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Gary Coleman's Parents Think Foul Play Caused Death

By Jeff Mays on Jun 7th 2010 2:10PM
Filed under: News

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Gary Coleman's Parents Think Foul Play Caused Death

It looks like drama will follow Gary Coleman to his grave.

Coleman's parents believe that his death may have been caused by blunt force trauma.

"If I had the dollars, I'd hire someone to take another look at the body to see if there was any blunt force trauma to the head," said Victor Perillo, a spokesperson for Sue and Willie Coleman. "How did he hit his head?" Perillo asks. "Why was there so much blood?"

Authorities have said there was nothing suspicious about the 42-year-old's death from a brain hemorrhage. Coleman's ex-wife, Shannon Price, said the hemorrhage was caused by a fall. She denied pushing Coleman.

In addition, there is the news that someone is shopping photos of Coleman while he was hooked up to life support and after he died. That is simply disgusting. If any tabloid buys those pictures, they should be subject to the same ridicule as the person who took them. I hope no one in Coleman's family took the pictures.

Our celebrity-obsessed culture has gone off the deep end: We see celebrities on stage, in the supermarket and on vacation. Do we really need to see them when they are dead or dying?

The child actor's funeral was also canceled this weekend, after his estranged parents and his ex-wife could not agree on who should have legal possession of Coleman's remains. A former associate, though, now says that he has Coleman's last will and testament and neither his ex-wife or estranged parents are named in it.

Sue and Willie Coleman have argued that since their son divorced his wife in 2008, she is not the next of kin and should not have say over the funeral:

"The Colemans don't want to fight with anyone," their lawyer said in a statement. "They just want to bring their son home."

On the other hand, Coleman's agent said that just as Coleman signed a directive giving Price power over his medical decisions, he also wanted her to have power over his final arrangements:

"It's clear that Shannon is the one that Gary wants to represent him, as she did in the hospital," said agent Sheila Erickson. "He didn't mention, at any time, his parents."

It does seem odd that Coleman's parents, estranged from their adopted son since 1989, when he sued them for mismanaging the $18 million he made while a minor, would now want to handle his final affairs. They might not be in this situation if they had repaired their broken relationship with Coleman while he was alive.

At the same time, Coleman had a troubled relationship with his ex-wife. Both had domestic violence arrests, and they decided to end their marriage. Although she may have just been in shock, Price seems cold toward her ex-husband on the 911 tapes.

However, it is telling that Price was still living with Coleman and that he assigned her as his health care proxy. At least he was on speaking terms with his ex-wife. Price claims that she and Coleman planned to remarry.




One of Coleman's old managers has a will that he says does not include his ex-wife, because they had not met yet, nor his parents.

The Salt Lake Tribune writes:

Frederick Jackman, an attorney for Gary Coleman's parents, said the person named in the will is Dion Mial, a friend and former manager of the former child TV star. There was no answer at a Las Vegas phone listing for Mial when contacted by The Tribune on Friday. The document was drafted in 1999 in Los Angeles, long before the actor moved to Utah and, in 2007, married Shannon Price, whom he met on a movie set. It will be filed with the 4th District Court in Provo as probate sometime next week, Alderman said. "We will proffer it to the court as the only known last will and testament of Gary Coleman, and if somebody has a more recent will then certainly they are welcome to come forward with what they have," Alderman said. "To the extent of what I've seen, it looks like a valid will."

As a result, the Colemans will not fight for formal probate. Erickson said a more updated will does exist that spells out Coleman's burial wishes and names Price as executor of his estate.

Meanwhile, Coleman's body sits in a Salt Lake morgue.

An important lesson from all of this is to keep your paperwork up to date. Wills should be updated based on major life events, such as marriages, divorce, child births or a major change in assets or a tax situation. Assigning a medical proxy before you get sick is also important. Adversity or emergencies can strike at any moment.

Finally, it's also important that someone knows where all of these documents are located. Handling these situations beforehand can make things a lot easier when they are needed.

As for Coleman, all parties should produce whatever documents they have immediately so that the man can be laid to rest in a proper manner that respects his wishes.

For all the mistakes the Colemans made while their son was alive, the sentiments they expressed through a spokesman that "it is time for him to find peace and let his spirit go," couldn't be more correct.

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