Peggy Coleman thought her worst nightmare of living through her youngest child Diane’s murder, and seeking justice, was finally put to rest.

Until she received a letter in late August from the Missouri Department of Corrections informing her that Jeremy Payne, convicted of first-degree murder in her daughter’s death, is up for parole consideration. The reason that Payne is eligible for parole is due to multiple Supreme Court decisions ruling it unconstitutional for minors to be tried as adults and given life in prison. Payne was 17 at the time of Diane Coleman’s murder in November 1997.

“If I have to crawl to his parole hearing, I will be there,” said Peggy Coleman, now 90. 

The Murder 

At age 17, Diane Coleman was diagnosed with a severe case of schizophrenia, a long-lasting mental health condition that can impair one’s feelings, thoughts, and behavior. In November 1997, Diane, 32, was staying at a mental-health center in Bourbon, splitting her time between her mother’s home for a week every month and the care facility. 

“Diane had a beautiful voice and loved to sing,” Coleman said. “She was funny and everybody had a good time with her. She wrote me a letter the day before she went missing saying that she would go anywhere and do anything with me. We talked on the phone every single day.”

In fact, on the morning of Nov. 11, 1997, Diane and her mother spoke mid-morning like they did every day but neither knew it would be their last time doing so. The last-known sighting of Diane was when she left the facility she was staying at in Bourbon. When Coleman found out her daughter was missing, she had a sinking feeling.

“I knew she was either injured or dead. I just knew,” she said.

Four days after Diane went missing, her body was discovered by hunters floating in the Meramec River. Not long afterward, her death would be ruled a homicide.

Horrific details and parole eligibility

It was later revealed after Diane was struck by a vehicle and found alive in a ditch that she was severely beaten multiple times and tortured over the three days she survived by multiple people on meth, including Payne. At one point, she was gurgling, trying unsuccessfully to speak. There were defensive wounds on her hands and broken fingers indicating she was shielding her face while being punched. She was also raped.

“I believe Diane was targeted,” Coleman said. “Jeremy hated her and hated that she was dating his dad. They beat her in the ditch. She had a slow, agonizing death. The day before her body was found, she was thrown from a bridge. I will never know everything she went through. The not knowing is torture.”

Over the years, there have been several  detectives that have worked the case. One of those was former Lake St. Louis Police Detective Don Bolen who met Coleman via another mother at a meeting of parents of murdered children.

“She told me what she thought had happened and that she felt the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office was not investigating as she believed they should,” Bolen said. “She thought they were understaffed, lacked trained investigators, and could not assign someone to investigate Diane’s murder. I was a detective at the time in another police department, so I had to get permission from my Police Chief to help Peggy without involving my department, which he readily approved. A short time later I visited the (then) Crawford County Prosecuting Attorney, Sid Pearson, then the Sheriff’s Office. I met the (then) Sheriff, two of his detectives and one of the deputies who responded to the initial call of Diane’s disappearance.” 

In 2003, Payne, formerly of Crawford County, was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Diane Coleman. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. After sentencing, Payne filed for an appeal citing the court had made a mistake in a motion in denying to suppress his videotaped statement, limiting the cross examination of a witness, acting arbitrarily in refusing to admit a written statement, and erring when asking the jury to imagine how it must have felt to be Diane Coleman.

In early 2004, Payne’s appeal was denied.

Bolen recalled his initial impression of Payne which was hardly impressive. 

“He denied any involvement, but wasn’t bothered when I reminded him that it was he that hit Diane first in the head with a rock and then with a bat,” Bolen noted. “I remember asking him how his dad felt since Diane was his girlfriend? I saw the muscles in his jaw flex and he turned his head. He told him, ‘I thought he liked Diane to which he replied something like not even a little bit.’  I knew he was involved, didn’t like Diane, objected to her being with his dad and most of all, had no remorse for what he did.”

In a few weeks, it will be 28 years since Coleman last spoke to her daughter. Every day since that last moment, she has thought about Diane and has sorely missed her. In the wake of her death, Coleman’s love for her daughter included fighting for a thorough investigation, finding out who was responsible for Diane’s death and holding them accountable. And, once again, on Oct. 27, continuing that fight at the parole hearing.

“I don’t want Jeremy Payne paroled,” she said.

Payne declined an interview with the Cuba Free Press.

For those wanting to write a letter to the Department of Corrections about Payne’s possible parole, email: JeremyPayneVictims@doc.mo.gov (Your name, address, city, state, and zip code must be included in the email).