It shook the whole campus on the College of the Pacific. A freshman on her first day of faculty in 1979 was discovered unconscious, bleeding from her head, in a distant space of the varsity. Her title was Catina Salarno.
Harriet Salarno: I mentioned … “what’s wrong?” … he says, Catina has been shot and she or he’s within the emergency room.
The Salarnos’ two youthful daughters, Regina and Nina, rushed to their facet. Then the telephone rang once more.
Harriet Salarno: They usually mentioned, “your daughter passed away.”
Nina Salarno: I don’t suppose it may be described in phrases, what it’s like to observe your mother collapse, crying. My dad, very, very robust man, however you would inform he was shaken to the core.
Regina Salarno-Novello: And life simply stopped. … I actually … life stopped, utterly stopped.’
“48 Hours” first met the Salarno household in 1990. Harriet and Mike had been making their weekly go to to Catina’s resting place.
Harriet and Mike Salarno at Catina’s resting place in 1990, 10 years after her homicide.
MIKE SALARNO (1990): I feel popping out right here and with the ability to discuss to Catina provides me a peace of thoughts. Additionally that I can nonetheless talk with my daughter, that it isn’t, um, the ultimate finish.
On the time, Catina had been gone for 10 years, and her household was simply embarking on a decades-long journey to maintain her killer behind bars.
MIKE SALARNO (to reporters exterior 1990 parole listening to): It’s the primary skirmish in a protracted, lengthy battle that this we began as we speak.
It was not a journey that they had ever anticipated to make.
Erin Moriarty: Harriet, did you and Michael actually have type of a — the proper life as dad and mom, three youngsters?
Harriet Salarno: Sure. To reply you, sure. We had been so blessed.
Each Mike and Harriet had been juvenile commissioners assigned by the town of San Francisco to mentor girls and boys. Their arms and residential had been all the time open, says Nina, the youngest daughter.
Nina Salarno: I feel one of the best ways to explain it’s it typified a middle-class American household that valued their religion, valued household, valued neighborhood as effectively.
They spent blissful summer time days on the cabin within the mountains. Three carefree sisters with Catina main the pack, says Regina, youthful by 18 months.
Catina Salarno
Salarno household
Regina Salarno-Novello: She was the guts and soul of the household. … She had such a very good coronary heart. She liked being the older sister.
Nina Salarno: [I] suppose one of the best ways to explain Catina is she is that particular person each particular person ought to meet of their life. She simply introduced an air of kindness.
CATINA SALARNO MEETS THE BOY ACROSS THE STREET
When Catina was 14, a brand new household, the Burns, moved in throughout the road in San Francisco. There have been 4 kids: a woman and three boys – all about the identical age because the Salarno sisters.
Regina Salarno-Novello: And we had been spying on them. So … all of us made a giant batch of cookies, giggled all the way in which throughout the road, knocked on the door, launched ourselves, and gave ’em a batch of selfmade cookies.
Catina Salarno and Steven Burns
Salarno household
Quickly, the friendship between the oldest Salarno sister and the second oldest Burns brother blossomed right into a younger love. Catina and Steven Burns began relationship within the tenth grade.
Erin Moriarty: How would you describe Steven Burns?
Regina Salarno-Novello: Effectively, he was the large brother I by no means had, you realize. And for me it was like, God, I’ve a giant brother. And I used to be — I simply thought he was nice as a result of we bought to go to the soccer video games.
Burns, who went to an all-boys Catholic college, was a star athlete and captain of the soccer staff. He and Nina, a basketball and volleyball participant, bonded over their shared love of sports activities.
Nina Salarno: I liked Steve. I idolized him. … He was a terrific athlete. He coached my groups … He would assist me with my shot, and he took the time to try this.
Mike took Burns, who had a troublesome relationship along with his personal dad, beneath his wing. He not solely mentored him, however he additionally gave him a job at his TV retailer delivering TVs.
Regina Salarno-Novello: And my dad …who embraces all people, introduced him in and handled him as a son.
Mike trusted him utterly says Regina. All of them did.
Erin Moriarty: Did you ever see something that between Steve and Catina that fearful you?
Harriet Salarno: I’ve to let you know, I’ve given hours and hours of considered that. Why didn’t I see this? What was it?
