Suspect in 2 Kidnap-Murders Has a Long String of Arrests

James Gregory Marlow, a suspect in two recent Southern California kidnap-murders, was arrested at least 12 times between 1978 to 1982 for offenses that included theft of a police car, burglary and possession of marijuana, according to Virgil Gibson, sheriff of McCreary County, Ky.

Marlow and a companion, Cynthia Lynn Coffman, 24, were arrested Friday on suspicion of last week’s kidnaping and strangulation slaying of Lynel Murray, 19, of Huntington Beach and the Nov. 7 abduction and murder of Corinna D. Novis, 20, of Redlands.

Redlands Police Capt. Lewis W. Nelson said Monday that murder charges would be filed today in San Bernardino County against Marlow and Coffman in connection with Novis’ death. The pair remain in Redlands City Jail without bail.

Huntington Beach police were expected to meet Monday evening with representatives of the Orange County district attorney’s office to determine when charges will be filed in the Murray killing.

Marlow, known by the nickname “Squeeze,” is formerly from Whitley City, the McCreary County seat, in southeastern Kentucky, according to Gibson.

Authorities have said that Marlow and Coffman frequented the San Bernardino-Riverside area as transients.

They were captured in Big Bear City, a lakeside community in the San Bernardino Mountains. On Saturday, Coffman led Redlands police to a shallow grave site in a Fontana vineyard, where Novis’ fully clothed body was found bound and gagged. Both women had been robbed before they were killed, authorities said.

Marlow’s sister, Veronica Kay Koppers, 27, of Colton, and a family friend, Richard Drinkhouse, 28, of Fontana, were arrested Thursday night on suspicion of being accessories to the kidnap and slaying of Novis, police said. They are being held in the San Bernardino County jail.