LARGO, Fla. — Police are investigating a romantic relationship between a woman in Florida and Christopher Coleman, whose wife and two children were slain last week at their home in Columbia, Ill.

Detectives have acknowledged traveling to Florida last week. They were there to interview a woman described as Coleman's girlfriend, a law enforcement source close to the case said Tuesday.

A second police source confirmed the relationship. They did not say whether they think it played any role in the murders.

Art Margulis, a lawyer hired by Christopher Coleman, said Tuesday evening he had no knowledge of anyone by that woman's name.

The Major Case Squad has not named Coleman as a suspect. He has been interviewed by detectives and was fingerprinted under court order as recently as Monday.

Asked about the possibility of his client having a girlfriend and police interviewing her, Margulis replied, "We don't think it's appropriate to comment on the status of the investigation or whatever the evidence may be at this time."

His law partner and son, William Margulis, also declined to comment.

Calls to Coleman's family were not returned.

A spokesman for Sheri Coleman's mother said her family was not aware of any extramarital affair.

The woman at issue attended high school in Largo, Fla., graduating in 1996, one year behind Sheri Weiss, a friend, who later married Coleman. Sheri Coleman was found dead along with their sons, Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9.

A call Monday to the home of the Florida woman's parents was answered by a woman who declined to comment and said, "Nobody's ever going to want to comment."

A woman simply said, "No," when a reporter identified himself on a visit to the house in Largo on Tuesday; then she closed the door.

The Florida woman's online profile on Classmates.com says she attended college in Tampa. Public records say she worked in a bar and as a hostess for a gentlemen's club in Tampa.

She and her husband divorced in December 2004. No one answered the door Tuesday at the condominium she bought with her ex-husband in 2006. He appears to have moved, and did not respond to messages left at what a friend said was his cell phone number.

A Largo police spokesman said that department had not been contacted by Illinois investigators. A St. Petersburg police spokesman said he was not aware of a visit by Illinois police and could not comment if he were.

Christopher Coleman, a former Marine MP whose close family lives in Chester, Ill., is a security officer for the Joyce Meyer Ministries, a worldwide television evangelist organization based in Jefferson County. He had complained of what were characterized as work-related threats.

Police have said they believe the victims were targeted and not chosen at random.

The bodies were found by police about 7 a.m. May 5 after Christopher Coleman called, saying he was concerned that he couldn't reach his family by phone. He had gone to a gym in St. Louis County; a police source said he told officers he left home about 5:30 a.m.

Police have not released the cause of death, but neighbors said detectives told them the three were strangled.

Sheri Coleman, a former Air Force MP who met her husband in the military, was a homemaker who was active in the Joyce Meyer operation.

Christopher Coleman arranged for the funeral and burial to be in Chester, but his wife's mother and brother, who live in suburban Chicago, went to court for an order to enforce what they said was his initial offer to allow a service there too. The sides reached terms that accommodated a funeral in Chester Saturday, a visitation in the Chicago area Monday and planned burial Tuesday at Evergreen Cemetery in Chester.

Nicholas J.C. Pistor reported from Columbia, Ill., and Robert Patrick from Largo, Fla. Elizabethe Holland of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.