Cynthia Coffman Women On Death Row

cynthia coffman women on death row

Cynthia Coffman may look like the girl next door however she was convicted on five murders and has spent the last couple of decades on California death row. According to court documents Coffman and her boyfriend James Marlowe would go on a multi state crime spree that would leave bodies in their wake. Coffman did admit to police and eventually the jury that she did murder four people however she insisted that James Marlowe had her under his control leading to these violent actions. Jury did not buy it and Cynthia Coffman was sentenced to death and sent to California Death Row.

Cynthia Coffman 2021 Information

Inmate NameCOFFMAN, CYNTHIA LYNN
CDCR NumberW34001
Age57
Admission Date10/05/1992
Current LocationCentral California Women’s Facility
Location LinkDirections
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)CONDEMNED

Cynthia Coffman Other News

On Friday, November 7, 1986, around 5:30 p.m., Corinna Novis cashed a check at a First Interstate Bank drive-through window near the Redlands Mall, after leaving her job at a State Farm Insurance office in Redlands.   Novis, who was alone, was driving her new white Honda CRX automobile.   Novis had been scheduled for a manicure at a nail salon owned by her friend Terry Davis;  she never arrived for the appointment.   Novis also had planned to meet friends at a pizza parlor by 7:00 that evening, but she never appeared. That same day, Cynthia Coffman and Marlow went to the Redlands Mall, where Marlow’s sister, Veronica Koppers, worked in a deli restaurant. Between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m., Veronica pointed the couple out to her supervisor as they sat in the mall outside the deli.   Cynthia Coffman was wearing a dress;  Marlow, a suit and tie.

Later, at the time they had arranged to pick Veronica up from work, Coffman and Marlow entered the deli and handed Veronica her car keys, explaining they had a ride. Around 7:30 p.m., Coffman and Marlow brought Novis to the residence of Richard Drinkhouse.   Drinkhouse, who was recovering from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident and having some difficulty walking, was home alone in the living room watching television when the three arrived.   Marlow was wearing dress trousers; Coffman was still wearing a dress;  and Novis wore jeans and a black and green top and had a suit jacket draped over her shoulders. Marlow told Drinkhouse they needed to use the bedroom, and the three walked down the hallway.   The women entered the bedroom.   Marlow returned to the living room and told Drinkhouse they needed to talk to the girl so they could “get her ready teller number” in order to “rob” her bank account.   Drinkhouse complained about the intrusion into his house and asked Marlow if he were crazy.   Marlow replied in the negative and assured Drinkhouse “there won’t be any witnesses.   How is she going to talk to anybody if she’s under a pile of rocks?”   Drinkhouse asked Marlow to leave with the women.   Marlow declined, saying he was waiting for Veronica to bring some clothing.   He told Drinkhouse to stay on the couch and watch television. Knowing Marlow had a gun and having previously observed him fight and beat another man, and also being aware of his own physical disability, Drinkhouse was afraid to leave the house.  

At one point, when Drinkhouse appeared to be preparing to leave, he saw Cynthia Coffman, in the hallway, gesture to Marlow, who came out of the bedroom to ask where he was going.   Drinkhouse then returned to his seat on the couch in front of the television. Veronica arrived at the Drinkhouse residence 10 to 15 minutes after Coffman, Marlow and Novis.   Marlow came out of the bedroom, told Veronica he “had someone [t]here” and cautioned her not to “freak out” on him.   Marlow said he needed something from the car;  Coffman and Veronica went outside and returned with a brown tote bag.

About 10 minutes later, Coffman drove Veronica to a nearby 7-Eleven store in Novis’s car, leaving Marlow in the bedroom with Novis.   Drinkhouse heard Novis ask Marlow if they were going to take her home;  Marlow answered, “As soon as they get back.”   Veronica testified that, during this period, Coffman did not appear frightened or ask her for help in escaping from Marlow.   Drinkhouse likewise testified Coffman appeared to be going along willingly with what Marlow was doing. Upon returning from the 7-Eleven store, Coffman entered the bedroom where Marlow was holding Novis prisoner and remained with them for 10 to 15 minutes.  

During this time, Drinkhouse heard the shower running.   After the shower was turned off, Marlow emerged from the bedroom wearing pants but no shoes or shirt;  he had a towel over his shoulders and appeared to be wet.   He walked over to Veronica, said, “We’ve got the number,” and started going through a purse, removing a wallet and identification.   Marlow then returned to the bedroom with the purse.   Veronica left the house.   About five minutes later, Coffman, dressed in jeans, emerged from the bedroom, followed by Novis, handcuffed and with duct tape over her mouth, and Marlow.   Novis’s hair appeared to be wet.   The three then left the house.   Drinkhouse never saw Novis again. Marlow and Coffman returned the following afternoon to ask if Drinkhouse wanted to buy an answering machine or knew anyone who might.   When Drinkhouse responded negatively, the two left. Novis’s body was found eight days later, on November 15, in a shallow grave in a vineyard in Fontana.   She was missing a fingernail on her left hand, and her shoes and one earring were gone. An earring belonging to Novis was later found in Coffman’s purse.  

