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NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Man Convicted of Killing Girlfriend

By HENRY CHU
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A North Hollywood man who testified that he wanted his girlfriend to “burn in hell” was convicted Thursday of dousing the woman with gasoline, setting her afire and killing her.

A San Fernando Superior Court jury found Stephen Cole, 42, guilty of first-degree murder, arson and a special circumstance of inflicting torture, which could send him to the gas chamber.

Cole was convicted of murdering Mary Anne Mahoney, 42, a barmaid who died 11 days after being set afire in the couple’s home in 1988, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kenneth A. Loveman said.

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During the trial, Cole, who believed that Mahoney was going to leave him, told the jury: “I hate Mary Anne Mahoney to this day.” He admitted killing Mahoney but, to avoid the special circumstance allegation, said he did not intend to inflict such pain, Loveman said.

The penalty phase of the trial begins Monday.

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Henry Chu

Henry Chu first joined the Los Angeles Times in 1990 and worked primarily out of the San Fernando Valley office before moving to the foreign staff in 1998. He served as bureau chief in Beijing from 1998 to 2003, Rio de Janeiro from 2004 to 2005, New Delhi from 2006 to 2008 and London from 2009 to 2014. He was a 2014-15 fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. From 2016-19 he was international editor at Variety magazine. A graduate of Harvard University, Chu returned to The Times in March 2020 as deputy news editor based in London. He left in 2024.

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