Jurors heard testimony Thursday from the mistress of Chris Coleman, the Metro East man accused of killing his wife and two young sons.

Tara Lintz of St. Petersburg, Florida had gone to high school with Coleman’s wife, Sheri.

In the Monroe County courtroom Thursday Lintz testified that she and Chris Coleman began a relationship in December 2009 and that they had exchanged promise rings. She indicated that she was wearing hers in court today.

Reporter Beth Hundsdorfer is covering the trial for the Belleville News-Democrat.

"She said they had talked about getting married and that they were looking for a month when Joyce [Meyer] wasn’t too busy," Hundsdorfer said about Lintz's testimony today. "She didn’t say that they actually had set a date but that they had discussed it."

Coleman was the head of security for Joyce Meyer Ministries.

Prosecutors say Coleman killed his wife and their 11 and 9-year-old sons so that he could be with Lintz and keep his job with the Ministry, which did not approve of divorce.

You can read more of Beth Hundsdorfer’s coverage of the trial at BND.com.

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