WHITE CO.—Judge Tom Foster has taken the motions to suppress statements and evidence in the murder case of Danny Coston under advisement.
After hearing testimony today (Tuesday, June 11, 2013) from the lead investigators in the case against Coston—which includes five counts of murder in an alleged double homicide, a count of aggravated assault with a weapon, a count of aggravated criminal sexual assault and a count of concealment of a homicidal death—the lead agency being the White County Sheriff’s Department, aided by the Illinois State Police, those in the courtroom were witness to the first two of three recorded interviews made of Coston on August 31, 2012.
But nothing could prepare the courtroom for interview number three, as it was called by White County State’s Attorney Denton Aud.
At the conclusion of interview 2, shortly before 7 p.m. on the night of Friday, Aug. 31, Coston, 37, showed Sheriff Doug Maier, on a map of the county, where he believed he’d taken the body of Jacob Wheeler, 22, and dumped it in a treeline in south Wayne County (Pond Creek). Wheeler, Coston had told Maier and ISP’s Bryan Harms, had killed the girl he’d been camping with over the previous weekend, Jessica Evans, 17, and when he “came at” Coston, the older man struggled with him, took the gun from him, and shot him with it.
Rick White, at a hearing in Wayne County in a case he wasn’t so slick about
During interview number 2, ISP investigators had advised Maier that there had been human blood found in the bed of Coston’s truck. The situation, Maier then told Coston, had just gotten more serious, and so resultant of that and of the fact that Coston had allegedly confessed to dumping the boy’s body, Coston was being held in custody, but on what specific charges Maier didn’t say on the taped interview.
The third interview began several hours after that, following the discovery of Wheeler’s body “right where Coston told them it would be,” Maier said at the beginning of the interview. ISP investigator Rick White was once again accompanying Maier in this interview, which kicked off at 12:48 a.m. on the morning of September 1, 2012.
At this time, Coston had been changed into an orange jail uniform and had been detained at the White County jail for several hours.
White lead the interview, starting out by having Coston reiterate what he’d told Harms about how he and Wheeler had struggled over the gun (remember that Coston was still sticking to that story, and was worried about “what the state’s attorney was going to think” about it, as he “didn’t mean to kill anybody.”) Coston advised that he had thrown the gun he’d taken from Wheeler out the window of his truck as he was traveling north on County Road 1200 to Wayne County.
But, White said, “the evidence we have doesn’t fit what you’re telling us, Danny.”
Danny Coston
And say what you will about White and what a jerk he might be in his targeting of public officials in downstate who don’t deserve it when there are others running amok, the way he elicited the rest of the story from Coston was nothing short of amazing.
White, being very compassionate, told Coston that it was his thinking that there was something Coston was “ashamed of, that was totally out of character for Danny Coston, that it was a one-time thing,” and that as such, he was embarrassed to tell the investigators.
And Coston, who had sat the entire first several minutes of the third interview with his head down, hands clasped between his knees, and voice extremely quiet, advised that there was.
Insisting that he didn’t know why he did it, he admitted that he had shot both the kids, in separate locations, after Coston had asked them for help getting out of the brush after he’d tried unsuccessfully to find a place to put in his boat at the Little Wabash River. Coston said he’d gotten a ride from the kids in Wheeler’s truck, sitting in the bed while they rode in the cab. He advised that “the man” (Wheeler) had “been a dick to him” when Coston, obviously and admittedly drunk, had asked them for some help. White asked if that was why he’d shot him; but Coston said no. That’s not like him, he said; people had “been a dick” to him before, and he’d never even thought of such a thing, let alone acted that way.
Coston admitted to “pecking” on the back glass of the truck cab, thinking he’d get something to drink (a soda or water), and Wheeler stopped…on the very road where Coston and Wheeler’s family both lived. Coston said he then got out, shot Wheeler in the front seat, and “dumped” his body out on the roadside. He then took off with Evans in the cab screaming about whether Jake was “gonna be okay” and “I’ll do anything you want, just don’t shoot me.” He took that to mean, he said, as she would have sex with him. They went to a remote location, where the sexual assault occurred, and where Coston advised that it was not forced, he did not have the gun in his hand when they had sex, and in fact “she held my hands the whole time,” NOT, it was delivered, as a sign of consent or affection, but almost as if Jessica were trying to reassure herself that he wasn’t holding a gun.
Coston said that when he shot Jessica, it wasn’t in rage, but in fear—that she might tell someone he’d shot Jake.
He then repeatedly said to the investigators, “The only question I got is why this happened.” At one point, he asked them if they believed someone could have put something in one of his many drinks at the New Haven American Legion. He repeatedly said, often tearfully and often in a voice so quiet it could barely be heard, that he didn’t understand how it could have happened…that it wasn’t like him. It was difficult to get a read on his face in the DVD, as his head was down so much of the time. The remorse appeared real. But it also unfortunately looked like he was grabbing at any possible reason that the investigators would believe could be the one that explained his behavior.
Interestingly, there was still an ongoing disparity in Coston’s story versus what authorities said was the evidence.
White kept stating that experts believed Evans was shot in the head three times, and kept asking Coston if he’d shot her in the back of the head. Coston kept stating that he knew he’d only shot her twice. White kept asking if there was anyone at the scene…anyone he was covering for, “like your friend’ (Steve Duckworth, but in the DVD, White called him ‘Doug’) “or Candice” (Coston’s pregnant girlfriend). And Coston continued to say that no, he was the only one there. The three shots to Evans’ head, however, can’t necessarily be mistaken. There was one, White said, in the side; one in the forehead; and one in the back of the head. White even asked Coston if he’d shot her in the back of the head while she was in the truck, then had sex with her when she was shot, that’s how certain the investigation is that she was shot three times. But Coston continued to say no, he’d only shot twice. And the one thing he said, when White kept at him about how many shots, is “What would I be covering that up for? I’ve told you the truth about everything else, why would I lie about that?”
Why he might lie about that, if indeed he’s lying, is one of those questions that MIGHT be answered at trial, which is still set for Aug. 20, 2013.
In the meantime, the hearing today was all about whether or not the DVDs should be played at trial.
This was something Judge Foster, after closing arguments, said he would take under advisement and render his decision in writing at a future date, not yet determined and with no necessary deadline except in enough time for both sides to prepare for said trial.
Three days had been set aside this week for the hearing, but it was wrapped up at about 3:40 p.m. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 14, a week before the jury trial. If anything breaks between now and then, we’ll have it here at the site, and of course we will have a FULL account of what happened today in the next print version, which hits the stands in three weeks, as we have TWO issues scheduled for July with a special edition on July 3. In the meantime, if you have missed out on the Coston case, you can get an online membership and with the e-Edition, read every word produced not only in brief here on the free side of the site, but the detailed court machinations appearing in the print version, right back to when this started last summer. The new print version is being delivered today and tomorrow, so be sure to pick up one as you don’t want to miss one article on the case; every article is a piece of the puzzle that may culminate in August at jury trial.