BOSTON — Louis Coleman could be arriving back in Boston with U.S. Marshals in the coming days, more than a week after he was last seen approaching Jassy Correia outside Venu nightclub.
That outcome ended with Correia's naked body stuffed in a suitcase, making his former roommate sick to her stomach.
So much mystery still surrounds the past of Louis Coleman, a former California resident with regarded academic credentials. But a woman who claims to be a roommate of his is sharing her experience and reaction to his suspected involvement in Jassy Correia's disappearance and death.
"I got goosebumps," said Doe Akinsola, one of the suspect's former college roommates. "I was like, 'oh my gosh, that’s Louis.' I couldn’t believe it, but then I could…I could, you know?"
Akinsola says she was one of three women who roomed with Coleman at Cal State Long Beach when he was a graduate student there in late 2016 to 2017.
Related: Suspect in Jassy Correia death faces federal kidnapping charge
She describes him as creepy and, at times, aggressive.
"He would walk into my room – like if I didn't have a lock, he'd just walk in…in his underwear," Akinsola remembers. "Like he would touch my thigh."
After demanding that Coleman stay out of her room, Akinsola says he became less friendly and more reclusive.
In what she claims was a text conversation between her and Coleman, he apologizes.
"It was not my intention to make you feel uncomfortable," the text reads. "I only wanted to do some roommate bonding."
"He would just stay in his room, he literally never left his room ever," Akinsola said. "He was like 30, but never worked."
Coleman did get a job after earning a degree in experimental physics. He worked on developing a sleep-aid before accepting a new job that would bring him to New England in 2017. According to his social media accounts, he accepted a position at Raytheon in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
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With no known criminal history, investigators are now running the 32-year-old's DNA to see if Coleman could be connected to any other crimes.
According to Providence Police logs, there was one brief interaction between Coleman and police, about one week before Correia's kidnapping. Coleman called to report that someone was repeatedly banging on his apartment door and that he was afraid to go outside.
As for the federal charge he'll soon be answering to here in Boston – kidnapping resulting in death—it carries a potential punishment not available at the state court level: the death penalty.
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