On this date, Aug. 30, in 1989, Cynthia Coffman became the first woman sentenced to death after California reinstated capital punishment in 1977.
Coffman and her husband James Marlow, who also received a death sentence, were convicted of killing Corinna Novis in Redlands, Calif. According to media reports, authorities believe the couple raped and robbed at least three other women before killing them, although the two have been convicted only of killing two women.
Novis disappeared after using an ATM on Nov. 7, 1986 and her body eventually was found. Her checkbook was found four days later in a garbage bin, along with papers containing Marlow’s and Coffman’s names.
Meanwhile, on Nov. 12, 1986, Lynel Murray was kidnapped from outside a dry cleaners in Orange County. After finding Novis’ checkbook, a search party went looking for the couple and found them hiking in the mountains wearing clothes stolen from Murray’s dry cleaners.
The two were later convicted of killing Murray and sentenced to life in prison. They both remain on death row.
— Freeman Klopott
