A recently released police video timeline shows Coles carrying her groceries into her apartment building on the 8100 block of South Vernon. That evening, Svilar said surveillance video shows Coles left in her car with a man, police are now referring to as a person of interest.
Coles was seen driving the car. They went to a 24-hour Walgreens at 8600 S Cottage Grove and security cameras inside the store showed Coles withdrawing hundreds of dollars from an ATM machine.
Coles’ mom said this was very unusual, especially because it was 10:43 p.m.
“I didn’t understand why she would be taking $400 out because she’s really cautious with spending, “ Philips said.
That would be the last time Coles was ever seen alive.
Chicago police say the evidence shows a man drove her car back to the neighborhood alone and parked down the street before 11:45 p.m. that same night and got out on the passenger side of the car.
“I can only speculate,” said Svilar on why the driver exited the passenger side of the car. “It’s not like you’re opening a car (door) in traffic. My speculation is he’s staging the seat.”
Perhaps the man was sliding the driver’s seat forward by hand to make it look like Coles had been driving. Police said the video then shows the man walking to another car parked nearby and driving away in his own vehicle.