BANGOR, Maine — The Garland man accused of brutally killing his girlfriend and her two children, whose bodies were found Saturday night in their mobile home by concerned family members, may have mental health problems, according to his court-appointed attorney.
Keith Coleman, 27, who lived with the woman and two children, was charged late Sunday with three counts of murder in the deaths of Christina Sargent, 36, her son, Duwayne Coke, 10, and her daughter, Destiny Sargent, 8. Court documents indicate all three were strangled.
Coleman confessed to police that he killed his girlfriend in front of the children and then killed them because they witnessed the crime, according to the probable cause affidavit filed by Detective Greg Mitchell of the Maine State Police’s major crimes unit north.
Coleman made his first court appearance Monday before Superior Court Justice Ann Murray, who appointed local attorney Martha Harris to represent him and ordered that he be held without bail until a bail hearing can be held on Dec. 30.
“He’s very emotional,” Harris said of Coleman after the five-minute initial hearing at the Penobscot Judicial Center. “I think he’s had some serious mental health problems [that] caused some concern with me.”
Harris said she did not know what mental health problems Coleman may have but said she will look into it and may ask that he be given a psychological evaluation. She said she received the probable cause affidavit shortly before the 2 p.m. court hearing.
Coleman, who is being held at the Penobscot County Jail, was wearing a red jail jumpsuit, indicating that he’s in the maximum security section of the facility, and he is under suicide watch, a jail official said Monday afternoon.
Christina Sargent was called “Crissy” by those who loved her, her aunt Andra Medina said outside the court. Medina, two other family members and a close family friend were in the courtroom, sitting behind Assistant Attorney General Leanne Zainea, who is prosecuting the triple homicide case.
“It’s horrific,” Medina said of the crime.
Christina Sargent and her two children “died from ligature strangulation,” said Tim Feeley, spokesman for the state’s attorney general’s office. “Two of the deaths involved other forms of asphyxia as well.”
Medina said she became concerned about the young family after Christina Sargent told her that Coleman was being abusive and argumentative, according to the affidavit.
Medina and her niece communicated back and forth all of last week, and her last communication with Sargent was a text message recieved at 3:15 p.m Friday that “indicated that Keith Coleman was reading Christina Sargent’s Facebook messages and they were arguing about who she was talking to,” the affidavit states.
After repeated unanswered calls and an unanswered knock on the door, Medina sent her daughter over to check on the family about 9 p.m Saturday, the affidavit states. Her daughter arrived at 12 Paul Road with two others, one of whom used a plastic card to open the locked door to get inside the trailer, and found Christina and Destiny Sargent’s bodies face down on beds. They called 911. When Penobscot County Sheriff’s Cpl. Noel Santiago arrived, he found Coke’s body underneath some blankets.
State police announced to media outlets and through social media Sunday morning that they were looking for Coleman and the 2006 Dodge Caravan he was driving.
Two Bucksport women called Bucksport police Sunday to say that Coleman was at a School Street apartment and had arrived there at around 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
“They told [Bucksport police Sgt. David Winchester] that Keith Coleman stated to them that he had a fight with his girlfriend in Garland” and that he told them his girlfriend allowed him to take the van, the affidavit states.
The court document states the women and Coleman communicated through Facebook, but it does not indicate how they found out he was wanted in the triple homicide.
Coleman was taken into custody Sunday afternoon as he left the Bucksport apartment, according to Stephen McCausland, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman. Coleman was then questioned and later charged. He faces a penalty of 25 years to life in prison if convicted of murder.
A criminal background search revealed that Coleman’s only conviction in Maine was in October 2011 in Newport for cultivating marijuana, a misdemeanor. He was fined $400 in connection with the July 7, 2010 incident, according to a report obtained from the Maine State Bureau of Identification.
He was taken to the Penobscot County Jail in September 2011 on a warrant for cultivating marijuana, and a second warrant was issued on March 28, 2013, for unpaid fines associated with the 2011 cultivating marijuana conviction, a jail official said.
Grief counseling has been set up at Ridge View Community School in Dexter, where the two children attended school.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and would like to talk with an advocate, call 866-834-4357, TRS 800-787-3224. This free, confidential service is available 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in Maine.