Nina Salarno: You generally are near individuals, you don’t all the time see little indicators otherwise you ignore them.
However with hindsight, the sisters say, there have been indicators. In her senior yr, Catina who’d been accepted to the College of the Pacific, needed to interrupt up with Steve. However he wasn’t having it, says Regina. He began threatening her.
Regina Salarno-Novello: She mentioned that Steve mentioned that if I broke up with him, he would kill me …
However on the time, neither sister took him severely.
Erin Moriarty: Neither considered one of you advised your dad and mom.
Regina Salarno-Novello: We simply figured he was simply saying it. And due to what our relationship was over time, why would we consider that? … He loved being a part of the household. Why would he destroy a household that he liked?
Mike and Harriet by no means heard about that incident; by no means imagined the life they knew would come to an finish.
Harriet Salarno: We thought we had been doing good and every thing could be wonderful and by no means thought the boy throughout the road would homicide our daughter.
ONE LAST ENCOUNTER
When Catina Salarno arrived on the College of the Pacific in September 1979, she thought she had left Steven Burns behind for good. He mentioned he was going to Santa Clara College and she or he was going to start pursuing her longtime aim.
Regina Salarno-Novello: She knew she was gonna develop into a dentist. … She knew precisely what she was gonna do. It was deliberate for her. That was her aim, her dream.
Catina Salarno was a freshman on the College of the Pacific in September 1979. Her dream was to develop into a dentist.
Salarno household
However Catina’s pleasure was lower brief quickly after the Salarnos bought to campus.
Regina Salarno-Novello: We had been staying in a single day and we went to the resort foyer, after which hastily there’s Steve and his sister and household. And we had been like, “what are you doing here?” And he says, effectively, I’m going to UOP.
Nina Salarno: That’s actually, the primary time I heard numerous panic in her voice, uh, as a result of that simply caught her off guard.
For the primary time, Catina turned to her father for assist.
Regina Salarno-Novello: My dad walked as much as him and mentioned, OK, Steve. … Go away Catina alone. She has advised you that. You guys transfer on to your individual methods, be buddies, and know that I’ll all the time be right here for you.
The Salarnos headed again to San Francisco and Catina and Burns every moved into their respective dorm rooms on reverse sides of the campus.
Burns’ new roommate, Les Serpa, remembers strolling within the room and seeing Catina’s image all over the place.
Les Serpa: He mentioned his girlfriend, uh, was at Pacific as effectively … there have been photos of her and him collectively … extra photos than I’d ever seen earlier than, however they had been all over the place on his desk.
Erin Moriarty: He didn’t point out that she had needed to interrupt up?
Les Serpa: By no means. It was all very constructive. Every part was nice.
Throughout campus, Catina was settling in along with her new roommate, Joanne Marks. Then got here a knock on the door. It was Steve Burns.
Joanne Marks: After he left, uh, Catina advised me that he needed to satisfy along with her later within the night for the final time.
Joanne Marks: She was not wanting ahead to assembly with him, however she was wanting ahead to it being the final time. She believed that he would cease bothering her.
Marks says Burns got here by to choose up Catina about 7:45 that night.
Joanne Marks: I mentioned one thing like, you realize, have a very good night, and he simply grunted.
Catina advised Joanne she would see her later; however that later by no means got here.
A freshman out for a stroll named Kevin Arlin could be the one to find why. It was round 9:45 p.m. when he noticed one thing on the sidewalk. Arlin, unnerved by what he noticed, rushed again to his dorm and bought a resident advisor. They each ran again to the scene.
Kevin Arlin: And … we bought as much as — to her and it was … a younger girl that, uh, was laying on the bottom and she or he was nonetheless alive … she was unconscious, however there was a giant pool of blood round her head.
Arlin would later discover out it was 18-year-old Catina Rose Salarno. She had been shot behind the top.
Kevin Arlin: Her arms … had been twisted in a method that I by no means thought the human physique might twist.
Erin Moriarty: Do you bear in mind her face?
Kevin Arlin: I — I — I simply bear in mind the blood.
Erin Moriarty: That needed to be heartbreaking.
Kevin Arlin: Yeah. I knew it was tragic or I knew it was, uh, it was very severe, a really severe harm.
