Witness IDs Holt suspect
Whoever abducted Sam's Club Manager David Holt and left him to die in the trunk of his burning car the early morning of June 21, 1998, took not only the store's June 20 security tape but also the June 19 security tape.
As the RICO trial for six men resumed Monday in Richmond County Superior Court, the jury learned that Carlston W. Coleman was a suspect days after the Sam's Club crime when a witness came forward to report and identify Mr. Coleman as one of three men who came into the store at closing time June 19, 1998.
"It just didn't look right at the time," Keith Remkus said when testifying he saw three men come into Sam's Club at 9 p.m. that day. The three entered through the exit doors, nodded at a cashier and then headed to the restrooms.
Carlston Coleman, 39; Ronald Coleman Jr., 29; Kendric Dudley, 30; Ronnie B. Overton Jr., 22; Charles D. Winters, 29; and Jarman L. Harold, 25, have pleaded innocent to violating the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations law. The two Mr. Colemans, who are not related, have also pleaded innocent to charges of armed robbery and kidnapping in Mr. Holt's abduction.
After the news broke that Mr. Holt, 45, had been found dead just across the Savannah River in Aiken County, Mr. Remkus called Richmond County sheriff's Investigator Jimmy Vowell to report what he had seen.
The detective testified Monday that he showed Mr. Remkus photographic lineups, one including Carlston Coleman's photograph and another including that of Laverne Ellis. Mr. Remkus picked both - Carlston Coleman was one of the men he saw enter the store, and Ms. Ellis was the cashier the men nodded at, he said.
Ms. Ellis was also accused of the RICO charge, suspected of helping Carlston Coleman get a phony Sam's Club membership for him to pass fraudulent checks at the store. Ms. Ellis pleaded guilty Oct. 1 to theft and forgery and received a five-year prison sentence and five years' probation.
Ms. Ellis is expected to testify, as is David J. Easterling, who told investigators that he helped Ronald Coleman and Carlston Coleman with the Sam's Club robbery. He is serving two life sentences in prison, having pleaded guilty to Mr. Holt's kidnapping and to murder in the Feb. 2, 1998, robbery and killings of Fred and Yong-Suk Walker in Columbia County.
Jimmy Lee Rhodes and Dag Rhodes still face trial in that case.
Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or shodson@augustachronicle.com.
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