The Murder of Jonathan Cherol

Mar 21

For this case I watched an episode of A Time to Kill. It’s season 2 episode 2, tilted ‘You Don’t See Me, I Don’t See You.’

A popular restaurant owner is killed in a small town.

Background

Jonathan Cherol was a 33 year old, living in the small town of Bluffton, South Carolina.

He was described as a very popular and kind person. He had owned a few bars, and went into business with another local restaurant shortly before his death. Jonathan was also described as a ladies man, and loved to be out with friends.

Nobody ever thought that a brutal crime would happen in a small town, especially not to someone like Jonathan.

The Murder

On October 28, 2015, a 911 call came in at 1:10am. The man said his friend had just been shot, and that his brains were blown out. The man said they had been outside, and he didn’t see the killer.

Captain Joseph Babkiewicz and Detective Baker Odom, with the Bluffton police department arrived shortly after. They found Jonathan slumped over on a couch that was on the back porch. He was slumped over, but he was still in a sitting position, with his legs crossed.

Jonathan had been shot in the head, and half of his head was blown off. (Yes, I’m sorry it’s a very graphic description). The police found brain matter on the wall. They also found two shot gun shell casings from a 12 gauge shotgun. Jonathan had also been holding onto his cell phone, which the police found odd because he had just been shot.

The police started their investigation by questioning the 911 caller, Jonathan’s friend, Gene and Jonathan’s roommate, Rupert. Gene said he left work around 11:35pm, and arrived around midnight. Gene said Jonathan was shot around 12:53am, and he ran inside. Rupert was sleeping and didn’t hear anything. Gene made the 911 call at 1:10am.

The Mysterious Woman

During their questioning with Gene, he mentioned that a strange woman appeared at Jonathan’s house around 10:50pm. The woman said she was having car problems, and she had tried to kiss Jonathan, which Jonathan denied her advances. Gene said the woman tried to get into the house, and left after Jonathan wouldn’t let her in.

The police canvased the neighborhood, and luckily, they found some surveillance cameras. They obtained the footage, and sure enough around 10:53pm, a car is seen pulling into Jonathan’s driveway.

The woman was described as a blonde, white female, with a slim build. The woman is seen on the footage talking to Jonathan. The police believed that the two knew each other based on their body language. The woman is there from 10:53-11:43pm. The same car is seen again around 12:43am, 10 minutes before Jonathan is shot to death.

The police needed to find this woman. This wasn’t said in the episode, but apparently they were able to get a license plate or something to narrow down the type of vehicle, because they were able to run a check on the car. The car came back to a woman named Collette Collins. Collette was a married woman, with kids, and she had no criminal history.

The police really needed to talk to Collette.

Collette’s Story

The police brought Collette into the police station. They described her as being very calm and cooperative. The police asked Collette how she knew Jonathan, and she said she and her husband, Sam, were good friends with him. They had met him at one of his bars.

The police asked Collette what she did that day, and why she was at Jonathan’s that night. She said she had been at work that day. She said her husband had an addiction to drugs, so there house was a dry house. She said she really wanted some wine, so she bought some, drove around in her car drinking her wine and ended up at Jonathan’s.

She said she went home around 1am, and got into a fight with Sam about her drinking. She said the fight didn’t last long, and they both went back to sleep. The police were suspicious, and knew they didn’t needed to question Sam.

Sam’s Story

The police wanted to now speak to Sam. Sam Collins had a very pronounced limp, and he walked with a cane. He told the police that he had been shot in the knee after a drug deal gone bad.

The police asked Sam if he knew Jonathan, and Sam backed up Collette’s story about how they were good friends. The police then asked Sam where he was on October 28. Sam said he had been home all night, and he confirmed that Collette had come home drunk at 1am, and they fought. He said the fight didn’t last long and they went to bed.

The police ruled Sam and Collette out.

New Suspects

The police turned back to Rupert and Gene. The police discovered that Rupert had a motive to want Jonathan dead. He and his family had invested a lot of money into Jonathan’s business, and he lost all of it.

Rupert was brought in for questioning, and confronted with this information. Rupert admitted that yes, Jonathan lost their money and he was angry, but he didn’t kill him. Rupert told the police that he had gotten home around 3pm, he, Jonathan and a friend had dinner at 7pm, and then he went to bed. He said he woke up at midnight because he heard Gene and Jonathan outside, went outside for a bit and then went back to bed.

Gene’s alibi was also checked out. He had gone to work, left at 11:35pm and went over to Jonathan’s. Both of their hands were tested for gun shot residue and both were negative. They were completely ruled out.

Shady Business

The case stalled for a bit, and the police wanted to look into Jonathan’s work life. The police obtained Jonathan’s financial records, and discovered that Jonathan was in major debt.

