Latest / Gone Cold - Texas True Crime / Shaunte Coleman, Terri Reyes, and the Bad Cop
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: Gone Call podcasts may contain violent or graphic subject matter.
- 0:05Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. Deprivation of rights under color of
- 0:11Speaker 1: law is a federal statute that makes it a crime
- 0:14Speaker 1: for any person, acting under color of law, usually a
- 0:18Speaker 1: law enforcement officer, to wilfully deprive from any person the rights, privileges,
- 0:24Speaker 1: or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution and laws
- 0:29Speaker 1: of the United States of America. Even conduct that occurs
- 0:33Speaker 1: off duty can fall under the color of law statute.
- 0:37Speaker 1: The FBI is generally the lead investigative agency in such cases,
- 0:42Speaker 1: most of which fall into one of five categories, deprivation
- 0:47Speaker 1: of property, failure to keep from harm, false arrest and
- 0:51Speaker 1: or fabrication of evidence, excessive force, and sexual assault. In
- 0:58Speaker 1: March of two thousand five, thirty three year old Jacksonville,
- 1:02Speaker 1: Texas police officer Larry Pugh pulled his cruiser over and
- 1:06Speaker 1: offered a woman who was walking home from her friend's house,
- 1:10Speaker 1: a courtesy ride. The officer was on duty, he was
- 1:14Speaker 1: in uniform and armed. The woman accepted the ride Instead
- 1:20Speaker 1: of driving her home. However, officer Pugh drove the woman
- 1:24Speaker 1: to a dark, abandoned trailer house and raped her. Then
- 1:28Speaker 1: he drove her back to the neighborhood where he picked
- 1:30Speaker 1: her up because she wished to speak with Detective Tanya
- 1:35Speaker 1: Harris only. The woman's official statement wasn't given for months,
- 1:40Speaker 1: but a few days after it was on October twenty first,
- 1:44Speaker 1: two thousand and five, Pew was suspended with pay from
- 1:47Speaker 1: the Jacksonville Police Department pending further investigation. Pugh, a husband
- 1:53Speaker 1: and father of four young children, had been under scrutiny
- 1:57Speaker 1: since Police Chief Mark Johnson caught win if possible misconduct
- 2:02Speaker 1: in Jacksonville, a city of around fourteen thousand residents. At
- 2:06Speaker 1: the time, Rumors of Officer Pugh committing multiple sexual assaults
- 2:11Speaker 1: were rampant in certain circles. Chief Johnson contacted the Cherokee
- 2:16Speaker 1: County District Attorney's office, who then launched the investigation. After
- 2:21Speaker 1: collecting substantial evidence that Larry Pugh had committed several crimes,
- 2:26Speaker 1: crimes that fell under the deprivation of rights under Color
- 2:29Speaker 1: of Law statute, Chief Johnson turned over the investigation to
- 2:34Speaker 1: the FBI. Everything happened fast. Pew was indicted, arrested, and
- 2:40Speaker 1: arraigned on February eighth, two thousand and six. FBI Senior
- 2:45Speaker 1: Agent Peter Gowbrath announced the charges to reporters, stating that
- 2:50Speaker 1: while acting as a police officer, he is charged with
- 2:53Speaker 1: sexually assaulting five women. During his arraignment, Larry Pugh, dressed
- 3:00Speaker 1: in his civilian clothes and shackled at the ankles and wrists.
- 3:04Speaker 1: Requested a court appointed attorney, affirmed that he understood the
- 3:09Speaker 1: charges against him and entered a plea of not guilty.
- 3:13Speaker 1: I know there are rumors about me all over town,
- 3:16Speaker 1: but they're not true, he insisted. I know people say
- 3:20Speaker 1: that I stop people and then sexually assault them, and
- 3:23Speaker 1: that's not true. Because bodily harm could not be proven.
