Bernard PeeWee Cole Jr., 43, was shot and killed inside his Washington, D.C., home in the 4000 block of Cole Boulevard SE in the early morning of March 17, 2017. His body was found about 8:55 a.m. by window installers scheduled to work at the residence. An autopsy showed he sustained two gunshot wounds.

Investigators focused on a primary suspect: his son, Bernard Coleman III. Police reports say Coleman III, then 23, entered his father’s upstairs bedroom and shot him, then took his father’s car keys and cell phone and fled. He used the victim’s phone to send texts in an apparent effort to conceal the crime. Arrested on March 28, 2017 after a separate armed robbery, Coleman III admitted to shooting his father, saying it happened accidentally while he was playing with a gun.

Coleman III was initially charged with second-degree murder while armed and later pleaded guilty in December 2019 to voluntary manslaughter while armed and to robbery-related charges; he received a 15-year sentence for the killing. While awaiting sentencing he escaped custody from St. Elizabeths Hospital in October 2020, committed another assault and robbery, and was quickly recaptured, later receiving an additional three years.

Did anyone in the neighborhood or with ties to the family have information that wasn’t made public?