Phillip Coleman (spree killer)

Phillip J. Coleman Jr. (1919 – September 10, 1943) was an American spree killer and self-confessed serial killer who was convicted of a double murder in Lothrop, Montana committed on July 24, 1943, together with accomplice Louis Brown. On the day of his execution, he published a written confession admitting to 23 total murders across the United States and Canada, providing details for eight of them, including one for which he had been suspected previously but never charged.

On July 24, 1943, Coleman accepted to do some work for 48-year-old Carl W. Pearson, a section foreman for the Northern Pacific Railway who lived in Lothrop. There, he worked alongside 39-year-old Louis Brown, a mixed-race ex-con from Herington, Kansas, who had convictions for vandalism and grand larceny in Kalamazoo, Michigan and Fort Madison, Iowa. After finishing their work for the day, the two men went to a bar in Alberton where they drank beer and played dice together. Upon exiting the premises in the evening, Coleman told Brown that he planned to rob Pearson, as he had seen that he had at least $200 in his house while working there. Much to his dismay, Brown showed no interest, causing Coleman to draw a knife and cut his hand, threatening to kill him if he was uncooperative. Feeling threatened by his younger companion, Brown agreed to accompany him to the Pearson home.

Coleman, who had previously refused religious counsel, had been baptized a Catholic in prison, and when brought before the gallows, he again expressed that he was sorry for what he had done and that he was ready to face judgment from God. He was hanged at the Missoula County Jail on September 10, 1943, at exactly 7:07 AM, making this one of the fastest capital punishment cases in the state's history, lasting 47 days from the murder itself to the date of his execution. Coleman's last meal was a plate of fried oysters.

Little is known about Coleman's personal life, with the only verifiable information coming from an interview with sheriffs after his arrest. According to Coleman, he was born in 1919 in East St. Louis, Illinois as Phillip J. Coleman Jr., and reportedly had many half-siblings scattered across Illinois and Arkansas. His mother remarried when he was still young, and due to the frequent arguments between her and his stepfather, he fled for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at age nine, where he was later picked up by juvenile authorities for stealing bread. Coleman's mother later picked him up and returned him to East St. Louis, but he continued to habitually run away until his mother was supposedly murdered and her body burned to ashes. When pressed for information about her supposed death, Coleman claimed that she had been killed by a white man whom had been visiting her, but was never prosecuted for her death because, at least in Coleman's view, "[she] was a Negro and he was a white man." He also claimed to have finished only a single year of high school.