- 3:28Speaker 1: All five counts against him were considered misdemeanors, and after
- 3:33Speaker 1: the proceedings, Pew was released on an unsecured five thousand
- 3:37Speaker 1: dollars bond. If convicted at trial, the man faced a
- 3:41Speaker 1: steep monetary fine. Prison time was a possibility, a maximum
- 3:47Speaker 1: of one year per count, followed by a maximum one
- 3:50Speaker 1: year of supervision, but because the charges were only misdemeanors,
- 3:55Speaker 1: no one in town expected much more than a slap
- 3:57Speaker 1: on the wrist. Upon him arrest by the FBI, Police
- 4:02Speaker 1: Chief Mark Johnson terminated the disgraced policeman, effective immediately. The
- 4:08Speaker 1: following April, Officer Pugh was back before US Magistrate John Love.
- 4:14Speaker 1: Three of the original charges had been dropped, US District
- 4:18Speaker 1: Attorney Alan Jackson explained, but another charge for sexual assault
- 4:23Speaker 1: was added three counts of deprivation of rights under color
- 4:27Speaker 1: of law. All misdemeanors, however, weren't the only charges being pursued,
- 4:33Speaker 1: because they were alleging Pugh made a false statement when
- 4:37Speaker 1: he said he never had sex with anyone while on duty.
- 4:41Speaker 1: The federal charge of making a false statement to Federal
- 4:44Speaker 1: Bureau of Investigation officials was also added. For that, he
- 4:49Speaker 1: faced an even steeper fine and five years in prison. Again,
- 4:54Speaker 1: he pleaded not guilty to all charges. The case against
- 5:00Speaker 1: Officer Larry Pugh trudged forward as the Jacksonville Police Department
- 5:04Speaker 1: itself was the subject of an entirely different investigation, But
- 5:09Speaker 1: eventually the talk of the town, the whispers that echoed
- 5:13Speaker 1: through the piney woods, turned to the disappearances of two
- 5:16Speaker 1: women connected to the investigation of the policemen, Terry Renee
- 5:21Speaker 1: Reyes and Chante Monet Coleman. In early two thousand and six,
- 5:51Speaker 1: the city of Jacksonville hired independent contractor Bill Rathburn to
- 5:56Speaker 1: conduct a review of their police department. Was the second
- 6:00Speaker 1: such review of the department, and the first eventually led
- 6:04Speaker 1: to the suspension of the police chief. When the review
- 6:08Speaker 1: was complete. The report, released on May one, two thousand
- 6:12Speaker 1: and six, was scathing. Rathburn concluded that the department should
- 6:17Speaker 1: permanently oust Chief Mark Johnson, who he said has failed
- 6:22Speaker 1: to provide the necessary leadership and direction that the members
- 6:26Speaker 1: of the police department need to effectively protect and serve
- 6:30Speaker 1: the city of Jacksonville. The patrol Division officer Larry Pugh's
- 6:35Speaker 1: division lacked knowledge of any goals or priorities, Rathburn wrote,
- 6:41Speaker 1: as far as Pugh was concerned. The report added that
- 6:45Speaker 1: problems as alleged in that case can and do often
- 6:49Speaker 1: occur when there are the management and supervision failures and
- 6:53Speaker 1: weaknesses seen in the Jacksonville Police Department. Johnson was fired
- 7:00Speaker 1: as the legal team prepared. In the meantime, Larry Pugh's
- 7:04Speaker 1: lawyers filed to have the case moved to November instead
- 7:07Speaker 1: of July, and the judge allowed it. Pugh remained free
- 7:11Speaker 1: on bond, and on August sixth, two thousand and six,
- 7:15Speaker 1: he executed a plan a plan in which the intended
- 7:19Speaker 1: outcome was either severe intimidation or murder. While driving his
- 7:25Speaker 1: personal vehicle, a van, Pugh located the woman who had
- 7:29Speaker 1: reported he raped her the previous year. Like on the
- 7:33Speaker 1: night of the rape, he approached his victim while she
- 7:36Speaker 1: was walking and offered her a ride. Pugh apparently thought
- 7:41Speaker 1: his sunglasses were a sufficient disguise, but the woman recognized
- 7:45Speaker 1: his voice right away. She began moving away from him.
