Rock Falls man sentenced to 3 life prison terms plus 105 years for setting fatal 2020 Sterling apartment fire

MORRISON — A Rock Falls man was sentenced to the maximum three life sentences and another 105 years in prison for setting a 2020 Sterling apartment building fire that killed three people and injured several others.

Steven W. Coleman, 45, was sentenced during an emotional hearing Thursday morning in Whiteside County Circuit Court for the June 1, 2020, arson-related deaths of Celina Serrano, 13; Shyla Walker, 8, of Davenport, Iowa; and neighbor Carrie A. (Hall) Hose, 49, at the Western Apartments in Sterling.

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Faith Walker leaves the stand after reading her impact statement Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, during the sentencing of convicted Western Apartments arsonist Steven Coleman. Walker’s daughter Shyla, 8, was killed along with Celina Serrano, 13 and Carrie A. (Hall) Hose. (Alex T. Paschal)

Coleman, who is being held in the Whiteside County Jail, refused to leave his cell to attend the sentencing hearing, leading Whiteside County Judge Trish Senneff to tell the packed courtroom that she would continue the hearing in his absence. She ordered Coleman to serve three natural life sentences for first-degree murder, one for each victim. Those sentences will be served back to back and he will not be eligible for parole. He also was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with a mandatory 85% to be served, for three counts of aggravated arson in regard to severe injuries suffered by two residents and a Dixon firefighter injured at the scene. On the final count, a residential arson charge, he will serve 15 years in prison.

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

A jury convicted Coleman in July after hearing testimony that he had set the fire to get back at a drug dealer who had sold him fake cocaine the day before the fire. Witnesses had testified he had gotten a ride to the Western Apartments, a two-building complex at 908 W. Third St., the early morning of June 1, 2020; investigators said he then set two fires in the entryway of the eight-unit building. Celina, Shyla and Hose died at the scene. Nine others

were injured.

Coleman faced sentences of 20 to 60 years or up to life in prison on each of the three first-degree murder charges. The aggravated arson charges carried a prison sentence ranging from six to 30 years in prison and the residential arson charge carried a sentence of four to 15 years.

“I hope the defendant thinks about the carnage he’s caused, every day, for the rest of his life.”

—  Terry Costello, Whiteside County state's attorney

Prior to sentencing Thursday, Whiteside County State’s Attorney Terry Costello described Coleman as someone who had lived his life thinking the law didn’t apply to him. Costello then read a long list of Coleman’s prior convictions that began as far back as 1992 when Coleman was a juvenile. That list included several substance abuse violations, driving while revoked convictions, and crimes that had become increasingly violent over time and landed him in prison in the years leading up to the fire.

“This case shocked the conscience of Whiteside County,” Costello said when making his maximum sentencing requests for the murder and arson charges. He said the heinousness of the crimes flabbergasted Sterling residents and other Whiteside County communities because no one thinks such a crime would happen here.

“I hope the defendant thinks about the carnage he’s caused, every day, for the rest of his life,” Costello said.

Shortly after, public defender Dana McCormick, Coleman’s attorney who was seated next to Coleman’s empty chair at the defense table, spoke to the court. McCormick acknowledged Senneff had limited discretion in determining Coleman’s sentences, as those are set by the Illinois Legislature.

“I do know that it wasn’t his intention to kill or injure any of the people,” she said. “He does maintain his innocence.”

“This is hard,” McCormick said as she choked up and began crying. Senneff put a stop to the hearing at that point, reconvening court 20 minutes later.

The hearing also included victim impact statements from Faith Walker, the mother of Shyla Walker; Alma Walker, whom Shyla Walker was visiting when the fire broke out and who was severely burned in the fire; and Sterling attorney James Mertes, who made a consolidated victim impact statement on behalf of victims.

Faith Walker described how she learned about the fire, and how she couldn’t find her daughter at the scene. She then was told that her daughter had been found. Faith recalled seeing her daughter in a room in a black bag.

“It was her,” she said, describing how she lost her breath, her legs gave out and the room began to spin.

Faith Walker now struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder, has gone through three jobs since the fire and has flashbacks whenever she sees an ambulance or a firetruck with its lights and sirens on.

She also said Coleman devastated four families by setting the fire – the three who lost a family member and his own family, including his mother and his daughter.

[ Judge denies Rock Falls man’s claims of ineffective counsel at Western Apartments murder trial ]

Alma Walker in her statement described the events leading up to the fire, saying that the girls had played basketball and watched a movie before settling in to sleep that night. Later that night, Alma would be blinded by thick black smoke as she tried to find four children, including the two girls, in the burning apartment. Alma sustained burns over 90% of her body and was hospitalized in the intensive care unit for six weeks. She also had to learn how to breathe and walk again.

“I don’t think a monster like Steven Coleman should ever walk the streets again,” she said.

Mertes told the court that he hoped those who died in the fire spent their last moments feeling as though they were being carried away, in much the same way as a parent carries a child to bed after they have fallen asleep. He then described how the children in the burning apartment could be heard screaming, one asking for their mom, their faces burning and skin melting.

One man, who was seated among friends and family of the victims, sobbed and rocked back and forth as he listened to Mertes speak. Another man shouted out as he objected to Mertes’ portrayal of what the child victims experienced inside the burning apartment.

After describing Alma Walker’s search to find the children, the girls’ lives and where they would be now, Mertes said that in the end, no punishment would be enough.

“His crimes will escape the farthest reach of justice,” he said.

[ Judge denies Sterling arsonist’s new trial request, says evidence shows his actions killed three people ]