Cynthia Coffman (murderer)
Template:Use mdy dates Template:Short description Template:Infobox serial killer Cynthia Lynn Coffman (born January 19, 1962) is an American serial killer convicted in the 1986 deaths of two women in California. She was convicted along with her boyfriend, James Gregory Marlow. Coffman admits to being present at the murders but insists she suffered from battered woman syndrome. She was sentenced to death and is sitting on death row in Central California Women's Facility.[1][2]
Background
She was born in St. Louis, Missouri.[3] After her father left her family, she was raised by her mother. Coffman's mother attempted to give her and her brothers away at one point. By age 18, Coffman married and became a mother, but the marriage did not last long. She moved to Arizona with a friend and met Marlow shortly after he was released from jail. They began to use methamphetamine together, got married, and began to commit violent crimes.[4]
Crimes
Coffman and Marlow were accused of kidnapping and killing four women in October and November 1986.[5]
- Sandra Neary (32) on Oct. 11, 1986 from Costa Mesa, California
- Pamela Simmons (35) on Oct. 28, 1986 from Bullhead City, Arizona
- Corinna Novis (20) on Nov. 7, 1986 from Redlands, California[6]
- Lynel Murray (19) on Nov. 12, 1986 from Huntington Beach, California[7]
They were arrested on November 14, 1986,[8] following which Coffman confessed to the murders.[9] Coffman's attorneys say that she loved Marlow but that he battered, brainwashed, and starved her, so she did not run from Marlow when the crime spree began.[4] In addition to the California murders, Coffman and Marlow are also believed to have carried the July 7, 1986 slaying of 28-year-old Gregory Hill in Whitley City, Kentucky.[10]
Trial and punishment
They were put on trial in July 1989 and in 1990 sentenced to death. Coffman was the first woman to receive a death sentence in California since the reinstatement of the death penalty in that state in 1977.[11] A trial in 1992 convicted her of another murder, for which she received a sentence of life imprisonment.[8]
See also
- List of death row inmates in the United States
- List of serial killers in the United States
- List of women on death row in the United States
References
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- Living people
- 1962 births
- 1986 murders in the United States
- 20th-century American criminals
- American female serial killers
- American people convicted of murder
- American people convicted of kidnapping
- American people convicted of sodomy
- American people convicted of robbery
- American people convicted of burglary
- American prisoners sentenced to death
- American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
- Criminals from St. Louis
- Female sex offenders
- People convicted of murder by California
- Prisoners sentenced to death by California
- Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by California
- Serial killers from California
- Violence against women in California
- Women sentenced to death
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