Cynthia Coffman (born January 19, 1962) is an American woman convicted in the 1986 deaths of four women in California. She was convicted along with her boyfriend, James Marlow. Coffman admits to committing the murders, but insists she suffered from battered-woman syndrome. She was sentenced to death and is sitting on death row in California.She 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 the age of 18, Coffman had married and become a mother, though the marriage did not last long. She moved to Arizona with a friend and met Marlow not long after he had gotten out of jail. They began to use methamphetamine together, got married and began to commit violent crimes. Wikipedia