Whereas the 2 males waited for the ambulance to reach, Steven Burns returned to his dorm room, the place his roommate Les was watching “Monday Night Football.”
Les Serpa: He went and laid on the mattress, propped up a pillow and began watching the sport.
Erin Moriarty: Did he appear nervous in any respect?
Les Serpa: He was not nervous in any respect.
The ambulance arrived round 10 p.m. and rushed Catina to St. Joseph’s Hospital. She was nonetheless alive, barely.
Years later, her household would study she was not alone. Randy Haight – on the time a younger patrol officer who was on the crime scene — met his accomplice on the hospital.
Randy Haight: I mentioned, the place’s the household? And he says, she’s a scholar at UOP from out of city. …They’re not right here. I mentioned, Is anyone along with her? He says, haven’t seen anyone. It’s simply us.
Catina Rose was pronounced lifeless at 9 minutes after midnight.
Randy Haight: We made the choice to sit down with Catina till the Coroners got here. … regardless that she had handed, I simply didn’t really feel proper leaving her alone … I prayed. I mentioned a prayer for her.
By then, murder detectives had been at Catina’s dorm speaking to Marks.
Joanne Marks: I advised the police that, uh, Catina had been picked up by Steve Burns and I advised them which dorm he was from.
Serpa and Burns had been of their room when there was a knock on the door.
Les Serpa: I opened the door and, uh, I — you realize, there’s like 5 guys on the market in fits. … And so I stepped out a bit of bit say howdy, and I might see on the finish of every corridor was stuffed with cops. … After which they requested to look our room. … they went by every thing, each bag, each drawer — every thing.
Erin Moriarty: What had been they on the lookout for?
Les Serpa: I didn’t know on the time … however later I realized they had been wanting … for a weapon, for a gun.
Steven Burns was pulled from the room and brought to the Stockton police station, the place he was fingerprinted and photographed. Officer Haight recollects seeing him there.
Randy Haight: He didn’t look like upset in any method. …
Burns advised the police he didn’t meet Catina on campus that evening, and that he spent the night in his dorm room watching “Monday Night Football.”
With out the gun – it was by no means discovered – the police didn’t have sufficient proof to carry him. Steven Burns was launched. His father took him again to San Francisco.
The police didn’t publicly title a suspect. However Harriet Salarno didn’t want a reputation. She already knew it.
Harriet Salarno: I simply mentioned to Mike,” it’s Steve, Mike, it’s Steve.” I — I — I don’t know why … I simply had that feeling.
After speaking to the household, the police realized that Steven had threatened to kill Catina if she broke up with him. Two days after the homicide of Catina Rose Salarno, Steven Burns was arrested at his dwelling simply throughout the road from the place Catina grew up.
Nina Salarno: I bear in mind … sitting up within the window, watching them stroll him out in handcuffs and placing him within the patrol automotive. My entire world bought taken from me, and actually, within the flash of a gun. I imply, every thing was gone.
A MURDER AND A BETRAYAL
Studying to dwell with out their daughter has been a lifelong journey for Catina’s dad and mom — one crippled by what ifs. Mike Salarno by no means stopped blaming himself.
Harriet Salarno: He felt that as a father, he let her down.
For many years, Catina’s sisters have additionally grappled with remorse, wishing that they had advised their dad and mom about Steven Burns threatening to kill Catina.
Regina Salarno-Novello: What if I had mentioned one thing? What if we advised them in regards to the menace?
Erin Moriarty: You’re residing with guilt, too.
Regina Salarno-Novello: And it doesn’t change after 40 years. … it’s the opening in my coronary heart from lacking my sister and what we might have had collectively.
Within the wake of the homicide, every member of the household retreated into their very own personal grief.
Harriet Salarno: I didn’t even care if I even lived. I needed to affix Catina.
Regina Salarno Novello: I didn’t know what to do anymore. My entire plan, my entire world, my entire bubble blew up.
Nina Salarno: I imply I by no means felt that type of harm. … I misplaced my total household as a result of they fell aside … It was painful sufficient that my sister had been murdered, however the person who I considered as a brother and liked, betrayed me by taking her life.
The Salarnos would study that the younger man that they had trusted had stolen a gun from Mike’s retailer weeks earlier than Catina’s homicide.
Erin Moriarty: You consider he deliberate that homicide?