- 7:49Speaker 1: He stopped the van, exited and approached her from behind.
- 7:54Speaker 1: When he caught up, Pugh slung his belt around the
- 7:57Speaker 1: woman's neck. She struggled to break free but couldn't, and
- 8:02Speaker 1: he began dragging her toward his vehicle. The belt snapped,
- 8:06Speaker 1: and the woman sprinted to a nearby friend's house to
- 8:09Speaker 1: escape the former policeman. There she called the Jacksonville Police
- 8:14Speaker 1: to report the incident. Peugh, of course fled the scene,
- 8:18Speaker 1: but he was apprehended and arrested shortly thereafter. He was
- 8:23Speaker 1: charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and retaliation
- 8:28Speaker 1: against a witness. The following month, Larry Pugh entered into
- 8:32Speaker 1: a plea bargain for the federal charges. On September twenty eighth,
- 8:37Speaker 1: two thousand and six, he pleaded guilty to two counts
- 8:40Speaker 1: of rape on two separate occasions with two different women.
- 8:45Speaker 1: The charges fell under the color of Law statute. Pugh
- 8:48Speaker 1: also pleaded guilty to the retaliation charge. When US Magistrate
- 8:54Speaker 1: John Love asked, are you pleading guilty because you are
- 8:58Speaker 1: in fact guilty? Pew's reply was free from ambiguity, yes, sir,
- 9:03Speaker 1: he said. However, after the proceedings, Larry Pugh released the
- 9:09Speaker 1: following statement to the press. Quote, My decision to enter
- 9:13Speaker 1: into a plea agreement with the federal government has nothing
- 9:16Speaker 1: to do with guilt or innocence. If it did, I
- 9:19Speaker 1: would have readily accepted the prior offer of one year
- 9:22Speaker 1: presented six months ago. The media has previously and wrongly
- 9:27Speaker 1: reported that I was pulling over women and sexually assaulting them.
- 9:31Speaker 1: That does not resemble the accusations or the truth my accuser.
- 9:36Speaker 1: My accusers one and all are crack addicted prostitutes who will, undoubtedly,
- 9:43Speaker 1: even after my eventual release, remain as such, My decision
- 9:47Speaker 1: was based solely on the best interest and welfare of
- 9:51Speaker 1: my family, particularly my four young children. As a police officer,
- 9:56Speaker 1: I am presumed guilty until proven innocent plus in addition
- 10:00Speaker 1: to the thirty years to life sentence the prosecutors were seeking.
- 10:04Speaker 1: There were insinuations that I would continue to be investigated
- 10:08Speaker 1: as well as my family until I bowed to the
- 10:11Speaker 1: political pressure of the federal government to serve up an example,
- 10:16Speaker 1: signed Larry pew end Quote. The disgraced former police officer,
- 10:22Speaker 1: it seems, was unable to take responsibility for any of
- 10:26Speaker 1: his depraved acts, even with the knowledge that he'd be
- 10:29Speaker 1: spending the next twelve years behind bars, one year for
- 10:34Speaker 1: each of the color of law charges that stuck, and
- 10:37Speaker 1: another ten years for the retaliation against a witness charge.
- 10:42Speaker 1: Even his mother and sister flocked to the press with
- 10:45Speaker 1: proclamations of innocence and plea deal railroading. There's not a
- 10:50Speaker 1: violent bone in his body, his sister said. Not only
- 10:55Speaker 1: was he innocent of these charges, they believed, but he
- 10:58Speaker 1: also had nothing to do with the disappearances of two
- 11:01Speaker 1: women who were set to testify against him at trial.
