Bio

James Gregory Marlow was born in 1956 in Kentucky. By age ten, he had already begun stealing, and he became a dedicated thief. In 1980, he was sent to Folsom Prison for a series of home invasions and knife-point robberies. Marlow served three years for this conviction and earned a reputation as "The Folsom Wolf," partly due to his tattoos associated with the Aryan Brotherhood.

Growing up, Marlow was influenced by a chaotic home life. His mother struggled with addiction and frequently left him and his sister with relatives or friends. 

His criminal behavior eventually led him to meet Cynthia Coffman while he was incarcerated. They began a relationship shortly after Marlow's release, leading to a life of crime together.

In June 1986, after a brief courtship, Marlow and Coffman traveled through several states. They engaged in a crime spree that involved violence and robbery, indicating a troubling dynamic in their relationship where both became increasingly intertwined in each other’s criminal activities.

Murder Story

James Gregory Marlow and his girlfriend, Cynthia Coffman, committed a series of violent crimes between July and November 1986, primarily in California and Arizona. They targeted young women and killed at least five victims during this period. Their first known victim was Gregory Hill, followed by Sandra Neary, Pamela Simmons, Corinna Novis, and Lynel Murray.

On November 12, 1986, Marlow and Coffman kidnapped and murdered Lynel Murray, a 19-year-old college student, at a Huntington Beach motel. Murray had been abducted from her workplace, and her body was later found in the motel’s bathtub. Evidence indicated that she had been raped and strangled.

Prior to that, on November 7, they were involved in the abduction and murder of Corinna Novis, a 20-year-old woman who had been kidnapped after cashing a check. Her body was discovered buried in a vineyard a few days later.

Police began to connect the crimes when they found Novis’s checkbook discarded near the location where her body was discovered, leading investigators to Marlow and Coffman. Detectives managed to trace them to their motel room, where they were found and arrested on November 14, 1986. At the time of their arrests, they were in possession of items linked to the previous murders.

Marlow and Coffman were charged with multiple counts including kidnapping, robbery, and murder. During the investigation, it became clear that they were a violent and dangerous duo, involved in a crime spree that shocked many. The trial uncovered the extent of their crimes, with evidence from various witnesses tying both to the murders.

After thorough investigations and trials, both Marlow and Coffman were convicted. Marlow received the death penalty in 1989, while Coffman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2004, the California Supreme Court upheld Marlow's death sentence, affirming the strength of the evidence against both defendants for the despicable crimes they committed.