Opinion ID: 2976881
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Kidnaping, Murder, and Police Investigation

Text: On May 16, 1996, Dr. Deborah Iverson, opthamologist and mother of two, was kidnapped and murdered in her car after she left her psychiatrist’s office in Birmingham, Michigan. Iverson’s vehicle was found the next day, parked in a rural area of Macomb County. Inside was Iverson’s body. An autopsy revealed that she had been strangled to death, and further investigation revealed that two of Iverson’s checks had been cashed at two banks on the morning of her disappearance. Over seven months later, on December 30, 1996, police officers received a tip that Anitra Coomer and McConnell Adams were behind the crime. The evidence at trial established the following circumstances of the case. Coomer and Adams lived together with their two-year-old son in an apartment in Clawson, Michigan. On May 16, 1996, their rent was overdue and they owed $480 to their day-care provider. At 9:30 a.m., Coomer and Adams dropped their son off with their provider and proceeded to Birmingham, a town about twenty miles outside of Detroit. Meanwhile, Iverson left her psychiatrist’s office at 9:45 a.m., but never returned home. Nearly thirty-six hours later, the police found Iverson’s Toyota Land Cruiser on the side of a highway. Inside the car, the police found Iverson lying face down on the floor of the back seat. They found blood on the right side of her face and a line mark on her neck. Her jacket was missing a large square piece and some spots on it were faded. Iverson was clutching in her hand a picture of one of her sons. The medical examiner performed an autopsy the next day and later testified that Iverson had been dead for at least twenty-four hours at the time that her remains were discovered. The cause of death was ligature strangulation, which involved the use of some kind of noose around her neck, such as a belt. The medical examiner also testified that the ligature pattern indicated that there might have been a struggle, that the strangulation was not quick, and that it might have been agonizing. Police did not discover any new leads until December 30, 1996. The day prior, Coomer telephoned her friend Mark Dawson, telling him that Adams had beaten her. At the time, Coomer was at the home of another friend, Anita Krawczyk. Dawson went to Krawczyk’s home that afternoon, and Coomer told him about the Iverson murder. Coomer told Dawson that she and Adams had originally planned to rob Iverson, but after cashing two checks, Adams strangled Iverson with Coomer’s belt. Coomer and Adams then sprayed Iverson’s body and the inside of the car with bleach. Coomer told Dawson that she had not reported Adams’s assault because he was holding the murder over her. Dawson later testified that Krawczyk later called the police to report the assault. When the police arrived, Coomer told them that Adams had beaten her and left in a stolen truck. As Coomer and Krawczyk were driving to the police station to report the domestic assault, Coomer told her that she was worried about being arrested for the Iverson murder, and that she and Adams had agreed that if they were ever caught, he would take all the blame so that she could remain free to raise their son. Shortly thereafter, Adams was arrested for domestic assault. On December 30, 1996, Dawson’s attorney contacted the sheriff’s department with information that Coomer was involved in the Iverson murder. Dawson later met with two officers from the sheriff’s department and told them what Coomer had told him. Police officers left for Coomer’s apartment later that night. No. 06-1235 Coomer v. Yukins Page 3