Forensic pathologist Dr. Gregory Reiber performed an autopsy on November 17.   Dr. Reiber concluded that Novis had been killed between five and 10 days previously.   Marks on the outside of her neck, injuries to her neck muscles and a fracture of her thyroid cartilage suggested ligature strangulation as the cause of death, but suffocation was another possible cause of death due to the presence of a large amount of soil in the back of her mouth.   Marks on her wrists were consistent with handcuffs, and sperm were found in her rectum, although there was no sign of trauma to her anus.

When Novis uncharacteristically failed to appear for work on Monday, November 10, without calling or having given notice of an intended absence, her supervisor, Jean Cramer, went to Novis’s apartment to check on her.   Cramer noticed Novis’s car was not parked there, the front door was ajar, and the bedroom was in some disarray.   Cramer reported these observations to police, who found no sign of a forced entry.   Terry Davis went to Novis’s apartment later that day and determined Novis’s answering machine and typewriter were missing.3 Around 9:30 p.m. on Friday, November 7, the night Novis apparently was killed, Veronica Koppers visited her friend Irene Cardona and tried to sell her an answering machine, later identified as the one taken from Novis’s apartment.   Cardona accompanied Veronica, Coffman and Marlow to the house of a friend, who agreed to trade the answering machine for a half-gram of methamphetamine.  

The next day, Debra Hawkins bought the answering machine that Cardona had traded.   The Redlands Police Department eventually recovered the machine.   Harold Brigham, the proprietor of the Sierra Jewelry and Loan in Fontana, testified that on November 8, Coffman pawned a typewriter, using Novis’s identification. Victoria Rotstein, the assistant manager of a Taco Bell on Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, testified that between 11:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. one night in early November 1986, after the restaurant had closed for the evening, a woman came to the locked door and began shaking it.   When told the restaurant was closed, the woman started cursing, only to run off when Rotstein said she was going to call the police.   Rotstein identified Coffman in a photo lineup and a physical lineup, but did not identify her at trial.  

On November 11, 1986, the Taco Bell manager found a bag near a trash receptacle behind the restaurant;  inside the bag were Coffman’s and Novis’s drivers’ licenses, Novis’s checks and bank card, and various identification papers belonging to Marlow. The day after Novis’s disappearance, Marlow, Cynthia Coffman and Veronica Koppers returned to Paul Koppers’s home;  Marlow asked him if he could get any “cold,” i.e., nontraceable, license plates for the car.   On the morning of November 12, Marlow and Coffman returned to Paul Koppers’s residence, where they told him they had been down to “the beach,” “casing out the rich people, looking for somebody to rip off.”   Koppers asked Marlow if he knew where Veronica was;  after placing two telephone calls, Coffman learned Veronica was in police custody.   On the Koppers’ coffee table, Marlow saw a newspaper containing an article about Novis’s disappearance with a photograph of her car.   Marlow told Cynthia Coffman they had to get rid of the car.

  Paul Koppers refused Marlow’s request to leave some property at his house. Cynthia Coffman and Marlow left the Koppers residence and drove to Big Bear, where they checked into the Bavarian Lodge using a credit card belonging to one Lynell Murray (other evidence showed defendants had killed Murray on November 12).   Their subsequent purchases using Murray’s credit card alerted authorities to their whereabouts, and they were arrested on November 14 as they were walking on Big Bear Boulevard, wearing bathing suits despite the cold weather.   Cynthia Coffman had a loaded .22-caliber gun in her purse.   Novis’s abandoned car was found on a dirt road south of Santa’s Village, about a quarter-mile off Highway 18.   Despite Coffman’s efforts to wipe their fingerprints from the car, her prints were found on the license plate, hood and ashtray;  a print on the hood of the car was identified as Marlow’s.  

A resident of the Big Bear area later found discarded on his property a pair of gray slacks with handcuffs in the pocket, as well as a receipt and clothing from the Alpine Sports Center, where Cynthia Coffman and Marlow had made purchases.  

Marlow’s Case Dr. Robert Bucklin, a forensic pathologist, reviewed the autopsy report and related testimony by Dr. Reiber.   Based on the lack of anal tearing or other trauma, Dr. Bucklin opined there was insufficient evidence to establish that Novis had suffered anal penetration.   He also questioned Dr. Reiber’s conclusion that Novis might have been suffocated, as opposed to aspirating sandy material during the killing or coming into contact with it during the burial process.  

Coffman’s Case Cynthia Coffman testified on her own behalf, describing her relationship with Marlow, his threats and violence toward her, and other murders in which, out of fear that he would harm her or her son, she had participated with him while nonetheless lacking any intent to kill.   Coffman also presented the testimony of Dr. Lenore Walker, a psychologist and expert on battered woman syndrome, in support of her defense that she lacked the intent to kill.   The trial court admitted much of this evidence over Marlow’s objections. Coffman testified she was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1962 and, following her graduation from high school, gave birth to a son, Joshua, in August 1980.   Shortly thereafter she married Joshua’s father, Ron Coffman, from whom she separated in April 1982.   In April 1984, Coffman left St. Louis for Arizona, leaving Joshua in his father’s care, intending to come back for him when she was settled in Arizona. Cynthia Coffman testified that when she met Marlow in April 1986, she was involved in a steady relationship with Doug Huntley.   She and Huntley had lived in Page, Arizona, before moving to Barstow, where Huntley took a job in construction.   Cynthia Coffman, who previously had worked as a bartender and waitress, was briefly employed in Barstow and also sold methamphetamine.  

