Cynthia Coffman (murderer)
Cynthia Lynn Coffman 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.
Background
Coffman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. 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.Crimes
Coffman and Marlow were accused of kidnapping and killing four women in October and November 1986. Sandra Neary on Oct. 11, 1986 from Costa Mesa, CaliforniaPamela Simmons on Oct. 28, 1986 from Bullhead City, ArizonaCorinna Novis on Nov. 7, 1986 from Redlands, CaliforniaLynel Murray on Nov. 12, 1986 from Huntington Beach, CaliforniaThey were arrested on November 14, 1986, following which Coffman confessed to the murders. 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. 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.