Harriet Salarno: Sure.
Nina Salarno: Oh, completely. … the truth that he stole the gun prior. There was no motive for the stealing of the gun, in any other case.
They got here to consider Burns might have been planning to make use of that gun to kill Catina even earlier than she left for faculty.
Regina Salarno-Novello: The evening earlier than we took her to UOP, I heard this noise exterior … and it was Steve Burns … pacing in entrance of the bed room window. …he had a giant, white towel wrapped round his left hand.
Regina says Burns tried to climb up the facet of their home and enter by the window of the bed room the women shared, however Catina advised him to depart.
Regina Salarno-Novello: She mentioned, “No, I’m not opening the window, go to bed, Steve. Go — you’re — I’m going to school tomorrow.” , “stop, just stop, just stop.”
Nina Salarno: Then there was a sound like he fell, and it was a really distinct sound of metallic hitting metallic.
Erin Moriarty: What do you suppose now, while you look again on that, that sound of metallic towards metallic?
Nina Salarno: I feel if I had opened the window and he bought in, there’d be three lifeless ladies.
Erin Moriarty: You suppose he had a gun with him then?
Nina Salarno: Completely.
Six months after Catina’s dying, 19-year-old Steven Burns went on trial for her homicide. It was a bitter awakening for the Salarnos, who say there was extra concern for the defendant and his rights than there was for his sufferer. Neither of Catina’s dad and mom had been allowed within the courtroom — not even whereas Nina, who was solely 14 years outdated on the time – took the stand. She needed to testify on the trial on her personal with no sufferer’s advocate to assist her.
Erin Moriarty: What was that like on the stand?
Nina Salarno: Ugh. … I feel the most effective phrase was simply terrible. I used to be in a courtroom. The one particular person I knew within the courtroom was the man that had murdered my sister.
The prosecution argued that Burns met Catina that evening carrying the stolen gun with the intention of killing her if she wouldn’t proceed their relationship. Nonetheless, the jury didn’t convict him of premeditated first-degree homicide. He was discovered responsible of second-degree homicide and was sentenced to 17 years to life with the opportunity of parole.
Nina Salarno: All of us thought 17 years to life meant life – that they might by no means let him out.
They might study they had been unsuitable. Simply 10 years into his sentence, Steven Burns got here up for parole. The Salarnos had been outraged. In 1990, they talked to then-“48 Hours” correspondent Bernard Goldberg the evening earlier than the primary parole listening to:
MIKE SALARNO: He must be in jail the remainder of his life…
HARRIET SALARNO: I had no thought the parole system was so rotten.
BERNARD GOLDBERG: OK, Steven Burns was handed down a 17-to-life sentence.
HARRIET SALARNO: That’s proper.
BERNARD GOLDBERG: And — and right here we’re 10 years later —
HARRIET SALARNO: That’s proper.
BERNARD GOLDBERG: However you — you don’t need him out after 17 years, after 20 years, after 25, you — is that truthful?
HARRIET SALARNO: Oh, that’s a particularly reasonable query. Completely, I don’t need him out, however I don’t even wanna go up there earlier than 17 years as a result of that’s what I used to be advised!
Going into this listening to, they know there’s an opportunity he might get out.
Mike Salarno, left, and daughter Regina with then “48 Hours” correspondent Bernard Goldberg earlier than Steven Burns’ first parole listening to in 1990.
On March 28, 1990, the Salarnos and a bus stuffed with supporters headed to Steven Burns’ parole listening to.
MIKE SALARNO (to Goldberg): That bus journey was the longest journey in my life. The primary hardest factor was when she died, that is the second.
For the primary time since Catina’s homicide, the Salarnos confronted the person that they had as soon as thought of a part of the household.
MIKE SALARNO (parole listening to): Steve sentenced my daughter to dying eternally. I ask for a good commerce. I ask you to condemn Steve to life in jail.
Then it was Burns’ flip to talk.
STEVEN BURNS (parole listening to): It’s exhausting to say the phrases how troublesome it’s to dwell everyday in regards to the emotions I’ve inside about what I did. No matter what I do, I can’t convey Catina again. … However I do know this that I’m deeply sorry for what I did. And I’ll work every day of my life, whether or not it’s in jail or out — exterior to make up.