- 11:15Speaker 1: Thirty seven year old Terry Renee Troublefield. Reyes had recently
- 11:20Speaker 1: relapsed back into drugs in May of two thousand and six.
- 11:25Speaker 1: Still she kept tabs on her three kids, ages eleven, fifteen,
- 11:29Speaker 1: and nineteen, and was described as a good mother on
- 11:33Speaker 1: May twenty sixth, two thousand and six. In fact, Terry
- 11:37Speaker 1: was due at her oldest child's high school graduation ceremony
- 11:41Speaker 1: in nearby Athens. May twenty first, two thousand and six, however,
- 11:46Speaker 1: was the last time anyone saw her, though she bounced
- 11:51Speaker 1: back and forth here and there. Terry was known to
- 11:54Speaker 1: have been in Jacksonville during that time, but she spent
- 11:57Speaker 1: plenty of her time in Athens. According to Terry's mother, Brenda,
- 12:02Speaker 1: the Athens police seemed uninterested in investigating her disappearance, citing
- 12:08Speaker 1: her lifestyle as the primary reason. Besides, police Chief Michael
- 12:13Speaker 1: Hill said Terry wasn't even living in Athens at the
- 12:17Speaker 1: time of her disappearance, and even though it was out
- 12:20Speaker 1: of their jurisdiction. They helped Terry's mother get her on
- 12:23Speaker 1: state and national missing persons databases. She was entered into
- 12:28Speaker 1: both the National Crime Information Center or NCIC and Texas
- 12:33Speaker 1: Crime Information Center or TCIC. On August eighth, two thousand
- 12:39Speaker 1: and six, Brenda put up missing persons flyers at places
- 12:43Speaker 1: she was known to frequent in both Athens and Jacksonville.
- 12:47Speaker 1: Aside from the fact that the Athens police were reluctant
- 12:51Speaker 1: to investigate Terry's disappearance due to her lifestyle. She was
- 12:55Speaker 1: involved in the case against former police officer Larry Pew
- 13:00Speaker 1: as a witness. In fact, in his first indictment, Pugh
- 13:04Speaker 1: was described as sexually assaulting someone with the initials TR,
- 13:09Speaker 1: but in later indictments and after Terry disappeared, those initials
- 13:14Speaker 1: are not used again. It's unclear if the Jacksonville police
- 13:18Speaker 1: were any more interested in investigating the case, even knowing
- 13:22Speaker 1: Terry Rayes was to be a witness against Pew in
- 13:26Speaker 1: the trial. The department is quoted as saying Terry didn't
- 13:29Speaker 1: have a Jacksonville address at that time. Whatever the case,
- 13:34Speaker 1: there is no evidence in the press that suggests anyone
- 13:38Speaker 1: was actively investigating. So Brenda went to the local newspaper,
- 13:42Speaker 1: the Jacksonville Daily Progress, with the hope that they could help.
- 13:47Speaker 1: She told them that Terry had mentioned being at Pugh's
- 13:50Speaker 1: house before Brenda told her daughter to forget about it,
- 13:54Speaker 1: she said, but added that Terry wasn't worried, presumably meaning
- 13:59Speaker 1: worried about testifying. The article, released on February seventeenth, two
- 14:04Speaker 1: thousand and seven, detailed the facts that Terry vanished and
- 14:08Speaker 1: that her family fears it has something to do with
- 14:11Speaker 1: Larry Pew, and also detailed the story of another missing
- 14:15Speaker 1: woman named Chante. Monette Tally Coleman. Twenty five year old
- 14:21Speaker 1: Chante grew up in Smith County, Texas, in the small
- 14:25Speaker 1: community of Saint Louis, there where she regularly attended the
- 14:29Speaker 1: local Baptist church and sang in the youth choir. She
- 14:33Speaker 1: was the mother of two children, but her story, according
- 14:36Speaker 1: to Chante's grandmother, Margaret, became complicated in Jacksonville. As an adult, Chante,
- 14:43Speaker 1: like Terry, Reyes, had issues with drug addiction. Chante was
- 14:49Speaker 1: last heard from on July second, two thousand and six,
- 14:52Speaker 1: when she spoke with her grandmother about bringing flowers to
- 14:55Speaker 1: her mom's grave for her birthday, which was the following day.
