Rock Falls man found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder

MORRISON – A Rock Falls man was found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and four arson-related charges Friday in connection with the June 1, 2020, fatal fire at the Western Apartments in Sterling.

After three hours of deliberation, the eight-man, four-woman jury returned guilty verdicts on seven of the 10 charges filed against Steven W. Coleman, 44. Whiteside County Circuit Court Judge Trish Senneff read the jury’s decision that included guilty verdicts for three counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Celina Serrano, 13; her cousin Shyla Walker, 8, of Davenport; and neighbor Carrie A. (Hall) Hose, 49. All three died at the scene.

The jury also returned verdicts on four arson-related charges: one count of arson; two counts of aggravated arson for injuries suffered by apartment resident Alma Walker and Dixon City firefighter George Markel, who was injured at the scene while fighting the blaze; and one count of residential arson. Nine other occupants escaped the fire.

Coleman only could be found guilty of up to three of the six murder charges. He specifically was found guilty of three counts of murder while committing a forcible felony, which in this case is the aggravated arson, and which were explained to the jury as murder B charges. The other three counts of murder, known as murder A charges, accused him of committing actions that he knew had the strong probability of causing death or great bodily harm to another.

The verdicts came after three days of testimony that included firefighters, police, fire investigators, and DNA and forensics experts. Alma Walker; Coleman’s ex-girlfriend Carly Fischbach; and Coleman’s brother Jesse Coleman also testified for the prosecution. Throughout the trial, prosecutors worked to prove that Steven Coleman’s motive was to seek revenge after paying $150 for cocaine May 31, 2020, that turned out to be fake. They said he had gotten a ride to the Western Apartments – a two-building complex – in the early-morning hours of June 1, 2020. They said he set two fires in the entryway of the eight-unit building at 908 W. Third St. The complex’s second building is located nearby at 907 W. Fourth St.

In closing arguments Friday morning, Whiteside County Assistant State’s Attorney Ryan Simon said Steven Coleman had the motive, the means and the intent to set fire to the Western Apartments, pointing to Fischbach and Jesse Coleman’s testimony Thursday. Police interviewed Fischbach and Jesse Coleman multiple times from June 2 to June 4, 2020. Steven Coleman was arrested June 5, 2020.

Under questioning by Whiteside County State’s Attorney Terry Costello, Fischbach had told the jury that she and a friend had gone from the home she shared with Steven Coleman in Rock Falls to the Western Apartments on May 31, 2020, where they bought cocaine from a man before returning home and using it.

Later that day, Fischbach arranged to get more cocaine from the same man, only it was the dealer’s girlfriend who brought the cocaine to Fischbach and Coleman’s home, she testified. Coleman had given Fischbach $150 to buy the drugs, Fischbach testified.

Fischbach testified that the substance didn’t look like cocaine, which sent Coleman into a rage in which he was yelling about spending money for fake drugs. She said he also commented that he was going to “light up the Western.” She said she did not know what that meant and that Coleman left the house early June 1, got a ride and she continued drinking, which she had been doing throughout May 31 and into the early-morning hours of June 1.

Simon said Steven Coleman also had the means to start the fire. Coleman’s received rides from others, Fischbach had testified. After Coleman became enraged by the bad drug deal, he called his brother Jesse for a ride. Jesse drove 7 miles to the Rock Falls residence and provided a ride. Jesse testified that Steven Coleman had a gas can with him and asked to be dropped off at the Western Apartments, which Steven said he was “going to burn down.” Jesse Coleman, who dropped off Steven and left, said he gave his brother a ride because he was scared of his brother.

Simon also addressed the jury about Steven Coleman’s possible intent. He said Coleman’s revenge for the fake drugs was to start the fire, which prosecutors said actually was two fires set in the shared entryway on the west side of the building. One fire was set on the top of the upstairs landing that led to four main-level apartments, and one was set on the lower landing leading to the four lower-level apartments, they said. Hose’s body was found in her bathtub in her main-level apartment. The two girls’ bodies were found in the apartment across the hall in its living room. Both of those apartments were on either side of the landing at the front of the building. Autopsies determined that all three had soot in their lungs and died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

“The only exit door out was blocked,” Simon said. “The fire was blocking the only way out. He made sure of that. He knew he created the probability of death or great bodily harm.”

Investigators also said the floor patterns found on the carpet after the fire pointed to arson with an accelerant.

Both Fischbach and Jesse Coleman testified that Steven Coleman told them from May 31 to June 1, 2020, at separate times, that he was going to burn down the Western. Investigators testified that Steven Coleman’s phone could be tracked from his home to the Western Apartments shortly before the fire, and his phone was found in the yard next to the apartments as they were still burning.

Jesse also testified that his brother called him the next day, asking him to search his vehicle. Steven couldn’t find his cellphone, and he thought it might be in Jesse’s car. Jesse looked but did not find the phone. Selfie photos and photos of Steven Coleman’s tax return and tax bill were in the photo storage file on the phone investigators found at the scene. Additionally, the phone number when run through the dispatch center was linked to Steven Coleman, and DNA testing of swabs taken from the phone and compared with DNA from a buccal swab proved that the phone found at the fire scene was Steven’s, Simon said.

“When you put that together, it leads to one conclusion: He is guilty as charged,” Simon said. “The three [victims] would be here today except for Steven Coleman.”

Defense attorney Dana McCormick’s case was built on proving that investigators were not thorough enough in their investigation to prove that the fire was set. Only four samples were taken from the apartment to be checked for gasoline, and none of the samples tested positive for gasoline, she said. Prosecutors have said that the gas could have been washed from the scene by the water used to fight the blaze. She also said the lead fire investigator, Michael Poel, who at that time was an investigator with the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office, rushed to judgment and did not investigate enough to rule out electrical, mechanical or methane buildup as possible causes.

She said Coleman’s phone could have been placed at the scene by someone else, that DNA experts did not test the DNA thoroughly enough to find out who else had handled the phone, that Fischbach had access to the phone, and that it was Fischbach who had sent angry text messages to the drug dealer’s girlfriend after the bad drug buy. She said it all points to an incomplete investigation caused by a lack of effort, and adds up to a case that was pinned on her client from the start.

“They’ve built this case to make [Steven Coleman] look like he did it,” she said, at one point saying that Fischbach was the one who bought the drugs and sent threatening text messages to the dealer’s girlfriend.

“She was more close to the crime than Steven ever was,” McCormick said, to which Simon asked in his rebuttal that if Fischbach had done it out of revenge for the drug deal gone bad, and knowing that she had admitted to being at the dealer’s residence, why would she burn down the wrong building.

“Carly knew [the dealer] did not live in the building,” he said of the burned building, adding that Steven Coleman said it best to his brother Jesse when they were at their mother’s house a few days after the fire: “I’m smoked.”

Sentencing has been set for 9 a.m. Oct. 17 at the Whiteside County Courthouse. Each of the first-degree murder charges is punishable by 20 to 60 years or up to life in prison. Of the four arson-related charges, three carry six to 30 years in prison and one carries four to 15 years.