He apologized, however the Salarnos observed he by no means checked out them whereas he did it.
NINA SALARNO: When you can’t take a look at somebody within the face and say you’re sorry, then you realize rattling effectively you’re not sorry.
After an excruciating wait, the parole board got here again with a choice. Steven Burns was discovered unsuitable for launch, however he would get one other likelihood at freedom in simply two years.
HARRIET SALARNO (1990): Two years, we bought two years. And I really feel very, very drained, and I do know my household’s so worn out.
BERNARD GOLDBERG: And in two years, what in regards to the Salarno household?
NINA SALARNO: We’ll be right here.
HARRIET SALARNO: We’ll be again.
MIKE SALARNO: We’ll be again. We’ll be again.
And again they might come time and again for the following 35 years.
FIGHTING FOR VICTIMS’ RIGHTS
There may be one factor you may rely on with the Salarnos. Each week for nearly 46 years, they’ve gone to the cemetery the place Catina now rests.
As of late there’s one other grave to have a tendency. Mike Salarno died in 2013 of most cancers.
There’s one thing else you could be certain of. Each time Steven Burns comes up for parole, they are going to be there.
“Thank you for the strength you impart on all of us, and as we face this next parole hearing,” NIna Salarno, proper, prayed, alongside her sister Regina Salarno-Novello, and mom Harriet Salarno.
Nina Salarno: All of us mentioned we’d be again and we’ve continued to be again 12 occasions, not simply because he murdered Catina, however as a result of he’s a harmful assassin that can kill or hurt once more. And that’s simply the underside line.
In January 2025, they had been about to go to their thirteenth parole listening to.
NINA SALARNO (praying at gravesite): Give this household the power to proceed to combat.
That combat for sufferer’s rights has formed all their lives.
Regina Salarno-Novello: Was I gonna be a nurse 40 years in the past? No. And now I’m … the explanation why I did it’s as a result of I swore no one would die alone.
Nina says she was so traumatized by the trial, she vowed she would develop into a prosecutor. And so she did. She grew to become a specialist in home violence instances.
Nina Salarno: I believed like my sister, so many victims are both not heard, afraid to be heard, or simply don’t perceive the magnitude of what’s taking place to them.
She grew to become the DA in Modoc County – cowboy nation – about as far north in California as you may get.
Nina Salarno: Having the ability to be out within the mountains and/or, um, work on a cattle ranch or journey my horses and have that point is simply — it’s who I’m.
Harriet went on to start out Crime Victims United, a corporation that has modified a whole bunch of legal guidelines. Earlier than Harriet Salarno, victims in California weren’t allowed to offer impression statements at sentencing. Now they’re. Mother and father – even when witnesses – can now attend the trial. And kids, in contrast to Nina, should now be accompanied by a assist particular person when testifying.
Nina Salarno: She’s my hero. … my absolute hero. … it’s simply so vital to see … how she helps individuals and simply actually fights for what’s proper.
Harriet Salarno: I’ve a ardour.
For Harriet that has meant preventing to maintain Steven Burns behind bars.
Harriet Salarno: I’ve been doing it for 45 years and I’ll proceed to do it. … So long as I’m alive and so long as he’s in jail.
Burns has been in jail for 45 years. However the Salarnos are satisfied he hasn’t modified.
Nina Salarno: He nonetheless has but to confess to … the information of the crime.
Burns’ story, says Deputy District Legal professional Robert Himelblau, has modified no less than 12 occasions over time.
Robert Himelblau: He had mentioned repeatedly that Catina pulled the gun, that Catina was the one who had the revolver, ignoring the truth that we knew that he had stolen Catina’s father’s revolver. … generally she shot him, generally they struggled over the gun and it unintentionally went off.
Catina Salarno and Steven Burns
Salarno household
In 2016 – 37 years after the homicide – Burns lastly stopped mendacity about Catina’s actions, says Nina. He advised the commissioners, “I became very, very angry … and I pulled out a gun and shot Catina.” However Burns continued to disclaim that he stalked her to UOP to kill her if she didn’t get again along with him.
Nina Salarno: The taking pictures of the gun murdered my sister, however the behaviors and the necessity for his energy and management, and the obsessiveness is what makes him harmful.
