White Mother and Her 2 Children Slaughtered by Live-In Black Boyfriend

Press Herald
December 23, 2014

The woman who was found slain – along with two of her children – late Saturday night inside her mobile home in Garland was trying to escape an abusive relationship, according to a family member.

Maine State Police allege that Christina Ann Sargent, 36, and her children Destiny Sargent, 8, and Duwayne Coke, 10, were killed by her live-in boyfriend.

Keith Coleman, 27, of 12 Paul Road in Garland, was arrested Sunday night and charged with three counts of murder, said state police spokesman Stephen McCausland.

The children attended the Ridge View Community School in Dexter, where they were enrolled in the second and fourth grades. The district’s superintendent did not return calls Sunday night. Garland is a Penobscot County town of about 1,200 located northwest of Bangor.

Coleman, who has a distinctive star tattoo on the left side of his neck, was taken into custody for questioning Sunday afternoon after police, acting on a tip, located him at an apartment complex on School Street in Bucksport, McCausland said. He was transported to the state police barracks in Bangor and charged just before 9 p.m.

Coleman will be held at the Penobscot County Jail in Bangor pending his first court appearance Monday or Tuesday. His minivan was seized by police.

According to the Maine State Bureau of Identification, Coleman has a criminal record in Maine. He was arrested in July 2010 by the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office on a misdemeanor charge of cultivating marijuana and was later found guilty. His sentence included a fine of $400.

Although Coleman does not have a record of domestic violence in Maine, Karen Kane of Ellsworth, a cousin of the slain woman, said Sargent told her that he had threatened Sargent. Kane said Sargent was in the process of trying to leave Coleman because he had become increasingly violent.

“He (Coleman) has a history of violence. He has made threats to her before,” Kane said in a telephone interview Sunday night. “She didn’t want to be with him anymore.”

Kane said the couple had been living together in Garland since 2012.

“She was a loving mom. She’d do anything for anyone. She was very generous,” Kane said.