00:00:00
[Music] My dad passed away in 2013. His last words to me were, "Whatever it takes,
00:00:19
you protect your mom and you fight to keep Steve in prison." Katina Solano was only 18 years old when
00:00:29
she was shot in the head and killed by her boyfriend. With the flash of a gun, my
00:00:36
whole world just got turned upside down. Steven Burns was convicted of murdering
00:00:41
Kina Serno in 1979. He just looks dangerous. It's like a killer face. If you looked at his eyes, there is nothing
00:00:50
behind him. He has no soul. My name is Nina Solano and I am the sister of Kina. Steven Burns was
00:01:00
sentenced to 17 years to life. In 1990 after just 10 years, Steven Burns came up for parole. My
00:01:08
parents, my sister Regina, myself, and friends and family traveled to Vakavville State Prison to protest his
00:01:15
release. As a father, I closed her casket and buried my 18-year-old child who was murdered by
00:01:23
this animal. God damn it. This is a body bag of my daughter. This is what you did to her,
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Steve. 46 years since Kina's death has not diminished one ounce of that pain. Where are we going? We are heading to
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the Sanwalk Katon County District Attorney's Office. I am shaky. Very shaky. You are right
00:01:58
now. How many parole hearings have you attended? Number 13. You've been at every single one of
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these? Yes, every single one. As Steve Burns heads into his 13th parole hearing, what are you thinking?
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I'm thinking that he's no longer a risk to commit the kind of crime he committed
00:02:20
coming into prison. I've known Steve Burns for over two decades. You don't think he's I don't think he's a serious
00:02:27
danger if he were to be released. If somebody looked at this and said, "It's been 45 years. Is this now
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just about vengeance? No, it's not. Keeping Steve in jail is not about vengeance. For me, it's fear.
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Fear for my family. I think he has a very good chance of being found suitable. Isn't it likely at one of
00:02:54
these hearings he's going to get out? That's my biggest fear is him getting out. Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat.
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[Music] [Music] It shook the entire campus at the University of the Pacific. a freshman on her first day of college
00:03:55
in 1979, found unconscious, bleeding from her head in a remote area of the school. Her name was Kina
00:04:10
Solano. Harriet and Mike Solo were getting ready for bed when the phone rang at their San Francisco
00:04:17
home. Mike answered it. His tone signaled the news. And I said, "What? What's wrong?" He says, "Kina's been
00:04:26
shot and she's in the emergency room." The Solano's two younger daughters, Regina and Nina, rushed to their side.
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Then the phone rang again and they said, "Your daughter passed away." I don't think it can be described in
00:04:47
words what it's like to watch your mom collapse crying. My dad, very, very strong man, but you could tell he was
00:04:55
shaken to the core and life just stopped. I literally life stopped. Completely stopped.
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You got the keys to the car? Yeah. 48 Hours first met the Solo family in 1990. Harriet and Mike were making their
00:05:18
weekly visit to Kina's resting place. I think coming out here and being able to talk to Kina gives me a piece of mind
00:05:27
also that I can still communicate with my daughter that it isn't um the final end.
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At the time, Kina had been gone for 10 years, and her family was just embarking on a decadesl long journey to keep her
00:05:45
killer behind bars. It's the first skirmish in a long, long battle that this we started today.
00:05:53
It was not a journey they had ever expected to make. Harriet, did you and Michael really have kind of a the
00:06:02
perfect life as parents, three kids? Yes. To answer you, yes. We were so blessed. Both Mike and Harriet were
00:06:10
juvenile commissioners assigned by the city of San Francisco to mentor boys and girls. Their arms and home were always
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open, says Nenah, the youngest daughter. I think the best way to describe it is it typified a middle class American
00:06:28
family that valued their faith, valued family, valued community as well. They spent blissful summer days at
00:06:41
the cabin in the mountains. Three carefree sisters with Kina leading the pack, says Regina,
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younger by 18 months. She was the heart and soul of the family. She had such a good heart. She loved being the older
00:07:01
sister. I think the best way to describe Kina is she is that person every person
00:07:06
should meet in their life. She just brought an air of kindness. When Kina was 14, a new family, the
00:07:18
Burns, moved in across the street in San Francisco. There were four children, a girl and three boys, all about the same
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age as the Solano sisters. And we were spying on them. So, we all made a big batch of cookies, giggled all the way
00:07:35
across the street, knocked on the door, introduced ourselves, and gave them a batch of homemade cookies. Soon the
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friendship between the oldest Solano sister and the second oldest Burns brother blossomed into a young love.