In April 1986, both Cynthia Coffman and Huntley were arrested after an altercation at a 7-Eleven store in which Coffman pulled a gun on several men who were “hassling” Huntley and “ going to jump him.”   Charged with possession of a loaded weapon and methamphetamine, Coffman was released after five days.   The day after she was released, Marlow, whom she had never met, showed up at the apartment she shared with Huntley.   Marlow said he had been in jail with Huntley and had told him he would check on Coffman to make sure she was all right.   Cynthia Coffman and Marlow spent about an hour together on that occasion and smoked some marijuana.   After Huntley’s release, he and Cynthia Coffman visited Marlow at the Barstow motel where Marlow was staying.

By June 1986, Huntley was again in custody and Cynthia Coffman was preparing to leave him when Marlow reappeared at her apartment.   At Marlow’s request, Coffman drove him to the home of his cousin, Debbie Schwab, in Fontana;  while there, he purchased methamphetamine. Within a few days, Coffman moved with Marlow to Newberry Springs, where they stayed with Marlow’s friends Steve and Karen Schmitt.   During this period, Marlow told her he was a hit man, a martial arts expert and a White supremacist, and that he had killed Black people in prison.   In Newberry Springs, Cynthia Coffman testified, Marlow for the first time tied her up and beat her after accusing her of flirting with another man.   During this episode, his demeanor and voice changed;  she referred to this persona as Folsom Wolf, after the prison where Marlow had been incarcerated, and over the course of her testimony identified several other occasions when Marlow had seemed to become Wolf and behaved violently toward her.   After this initial beating, he apologized, said it would never happen again, and treated her better for a couple of days.   She discovered he had taken her address book containing her son’s and parents’ addresses and phone numbers, and he refused to give it back.   He became critical of the way she did things and when angry with her would call her names.   He refused to let her go anywhere without him, saying that if she ever left him, he would kill her son and family. After some weeks in Newberry Springs, Marlow told Cynthia Coffman his father had died and left him some property in Kentucky and that they would go there.   Cynthia Coffman would get her son back, he suggested, and they would live together in Kentucky or else sell everything and move somewhere else.   Marlow prevailed on her to steal a friend’s truck for the journey;  after having it repainted black, they set off. Not long before they left, Marlow bit her fingernails down to the quick.  

They went by way of Colorado, where they stayed with a former supervisor of Marlow’s, Gene Kelly, who discussed the possibility of Marlow’s working for him again in Georgia.   They then passed through St. Louis.   Arriving in the evening and reaching her parents by telephone at midnight, Cynthia Coffman was told it was too late for her to visit that night;  the next morning, Marlow told her there was no time for her to see her son.   Accordingly, although Cynthia Coffman had not seen her son since Christmas 1984, they drove straight to Kentucky. On arriving, they stayed with Marlow’s friend Greg (“Lardo”) Lyons and his wife Linda in the town of Pine Knot. Marlow informed Cynthia Coffman the real reason for the trip was to carry out a contract killing on a “snitch.”   Once they had located the intended victim’s house, Marlow told her she was to do the killing.   She protested, but ultimately did as he directed, carrying a gun, fashioning her bandana into a halter top, and luring the victim out of his house on the pretext of needing help with her car.   When the victim, who had a gun tucked into his belt, had come to the spot where their truck was parked and was taking a look under the hood, Marlow appeared and demanded to know what the man was doing with his sister.   Marlow then grabbed the man’s gun.   Cynthia Coffman testified she heard a shot go off, but did not see what happened.   Cynthia Coffman and Marlow returned to Lyons’s home.   Sometime later, Marlow and Lyons left the house and returned with a wad of money.   Cynthia Coffman counted it:  there was $5,000. Coffman testified that Marlow subjected her to several severe beatings in Kentucky.   In mid-August 1986, they drove to Atlanta, where Marlow told her he had a job.   While in a bar after his fourth day working for Gene Kelly, Marlow became angry at Cynthia Coffman.   That night, in their hotel room, he began beating her, took a pair of scissors, threatened to cut her eye out, and then cut off all her hair.   He forced her out of the motel room without her clothes, let her back in and forcibly sodomized her.  

Marlow failed to show up for work the next day and was fired.   They then returned to Kentucky, where they unsuccessfully attempted a burglary and spent time going on “pot hunts,” i.e., searching rural areas for marijuana plants to steal.   Just before they left Kentucky to go to Arizona, they stole a station wagon. Back in Arizona, they burglarized Doug Huntley’s parents’ house and stole a safe.   After opening it to find only some papers and 10 silver dollars, they took the coins and buried the safe in the desert.   Returning to Newberry Springs and again briefly staying with the Schmitts, they sold the stolen car and stole two rings belonging to their hosts, pawning one and trading the other for methamphetamine. From Newberry Springs, in early October 1986, Marlow and Cynthia Coffman took a bus to Fontana, where they again stayed with Marlow’s cousins, the Schwabs.   During that visit, Marlow tattooed Coffman’s buttocks with the words “Property of Folsom Wolf” and her ring finger with the letters “W-O-L-F” and lightning bolts, telling her it was a wedding ring.   Leaving the Schwab residence in late October, they hitchhiked to the house of Rita Robbeloth and her son Curtis, who were friends of Marlow’s sister, Veronica.   From there, Veronica brought Cynthia Coffman and Marlow to the home she shared with her husband, Paul, and his brother, Steve.  

