HUSBAND NOW A SUSPECT IN RIVERSIDE ‘HOMICIDE’
Husband denies killing his wife; text messages raise questions.
RIVERSIDE — For months, Cheryl Coker’s friends and family hoped that Riverside police would find the missing woman safe.
On Tuesday, police for the first time said they are investigating the 46-year-old woman’s disappearance as a homicide and naming her husband, Bill Coker, as the suspect.
Riverside Police Detective Travis Abney said Bill Coker has refused to submit to a polygraph test as part of the investigation.
“This is an area of concern,” Abney said.
Police also pointed to the Cokers’ pending divorce, previously unreleased surveillance video, and text messages as reasons their investigation has now focused on Bill Coker.
Bill Coker has not been charged with a crime. Reached on phone by WHIO-TV on Tuesday, he denied involvement in her disappearance.
Asked directly if he killed his wife, Bill Coker said, “No, I didn’t, I did not ... I’ve never, in my entire life, hurt anyone.”
He also said Cheryl Coker had engaged in “risky behavior” before going missing, but he hadn’t talked about it because he wanted to shield his daughter from it.
Bill Coker said he didn’t have a lawyer.
“No, not yet because I didn’t do anything,” he said. “I didn’t think I needed one. I guess I’m going to have to.”
Cheryl Coker was reported missing the night of Oct. 2 by her sister, Margie Keenan. She went looking for her younger sister when Cheryl’s 15-year old daughter called to tell her she hadn’t seen or heard from her mother and couldn’t reach her.
“The pit of my stomach, something hurt, and I knew something wasn’t right,” Keenan said.
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According to police, Cheryl Coker left her Christy Avenue house around 7:15 a.m. on Oct. 2 to take her daughter to Stebbins High School and drove back home, arriving about 7:35 a.m. Abney said Cheryl Coker spent the next few minutes sharing posts on Facebook.
“About 7:45 that morning, pretty much everything electronically with her just stopped,” he said.
Surveillance video shows Cheryl Coker’s 2016 Toyota Highlander driving into the Kroger parking lot at Spinning and Burkhardt roads — less than a mile from her home — at 10:52 a.m. The footage shows a subject dressed in all black, who appears to have the hood pulled up, exit the vehicle and walk north through the parking lot toward Burkhardt Road.
At 11:13 a.m., a resident called 911 to report a suspicious man dressed in all black with his hood pulled up.
Surveillance video from Spinning Hills Middle School shows a man that police suspect of being the same man who exited the Coker vehicle then walking on school property and toward the back of the Coker residence. The man is wearing all black and white gloves.
MORE DETAILS
Riverside police released a timeline of the events that have led to them naming Cheryl Coker’s husband, Bill, as a suspect in the case: OCTOBER 2, 2018 (Date of Cheryl’s disappearance)
■ Approximately 7:35 a.m.: Cheryl’s phone records show she arrived back at home after dropping her daughter off at school.
■ 7:40 a.m. to 7:45 a.m.: Cheryl makes several Facebook posts.
■ 7:35 a.m. to 10:51 a.m.: Cheryl’s phone pings at her house.
■ Around 10:52 a.m.: Cheryl’s cell phone pings near Kroger at 700 Spinning Road.
■ At approximately 10:52 a.m.: Cheryl’s Toyota Highlander enters surveillance video in the parking lot of Kroger and is parked on the east part of the parking lot, closer to Clancy’s Tavern.
■ A person dressed in all black, who appears to have their hood pulled up, exits Cheryl’s vehicle and walks north in the parking lot toward Burkhardt Road.
A video obtained from later in the day shows Bill Coker entering the Kroger ■ At 10:53 a.m.: The person dressed in all black is seen walking.
■ At approximately 11:13 a.m.: A 911 caller calls dispatch.
■ A 911 caller reports a suspicious white male dressed in all black with his hood pulled up walking in the neighborhood a short distance from the Coker residence.
■ The 911 caller first sees the white male near Utopia Place at Mundy Court.
■ The 911 caller circles the block, because he fears the white male is up to something.
■ The 911 caller see the suspicious man a second time walking up Spring Garden Place at Christy Avenue, toward the back of Spinning Hills Middle School.
■ The 911 caller states the man used his hands to conceal his face.
■ A second witness, whose name and information is being withheld by police, reports seeing the same man on Spring Garden Place at Christy Avenue.
■ The second witness sees the man walking toward on Spinning Road. Surveillance images show an injury above his left elbow, according the back of Spinning Hills Middle School.
■ The second witness reports how odd it was that the man was dressed for cold weather, despite unseasonably warm temperatures on Oct. 2.
■ The second witness gives nearly the same description the 911 caller gave to dispatch.
■ At approximately 11:09 a.m. to 11:10 a.m: The suspicious male is seen on four different exterior cameras at Spinning Hills Middle School. All four videos show the man walking toward the Coker residence.
■ At approximately 8:08 p.m.: Another video from inside Kroger shows William Coker enter the grocery store wearing all dark clothing; a black polo shirt, dark-colored shorts and dark-colored shoes. The video also shows a visible injury above William Coker’s left elbow.
■ At approximately 8:11 p.m.: William Coker makes a purchase at the Kroger and exits the business. to police.
On Oct. 3, Cheryl’s family activated her Find My iPhone app, which led to the discovery of her vehicle. They became alarmed when police found a backpack inside the vehicle containing her purse and cell phone.
“She doesn’t go anywhere without that phone,” Keenan said.
Keenan and Cheryl Coker’s mother refuse to believe she ran off without contacting her daughter.
Detectives also don’t believe Cheryl Coker was abducted.
She filed for divorce from Bill Coker on Sept. 21, seeking to end their 19-year-marriage. She also was seeking custody of their teenage daughter and spousal support. Bill Coker was dating another woman, and Cheryl Coker had started dating a man she met at a Miami Township nightclub.
Detectives have interviewed both of those people. “They’ve both been very cooperative with us at this point,” Abney said.
Several text messages have piqued the interest of detectives.
On Aug. 28, Bill Coker’s girlfriend told police Cheryl Coker texted her asking that if Cheryl “were to die or wasn’t in the picture, would she pursue a permanent relationship” with him.
“It was reportedly sent by Cheryl,” Abney said, “but we’re not 100 percent convinced that she actually did send that.”
A text from Bill Coker to his wife on Sept. 24 said: “Thanks for putting the nail in my coffin.” And that same day, a text from Cheryl Coker to a co-worker said: “I will be in tomorrow if I’m not dead.”
The weekend before she went missing, Cheryl Coker attended her niece’s wedding while Bill Coker took their daughter on a trip to Florida. Police confirmed Bill Coker took his girlfriend, too. Cheryl Coker’s best friend, Shelly Appelhans, says Cheryl could not have known that.
“I think that mama bear would have came (sic) out if she would have know that other woman was going,” Appelhans said.
Bill Coker and the couple’s daughter returned home from the Florida trip on Monday night, Oct. 1 — just hours before Cheryl was last seen.
In an interview with WHIO in November, Bill Coker said that he didn’t have anything to do with his wife’s disappearance.
“I wish I knew (what happened),” he said. “I have theories but I don’t want to get into those because it would hurt my daughter.”
When asked if he thought his wife was still alive, he said, “I sure hope so. I loved her.” News Center 7’s Mike Campbell and Cheryl McHenry contributed to this report.