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Kina and Steven Burns started dating in the 10th grade. How would you describe Steven
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Burns? Well, he was a big brother I never had, you know, and for me it was like, God, I have a big brother and I
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was I just thought he was great because we got to go to the football games. Steve, who went to an all boys
00:08:14
Catholic school, was a star athlete and captain of the football team. He and Nah, a basketball and volleyball player,
00:08:22
bonded over their shared love of sports. I love Steve. I idolized him. He was a great athlete. He coached my teams. he
00:08:29
would help me with my shot and he took the time to do that. Mike took Steve, who had a difficult relationship with
00:08:35
his own dad, under his wing. He not only mentored him, he gave him a job at his TV store delivering
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TVs. And my dad, who embraces everybody, brought him in and treated him as a son.
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Mike trusted him completely, says Regina. They all did. Did you ever see anything that between Steve and Kina
00:09:00
that worried you? I have to tell you, I've given hours and hours of thought of that. Why didn't I see
00:09:09
this? What was it? You sometimes are close to people. You don't always see little signs or you ignore them. But
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with hindsight, the sisters say there were signs. In her senior year, Katina, who
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had been accepted to the University of the Pacific, wanted to break up with Steven, but he wasn't having it, says
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Regina. He started threatening her. You said that Steve said that if I broke up with him, he would kill me. But at
00:09:41
the time, neither sister took him seriously. Neither one of you told your parents. We just figured he was just
00:09:48
saying it. And because of what our relationship was over the years, why would we believe that? He enjoyed being
00:09:56
part of their family, why would he destroy a family that he loved? Mike and Harriet never heard about that
00:10:04
incident. Never imagined that the life they knew would come to an end. We thought we were doing good and
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everything would be fine and never thought the boy across the street would murder our daughter.
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When Catina arrived at the University of the Pacific, UOP, in September of 1979, she thought she had left Steven
00:10:44
Burns behind for good. He said he was going to Santa Clara University and she was going to begin pursuing her longtime
00:10:54
goal. She knew she was going to become a dentist. She knew exactly what she was going to do. It was planned for her.
00:11:01
That was her goal, her dream. But Cina's excitement was cut short soon after the
00:11:07
Solaros got to campus. We were staying overnight and we went to the hotel lobby and then all of a sudden there's Steve
00:11:14
and his sister and family and we're what are you doing here? And he says, "Well,
00:11:18
I'm going EOP." That's really the first time I heard a lot of panic in her voice because that
00:11:27
just caught her off guard. For the first time, Kina turned to her father for help. My dad walked up to him and said,
00:11:36
"Okay, Steve, leave Kina alone. She has told you that. You guys move on to your own ways. Be friends and know that I
00:11:44
will always be here for you." The Solaros headed back to San Francisco, and Kina and Steve each moved
00:11:52
into their respective dorm rooms on opposite sides of the campus. Steven's new roommate, Les Serpa,
00:12:00
remembers walking in the room and seeing Kina's picture everywhere. He said his girlfriend uh was at Pacific as well.
00:12:09
There were pictures of her and him together. More pictures than I had ever seen before, but they were everywhere on
00:12:19
his desk. He didn't mention that she had wanted to break up. Not at all. It was all very positive. Everything was great.
00:12:27
Across campus, Kina was settling in with her new roommate, Joanne Marx. Then came
00:12:33
a knock on the door. It was Steve Burns. After he left, uh, Kina told me that he wanted to meet with her later in
00:12:44
the evening for the last time. She was not looking forward to meeting with him, but she was looking forward to it being
00:12:52
the last time. She believed that he would stop bothering her. Joanne says Steve came by to pick up Kina about 7:45
00:13:01
that evening. I said something like, you know, have a good evening. And he kind of just grunted. Kina told Joanne she
00:13:10
would see her later, but that later never came. I think it was probably close to here.
