By JANET PHELPS
janet.phelps@theeagle.com
Family members of a Normangee man who has been missing for more than 11 days said Tuesday that they believe foul play was involved in his disappearance.
Gene Coleman, 53, hasn't been seen since Aug. 8, his family said. Madison County Sheriff's Department officials said they were looking for Coleman, whose truck was found on a dirt road in Normangee with his keys, wallet and cell phone locked inside.
Coleman's sister, Rose May, a Madison County volunteer firefighter, said she believes he was using drugs, got in trouble and might be dead.
"We think he might have known something or been involved in a drug deal or something gone wrong," she said. "We think they hurt him. We know there's foul play involved."
Coleman was on parole after serving a prison term for a drug conviction, according to court records.
Investigator Ivan Linebaugh said had officials searched the area where Coleman's truck was found and spoken with family members.
"We're hoping he'll just show up," he said, asking that anyone with information call the sheriff's department at 936-348-2755.
But family members say they are frustrated and want police to do more. Coleman's sisters have contacted the Texas Rangers and Texas EquiSearch to help track his whereabouts.
May said her family won't rest until the know what's happened to him. Coleman is one of eight children and has six grown children, including a daughter in the U.S. Army who will deploy to Iraq next month.
"I'm very worried," she said. "We're pretty sure he's dead. We just want to find his body."
Coleman was last seen while on his way to a construction job at an Oakwood ranch when he stopped by his niece's house around 5:45 p.m. Aug. 8. A property owner on Dawkins Road saw Coleman's truck parked empty on Dawkins Road around 7 p.m., May said.
After leaving his niece's house, Coleman never picked up a fellow carpenter, his family later learned. His tools and a cooler of food packed for the job were in his truck.
"It's like the truck was planted there," she said.
Sheriff deputies called in the vehicle's discovery to a dispatcher that night, and May heard the call over the police scanner. She called officers to ask them not to tow the vehicle because she thought Coleman had run out of gas and walked to a station.
On Thursday, police called May to say that the truck still was there. That's when the family realized Coleman was missing, May said.
May said Coleman had used methamphetamines since he got out of the Army in 1979. His sister said that he started smoking crack cocaine about a month ago, but that he had never disappeared like this before.
"We know my brother. We know he does drugs. We know how he acts when he does drugs," she said, adding that he had never been gone for more than a few days and would never leave his truck unattended.
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