Fire investigator testifies in Sterling fatal apartment fire trial

MORRISON – The trial of a Rock Falls man accused of setting a fatal fire four years ago in Sterling had two underlying paths of questioning Wednesday at the Whiteside County Courthouse.

The prosecution team, led by Whiteside County State’s Attorney Terry Costello, set its sights on proving the 2020 fire that killed three people at the Western Apartments in Sterling was an act of arson. Meanwhile, defense attorney Dana McCormick worked to prove to the jury that although defendant Steven W. Coleman’s phone was found near the burning building, he didn’t start the fire.

Coleman, 44, is accused of setting fire to the apartments at 908 W. Third St. on June 1, 2020, to get revenge after buying cocaine that turned out to be fake. Coleman is charged with six counts of first-degree murder and four arson-related charges in connection with the blaze, that killed Celina Serrano, 13; her cousin, Shyla Walker, 8, of Davenport; and neighbor Carrie A. (Hall) Hose, 49. All three died at the scene.

Celina’s mother, Alma Walker, suffered severe burns, and Celina’s sister, Teleah Serrano, was injured; both survived the fire. Nine other occupants escaped. Dixon City firefighter George Markel also was injured, suffering ankle and knee injuries when he fell through a hole while searching the inside of the building.

The state continued to present its case Wednesday, the second day of testimony, which has featured police officers and firefighters who were called to the scene after the fire broke out.

Michael Poel, who spent 19 years as a special agent with the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office arson division, led the investigation into the fire’s cause and origin. Poel was on the witness stand for two hours Wednesday, fielding questions about how fire investigations are conducted, how the origin and cause are determined, and how he reaches those conclusions while photos of the building in the fire’s aftermath were projected onto a screen.

Poel said four rulings can be made as to the cause of a fire: incendiary, unknown, accidental and natural causes. Natural causes could be ruled out in this case as no storms were in the area that could have caused a lightning strike, he said. The fire was not electrical or mechanical as a room-by-room inspection turned up no suspicion that it was caused by an outlet or wiring, he said.

All evidence, he said, pointed to the fire being incendiary – which means set intentionally – and that it had been set in the building’s front entryway where steps led up to four main-level apartments and down to four apartments in the lower level. The three killed in the blaze were found in main-level apartments at the front of the building, where the front entryway was located.

McCormick has said during the trial that Poel made a statement to others within 20 minutes after arriving at the scene that the fire was an arson, leading her to question whether he had rushed to judgment. She questioned Poel on Wednesday about how he arrived at his conclusion so quickly.

“I don’t approach any fire with a preconceived idea,” he said. “If I made that statement, it doesn’t mean it was the end of it. We have to develop a hypothesis.”

Prosecutors say Coleman and his girlfriend had gone out to buy cocaine on May 31, 2020. When they found out it was fake, Coleman had his brother drive to his home to pick him up and then take him to the Western Apartments. Coleman had taken a gas can with him and at one point threatened to “light up the Western,” Costello said during his opening statements Tuesday.

Costello said Coleman’s brother dropped him off near the Western, then drove home, not knowing what his brother was going to do. Fire broke out at the apartment building shortly after midnight, and Coleman’s cellphone was found near the burning building just hours after the fire started, prosecutors said.

Earlier Wednesday, Jennifer Belna of the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Center in Chicago testified about DNA results from swabs taken from the cellphone found at the scene and how that DNA matched the DNA obtained through a buccal swab of Coleman’s inside cheek. Of three swabs, one was not able to be used because there was not enough DNA on it.

A swab of the phone showed that of the two male major DNA contributors, Coleman’s DNA matched one. The probability of such a match in this case is 1 in 2 trillion people, Belna said. A swab of the interior of the cellphone, which showed a mixture of at least three male major contributors, indicated Coleman’s DNA matched one of the contributors, with a match probability of 1 in 210 octillion in this case, Belna said.

Testimony continues Thursday at the Whiteside County Courthouse. The trial is expected to last through Friday, Whiteside County Circuit Court Judge Trish Senneff has said.