- 15:00Speaker 1: Her mother had just died the previous May. When Chante
- 15:05Speaker 1: didn't show up to collect her birthday gift on August fourth,
- 15:09Speaker 1: Margaret began believing that something was wrong. Chante was reported
- 15:13Speaker 1: missing to the Jacksonville Police Department on August seventh, two
- 15:18Speaker 1: thousand and six. Like Terry's mother, Margaret feared her granddaughter
- 15:23Speaker 1: was the victim of a retaliatory act by Larry Pugh.
- 15:27Speaker 1: Chante was a potential witness against the man. She's reported
- 15:31Speaker 1: as having made allegations of rape against him. In the
- 15:36Speaker 1: Daily Progress article, Jacksonville Chief of Police Rhyes Daniel brushes
- 15:41Speaker 1: off the notion that Pugh could be involved in Terry
- 15:44Speaker 1: or Chante's disappearances. He was aware of the speculation, he said,
- 15:49Speaker 1: but there exists no evidence that connects Pugh to either
- 15:53Speaker 1: of the cases. Chief Daniel told the reporter he was
- 15:57Speaker 1: concerned the public would jump to conclusion, but there was
- 16:01Speaker 1: simply nothing that indicated Pugh's involvement. However, he was out
- 16:06Speaker 1: on bond at the time of both disappearances, and neither
- 16:10Speaker 1: woman was reported missing until early August. After Pew had
- 16:14Speaker 1: assaulted his rape victim by wrapping a belt around her
- 16:17Speaker 1: neck and attempting to drag her to his van. Word
- 16:22Speaker 1: was put out in Jacksonville that if anybody testified, they'd
- 16:25Speaker 1: be dead. Those girls on the streets Chante was involved
- 16:29Speaker 1: with them. Her grandmother, Margaret, told the newspaper. One girl
- 16:33Speaker 1: he tried to apprehend by putting a belt around her neck.
- 16:37Speaker 1: I don't know if she knows that girl. According to
- 16:40Speaker 1: the Tyler Morning Telegraph. After he was suspended, Pew filed
- 16:45Speaker 1: a Freedom of Information Act request asking for more detailed
- 16:49Speaker 1: information on the thirty six women he'd arrested while an
- 16:52Speaker 1: active officer. Terry Rayes's name was on that list, though
- 16:57Speaker 1: the information request was denied by the department, apparently as
- 17:02Speaker 1: the cases were ongoing at the time. The connection that
- 17:06Speaker 1: Chante Coleman and Terry Rayes had to Pew, Chief Daniel
- 17:10Speaker 1: said certainly added a note of urgency to the missing
- 17:14Speaker 1: women's cases. He just worried that if folks continued to speculate,
- 17:19Speaker 1: the law man continued, it might make them hesitant to
- 17:23Speaker 1: come forward with more information. Both women also had a
- 17:28Speaker 1: connection to one another. After the disappearances, a man named
- 17:33Speaker 1: Alvin Boykin came forward and spoke to the newspaper in
- 17:36Speaker 1: nearby Tyler. According to the Tyler Morning Telegraph, Boykin said
- 17:42Speaker 1: his home was a sort of shelter that was offered
- 17:45Speaker 1: to anyone who needed a place to crash. Not only
- 17:49Speaker 1: was Chante Coleman a regular at Boykin's place, but Terry
- 17:52Speaker 1: Rayes was two the women, the Tyler Morning Telegraph said,
- 17:58Speaker 1: knew each other. The police were less than convinced there
- 18:02Speaker 1: was a connection between Chante and Terry. Both women, according
- 18:07Speaker 1: to police, were known to be out of sight for
- 18:10Speaker 1: a week or two at a time, though that didn't