And in accordance with a criticism introduced up on the final parole listening to, he has proven those self same obsessive behaviors inside jail. A professor who taught incarcerated college students reported that Burns’ conduct in the direction of her was quote disturbing and manipulating.
Nina Salarno: He was relentless in the direction of her as a result of she would … not permit him into a category. He targeted on her and was not going to cease until he bought what he needed.
Erin Moriarty: Do you suppose that if Steven Burns is launched, he might harm somebody?
Robert Himelblau: Sure. The subsequent girl he goes out with who says no.
A 2025 picture of Steven Burns.
California Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation
However there are some who consider that Burns deserves a second likelihood.
Kevin Anderson, as soon as a revered pediatrician, bought to know Burns when he was incarcerated — additionally for homicide. After 24 years in jail, Anderson was launched on parole in 2023. He began working as a counselor.
“48 Hours” first spoke to him the day earlier than Burns’ 2025 parole listening to.
Erin Moriarty: Do you suppose that Steven Burns is a hazard to society?
Kevin Anderson: I can’t say 100% … However I do suppose that Steven Burns has achieved numerous the work … to get to that time the place you’re now not a hazard to society.
Burns has earned a school diploma and has labored with hospice sufferers. He has participated in quite a few anger administration and rehabilitation applications, some alongside Anderson.
Kevin Anderson: I feel that … he has the instruments now that he didn’t have earlier than.
Anderson labored with Burns in mock listening to classes to assist him put together for the upcoming parole listening to.
Kevin Anderson: We needed to push him. And as soon as we bought him to get off of the denial on sure points the place the actual honesty needed to come out, now he’s in a position to speak about it within the trustworthy phrases that possibly he wasn’t in a position to do 10 years in the past, 15 years in the past.
Anderson says Steven advised him he snapped when Catina rejected him.
Kevin Anderson: She mentioned, I would like you to steer clear of me and my household. … and he mentioned, at that time I simply misplaced it. … And as he was describing this, he was crying. … ’trigger now he realizes the place he was going with this, and what this was resulting in.
And Catina noticed it too, says Anderson.
Kevin Anderson: He described to me her physique language, what her eyes had been doing, how that they had simply grown actually massive. I mentioned, what else? And he mentioned … her voice was shaking. … And I mentioned, and what did that imply to you? And he would say, it meant she was scared to dying.
However it didn’t cease him. Steven Burns shot the girl he claimed to like behind the top and walked away, leaving her to slowly bleed to dying.
Erin Moriarty: Did he say why he left and didn’t get assist for her?
Kevin Anderson: He did say that what he did afterwards was a really cowardly act.
Steven Burns is about to get one other likelihood to persuade commissioners that the identical man who left Catina to die that evening, is a modified man. And this time, the Salarnos concern the chances are in his favor.
Regina Salarno-Novello: It scares the residing daylights outta me, having him come out.
STEVEN BURNS’ thirteenth PAROLE HEARING
As Harriet Salarno counts down the times to the 2025 listening to, she does what she has achieved for the previous 4 many years; she goes to work.
At 92, Harriet nonetheless goes to the workplace at Crime Victims United each day.
Harriet and Nina are selecting out photographs to indicate the commissioners on the parole listening to.
Nina Salarno: It’s vital that they perceive that she was a fantastic human being … and her life was taken for no motive
Nina has been getting ready for this listening to for month.s.
Nina Salarno (exhibiting file cupboard): And in right here, I maintain every thing from the trial, every thing from the trial to all these subsequent parole hearings.
Nina, the prosecutor, is leaving nothing to likelihood.
Nina Salarno (holding binder): Right here’s transcripts from the 2010 listening to.
However Nina, the protector, is looking on Catina and her dad to assist the issues she will be able to’t management.
As a DA, Nina is aware of Burns’ probabilities of getting out are higher than ever.
Keith Wattley is founding father of UnCommon Legislation, a corporation that helps incarcerated individuals navigate the parole course of.
Keith Wattley: From what I’ve seen thus far on paper, when it comes to the time he’s achieved, this system … that he’s put collectively for himself and the way effectively he’s carried out there, he does appear to be someone who, beneath the legislation, must be granted parole.
Wattley, who has by no means met Burns, however has reviewed his final two parole transcripts, says Steven has two different vital issues going for him: his age — he was solely 18 — when he dedicated the crime.
