MORRISON, Ill. — The trial of a Rock Falls man charged with murder and arson is ongoing this week in Whiteside County.
Steven Coleman is accused of setting the fatal fire on June 1, 2020, in the overnight hours at the Western Apartment Complex in Sterling. A 49-year-old woman and two girls, aged 8 and 13 died in the fire. A 35-year-old woman and 12-year-old were rescued and taken to the hospital. A Dixon firefighter and paramedic was also injured in the fire after falling through the floor.
Coleman is facing ten felony charges related to the fire.
After a jury was seated Monday, July, 15, opening statements began in the trial on Tuesday.
"The defendant was very angry someone would take their money and give them fake cocaine," Whiteside County State's Attorney Terry Costello said. "Because the defendant was given fake drugs, he set fire to this building."
Costello told the jury Coleman directed his brother to drive him to an area near the Western Apartments that night. He was allegedly carrying a gas can. Costello said Coleman's phone was later found at the scene of the fire and he told his girlfriend to say they were together that night.
The prosecution is arguing Coleman set the fire in a deliberate act, saying the state fire marshal's office analyzed the scene and determined the fire was "most likely incendiary in nature, possibly as a result of an ignitable liquid."
Michael Dettman was called as one of the witnesses. He was the Deputy Chief of the Sterling Fire Department at the time of the fire. He recalled finding the cell phone on the south side of the building in the early morning hours after the fire and gave it to a Sterling detective, saying it may be of interest.
Dettman testified to different ways fires can start. He described what a fire looks like that starts from an electrical outlet, and said this fire didn't look like that.
He recalled the floor on the second level sustaining significant damage from the fire. He'd responded to incidents at the apartment complex before and was familiar with what the interior looked like.
"I know the layout, it lacks a significant fuel load for the fire we had in that apartment," Dettman said.
The fuel load is anything that's combustible that can make the fire grow and take off.
"Only thing there was carpet and it didn't have the fuel release rate needed for that fire," he said.
The prosecution asked Dettman if he noticed any pour patterns on the floor. He said he did.
"Pour patterns are when an ignitable liquid is spilled, dumped, poured on a level, flat surface," he said. "It will leave an indentation once it's ignited because the amount of fluid or liquid in that area will settle to the lowest spot. That lowest spot will have an overall heavier char to it."
Dixon firefighter and paramedic George Markel was called as a witness. He suffered a third-degree ankle sprain and knee damage when he was responding to the fire and fell through the floor.
Rock Falls Police Sergeant Ryan McKanna was the first witness called by the prosecution. Video from his body camera was played in court. You can see him and other first responders standing on top of a car next to the building. You then hear them break the window and yell to people inside.
Watch the full body cam video below
For its part, Coleman's defense is arguing there are no eye witnesses that saw Coleman light the fire. Public Defender Dana McCormick claims the state's fire investigation was incomplete.
She said investigators collected four samples of fire debris.
"Three tested negative for combustible or accelerated liquids," she said. "Only one was positive, not for gasoline, but terpenes."
McCormick explained terpenes can be found in everyday household items, including naturally occurring oils and woods used to build housing complexes. She further explained canine dogs trained in sniffing out combustible type fluids were brought into the complex.
"The dog only hit a positive indication on one area, just one," she said. "Now whether that area is the same area as the positive terpenes, we'll hear from the evidence."
Coleman's trial is expected to last through the end of this week.