- 18:13Speaker 1: explain the much longer time period that had elapsed since
- 18:16Speaker 1: they disappeared. It was Terry's addiction to drugs they seemed
- 18:21Speaker 1: to believe that led to her disappearance, while they blamed
- 18:25Speaker 1: Chante's so called transient lifestyle on hers. They'd heard she
- 18:30Speaker 1: had gone to Longview or possibly Louisiana. Truth was, she
- 18:36Speaker 1: was nowhere near either. On Saturday, September two, two thousand
- 18:42Speaker 1: and six, Labor Day weekend, in San Augustine County near Broadus,
- 18:47Speaker 1: two deer hunters came upon a human skull. They immediately
- 18:51Speaker 1: called authorities. The area, about one hundred and seventy five
- 18:56Speaker 1: yards north of Forest Service Road three hundred west, was
- 19:00Speaker 1: heavily wooded, a protected area of the Angelina National Forest,
- 19:05Speaker 1: not far from the town of Broadus, the town where
- 19:08Speaker 1: former Jacksonville policeman and convicted felon Larry Pugh is from There,
- 19:14Speaker 1: Saint Augustine County Sheriff's officials and Texas Rangers recovered more
- 19:19Speaker 1: remains about eighty percent of a human body. No clothing
- 19:24Speaker 1: was found on or near the bones. For that reason,
- 19:28Speaker 1: Lawman believed foul play was involved from the get go.
- 19:33Speaker 1: After examination, anthropologists determined the estimated date of death as
- 19:38Speaker 1: June first, two thousand and six. Though a forensic artist
- 19:42Speaker 1: built up the face around the skull, the body remained
- 19:46Speaker 1: unidentified until on June sixth, two thousand and seven, DNA
- 19:52Speaker 1: determined the body belonged to Terry Reyes on a cold
- 19:55Speaker 1: hit with Terry found her body left in a remote
- 20:01Speaker 1: area where whoever dumped her there knew she would not
- 20:04Speaker 1: be found for some time, if at all. It seemed
- 20:08Speaker 1: likely that Chante Coleman met the same fate. If the
- 20:12Speaker 1: two women were killed by the same person, law enforcement
- 20:16Speaker 1: surely wondered what were the chances they'd ever find Chante
- 20:32Speaker 1: as he looked into Officer Larry Pugh. Cherokee County District
- 20:36Speaker 1: Attorney's Office investigator Joe Evans spoke with at least two
- 20:40Speaker 1: dozen witnesses, which included both alleged victims of his and
- 20:45Speaker 1: those who substantiated their stories from pastors to police officers.
- 20:51Speaker 1: Pew purposely prayed on women who lived on the streets
- 20:54Speaker 1: and those who had legal issues or drug problems. He
- 20:58Speaker 1: prayed on the most vulnervnerable women he could find, Investigator
- 21:03Speaker 1: Evans said. According to one source, Pugh had even arrested
- 21:07Speaker 1: some women after he raped them. In addition to the
- 21:11Speaker 1: federal case against him, eight women had filed civil cases
- 21:16Speaker 1: against the thirty four year old former Jacksonville policeman before
- 21:20Speaker 1: two thousand and seven was over. All allegations were from
- 21:24Speaker 1: two thousand and five in two thousand and six, and
- 21:27Speaker 1: all women claimed Pugh raped them while he was on
- 21:30Speaker 1: duty or at least in uniform, and used things like
- 21:33Speaker 1: arrest warrants to make them comply. The rapes happened in
- 21:37Speaker 1: places like abandoned apartments, a cemetery, and the women's homes.
