Cynthia Coffman
Cynthia Coffman is an American serial killer. In 1986, she killed two women in California. She was convicted along with her boyfriend, James Marlow. Coffman says she was present when the women were killed. She also says that she suffered from battered woman syndrome. She was sentenced to death and is sitting on death row in a prison in California.[1][2]
Life[change | change source]
She was bourn in St .Louis, Missouri. She had a difficult childhood. Her father soon left the family, and her mother raised her alone. At one point, her mother tried to give her and her brother away. When she was 18 years old, she was married. She became a mother. The marriage did not last long, however. She moved to Arizona with a friend. She met Marlow shortly after he was released from jail. They started to take methamphetamine together, got married, and began to commit violent crimes.[3]
Crimes and trial[change | change source]
Both Coffman and Marlow were accused of killing four women, in October and November 1986. Coffman confessed to the murders, Her attorneys said that she loved Marlow, bur that he brainwashed and abused her.[4]
They were put on trial in July 1989 and 1990 and sentenced to death. Coffman was the first woman to receive a death sentence in California since the death penalty was reintroducerd in 1977.[5] A trial in 1992 convicted her of another murder, for which she received a sentence of life imprisonment.[6] After this, Coffman confessed to the murders.[7]
References[change | change source]
- ↑ Wride, Nancy (April 26, 1992). "Condemned and Waiting : Cynthia Coffman Came West for a New Life; Now She Faces 2nd Death Sentence". Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ NEUFELD, MICHAEL P. (September 19, 2012). "San Bernardino County Has 35 Death Row Prisoners". ROTWNEWS.com. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
- ↑ Wride, Nancy (April 26, 1992). "Condemned and Waiting : Cynthia Coffman Came West for a New Life; Now She Faces 2nd Death Sentence". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
- ↑ Wride, Nancy (April 26, 1992). "Condemned and Waiting : Cynthia Coffman Came West for a New Life; Now She Faces 2nd Death Sentence". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 3, 2014.
- ↑ Furio, Jennifer (2001). Team killers: a comparative study of collaborative criminals. Algora Publishing. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-892941-62-6.
- ↑ Flowers, R. Barri (2004). Murders In The United States: Crimes, Killers And Victims Of The Twentieth Century. McFarland. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-7864-2075-9.
- ↑ Kelleher, Michael D.; C. L. Kelleher (1998). Murder most rare: the female serial killer. Praeger. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-275-96003-2.