Relative faces murder charge in boy’s death

ESTACADA, Ore. – A woman has been charged with aggravated murder in the death of her 4-year-old stepgrandson after leading police to his body on Saturday, authorities said.

Christine Coffman, 43, led police to a heavily wooded stretch of road near this rural town in the foothills of the Cascade Range, where they found the body of Matal Zachery Sanchez following his disappearance on Wednesday.

A medical examiner’s preliminary report indicated the cause of death was “homicidal violence,” said Officer Kevin Krebs, a spokesman for the Milwaukie Police Department. No other details were immediately available, pending the results of an autopsy.

Coffman had been a suspect in the boy’s death since his disappearance from his Milwaukie home, a Portland suburb about 25 miles from where the child’s body was found.

She was being held without bail at the Clackamas County Jail in Oregon City. A court appearance was set for Tuesday on the aggravated murder charge, which carries a potential death penalty.

The boy’s mother reported him missing Wednesday afternoon. Initially, police assumed the boy was on an outing with his stepgrandmother, Coffman, who left the house at the time of his disappearance. “We were trying to figure out where he was at – and naturally people thought, ‘Maybe he’s with grandma,’ ” Krebs said.

“When she didn’t come home right away, there was a lot of looking for grandma,” Krebs said.

Police began questioning Coffman when she returned to the family’s Milwaukie home alone Wednesday evening, about three hours after the boy was reported missing.

Holly Miller, 15, a neighbor who used to play with Matal, said she knew something was wrong when the grandmother got out of her car after returning Wednesday. “There was blood on her shirt – right here,” said Miller, making a large circle on her stomach.

Miller also said she noticed what appeared to be cuts and scratches on Coffman’s face, arms and legs.

“They were really small, little marks and she was bleeding, like it was fresh,” said Christina Tobey, 14, who along with Miller was sitting on the edge of a pickup truck when Coffman pulled up Wednesday.

Krebs confirmed that Coffman’s shirt was stained with a red substance upon her return but declined to say whether it was blood. Other neighbors also noticed the scratches and marks – as if she had been in a fight.

Coffman’s car, a 1992 Nissan Sentra, was impounded and towed by police on Thursday. Investigators had also asked for the public’s help in tracking the car’s movements on the afternoon the boy disappeared.

Asked why Coffman didn’t lead police to the boy’s body immediately, Krebs said “everyone would like to know that … it’s going to be a long process before all the details come out.”

At the family’s home on a cul-de-sac in Milwaukie, the street was cordoned off with yellow police tape. A stuffed seal, a toy moose, several teddy bears, flowers and a large Winnie the Pooh balloon formed a makeshift memorial beneath a street sign.

“I’d like to get my hands around her neck,” said neighbor Debbie Leader about Coffman. “I know that sounds awful.”