Slain Ex-Riverside Resident Recalled

When joined the cross country team “she was just like every little child who joins the program – she fit in well and was friendly with everybody.”

That’s how veteran cross country and track coach William Mongovan remembered the 2005 GHS grad who was early Sunday in her apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Coit, whose family in Riverside has declined media interviews, was a member of the team in her sophomore and junior years.

“She really was no different than any of the others and enjoyed it and I wouldn’t be surprised if she had continued to run in some manner the rest of her life,” Mongovan said Tuesday.

“When you’ve been coaching this long … This is a part of coaching. You never forget them but life goes on and fortunately, a situation like this doesn’t happen too often. You’re lucky to have them in your coaching life a few years and hope they enjoyed what you gave them,” added Mongovan, who has coached track since 1970.

Coit will be remembered by the GHS track teams at the last home meet of the season in a ceremonial tradition that dates to the 1800s, Mongovan said. As the names of each deceased former team member is announced, a team captain will strike the finish line bell.

“This is something we have done for years and unfortunately we keep adding names,” Mongovan said. “We look at these young people as part of a family.”

The last girls' home track meet is scheduled for May 15, when GHS hosts Fairfield Ludlowe and New Canaan High School.

Coit’s boyfriend, Raul Barrera, has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with her death. He is being held without bond and is scheduled to return Friday to Manhattan Criminal Court.

Coit was attacked during an argument by Barrera in the third-floor apartment the couple shared early Sunday, police have said.

Barrera is accused of repeatedly stabbing Coit. Officers said they had to break down the apartment door and found a bleeding Coit on the living room floor, according to a copy of the criminal complaint filed against Barrera. A New York City Police Department spokeswoman said Tuesday that Coit was deceased on arrival at Beth Israel Hospital.

Her death was ruled a homicide, caused by stab wounds to the torso, according to a spokeswoman in the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office.

Police have said Barrera went to the 9th Precinct and told officers: "I did something bad.”

According to the criminal complaint, the “defendant stated … that during an argument, the defendant began to physically tussle with Sarah Coit, and that during the tussle defendant became enraged and picked up a knife which had fallen to the floor and stabbed Sarah Coit, causing the injuries that were observed.”

At a press conference Monday, New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said investigators recovered eight knives in the apartment.