At the Robbeloth residence one day, Cynthia Coffman, Marlow and Veronica were sharing some methamphetamine, and Marlow became enraged over Coffman’s request for an equal share.   Although Cynthia Coffman quickly backed down, Marlow began punching her and threatened to leave her by the side of the road.   Later, back at the Koppers residence, Marlow continued to beat, kick and threaten to kill her, forced her to consume four pills he told her were cyanide, extinguished a cigarette on her face and stabbed her in the leg, rendering her unconscious for a day and unable to walk for two days. Cynthia Coffman recounted how she and Marlow, along with Veronica, left the Koppers residence and came to stay at the Drinkhouse residence the night before they abducted Novis.  

On the morning of November 7, 1986, Marlow told her to put on a dress, saying they would not be able to rob anyone if they were not dressed nicely.   Marlow borrowed a suit from Curtis Robbeloth and told Cynthia Coffman they had to “get a girl.”   She testified she did not understand he intended to kill the girl.   After dropping Veronica off at her job, Coffman and Marlow drove around in Veronica’s car looking for someone to rob.   Eventually they parked in front of the Redlands Mall. When they saw Novis’s white car pull up in front of them and Novis enter the mall, Marlow said, “That is the one we are going to get,” despite Coffman’s protests that the girl was too young to have money.   He directed Coffman to get out of the car and ask Novis for a ride when the latter returned to her car.   Cynthia Coffman complied, asking Novis if she could give them a ride to the University of Redlands.   When Novis agreed, Marlow got in the two-seater car with Coffman on his lap.   As Novis drove, Marlow took the gun from Coffman, displayed it and told Novis to pull over.   Then Coffman drove while Novis, handcuffed, sat on Marlow’s lap.   He told Novis they were going to a friend’s house and directed Cynthia Coffman to the Drinkhouse residence, where they arrived between 7:00 and 7:30 p.m. When Novis told them she had something to do that evening, Marlow assured her, “Oh, you’ll make it where you are going.   Don’t worry.” As Marlow went in and out of the bedroom at the Drinkhouse residence, Coffman sat with Novis.   When Novis asked if she was going to be allowed to leave, Cynthia Coffman told her to do what Marlow said and he would let her go.   Showing Novis the stab wound on her leg, Coffman told her Marlow was “just crazy.”   Marlow dispatched Coffman to make coffee and proceeded to try to get Novis to disclose her personal identification number (PIN).  

Finally Novis gave him a number.   Marlow then taped Novis’s mouth and said, “We are going to take a shower.”   He removed Novis’s clothes and put her, still handcuffed, into the shower.   Cynthia Coffman testified he told her (Coffman) to get into the shower, but she refused.   Thinking Marlow was going to rape Novis, Cynthia Coffman testified she “turned around” and “walked away” into the living room.   There she retrieved her jeans and returned to the bedroom to get dressed.   Cynthia Coffman denied either arousing Marlow sexually or having anything to do with anything that happened in the shower.   When Marlow told her to dress Novis, Cynthia Coffman responded that if he uncuffed her, she could do so herself.   He removed the handcuffs to permit Novis to dress, then handcuffed her again to a bedpost.

Around this time, Veronica arrived at the Drinkhouse residence.   Marlow took Novis’s purse, directed Veronica to get his bag out of her car, and told Cynthia Coffman and his sister to go to the store, where they bought sodas and cigarettes.   Back at the Drinkhouse residence, Veronica departed and, soon thereafter, Marlow, Coffman and Novis left, with Coffman driving and Novis, duct tape on her mouth, handcuffed, and covered with blankets, in the back of the car.   Marlow told Coffman to drive to their drug connection in Fontana, but directed her into a vineyard.   There, Marlow and Novis got out of the car, and he removed her handcuffs and tape.   He explained they could not bring a stranger to the drug connection’s house, so he would wait there with Novis while Cynthia Coffman scored the dope.   They walked off, with Marlow carrying a blanket and a bag containing a shovel.

Cynthia Coffman testified she felt confused at that point because she possessed only $15, insufficient funds for a drug purchase.   Believing Marlow intended to rape Novis, she backed the car out of the vineyard, parked down the street and smoked a cigarette.   When she returned, no one was there.   She could hear the sound of digging. Some 10 to 15 minutes later Marlow reappeared, alone.   Without speaking, he threw some items into the back of the car and, after Cynthia Coffman had driven for a while, began to hit her and berated her for driving away. They returned to the Robbeloth residence, where Marlow changed clothes.  

Next they drove to a First Interstate Bank branch, but were unable to access Novis’s account because she had given them the wrong PIN. From there, around 9:30 p.m., they went to Novis’s apartment and, after a search, found a card on which Novis had written her PIN. They also took a typewriter, a telephone answering machine and a small amount of cash.   They returned to the Robbeloth residence, where Marlow spoke with Veronica, who then drove them around unsuccessfully looking for a friend to buy the answering machine.  

Leaving Veronica around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., Cynthia Coffman and Marlow tried again to access Novis’s account, only to learn there was not enough money in the account to enable them to withdraw funds using the automated teller.   They returned to the Drinkhouse residence.