- 21:44Speaker 1: About one third of the victims had pending charges, one
- 21:47Speaker 1: third were on parole or probation, and the other third
- 21:51Speaker 1: had no criminal charges. Former police Chief Mark Johnson and
- 21:56Speaker 1: the city of Jacksonville itself were co defendants in the cases,
- 22:01Speaker 1: though US District Judge Michael Schneider found the plaintiff's evidence
- 22:06Speaker 1: insufficient to establish deliberate indifference. The charges against Johnson and
- 22:12Speaker 1: the City of Jacksonville were dropped on June thirteenth, two
- 22:16Speaker 1: thousand and seven. Pugh's final rape victim was awarded three
- 22:20Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars in punitive damages. But that's not all.
- 22:26Speaker 1: He was also the defendant in two excessive force cases.
- 22:31Speaker 1: One was dropped in May of two thousand and seven.
- 22:34Speaker 1: The other came after an incident at the high school's
- 22:37Speaker 1: homecoming football game at the Tomato Bowl Stadium in two
- 22:41Speaker 1: thousand and four. That night, a fight broke out between
- 22:45Speaker 1: opposing spectators, and several folks were beaten and maceed by
- 22:50Speaker 1: Jacksonville police officers. As a man named Larry Hinton fled,
- 22:55Speaker 1: he turned to see his wife, Leslie, being handcuffed by officers.
- 23:00Speaker 1: When he asked what was happening, Hinton was immediately attacked
- 23:04Speaker 1: by the officers. He said Larry pew on the force
- 23:09Speaker 1: two years at that point, maced, tased, and then beat Henton,
- 23:14Speaker 1: knocking out two of his teeth. They were arrested, but
- 23:18Speaker 1: Larry Hinton was later acquitted of the charges of resisting
- 23:22Speaker 1: arrest and interfering with the duties of a public servant,
- 23:26Speaker 1: while the case against Leslie was dismissed by a judge
- 23:31Speaker 1: on April fourth, two thousand and seven, the Hintons agreed
- 23:34Speaker 1: to a settlement for an undisclosed amount. Civil issues weren't
- 23:39Speaker 1: the only problems Pew was up against. He had other
- 23:43Speaker 1: criminal cases against him. On Tuesday, August seventh, two thousand
- 23:48Speaker 1: and seven, already serving time at a medium security prison
- 23:52Speaker 1: in northern Florida, Larry Max Peugh pleaded guilty to one
- 23:56Speaker 1: count of aggravated assault. In this deal, the district attorney
- 24:01Speaker 1: apparently dropped two more counts of rape Pew had against
- 24:05Speaker 1: him at this time. He was given a slap on
- 24:08Speaker 1: the wrist a twelve year sentence to run concurrently with
- 24:11Speaker 1: a twelve year sentence he was already serving. As the
- 24:15Speaker 1: years passed, Larry Pugh slowly disappeared from the newspapers, as
- 24:20Speaker 1: did Terry Rayes and Chante Coleman, but in twenty fourteen
- 24:26Speaker 1: a discovery necessitated their return to print. On Wednesday, March twelfth,
- 24:33Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, a forester found human bones in a densely
- 24:38Speaker 1: wooded area in San Augustine County, east of the intersection
- 24:42Speaker 1: of Farm de Market Road eleven ninety six and County
- 24:45Speaker 1: Road three forty seven. The location was eighty five miles
- 24:50Speaker 1: southeast of Jacksonville and only three miles north of where
- 24:54Speaker 1: the body of Terry Rayes had been found. Shortly thereafter,
- 24:59Speaker 1: the San Augustine County Sheriff's Office recovered the skeletal remains
- 25:04Speaker 1: with help from the Angelina County Sheriff's Office, the Texas Rangers,
- 25:08Speaker 1: and the FBI. They were sent to a forensic anthropologist
- 25:13Speaker 1: at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville for examination, and
- 25:18Speaker 1: then to the University of North Texas Center for Human
- 25:21Speaker 1: Identification in Denton. There, DNA was extracted from the remains
