Serial Murderers and their Victims, 5th ed. - Brainshare Public ...

PROFILE 8.5 Alton Coleman and Debra D. Brown, 1984
TEAM KILLERS 231
A man with an explosive temper and ready to fight, Alton Coleman had committed a
long list of violent crimes and sex offenses by the age of 28. He was living with Debra
Brown, whom he frequently beat and threatened. Alton was raised in the black slums
of the Midwest, the son of a prostitute who died when Alton was a teenager. Having
no father and being rejected by his mother while still an infant, Alton went to live
with his grandmother. She apparently provided a good home for Alton, who
nevertheless was characterized as an unhappy, bitter child, who was called “Pissy” by
schoolmates because he wet his pants so often. As he grew older, he became more
aggressive. He gambled frequently and began to hustle women, whom he usually
abused through beatings and sexual assaults. He spent at least 3 years in prison,
where he was known for his aggressive homosexual behavior. His brutality with
women and his fascination for bondage, violent sex, and young women ended his
first marriage after only 6 months. He is believed to have raped several women and
young girls before his murder spree.
His first victim was 9-year-old Vernita Wheat, whom Coleman had abducted
from an acquaintance. She was raped, strangled, and stuffed into a small closet.
While police investigated her disappearance, Alton and Debra left the area. Three
weeks later they attacked two girls, ages 7 and 9. The younger, little Tamika, was
kicked in the face and chest and strangled until she died. Alton then beat and raped
the second child and left her unconscious. For the next several weeks, the couple
traveled back and forth through five different states, including Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
and Michigan, where they murdered, raped, and robbed several more people, both
black and white, young and elderly, male and female. A mother, Virginia Temple,
and her 10-year-old daughter were beaten, raped, and strangled and left in a
basement crawl space. Coleman possessed a real talent for gaining the trust of
strangers and eluding the police, who placed him on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
One psychiatrist, who was familiar with Coleman, described him a “pansexual,”
a person who enjoys sex with anyone—man, woman, or child. His sexual enjoyment
was surpassed only by his ability for sadism and viciousness.
Debra Brown was described as a high school dropout, from a family of 11, who
was easily influenced and dominated. On meeting Coleman, she almost immediately
broke off her engagement to another man. Her ability to kill seemed to come easily. In
one instance Coleman and Brown attacked a husband and wife, who lived in suburban
Cincinnati, using an array of devices, including a 4-foot wooden candle stick, a crowbar,
visegrip pliers, and a knife. The wife, Marlene Waters, died after being bludgeoned to
death. Other victims were shot to death. After 8 weeks, the two killers were captured
without a struggle while watching an outdoor basketball game in Evanston, Illinois.
Bond for Coleman was set at $25 million, full cash, and $20 million cash bond was set
for Brown. They are believed to be guilty of at least eight murders in addition to a
variety of abductions, beatings, robberies, thefts, and sexual assaults. Brown remained
loyal to her lover; moments before his first sentencing they signed legal documents
creating a common-law marriage. Perhaps in efforts to save Coleman from the death
penalty, Brown stated in court regarding one of the victims, “I killed the bitch and I
don’t give a damn. I had fun out of it.” When the courts finished with Coleman, he
had received four separate death sentences and more than a hundred years in prison.
Debra Brown, after receiving her second death sentence, life in prison, and dozens of
additional years in prison, apologized for her part in the killing and wrote, “I’m a more
kind and understandable and lovable person than people think I am” (Linedecker,
1987). Alton Coleman was executed in 2002 while Debra Brown resides in the Ohio
Reformatory for Women and still faces the death penalty in Indiana.