The next morning, Veronica joined them around 8:00 or 9:00.   After trying again to sell the answering machine, they pawned the typewriter for $50 and bought some methamphetamine.   That afternoon Cynthia Coffman and Marlow went to Lytle Creek to dispose of Novis’s belongings.   Cynthia Coffman had not asked Marlow what had happened to Novis;  she testified she did not want to know and thought he had left her tied up in the vineyard.   They returned to the Drinkhouse residence around 5:00 p.m.

Later that evening, after trading the answering machine for some methamphetamine in the transaction described in Irene Cardona’s testimony, Coffman and Marlow went with Veronica to the Koppers residence, where they “did some speed” and developed a plan to go to the beach in Orange County on Marlow’s theory that “it would be easier to get money down there because all rich people live down at the beach.”   Veronica drove Coffman and Marlow back to Novis’s car, which they drove to Huntington Beach, arriving at sunrise. After lying on the beach for several hours, they looked unsuccessfully for people to rob.   Marlow berated Cynthia Coffman for their inability to find a victim, held a gun to her head and ordered her to drive.   After threatening to shoot her, he began to punch the stab wound on her leg.   That night, they slept in the car in front of some houses near the beach.   The next day, Coffman cashed a check on Novis’s account, receiving $15.   They continued their search for a potential victim and eventually bought dinner at a Taco Bell, where Marlow discarded their identification, along with Novis’s.   They drove up into the hills and spent the night.  

The next day, they resumed their search for someone to rob.   Seeing a woman walking out of Prime Cleaners, Marlow commented that she would be a good one to rob.   They continued to drive around, however, and spent the night in the car behind a motel on Pacific Coast Highway after removing the license plates from another car and putting them on Novis’s car. The following afternoon, Cynthia Coffman and Marlow entered Prime Cleaners and committed the robbery, kidnapping, rape and murder of Lynell Murray detailed below (see post, 34 Cal.4th at pp. 32-34, 17 Cal.Rptr.3d at pp. 744-746, 96 P.3d at pp. 59-60).

Cynthia Coffman also presented the testimony of several witnesses suggesting her normally outgoing personality underwent a change and that she behaved submissively and fearfully after she became Marlow’s girlfriend.   Judy Scott, Coffman’s friend from Page, Arizona, testified that when Coffman and Marlow visited her in October 1986, Coffman, who previously had been talkative and concerned about the appearance of her hair, avoided eye contact with Scott, spoke tersely and had extremely short hair that she kept covered with a bandana.   Lucille Watters testified that during the couple’s July 1986 visit to her house, Cynthia Coffman appeared nervous, rubbing her hands and shaking.   Linda Genoe, Lyons’s ex-wife, testified she met Cynthia Coffman in June 1986 when she and Marlow visited her at her home in Kentucky.   Genoe observed that whenever Marlow wanted something, he would clap, call “Cynful” and tell her what to do.   Cynthia Coffman would always sit at his feet.   On one occasion, Genoe saw Cynthia Coffman lying on the floor of the bedroom in which she was staying, naked and crying;  Coffman did not respond when Genoe asked what was wrong.  

The next morning, Genoe saw scratches on Coffman’s face and bruises around her neck, and Coffman seemed afraid to talk about it.   Once Genoe observed Cynthia Coffman cleaning between the spokes on Marlow’s motorcycle with a toothbrush while Marlow watched.   While at Genoe’s house, Coffman and Marlow got “married” in a “ biker’s wedding.” Coffman also presented the testimony of Psychologist Lenore Walker, Ph.D., an expert in battered woman syndrome.   Dr. Walker opined that Coffman was generally credible and suffered from battered woman syndrome, which she described as a collection of symptoms that is a subcategory of posttraumatic stress disorder.   Certain features of defendants’ relationship fit the profile of a battering relationship:  a pattern of escalating violence, sexual abuse within the relationship, jealousy, psychological torture, threats to kill, Cynthia Coffman’s awareness of Marlow’s acts of violence toward others, and Marlow’s alcohol and drug abuse.  

Dr. Walker administered the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to Cynthia Coffman and diagnosed her as having posttraumatic stress disorder and depression with dysthymia, a depressed mood deriving from early childhood. Officer Lisa Baker of the Redlands Police Department testified that on November 15, 1986, she took Cynthia Coffman to the San Bernardino County Medical Center and there observed various scratches and bruises on her arms and legs, a bite mark on her wrist, and a partly healed inch-long cut on her leg.   Coffman told Baker the bruises and scratches came from climbing rocks in Big Bear. Gene Kelly, formerly Marlow’s supervisor in his employment with a company that erected microwave towers, testified that one evening in June 1986 he saw Marlow, who believed Cynthia Coffman had been flirting with another man, yank her out of a restaurant door by her hair.

