CHESTER, ILL. — The Major Case Squad said Friday that it has been given an extension to investigate the triple homicide of a mother and her two sons in Columbia, Ill., the same day that mourners packed a church to pay tribute to the victims.

Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards said the agency will work the case through Monday. Normally, the squad has five days to perform its investigation.

Police had no new information to release Friday. They will continue investigating over the weekend.

Investigators have been mum on whether they have a suspect or a motive for the slayings of Sheri Coleman, 31, and her sons, Garett, 11, and Gavin, 9. They were found dead in their home at 2854 Robert Drive about 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Neighbors have said police told them the victims were strangled.

Christopher Coleman, the husband of Sheri and father of the two boys, told police he was working out at a Gold's Gym in south St. Louis County when his wife and sons were slain. He had called police that morning alarmed that he had been unable to reach his family by phone. Police found the bodies.

He had previously reported to police that they had received threats.

Neighbors said he told them it involved his work in security at the Joyce Meyer Ministries, based across the river in Jefferson County.

Police would not give details of what Christopher Coleman has said in interviews. A law enforcement source said Coleman told detectives he had left home about 5:30 a.m. The source also said someone had painted the words, "I told you this would happen," on a wall inside the house.

Christopher Coleman received mourners on Friday at Grace Church in Chester, frequently dabbing his eyes. His father, the Rev. Ronald Coleman, is a pastor at the church.

A couple of dozen people were lined up when the visitation began at 4 p.m. A long line snaked through the church, where three closed coffins sat and a slide show of pictures of the victims was projected onto a screen.

Freddy Moessinger, 18, was one of those who attended. The Columbia High School senior said he coached Garett for three years on a little league football team. He said the last thing he told Garett was that he was looking forward to watching him play on Columbia High School's football team.

"I just don't understand how somebody could do that, especially to a family," he said.

He described the Colemans as doting parents who both took an interest in their kids.

"They were very good parents, from what I saw," he said. "If Chris wasn't with them, then Sheri was. They seemed like the perfect family."

The funeral service today will be private, with the burials at Evergreen Cemetery in Chester, according to the Pechacek-McClure Funeral Home, which is handling arrangements.



J.B. Forbes of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.