BANGOR, Maine — Eight-year-old Destiny Sargent was strangled and killed nearly the same way her mother and brother were, Dr. Mark Flomenbaum, chief medical examiner for the state of Maine, testified Friday morning.
A thin cord was wrapped three times around the girl’s neck, then, the leg of a pair of sweatpants was wrapped around it and tied into a knot, he said on the third day of the triple-murder trial of Keith Coleman at the Penobscot Judicial Center.
The trial of Coleman, 29, of Garland got underway Wednesday afternoon before a jury of 10 men and six women, including four alternates. He is charged with three counts of intentional or knowing murder in the deaths of Christina Sargent, 36, and her children, Destiny and 10-year-old Duwayne Cole. Coleman also is charged with one count of gross sexual assault on the girl.
Coleman was arrested Dec. 21, 2014, in Bucksport after the friends he was staying with learned he was wanted by police.
The victims’ bodies were found about 9 p.m. Dec. 20, 2014, by family members in a trailer at 12 Paul Road in Garland that is owned by Sargent’s aunt, Andra Medina, who now lives in Albert Lea, Minnesota. Coleman lived in the trailer with Sargent and her children. Police have said they died earlier that day.
Retired medical examiner Dr. Margaret Greenwald, who performed the autopsies on Sargent and Duwayne, said Thursday that both died of strangulation. Sargent was wearing only a pink bathrobe and had a pair of gray sweatpants tightly wrapped around her head and neck, then, tied in a knot, Greenwald said.
Duwayne also died of strangulation, Greenwald told jurors Thursday. She said the boy was dressed, but not wearing socks or shoes, and that a USB cord had been wrapped twice around his neck and clothing wrapped around his head.
Unlike her mother and brother, Destiny had a plastic grocery bag “wedged deeply into her mouth,” Flomenbaum said Friday. She died of strangulation, but the gag was not the cause of death, though it was a contributing factor, he said.
There also was a red mark on the left side of her face “that appeared to be fresh trauma,” he added.
Flomenbaum said he examined the girl’s genital area and took swabs for testing by the crime lab because he observed dried blood there and on the pink shorts the girl was wearing when she died.
The medical examiner said he did not see signs the girl had been raped, but Assistant Attorney General Donald Macomber said in his opening statement that semen from Coleman was found in the girl’s genital area.
Defense attorneys Logan Perkins and Martha Harris, both of Bangor, meticulously cross-examined both medical examiners about the methods they used in collecting samples using the same sexual assault kits used in emergency rooms on living victims of sexual assault.
“I hope that the jury will continue to see that there’s a lot more complexity to this case than was suggested by the state’s opening statement,” Perkins said Friday during the lunch break.
Macomber and Assistant Attorney General Leane Zainea declined to comment on the case. It is the practice of the Maine attorney general’s office not to comment during trials.
The trial was scheduled to resume Monday before Superior Court Justice Ann Murray. The trial is expected to last at least two weeks.
Coleman has been held without bail since his arrest.
If convicted, Coleman faces between 25 years and life in prison on the murder charges and up to 30 years in prison on the sexual assault charge. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that a defendant convicted on multiple counts of murder may be sentenced to life in prison.
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.