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Cynthia Coffman 2021

Cynthia Coffman is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility which is California Death Row for Women

Why Is Cynthia Coffman On Death Row

Cynthia Coffman was convicted fo four murders

Celeste Carrington Women On Death Row

Celeste Carrington Women On Death Row

Celeste Carrington at one point was a burglar with a violent streak, during three separate robberies she shot three people killing two of them. According to Celeste her boyfriend forced her to go on these robberies however police found this hard to believe. The last person Celeste Carrington shot three times actually survived the attack and would testify against her in court. Celeste would be convicted of multiple charges including murder, attempted murder and robbery and would be sentenced to death for the two murders and sent to California Death Row

Celeste Carrington 2021 Information

Inmate NameCARRINGTON, CELESTE SIMONE
CDCR NumberW55311
Age57
Admission Date12/02/1994
Current LocationCentral California Women’s Facility
Location LinkDirections
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)CONDEMNED

Celeste Carrington Other News

The state Supreme Court upheld the death sentence Monday of an East Palo Alto woman who killed two people execution-style and wounded a third in 1992 robberies of buildings where she had worked as a janitor.

Celeste Carrington, 47, is one of only 15 women among 683 condemned prisoners in California.

The justices unanimously rejected defense arguments that police had illegally searched her apartment and had extracted her confession with false promises of leniency. Her lawyers have another appeal pending, claiming that Celeste Carrington’s trial defense was incompetent.

Carrington was raised in poverty in Philadelphia and was abused by both parents and impregnated by her father at age 14, according to defense testimony. She eventually attended a community college in Southern California and starred in track and field, competing internationally in the shot put.

Carrington had no criminal record before the murders but had been fired from her job as a janitor in December 1991 for stealing checks. Witnesses at her trial said she had been providing financial support for her partner and the woman’s three children

Carrington admitted fatally shooting Victor Esparza, 34, a janitor at a shoe factory in San Carlos, in January 1992, and Caroline Gleason, 36, a property manager at a real estate office in Palo Alto, in another robbery two months later, police said. Five days after killing Gleason, she shot and wounded Allan Marks, a Redwood City pediatrician, during a robbery of his office, authorities said.

Carrington told police she had gone to all three offices with a stolen gun and keys she had kept from her work as a janitor.

Gleason was on her knees before Carrington when she was shot, and Esparza was either kneeling or standing, with no evidence that he was resisting, medical examiners found.

In her appeal, Celeste Carrington’s lawyers argued that Palo Alto police had illegally searched her apartment and obtained evidence that led to her confessions.

Officers from Palo Alto accompanied Los Altos police, who had a warrant to look for evidence of two burglaries. When Palo Alto police saw a key and a pager connected to Gleason’s killing in plain view, the court said, they stopped the search, went back to court and got a warrant to look for evidence of the murder.

Even if the Palo Alto police were there on a pretext, Chief Justice Ronald George said in Monday’s ruling, they were entitled to be present at a legitimate burglary search and acted properly by not touching anything until they obtained another warrant.

George also said the police interrogation, in which one detective told Celeste Carrington that Gleason’s shooting was “probably an accident” and another officer suggested that Carrington had nothing to lose by admitting to Esparza’s murder, did not amount to promises of leniency that would make the confessions involuntary.

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Celeste Carrington 2021

Celeste Carrington is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row for Women

Why Is Celeste Carrington On Death Row

Celeste Carrington was convicted of three murders

Socorro Caro Women On Death Row

Socorro Caro Women On Death Row

Socorro Caro was a woman who decided the best way of getting back at her estranged husband was to murder her three children. According to court documents Socorro was upset that her husband was preparing to leave her so she shot dead her three young children. Caro would then shoot herself in the head in a suicide attempt. Socorro has said that she has no memory of the night of the triple murders and considering she underwent two brain surgeries to fix the damage the bullet caused this is plausible. However the California jury did not think so and found her guilty on all three counts and sentenced her to death, she remains on California Death Row

Socorro Caro 2021 Information

Inmate NameCARO, SOCORRO
CDCR NumberW93672
Age62
Admission Date04/09/2002
Current LocationCentral California Women’s Facility
Location LinkDirections
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)CONDEMNED

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Reporting from San Francisco —  

The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday to uphold the death sentence of a chronically depressed mother who killed three of her children before shooting herself in the head.

In a decision written by Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar, the state high court affirmed the death sentence of Socorro Caro for shooting to death Joey, 11, Michael, 8, and Christopher Caro, 5 at her Camarillo home. Her fourth child, who was 1, was unharmed.

At the time of the 1999 killings, Socorro Caro, known as Cora to her friends, was having marital difficulties with her husband, Dr. Xavier Caro, a specialist in rheumatology. He had visited a divorce lawyer.

The couple shared margaritas and dinner on the night of the killings and then argued about disciplining one of their children. Socorro accused her husband of not loving or respecting her. Xavier told her he was leaving and went to his medical office.

Socorro was convicted of shooting the three boys a few hours later in their bedrooms before turning the gun on herself. She later underwent two brain surgeries.

Reports showed she had Prozac, an anti-depressant prescribed by her husband, and Xanax, a medication for anxiety, in her system. Socorro Caro blood alcohol level was 0.138, an amount a defense expert said would have caused her to stagger.

A clinical neurologist testified at her trial that Socorro Caro suffered from chronic depression, delusions of personal inadequacy, alcohol dependence and a dependent personality.

Socorro challenged her death sentence on a variety of grounds, including the admission of statements she made before being given a Miranda warning while in intensive care after brain surgery.

The court concluded that those statements to a detective were largely innocuous and “did not have high value in the overall evidentiary calculus.”