Keith Wattley: California … has handed legal guidelines to say that we now have to contemplate somebody’s youth on the time of the crime … none of us are totally developed within the mind by — earlier than we’re age 25.
And his age on the time of the listening to — 63. Wattley says Burns is eligible for particular consideration beneath the aged parole program. He says individuals merely age out of crime, particularly violent crime.
Erin Moriarty: However in Steven Burns’ case, isn’t there a chance that … if he will get out, he will get concerned with somebody they usually depart him, he’ll do the identical factor?
Keith Wattley: It’s a terrific query. It’s an vital query. The science and the statistics say no. … They are saying that individuals who come dwelling from a life sentence are among the many least prone to recidivate. That’s simply true.
However generally statistics are not any match for the human spirit.
Erin Moriarty: When the household comes persistently to those parole hearings, particularly a household just like the Salarnos, doesn’t that make it way more troublesome for somebody like Steven Burns to get an opportunity at parole?
Keith Wattley: I might say sure. Sure, it does … have an effect on the method.
The Salarnos are praying they’ll make an impression once more this time. Harriet, 9, her daughter Lexy, and a gaggle of loyal buddies head to the DA’s workplace in Stockton, California, the place they may attend the parole listening to through video — the post-COVID new regular.
Erin Moriarty: Gained’t listening to all this as we speak make you relive every thing?
Harriet Salarno: It does. It actually does. I’m shaky, very shaky.
Erin Moriarty: You might be proper now?
Harriet Salarno: Yeah. Unhappy factor. However I’m — I’m afraid of him being launched, Erin. … I — simply afraid that he’ll come after us.
Harriet braces herself as she heads into the convention room understanding she must once more see the person who put her daughter in a grave.
Harriet Salarno: Taking a look at Steve Burns when he walked in … he simply appears harmful. He acts harmful. And what he says is harmful.
“48 Hours” was not allowed to document video or audio through the listening to, however I used to be in a position to sit with the household and buddies to look at.
Steven Burns — his have an effect on flat, his voice monotone — as soon as once more denied he deliberate to kill Catina that evening. Audio was recorded by the parole board:
COMMISSIONER: You didn’t plan to kill her?
STEVEN BURNS: No.
COMMISSIONER: And also you deny that you simply’ve threatened to kill her at — beforehand, appropriate?
STEVEN BURNS: Sure.
COMMISSIONER: Do you perceive why earlier panels … have discovered that you simply reduce what you probably did and — and your intentions?
STEVEN BURNS: Primarily based on that, sure.
After virtually 4 hours, the commissioners retreated to make their resolution.
Erin Moriarty: Is that this the toughest half? Simply ready — to see?
Harriet Salarno: Ready. That is essentially the most troublesome half.
Twenty minutes later, the household was referred to as again into the convention room. The choice was in.
COMMISSIONER: Even after 45 years in jail … we see little or no change on these points that led you to homicide Catina, that led you to do issues in jail that offended others … We see little or no change.
Steven Burns was discovered unsuitable for parole.
A jubilant Harriet Salarno with “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty after the parole board’s resolution denying Steven Burns parole for a thirteenth time.
Harriet Salarno: We are able to go dwelling and actually sleep tonight!
Erin Moriarty: That is the primary actual smile I’ve actually seen in your face.
Nina Salarno (to her mom): I’m very pleased with you.
Kevin Anderson: No. The best way he got here throughout in that listening to, he was completely not prepared … All of the work he has achieved, I didn’t see it exhibiting up there in any respect.
Nina Salarno: We bought a five-year-denial, dad. So I’m nonetheless holding robust to my promise to you.
It was Catina’s sixty fourth birthday.
Nina Salarno: Catina, I feel that’s the most effective birthday current we might provide you with was that denial. So thanks for watching over mother and watching over everybody
Harriet Salarno: Joyful birthday Catina … I really like you each a lot and miss you.
Steven Burns is anticipated to go earlier than the parole board once more in 2030.
Produced by Liza Finley and Gabriella Demirdjian. Cindy Cesare and Greg Fisher are the event producers. Lauren Turner Dunn is the affiliate producer. Doreen Schechter, Gregory F. McLaughlin, Chris Crater and Michael Vele are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.
Erin Moriarty