00:13:17
This a freshman out for a walk named Kevin Arland would be the one to discover why. It was around 9:45 at
00:13:25
night when he saw something on the sidewalk. And I kept walking and realized that's a person and
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uh figured I I needed to go get some help. Kevin, unnerved by what he saw, rushed
00:13:42
back to his dorm and got a resident advisor. They both ran back to the scene and we got up to her and it was a a
00:13:53
young lady that uh was laying on the ground and she was still alive. She was unconscious, but there was a big pool of
00:14:01
blood around her head. Kevin would later find out it was 18-year-old Katina Rose
00:14:08
Solo. She had been shot in the back of the head. Her arms were twisted in a way that I never thought the human body
00:14:16
could twist. Do you remember her face? I I I just remember the blood. That had to be heartbreaking.
00:14:27
Yeah, I knew it was tragic. I I knew it was uh it was very serious a very serious injury. While the two men waited
00:14:35
for the ambulance to arrive, Steven Burns returned to his dorm room where his roommate Les was watching Monday
00:14:43
Night Football. He went and laid on the bed, propped up a pillow, and started watching the game.
00:14:50
Do you see nervous at all? He was not nervous at all. The ambulance arrived around 1000 p.m. and rushed Kina to St.
00:14:58
Joseph's Hospital. She was still alive, barely. Years later, her family would learn she
00:15:06
was not alone. Randy Hate, at the time a young patrol officer who was at the crime scene, met his partner at the
00:15:14
hospital. I said, "Where's the family?" And he says, "She's a student at UOP from out of town. They're not
00:15:21
here." I said, "Anybody with her?" He says, "Haven't seen anybody. It's just us."
00:15:28
Kina Rose was pronounced dead at 9 minutes after midnight. We made the decision to to sit with Kina
00:15:37
until the corners came. Even though she had passed, I just didn't feel right leaving
00:15:43
her alone. I prayed. I said a prayer for her. By then, homicide detectives were at Kina's dorm talking to Joanne.
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I told the police that uh Kina had been picked up by Steve Burns. and I told them which dorm he was from. Less and
00:16:01
Steven were in their room when there was a knock on the door. I opened the door and uh I you know there's like five guys
00:16:10
out there in suits. So I stepped out a little bit say hello and I could see at the end of each hall was full of police
00:16:16
officers. And then they asked to search our room. They went through everything, every bag, every drawer, everything.
00:16:22
What were they looking for? I didn't know at the time, but later I learned they were looking for a weapon, for a
00:16:28
gun. Steven Burns was pulled from the room and taken to the Stockton Police Station
00:16:35
where he was fingerprinted and photographed. Officer Haye recalls seeing him there.
00:16:43
He did not appear to be upset in any way. Burns told the police he didn't meet Cina on campus that night and that
00:16:52
he spent the evening in his dorm room watching Monday Night Football. Without the gun, it was never
00:17:00
found. The police didn't have enough evidence to hold him. Steven Burns was released. His father took him back to
00:17:08
San Francisco. The police didn't publicly name a suspect, but Harriet Solano didn't need
00:17:18
a name. She already knew it. I just said to Mike, "It's Steve, Mike. It's Steve." I I don't know why. I
00:17:28
just had that feeling. After talking to the family, the police learned that Steven had threatened to
00:17:36
kill Cina if she broke up with him. Two days after the murder of Katina Rose Solano, Steven Burns was arrested at his
00:17:48
home just across the street from where Kina grew up. I remember sitting up in the window watching them walk him out in
00:17:57
handcuffs and putting him in the patrol car. My whole world got taken from me and really the flash of a gun. I mean,
00:18:05
everything was gone. [Music] Learning to live without their daughter has been a lifelong journey for Kina's
00:18:30
parents. One crippled by whatifs. Mike Solano never stopped blaming himself. He felt that as a father he let her down.
