Trooper stopped, released now-accused Las Vegas hit man hours after 4th murder

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A state trooper stopped and released the Las Vegas man suspected of working as a hit man and killing four people hours after what detectives believe was his last murder, according to documents and videos the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.

Prosecutors filed three new open murder charges against Michael Coleman, 40, last week, the 8 News Now Investigators first reported. Officers arrested Coleman in May 2023 for what detectives said was his fourth and final murder in the series.

Carl Chester, Jr., 41, who himself was murdered in May, ordered Coleman to commit the murders in retaliation for not receiving his cut of PPP fraud money, police said. The Paycheck Protection Program was intended to help companies pay and retain employees during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

From May 2021 until February 2023, Coleman allegedly killed three men and one woman. He was also accused of injuring a bystander in one of the shootings.

On Feb. 27, 2023 – the day of the final murder – Coleman is accused of killing Kidada Stewart, 48, outside of a home near Fort Apache Road and Mountains Edge Way in the southwest valley.

Video from a neighbor recorded a car matching the descriptions from the previous murders parked next to Stewart’s home before her death. When Stewart came home, a person in the car rushed out and fired several shots toward her, killing her, the video showed.

Later that day, an Arizona state trooper stopped Coleman driving a similar-looking car on U.S. 93 between Kingman and Phoenix, documents said.

“The reason why you’re being stopped today is because: one, you have a headlight that’s out, and two, the lights are supposed to be illuminating your license plate, they are also out,” the trooper told Coleman in bodycam video the 8 News Now Investigators obtained.

At that point in their investigation, Las Vegas detectives had not identified Coleman as a suspect, nor would the trooper have known that Coleman would eventually be wanted.

The stop – and the video from it – would play a crucial role in police work to later link Coleman to the other crimes, documents said. Other surveillance video later tracked the car involved in Stewart’s murder to Coleman, even though the license plate was missing during the homicide.

During the Arizona traffic stop, the trooper asked Coleman if he had any firearms in the car. Days later, Metro police would stop the car again. Coleman was not driving but officers seized and searched it, finding a gun hidden in the engine compartment. The gun later matched cartridge casings from a previous murder in the series, police said.

Police arrested Coleman for Stewart’s murder on May 4, 2023. He initially refused to leave his home and surrender, prompting a barricade.

Chester and Coleman served time in federal custody on gang-related charges connected to the Rolling 60s Crips in West Las Vegas, documents said. Coleman shot a man in 2003 in North Las Vegas after the man “disrespected him.”

In 2006, a federal judge sentenced Coleman to 12 years in prison. Coleman wrote a letter before sentencing, asking for a second chance and saying he wanted to “apologize to the various communities of Las Vegas and the state of Nevada,” the 8 News Now Investigators first reported.

After his release from prison in the 2010s, Coleman violated the terms of his release and was ordered back to prison for six months. He was last released in 2017, records said. As a convicted felon, he is prohibited from owning a firearm.

Coleman remained in custody at the Clark County Detention Center as of Thursday where a judge ordered him held without bail. A jury trial in the Stewart case was scheduled to begin in October.

8 News Now Investigator David Charns can be reached at dcharns@8newsnow.com .

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