Jonathan went into business with another local restaurant. The couple that owned the restaurant were named Shirley and Clive, and they immediately had a falling out with Jonathan. They made allegations that Jonathan was stealing money, and it turned out he was.

Shirley and Clive were brought in for questioning. They were asked where they were on October 28th. They said they were at home from 9pm to 7am, when they left for work. The police knew it wasn’t uncommon for a married couple to lie for each other.

The police asked them if they owned a gun, and they admitted they did. They owned a shotgun. There gun was collected, and brought in for testing. The gun was not a match to the gun used to kill Jonathan. They were eliminated, and once again the case stalled.

A Drug Deal Gone Wrong?

The police wanted to look further into Jonathan’s personal life, and his cell phone records were obtained. The last message Jonathan received that night said:

“Shoot his ass. I don’t give a f*** anymore.”

The police tracked the phone number to one of Jonathan’s friends named Josh. Josh was known the police, and had been in and out of jail for various drug charges.

The police tracked Josh down to the county jail, and questioned him. Josh told the police that Jonathan had borrowed money for drugs and was in major debt. Jonathan had created a plan to rob someone named Seth. He thought it would be easy because Seth had a limp. They asked Josh where they could find this Seth. Josh said he didn’t know, but knew who he was married to. His answer shocked them, Seth was actually Sam Collins, and he was married to Collette.

The Traffic Stop

The police turned their attention back to the Collins’. They went to speak to them at their home, and found some interesting things. In their walls, they found bullet holes. They asked them about it, and Collette said the bullet holes were there when they moved in.

They asked about the money that Jonathan owed him. Sam said that a few days before he died, Jonathan had come over acting weird. He left, and suddenly they were robbed by several men. Sam said he didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to say anything bad about his friend.

The police asked Sam if he would give them his DNA. He said yes, but when the police questioned Sam and Collette further, they both asked for lawyers. The police also discovered that the Collins’ had a safe in their home, but without more evidence, they couldn’t obtain a search warrant.

One day, a random traffic stop changed the course of this investigation. An officer pulled Sam Collins over. The police also searched the car after smelling weed. Inside Sam’s car they found drugs, and a shell casing in Sam’s pocket. A clip of Sam being pulled over was shown on this episode, and they asked Sam if he had a gun in the car. He said no, they didn’t own any guns. The shell casing was a 12 gauge, the same as the gun that killed Jonathan.

Sam was arrested for drug possession and the police also discovered that Sam didn’t use his cane anymore, and that his limp wasn’t as bad as it was before. They believed that Sam had played them.

The Final Piece

With Sam’s arrest, the police were finally able to obtain a warrant for the Collins’ home.

They believed that the murder weapon could be in their safe. They asked Collette to open it, and she claimed that she didn’t remember the combination. The police called in a locksmith, and he was able to open it in an hour. However, there was nothing found inside.

Next, the police obtained Collette and Sam’s phone records. At 2:24am, Sam had texted someone named William, saying he had returned his gun. He also sent a message that read:

“You didn’t see me, I didn’t see you.”

The police tracked William down. He told them he had met Sam through construction work a few years ago. He said that Sam had asked to borrow his shotgun for protection. William let him borrow it, and said he hadn’t touched it since Sam returned it.

The gun was brought in for testing, and it came back as a match to being the murder weapon. The testing also found Sam’s DNA on the handle and the trigger.

The police now believed that Sam was the shooter, and Collette was the get away driver. They also believed that Sam told Collette that he had killed Jonathan, which made her an accessory to murder, since she didn’t report it. They also believed that the motive was drug money debt, and that Sam believed Jonathan was into his wife.

I also have seen the Killer Couples episode about this case, and the theory is that show is different from what this episode said. It’s all pretty much the same though, Sam believed Collette and Jonathan were having an affair, but that was never proven.

Arrests and Convictions

Sam and Collette Collins were both arrested and charged with first degree murder.

Collette’s charge was reduced to accessory after the fact, and she was sentenced to the maximum of 15 years in prison.

On October 18, 2017, Sam was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I realize that a lot of this case is mostly putting Jonathan’s character into a bad light, but he didn’t deserve to get murdered. He could have turned his life around, and maybe he was trying to. Everyone described Jonathan as a nice, kind person. He was killed at the one place where he should have felt safe, his house.

Collette is just as involved as her shitty husband. I understand that she wasn’t found guilty of murder, but she deserves the same sentence as Sam. I’m happy that the police worked so hard to solve this case. They hit so many roadblocks, but they were able to give Jonathan and his family the justice they deserve.

Sources

https://www.oxygen.com/killer-couples/crime-time/husband-ride-wife-suspected-lovers-house-shoot-dead

https://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/crime/article41664177.html

https://www.blufftontoday.com/news/2017-10-19/bluffton-man-convicted-murder-restaurateur

https://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/crime/article196506394.html