00:18:43
For decades, Katina's sisters have also grappled with regret, wishing they had told their parents about Steven Burns
00:18:50
threatening to kill Cina. What if I had said something? What if we told them about
00:18:58
the threat? You're living with guilt, too. And it doesn't change after 40 years.
00:19:06
this the hole in my heart for missing my sister and what we could have had together. In the wake of the murder,
00:19:17
each member of the family retreated into their own private grieve. I didn't even care if I even if I wanted
00:19:28
to join Kina. I didn't know what to do anymore. My whole plan, my whole world, my whole bubble blew up. I mean, I never
00:19:36
felt that kind of hurt. I lost my entire family because they fell apart. It was painful enough that my sister had been
00:19:44
murdered, but the person that I viewed as a brother and loved betrayed me by taking her
00:19:54
life. The Solaros would learn that the young man they had trusted had stolen a gun from Mike's store weeks before
00:20:02
Kina's murder. You believe he planned that murder? Oh, yes. The fact that he stole the gun prior, there was no reason
00:20:10
for the stealing of the gun otherwise. They came to believe Steven may have been planning to use that gun to kill
00:20:17
Cina, even before she left for college. The night before we took her to UP, I heard this noise
00:20:26
outside and it was Steve Burns pacing in front of the bedroom window. He had a big white towel wrapped around
00:20:36
his left hand. Regina says Burns tried to climb up the side of their house and enter through
00:20:44
the window of the bedroom the girls shared, but Kina told him to leave. And she said, "No, I'm not
00:20:51
opening the window. Go to bed, Steve. Go. You're I'm going to school tomorrow. You know, stop. Just stop. Just stop."
00:20:57
Then there was a sound like he fell and it was a very distinct sound of metal hitting metal. What do you think now
00:21:05
when you look back on that that sound of metal against metal? I think if I had opened the window and he got in, there'd
00:21:12
be three dead girls. You think he had a gun with a metal? Absolutely. 6 months after Kina's death,
00:21:20
19-year-old Steven Burns went on trial for her murder. It was a bitter awakening for the
00:21:28
Solaros, who say there was more concern for the defendant and his rights than there was for his victim. Neither of
00:21:36
Kina's parents were allowed in the courtroom, not even while Nenah, who was only 14 years old at the time, took the
00:21:45
stand. She had to testify at the trial on her own without a victim's advocate to support her.
00:21:54
What was that like on the sand? Gh. I think the best word was just awful. I was in a courtroom. The only person I
00:22:01
knew in the courtroom was the guy that had murdered my sister. The prosecution argued that
00:22:07
Burns met Kina that night carrying the stolen gun with the intention of killing her if she wouldn't continue their
00:22:16
relationship. Still, the jury did not convict him of premeditated firstdegree murder. He was
00:22:25
found guilty of seconddegree murder and was sentenced to 17 years to life with the possibility of parole. We all
00:22:34
thought 17 years to life meant life, that they would never let him out. He should be in prison the rest of his
00:22:41
life. They would learn they were wrong. Just 10 years into his sentence, Steven Burns came up for parole. The Solaros
00:22:48
were outraged. I had no idea the parole system was so rotten. Here they are in 1990 talking to then 48 Hours
00:22:59
correspondent Bernard Goldberg the night before the first parole hearing. Okay. Steven Burns was handed down a 17 to
00:23:07
life sentence and here we are 10 years later. That's right. But you you don't want him out after 17 years, after 20
00:23:13
years, after 25. Is that fair? Oh, that's a very fair question. Absolutely. I don't want him out. But I don't even
00:23:21
want to go up there before 17 years because that's what I was told. Going into this hearing, they know there's a
00:23:29
chance he could get out. On March 28th, 1990, the Solanos and a bus full of supporters headed to Steven Burns parole
00:23:41
hearing. That bus ride was the longest ride in my life. First hardest thing was when she died.