- 25:27Speaker 1: and entered in Dakotis. On June fourteenth, twenty fourteen, the
- 25:32Speaker 1: body was identified as Chante Coleman. Police in Jacksonville told
- 25:38Speaker 1: the Tyler Morning Telegraph that the missing person's case was
- 25:41Speaker 1: now cleared and that the investigation into Chante's death belonged
- 25:46Speaker 1: to the San Augustine County Sheriff's Office. Chief Deputy Gary
- 25:50Speaker 1: Cunningham of that department announced that Larry Pugh was in
- 25:55Speaker 1: no way ruled out as a suspect in Chante's death,
- 25:58Speaker 1: nor had he been a lie eliminated in another one
- 26:01Speaker 1: of their cases, the death of Terry Reyes. Cunningham said
- 26:06Speaker 1: the cases would be treated in the most serious manner
- 26:10Speaker 1: and investigated as homicides until proven otherwise. On Friday May eleventh,
- 26:17Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, former Jacksonville policeman Larry Max Pew was released
- 26:23Speaker 1: from federal prison. He was immediately transferred from the Florida
- 26:27Speaker 1: facility where he served his time to the Cherokee County,
- 26:31Speaker 1: Texas Sheriff's Office jail. Pew was being held on aggravated
- 26:36Speaker 1: assault with the deadly weapon charges from two thousand and
- 26:39Speaker 1: six when he wrapped a belt around the neck of
- 26:42Speaker 1: the woman he'd previously raped in an attempt to drag
- 26:45Speaker 1: her into his van. But the federal convict would only
- 26:48Speaker 1: serve his time in Texas until August, when his concurrent
- 26:52Speaker 1: state sentence was up. When he was released to Nacadocus County,
- 26:58Speaker 1: many in that community rightfully panicked. Folks were up in
- 27:03Speaker 1: arms about a potential serial killer and serial rapist moving
- 27:07Speaker 1: into their area, and the sheriff's office attempted to quell
- 27:10Speaker 1: the emotions in a Facebook post while also acknowledging the
- 27:14Speaker 1: potential for danger. Nacadochus County Sheriff Jason Bridges wrote, quote,
- 27:21Speaker 1: Larry Pew was the prime suspect in the death investigation
- 27:25Speaker 1: of female victims that occurred in other counties. In my opinion,
- 27:29Speaker 1: he is very capable of being a dangerous man and
- 27:32Speaker 1: you should know who he is. I do not know
- 27:35Speaker 1: the whole background of why other charges were not brought
- 27:39Speaker 1: against him, but I can tell you that he has
- 27:41Speaker 1: done his time on the charges that he was convicted on.
- 27:45Speaker 1: Pew has not been convicted of murder or any sexual
- 27:48Speaker 1: assault case. End quote that sentence. That last sentence is
- 27:54Speaker 1: perhaps a little misleading because the charges against him were
- 27:58Speaker 1: classified under debt revation of rights under the color of law.
- 28:02Speaker 1: Apparently Pew did not have to register as a sex offender.
- 28:09Speaker 1: If you have any information about the deaths of Chante Monet,
- 28:13Speaker 1: Coleman or Terry Renee Reyes, please call the Nacadoches County
- 28:18Speaker 1: Sheriff's Office at nine three six five six zero seven
- 28:22Speaker 1: seven ninety four or Texas Crime Stoppers at eight hundred
- 28:27Speaker 1: two five two eight four seven seven. If you'd like
- 28:33Speaker 1: to join gon Cold's mission to shine a light on
- 28:36Speaker 1: unsolved homicides and missing persons cases, get the show at
- 28:40Speaker 1: free and have access to bonus content. You can at
- 28:44Speaker 1: patreon dot com. Slash Gone Cold podcast. You can also
- 28:49Speaker 1: support the show by leaving a five star rating and
- 28:51Speaker 1: written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever else you listen.
- 28:56Speaker 1: However you choose to support Gone Cold, we appreciate Hugh.
- 29:01Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, y'all,