No Bail For Defendant Accused of 1988 West Roxbury Murder

Michael Coker was charged today with first-degree murder for the 1988 strangulation death of his ex-girlfriend, 20-year-old Janet Phinney. Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson ordered Coker be held without bail.

More than 20 years after Janet Phinney was found murdered in a wooded area near her West Roxbury home in the Grove area, her ex-boyfriend was arraigned and formally charged with her death.

Coker was represented by attorney Norman Zalkind and is expected to next appear in court on September 22.

Coker, born on July 3, 1962,  began dating Phinney in 1987, according to Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hallal through a press release. In 1988, Phinney had been working at a bakery as a waitress and as a part-time hairstylist and was living with her family in a Cedar Road home. Coker was 25 at the time and living in Hyde Park, said Hallal.

Hallal described their relationship as “very rocky,” which ended in early 1988 when Phinney broke up with the defendant who “was becoming extremely possessive of her,” Hallal told the court.

In March the defendant went to the victim’s home looking for her and asked that the clothes he had given her be returned to him, according to the DA's office. His clothes were given to him by a family member who then left.

A short time later, that same family member left the home and while on the way to a nearby bus stop observed “the clothing that she had just given to Michael Coker strewn throughout the woods, shredded into pieces.”

According to the prosecution, on the morning of March 18, 1988, Phinney left the house to go to a medical appointment. At around 11 a.m., Hallal told the court, a witness saw the defendant in the area of Washington and Grove streets. At approximately 12:25 p.m., a different witness driving in close proximity to Grove Street saw Phinney, who he knew, “engaged in a heated argument with a person whom he later identified as Michael Coker,” said Hallal.

At around the same time, one of victim’s family members was having lunch at home before returning to work in Dedham, said Hallal. “A few minutes after arriving, the telephone began to ring repeatedly; call after call came in. Michael Coker, on the answering machine kept stating ‘Janet, pick up the phone,’ his voice becoming more angry and agitated with each subsequent message.”

A family member allegedly picked up the phone and told the defendant to stop calling.

By 12:45 p.m., Phinney returned home, where her relative told her about the defendant’s calls and told her to be careful. That relative then left the house to go back to work. “That was the last time that anyone saw Janet Phinney alive,” said Hallal.

When the victim’s family members arrived home later that evening at about 4 p.m., they found the family’s pets outside the house waiting to be let in, an unlocked door, and the victim’s shoes and purse inside of the house. Hallal noted the weather was in the teens on that day and that the pets had been inside the house earlier in the afternoon when Phinney was last seen.

Friend and family members tried looking for Phinney, but she could not be found. On Mar. 20, 1988, her family filed a missing person’s report with the Boston Police Department.

On March 21 a neighbor discovered Phinney face down on the ground covered by leaves in the woods by her home.

Coker was interviewed by police the next day and during that interview, “He told the detectives that the last time that he saw Janet Phinney was on Monday, March 14 of 1988.”

This case is regarded as a cold case due to the length of time between the murder and this week's arrest. Modern science accomplishments are being championed as the reason why Coker is being accused of the murder 20 years after it occurred.

Hallal said an autopsy from Phinney’s body showed the presence of biological evidence.

Due to a prior conviction, Coker’s DNA profile was uploaded to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, which is a database of DNA samples from unsolved crimes and known offenders. In 2004, that biological evidence was a “hit” or match and identified as Coker.

In 2010, Hallal said, the Boston Police Crime Lab, led by the Cold Case Squad, re-examined the evidence, and using recent developments in the area of forensic science, allegedly determined the biological evidence was deposited into the Phinney’s body within 24 hours of her death.

“As a direct result of advancements in forensic science, Suffolk prosecutors together with Boston Police Cold Case Squad detectives were finally able to give news of an indictment and arrest to the family members of Janet Phinney, who have been waiting more than 20 years for this day,” said District Attorney Daniel Conley through a press release.