00:23:48
This is the second. For the first time since Katina's murder, the Solanos confronted the
00:23:57
man they had once considered part of the family. Steve sentenced my daughter to death
00:24:05
forever. I ask for a fair trade. I ask you to sentence Steve to life in prison. Then it was Burn's turn
00:24:15
to speak. It's hard to say in words how difficult it is to live day to day about
00:24:24
the feelings I have inside about what I did. Regardless of what I do, I can't bring Kina back.
00:24:31
But I know this that I am deeply sorry for what I did and I will work each day of my life whether it be in prison or
00:24:39
out on outside to make up. He apologized but the Solaros noticed he never looked
00:24:47
at them while he did it. If you can't look at someone in the face and say you're sorry, then you know damn we're
00:24:52
all going to be sorry. After an excruciating weight, the board is deliberating right now. We don't know
00:24:58
what those commissioners are thinking. The parole board came back with a decision.
00:25:05
Steven Burns was found unsuitable for release, but he would get another chance at freedom in two years. Two years. We
00:25:16
got two years. And I feel very, very drained. And I know my family is so worn out. Two years. What about the Solano
00:25:24
family? We'll be back. We'll be back. And back they would come over and over again for the next 35
00:25:37
[Music] years. There is one thing you can count on with the Solaros. Every week for almost 46 years,
00:25:53
right? They've gone to the cemetery where Kina now rests. I'm going to get the water out of the flowers. These
00:26:01
days, there's another grave to tend. Mike Solano died in 2013 of cancer. There's something else you could be sure
00:26:10
of. Every time Steven Burns comes up for parole, they will be there. Thank you for the strength that you impart on all
00:26:18
of us. and has refaced this next parole hearing. We all said we would be back and we've continued to be back 12 times,
00:26:28
not just because he murdered Kina, but because he is a dangerous murderer that will kill or harm again. And that's just
00:26:36
the bottom line. In January 2025, they were about to go to their 13th parole hearing. give this family the strength
00:26:45
to continue to fight. That fight for victim's rights has shaped all of their lives.
00:26:53
Was I going to be a nurse 40 years ago? No. And now I am. The reason why I did it is because I swore nobody would die
00:27:01
alone. Nah was so traumatized by the trial, she vowed she would become a prosecutor. And so she did. She became a
00:27:11
specialist in domestic violence cases. I believed like my sister, so many victims
00:27:17
are either not heard, afraid to be heard, or just don't understand the magnitude of what's happening to them.
00:27:28
She became the DA in Modoc County, cowboy country, about as far north in California as you can get.
00:27:39
Being able to be out in the mountains or work on a cattle ranch to ride my horses and to have that
00:27:47
time is just it's who I am. Harriet went on to start Crime Victims United, an organization that has changed hundreds
00:27:56
of laws. Before Harriet Solano, victims in California weren't allowed to give impact statements at sentencing. Now
00:28:06
they are. Parents, even if witnesses, can now attend the trial. And children, unlike Nah, must now be accompanied by a
00:28:16
support person when testifying. She's my hero. I mean, absolute hero. And it's just so significant to see how she
00:28:26
supports people and just really fights for what's right. I have a passion. For Harriet, that has meant fighting to keep
00:28:35
Steven Burns behind bars. Been doing it for 45 years, and I will continue to do it as long as I'm alive
00:28:44
and as long as he's in prison. Steven Burns has been in prison for 45 years, but the Solos are convinced he
00:28:54
hasn't changed. He still has yet to admit to the facts of the crime. Steven Burn's story says
00:29:02
Deputy District Attorney Robert Himmoblau has changed at least 12 times over the years.
00:29:09
He had said repeatedly that Kina pulled the gun, that Tatina was the one who had
00:29:15
the revolver, ignoring the fact that we knew that he had stolen Kina's father's revolver.