“Had these statements been omitted, moreover, it would have been unlikely to affect consideration of the case’s compelling forensic evidence,” Cuellar wrote. “Expert testimony about the bloody clothes Socorro was found wearing provided a wealth of incriminating information.”

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Soccoro Caro 2021

Soccoro Caro is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility the home of California Death Row For Women

Why Is Soccoro Caro On Death Row

Soccoro Caro was convicted of murdering three of her children

Belinda Magana Women On Death Row

Belinda Magana Women On Death Row

Belinda Magana and her then boyfriend Naresh Narine should have never been allowed anywhere near children. According to court documents the pair would not get their two year old medical care when he was scalded with hot water. For days after the scalding the couple would beat the small child for crying and eventually the child would die from his injuries. An investigation into the pair would lead to charges of child abuse, torture and murder. Belinda Magana and Naresh Narine would stand trial but in the end it did not really matter as both would be convicted on all charges and sentenced to death in California. Magana remains on California Death Row

Belinda Magana 2021 Information

Inmate NameMAGANA, BELINDA
CDCR NumberWF2152
Age34
Admission Date05/08/2015
Current LocationCentral California Women’s Facility
Location LinkDirections
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)CONDEMNED

Belinda Magana Other News

The mother of a Corona toddler, who was scalded, denied medical care and beaten when he cried in pain for days until he died, continued to deny she was responsible for his death in a hearing Friday, May 1, where she was sentenced to death for the 2009 horrific crime.

Belinda Magana, 29, sniffled and spoke briefly about her son Malachi Magana’s death as one of her defense attorneys, Darryl Exum, put his hand on her shoulder.

In a separate sentencing that followed, Naresh Narine, who turned 43 a day earlier, chose not to speak. Narine was Belinda Magana’s boyfriend at the time of the crime and was a father figure to the toddler.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz read the results of his independent review that supported the recommendation of separate juries for each defendant that they be sentenced to death, and ordered that they be transported to state prison

Schwartz called the conduct of Belinda Magana and Narine “repulsive and disgusting” in the suffering of the child.

If the incident had not occurred, the judge said Malachi would be about 7 or 8. “He would have been in school, playing with friends getting ready for summer vacation, Schwartz said.

Sentencing hearings allow time for victims, their families and friends to give victim impact statements. No one appeared to speak for Malachi.

When asked outside court after the sentencing who would speak for the young victim, Senior Deputy District Attorney Daima Calhoun, who was the lead prosecutor in the trial, said, “Me and the jury. The jury speaks for him” by their verdicts.

Belinda Magana and Narine were found guilty in January of first-degree murder, torture, mayhem and child abuse in the boy’s death.

Before the judge imposed the sentence, Belinda said, “I just wanted to say to my family and everybody else that I’m truly sorry for the part that I did….Regardless of what anybody said, I didn’t kill my son.”

According to testimony, Malachi was scalded in a shower and other than his mother applying an ointment, the defendants did not seek medical help because they feared getting in trouble. Belinda Magana said the injury occurred while she and Malachi’s brother, who was then age 4, were at the grocery store. Narine blamed the brother for turning on the hot water.

For the next five days, both admitted hitting and beating the boy when his cries disturbed them. Experts concluded blunt force trauma to his head and complications of the scalding burn injuries contributed to his death.

That day during a Mother’s Day picnic at a Corona park, they reported him missing. Under Corona police questioning, Belinda Magana finally admitted what happened and led them to her son’s shallow grave.

Belinda and Narine drove to a party in Apple Valley and the next day buried the body near Lytle Creek in San Bernardino County.

As of April 6, the California Department of Corrections listed 84 inmates from Riverside County sentenced to death.

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Belinda Magana 2021

Belinda Magana is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility home of California Death Row for Women

Why Is Belinda Magana On Death Row

Belinda Magana was convicted of the child abuse murder of a two year old

Rosie Alfaro Women On Death Row

Rosie Alfaro Women On Death Row

Rosie Alfaro would be sentenced to death in California for a robbery turned murder. According to court documents Rosie went to the home of an acquaintance in order to rob it however was surprised when the homeowner daughter was home. Instead of walking away and trying her luck another day Rosie would stab the victim repeatedly causing her death. Rosie who is believed to be an illegal alien was also pregnant and believed to be high at the time of the murder. Rosie Alfaro would eventually be arrested and charged with robbery and murder both of which she was convicted and would be sentenced to death. Alfaro remains on California Death Row

Rosie Alfaro 2021 Information

ALFARO, MARIA DELROSIO
CDCR NumberW45403
Age48
Admission Date07/20/1992
Current LocationCentral California Women’s Facility
Location LinkDirections
Parole Eligible Date (Month/Year)CONDEMNED

Rosie Alfaro Other News

Linda Wallace was sitting in the cavernous courtroom of the California Supreme Court recently when she started to cry.

“You would think after all this time, you would get over it, but you don’t,” said the Lake Havasu City, Ariz., woman.

It’s been 17 years since her little girl was killed; 15 years since the killer was sentenced to death.

Still, she cries. The tears come at her at odd hours in the day and the night.

“The hurt is still there,” she said. “It’s always there, no matter how much time passes by.”

