Preliminary autopsy results show Bethel Twp. woman had several gunshot wounds

Cause of her death, which is being investigated by Clark County Sheriff’s Office, will be released with final autopsy results.

The preliminary autopsy report for a Park Layne woman found dead in her home in August shows that she was shot multiple times in the torso.

The preliminary autopsy report, which the News-Sun was able to view at the Clark County Coroner’s Office, shows that Jacqueline Coles, 43, of Medway, had four gunshot wounds to her torso: two to the chest and two to the back, as well as gunshot wounds on both of her hands.

The preliminary results also show that she had a laceration to her forehead, contusions to her upper and lower extremities and a subgaleal hemorrhage to her scalp.

Coles was found in her home on Aug. 23 after Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called there for a wellbeing check. A co-worker said he was on the phone with her around 7:30 a.m. when he heard screaming and the phone disconnected abruptly. Deputies found broken glass at the rear of the Weinland Street home, although it was unclear whether the glass was recently broken, the call disposition said.

The sheriff’s office named Noel Coles Jr., 48, as a person of interest in the investigation of Jacqueline Coles’ death. Coles was arrested on Aug. 23 in Hancock County, Indiana, after a deputy there spotted his car and recognized it from an all-points bulletin sent to law enforcement. Following his return to Ohio, he was charged with multiple counts of violation of a protection order — to which he pleaded not guilty in the Clark County Municipal Court in August and was placed on a $250,000 bond — and is listed as an inmate at the Clark County Jail.

Noel Coles is arraigned in Clark County Municipal Court Thursday. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Credit: Bill Lackey

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Credit: Bill Lackey

Noel Coles told a deputy that around 7:25 a.m. Aug. 23 he was near Jacqueline Coles’ house “watching the kids get on the bus,” according to an affidavit in the case.

According to court records, Jacqueline Coles filed a petition for an order of protection against Noel Coles on Aug. 5.

She stated in her protection order petition that Noel Coles had threatened to kill her “multiple times.” She cited an incident when he was at her residence “to talk” in her backyard and covered her mouth to muffle her screaming. She said her teenaged son walked outside and saw it happen.

“I fear for my life and that of my children,” she wrote.

Jacqueline Coles was the director of nursing at Laurelwood Assisted Living in Dayton. The cause of her death will be released in the final autopsy results.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office is investigating her death.

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