00:29:23
Sometimes she shot him. Sometimes they struggled over the gun and it accidentally went off. In
00:29:31
2016, 37 years after the murder, Steven finally stopped lying about Kina's actions, says Nenah. He told the
00:29:39
commissioners, quote, "I became very, very angry and I pulled out a gun and shot Kina." But Steven continued to deny
00:29:49
that he stalked her to UOP to kill her. if she didn't get back together with him. The shooting of the gun murdered my
00:29:57
sister, but the behaviors and the need for his power and control and the obsessiveness is what makes him
00:30:05
dangerous. And according to a complaint brought up at the last parole hearing, he has shown those same obsessive
00:30:13
behaviors inside prison. A professor who taught incarcerated students reported that Burn's behavior towards her was
00:30:21
quote disturbing and manipulating. He was relentless towards her because she would not allow him into a class. He
00:30:30
focused on her and was not going to stop till he got what he wanted. Do you think
00:30:36
that if Steven Burns is released, he could hurt someone? Yes. The next woman he goes out with who says no. But there
00:30:44
are some who believe that Steven Burns deserves a second chance. Kevin Anderson, once a respected
00:30:52
pediatrician, got to know Burns when he was incarcerated, also for murder. After
00:30:59
24 years in prison, Kevin was released on parole in 2023. He started working as a counselor.
00:31:07
We first spoke to him the day before Steven's 2025 parole hearing. Do you think that Steven Burns is a danger to
00:31:17
society? I can't say 100%, but I do think that Steven Burns has done a lot of the work to get to that point where
00:31:25
you're no longer a danger to society. Steven has earned a college degree and has worked with hospice patients. He has
00:31:34
participated in numerous anger management and rehabilitation programs, some alongside Kevin. I think
00:31:43
that he has the tools now that he didn't have before. Kevin worked with Steve in
00:31:49
mock hearing sessions to help him prepare for the upcoming parole hearing. We had to push him. And once we got him
00:31:57
to get off of the denial on certain issues where the real honesty had to come out, now he's able to talk about it
00:32:04
in the honest terms that maybe he wasn't able to do 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Kevin says Steven told him he snapped
00:32:12
when Kina rejected him. She said, "I want you to stay away from me and my family." And he said, "At that
00:32:21
point, I just lost it." And as he was describing this, he was crying because now he realizes where he was going with
00:32:28
this and what this was leading to. And Kina saw it too, says Kevin. He described to me her body language,
00:32:37
what her eyes were doing, how they had just grown really big. I said, "What else?" And he said, "Her voice was
00:32:44
shaking." And I said, "And what did that mean to you?" And he would say, "It meant she was scared to death." But it
00:32:50
didn't stop him. Steven Burns shot the woman he claimed to love in the back of the head and walked away, leaving her to
00:33:00
slowly bleed to death. Did he say why he left and didn't get help for? He did say
00:33:06
that what he did afterwards was a very cowardly act. Steven Burns is about to get another
00:33:13
chance to convince commissioners that the same man who left Catina to die that night is a change man. And this time the
00:33:24
Solanos fear the odds are in his favor. It scares the living daylights out of me
00:33:31
having him come out. [Music] [Music] As Harriet Solo counts down the days to the 2025 hearing, she does what she's
00:33:57
done for the past four decades. She goes to work. At 92, Harriet still goes to the
00:34:06
office at Crime Victims United every day. We're going to use these at the parole
00:34:12
hearing. Harriet and Nina are picking out photos to show the commissioners at the parole hearing. Here's Kina. I think
00:34:19
that's her 16th. It's important that they understand that she was a beautiful human being. Her dog was very important
00:34:26
to her and her life was taken for no reason. Nina has been preparing for this hearing for months.
