Steven David Catlin

Steven David Catlin (born 1944) is a convicted American serial killer who murdered two wives and his adoptive mother in California and Nevada from 1976 until 1984. Sentenced to death in 1990, he is currently housed in California State Prison, Corcoran.

Early life In 1944, Catlin was adopted as an infant by Glenn and Martha Catlin of Kern County, California, and was living in Bakersfield with his parents in the early 1950s. Dropping out of high school, he showed no interest in honest work. He was arrested on forgery charges at age 19, serving nine months in a California Youth Authority camp.

Catlin's first marriage was stormy and violent, and his abuse of drugs exacerbated domestic problems. In 1966, he married a second wife without divorcing the first, employing a pseudonym on the marriage license.

Shortly after marrying his sixth and final wife, Catlin was indicted for the murder of his fifth wife, Glenna Kaye Catlin. Catlin's trial for this murder was held in Monterey County (owing to pretrial publicity) before the Kern County trial. In April 1986, Catlin was convicted of Glenna Kaye's murder, and the jury fixed a penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

On June 1, 1990, a Kern County jury returned a guilty verdict on the murder counts of Joyce and Martha Catlin. The jury agreed with the prosecution's allegations of special circumstances (murder for financial gain, murder by poison, and multiple murders). On June 6, 1990, the jury fixed Catlin's penalty as death. The fact that Catlin had already been convicted for Glenna Kaye's murder was not introduced until after the verdict.