LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — “I have allowed this man to affect my life,” Marie Coker said. “I can’t do that no more.”
Coker is talking about Arthur Sewall, a former Metro police officer charged in Nadia Iverson’s murder.
“As hard as it is to go through this. I’m just thankful things are happening now. At least we are getting answers, so [Nadia] can have justice,” Coker said. “There is hope now.”
For 20 years, that hope was hard to find. Iverson was murdered in May of 1997. She was shot and left in a construction area near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Washington Avenue.
A rape kit was taken after her death, but it wasn’t tested until 2016. When it finally was tested, DNA tests came back as a match to Sewall.
He was arrested in 2017, 20 years after the murder.
“Nadia is always on my mind,” Coker said. “She was my only sister. My family is still hurting.”
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Sewall was able to be matched because his DNA was taken when he got in trouble for another crime.
Two months after Nadia Iverson’s murder, Sewall was caught forcing women into sex acts while on duty as an officer. He would offer not to take the women to jail in exchange for sex. He resigned later that year, and was placed on probation.
He was charged with oppression under the color of office. After five years, Sewall was no longer a Metro officer.
“He became a police officer to benefit himself, not to serve others, but to serve himself,” Coker said.
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On Tueday, Sewall was in court and a trial date was set for November of 2019.
Coker who lives in Pennsylvania couldn’t be there, but said she will be there for every single day of the trial.
“I cannot wait to be in a room with him,” she said. “Not in a bitter way, but to face the man that did this and to face this man and say in spite of everything I forgive you.”
Coker said all of her sister’s friends from home are a part of a private Facebook Group. They all share photos of Iverson, tell stories, and make sure everyone is up to date on what’s happening with the case.
In regards to untested rape kids and the Sewall case, Metro did not respond with further comment.