Wallace has attended every minute of every court proceeding in the case since June 15, 1990, when 9-year-old Autumn Wallace was stabbed to death in her own home.

She has endured one trial, two penalty hearings, and more than 15 years awaiting an appellate review. The testimony, she said, has frequently been gruesome and hard to take, but Wallace persevered because “I was doing it for Autumn.”



Wallace will continue to travel from her home in Arizona, accompanied by her two surviving daughters when possible, no matter when and no matter how far, to represent Autumn.

“It’s the only thing I can do for her,” the mom said, “I need to be there to represent her, because she can’t do it. I go to be with my daughter.

“The hardest thing for me is to see people now who are Autumn’s age,” she said. “Not being able to see her grow up, that’s what bothers me the most. She would be 26 years old now. She could be married. She could have kids. That’s what I think about.”

• • •

Maria del Rosio “Rosie” Alfaro, grew up in the Anaheim barrio near Disneyland. She became a drug addict at 13, a prostitute at 14 and a single mom at 15. Eventually, she became a murderer at 18 and the first woman in Orange County to get the death penalty at 20.

On June 15, 1990, Alfaro was high on cocaine and heroin, and she desperately need money for another fix.

An easy target for stuff to steal, Rosie Alfaro thought, would be the Wallace residence in Anaheim Hills, a warm and comforting home she had visited many times before as a sometimes friend of one of Autumn’s older sisters.

Autumn, a pixie with blond hair and brown eyes, was home alone cutting out paper dolls when she heard the knock on the door. The teenager on the front porch was not a stranger to Autumn. It was Rosie Alfaro, her sister’s friend.

The killer was inside now, and Autumn was a perfect victim: She was a child. She was trusting. She was vulnerable.

She was also a witness. Years later, in a jailhouse interview, Rosie Alfaro said she had to kill Autumn because the little girl knew who she was. She remembered how Autumn looked up at her with a trusting smile, a smile that turned to fear when the stabbing began.

Linda Wallace found the body of her cherubic little girl hours later, in a pool of blood in the bathroom. She had been stabbed 57 times.

The Wallace home had been ransacked, and property was missing – including a portable television, a VCR, a typewriter, a telephone and a Nintendo set. Rosie Alfaro later sold all of it for $300.

Rosie Alfaro confessed to the slaying, but later changed her story and claimed that an unidentified male accomplice forced her to start stabbing the girl, and then he finished the slaying. Rosie Alfaro has adamantly refused to identify the mystery man, and continues to do so. The police say he never existed.

Jurors did not buy her version of the facts.

Rosie Alfaro was convicted of first-degree murder, plus special circumstances. The same jury deadlocked at 10-2 for death penalty, and a mistrial was declared. A second jury voted unanimously that Rosie Alfaro should die for taking Autumn’s life. Linda Wallace sat through both.

Superior Court Judge Theodore Millard, in confirming the death recommendation, said the slaying was “senseless, brutal, vicious and callous.”

That was 15 years ago this month. Wallace and her two surviving daughters are still waiting for Millard’s sentence to be meted out.

• • •

Linda Wallace knew from the beginning that it would take a long time for her courtroom treks to be over.

Chuck Middleton, the deputy district attorney assigned to her case, warned her before the first trial that it can take as long as 20 years for a death penalty case to wind its way to a conclusion – sometimes longer.

Wallace says that while she waits for justice, she does not spend her time or energy fretting about Rosie Alfaro.

“I know she is in a bad place,” Wallace says. “I know she will never see the light of day. I am fine with it.”

Rosie Alfaro, Wallace added, hasn’t had much of a life since she was arrested in 1990.

“She just exists,” the mother said. “It wouldn’t be any life I would want.”

Amber Wallace Zabo, who is one of Autumn’s older sisters, traveled with her mother to San Francisco last month when attorneys argued whether Rosie Alfaro’s death sentence had been fair. Zabo’s sister April made the trip to San Francisco for the arguments, but she couldn’t get to the courthouse in time.

They have waited nearly two decades for the case to come to a conclusion. They will have to wait awhile longer. The California Supreme Court has until the end of summer to issue a ruling.

And if justices affirm Rosie Alfaro’s sentence, it’s on to the federal court system for another round of appeals.

Linda Wallace says she is ready for that too.

Zabo gets mad every time she thinks about the woman who killed her younger sister.

For her, Rosie Alfaro gets one advantage after another: court-appointed lawyers, two penalty hearings, numerous appeals.

“We get nothing,” Zabo said. “And she gets all of these things. It makes me mad. … I just want to see her be put to death, and I want to see it faster than it is taking.”

Would she travel to San Quentin Prison to watch Rosie Alfaro be executed?

“Oh yes, I would go to watch her die, without a doubt,” Zabo said. “I would do it myself, if they’d let me.”

But what about Linda Wallace, now 58, a woman who lost her husband to cancer in 1987 and her youngest daughter to a murderer’s knife in 1990, a woman who has attended every single hearing in the case for 17 years.

Would she go to an execution?

“I am not that much for that,” she said. “If she is put to death, then another mother loses her child. I know what it feels like to lose a child.”

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Rosie Alfaro Photos

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Rosie Alfaro 2021

Rosie Alfaro is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility

Why Is Rosie Alfaro On Death Row

Rosie Alfaro was convicted of a robbery murder