On this day in 1989, in San Bernardino, California, Cynthia Coffman and James Marlow were sentenced to death for the brutal 1986 murder of Corinna Novis, marking the first time a woman received a death sentence in the state since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1977.
Coffman’s path to this grim outcome began in May 1986 when she met Marlow, a career criminal who had just been released from prison for stealing his sixth wife’s car. Marlow, notorious for his criminal history, had previously earned the moniker “The Folsom Wolf” during a stint in Folsom Prison. The connection between Coffman and Marlow was immediate, and within weeks, the two embarked on a cross-country journey together.
Their whirlwind relationship culminated in a July wedding in Tennessee, where Coffman received a tattoo as a wedding gift that read “Property of the Folsom Wolf.” The couple then headed west, relying on the generosity of relatives until they arrived in California in October 1986.
The couple’s criminal spree escalated on November 7, 1986, when Corinna Novis vanished from an ATM in Redlands, California. Just five days later, Lynel Murray was abducted from outside her workplace at a dry cleaner’s in Orange County. The evidence trail began to form on November 11, when Novis’s checkbook was discovered in a dumpster alongside papers bearing the names of Marlow and Coffman. A lodge owner in Big Bear City soon reported that the couple had recently checked in. A massive search operation, involving over 100 men, was launched, eventually leading to Marlow and Coffman’s capture in the mountains, wearing clothing stolen from Murray’s dry cleaners.
On this day in 1989, Marlow and Coffman were found guilty of Novis’ murder and sentenced to death. Their subsequent conviction for the murder of Murray further solidified their fate. Both remain incarcerated, serving their sentences on death row.
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