00:34:35
And in here, I keep everything from the trial to all those subsequent parole hearings. Nah, the prosecutor is leaving
00:34:45
nothing to chance. Like, here's transcripts from the 2010 hearing. But Nah, the protector is calling on
00:34:54
Kina and her dad to help the things she can't control. As a DA, Nah knows his chances of
00:35:04
getting out are better than ever. Keith Watley is founder of Uncommon Law, an organization that helps
00:35:12
incarcerated people navigate the parole process. From what I've seen so far on paper in terms of the time he's done,
00:35:20
the program that he's put together for himself, and how well he's performed there, he does seem like somebody who
00:35:26
under the law should be granted parole. Watley, who has never met Steven, but has reviewed his last two parole
00:35:33
transcripts, says Steven has two other important things going for him. His age, he was only 18 when he committed the
00:35:42
crime. California has passed laws to say that we have to consider someone's youth
00:35:48
at the time of the crime. None of us are fully developed in the brain by before we're age 25. and his age at the time of
00:35:55
the hearing, 63. Watley says he's eligible for special consideration under the elderly
00:36:04
parole program. He says people simply age out of crime, especially violent crime. But in Steven Burns case, isn't
00:36:15
there a possibility that if he gets out, he gets involved with someone and they leave him, he'll do the same thing? It's
00:36:22
a great question. It's an important question. The science and the statistics say no. They say that people who come
00:36:29
home from a life sentence are among the least likely to recidivate. That's just true. But sometimes statistics are no
00:36:39
match for the human spirit. two different things. When the family comes consistently to
00:36:46
these parole hearings, especially a family like the Solaros, doesn't that make it much more difficult
00:36:52
for someone like Steven Burns to get a chance at parole? I would say yes. Yes, it does have an impact on the process.
00:37:03
The Solaros are praying they'll make an impact again this time. Thank you for allowing us to be able to be a voice for
00:37:12
Kina. Harriet, Nenah, her daughter Lexi, and a group of loyal friends head to the
00:37:18
DA's office in Stockton, California, where they will attend the parole hearing via video, the postcoid new
00:37:27
normal. But won't hearing all this today make you relive everything? It does. It
00:37:35
really does. I am shaky. Very shaky right. You are right now. Yes. I'm afraid of him being released. I
00:37:45
just afraid that he'll come after us. Harriet braces herself as she heads into the conference room, knowing she will
00:37:57
have to again see the man who put her daughter in a grave. Looking at Steve Burns when he walked
00:38:06
in, he just looks dangerous. He acts dangerous and what he says is dangerous. 48 hours was not allowed to record video
00:38:17
or audio during the hearing, but I was able to sit with the family and friends to observe. Steven Burns, his affect
00:38:26
flat, his voice monotone, once again denied he planned to kill Cina that night. This audio was
00:38:34
recorded by the parole board. But you didn't plan to kill her? No. And you deny that you threatened to kill her
00:38:43
previously, correct? Yes. Do you understand why previous panels have found that you minimize what you did and
00:38:51
and your intentions based on that? Yes. After almost 4 hours, the commissioners retreated to make their
00:39:03
decision. Is this the hardest part? Just waiting to see. This is the most difficult part.
00:39:10
20 minutes later, the family was called back into the conference room. The decision was in. Even after 45 years in
00:39:20
prison, we see very little change on those issues that led you to murder Cina that led you to do things in prison that
00:39:30
offended others. We see very little change. Steven Burns was found unsuitable for
00:39:39
parole. I don't know. Go home in circles. Really sweet tonight. This is the first real
00:39:51
smile I've seen on your face. Oh, you did a great job, Mom. I'm very proud of you.
00:40:00
When Kevin Anderson, Steven's friend from prison, read the transcript of the hearing, he was stunned. He sent 48
00:40:08
hours an email, some of which I read to him when we spoke again after the hearing. Reading this transcript is
00:40:16
hurting my head, heart and soul. This man is absolutely not ready to be released. No. The way he came across in
00:40:25
that hearing, he was absolutely not ready. All the work he has done, I didn't see it showing up there at all.
00:40:35
Four days after the hearing, Nah and Harriet went to deliver the news. We got a 5-year denial, Dad. So, I'm still
00:40:44
holding strong to my promise to you. It was Kina's 64th birthday. Kina, it's the best birthday present I
00:40:56
think we can give you. was that denial. So, thank you for watching over mom and watching over everyone.
00:41:05
Happy birthday, Kina. I love you both so much and miss you. Her former high school boyfriend
00:41:30
viciously attacked her. He is going to do this to another person. A survivor speaks out for the first time. He's more
00:41:38
like a monster. I need to make sure he is put away for murder. 48 Hours is all new CBS next Saturday 10:9 central and
00:41:46
streaming on Paramount Plus.