The man who sat before Pamela Jones in a Greene County courtroom Tuesday was a family friend.


He'd worked with her son and her at Northstar Battery Co. They talked "pretty much every day," she testified.

Now, Christopher R. Coleman, 26, is one of two men accused of murdering Jones' son, Jason Isenbletter, in July.

After testimony from Jones and two others Tuesday, Greene County Associate Circuit Court Judge Mark Powell found probable cause Coleman committed second-degree murder and armed criminal action in Isenbletter's death.

The case will now proceed to the circuit court level, where it can be tried.

Matthew S. Jennings, the other man charged in the killing, waived his right to a preliminary hearing earlier this month.

In her testimony, Jones described visiting her son's East McDaniel Street duplex on July 22.


It was the fourth time she'd visited the home since her son went missing days earlier.

"I went up to the back door and knocked and just saw blood on the door frame," the woman testified. "I called 911."

That call led police to discover 31-year-old Isenbletter's decomposing body. The man had been stabbed and cut about 50 times, including a slash to the throat, testified Dr. Doug Anderson, the Greene County medical examiner.

"All his blood had leaked out," Anderson said, when asked how Isenbletter died. He estimated the man had been dead at least four days by the time police found him.

Authorities became suspicious of Coleman and Jennings, who were roommates, when a cousin of Coleman's called the Springfield Police Department on July 18, according to court documents.

The cousin said Coleman had called his grandmother in Virginia, saying he and his friend had killed a man, police say.

The tip led police to get a search warrant for the apartment Coleman and Jennings shared. Inside, investigators allegedly found bloody napkins and underwear. In a black Ford Mustang parked outside, police say they found three knives, one covered in blood.

The two suspects were apprehended on July 23, at an Oklahoma rest stop near the Texas border.

An Oklahoma state trooper reportedly found Isenbletter's missing SUV at the rest stop. When he ran the plates, a hit came back linking the vehicle to a homicide.

According to court documents, Coleman and Jennings were nearby, and approached the trooper with their hands up.

"We killed our friend," Coleman allegedly said.

In a subsequent interview with Springfield Police Detective David Meyer, Coleman said he and Jennings had gone to buy marijuana from Isenbletter on July 17, Meyer testified.

Coleman told police it was late, and the pair had to wake Isenbletter up, Meyer said.

Isenbletter allegedly was upset when he answered the door and had a gun in his hand. Coleman told Meyer this prompted the killing, the detective said.

Following Isenbletter's death, Coleman and Jennings went to Galveston, Texas, to kill themselves, "but they couldn't do it," Meyer testified.

Police later recovered a handgun belonging to Isenbletter from authorities in Texas.

Coleman is scheduled to be arraigned in circuit court on Nov. 7.