead. And
37:28
Speaker 1: remember the trip to Florida Bill Coker had taken with
37:31
Speaker 1: his daughter. Police confirmed he took his girlfriend too, something
37:35
Speaker 1: Cheryl's best friend says, Cheryl could not have known. And
37:38
Speaker 1: I think that Mamma there would have came out if
37:41
Speaker 1: she would have known. That other woman, cherylm a column.
37:46
Speaker 1: Could you just tell me I'm missing one one key
37:49
Speaker 1: bit of information. Where's the indictment? Where's the indict problem.
37:53
Speaker 1: I'm with you, Nancy. This thing should have gone to
37:55
Speaker 1: grain jury a long time ago. As far as i'm concerned.
37:58
Speaker 1: The police have already said, not only is he a suspect,
38:02
Speaker 1: he's the only suspect. Guys, we wait as justice unfolds
38:07
Speaker 1: for this mom. Cheryl Cocher Nancy Gray's crime story, signing
38:12
Speaker 1: off goodbye friend,