The Neighbor Across The Street

**Nina Salerno** (0:13)
My dad passed away in 2013 His last words to me were, whatever it takes, you protect your mom, and you fight to keep Steve in prison.

**SPEAKER_2** (0:27)
Katina Salerno was only 18 years old when she was shot in the head and killed by her boyfriend.

**Nina Salerno** (0:35)
With the flash of a gun, my whole world just got turned upside down.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:39)
Stephen Burns was convicted of murdering Katina Salerno in 1979

**Harriet Salerno** (0:44)
He just looks dangerous. It's like a killer face.

**Nina Salerno** (0:48)
If you looked at his eyes, there is nothing behind him. He has no soul. My name is Nina Salerno, and I am the sister of Katina. Stephen Burns was sentenced to 17 years to life.
In 1990, after just 10 years, Stephen Burns came up for parole. My parents, my sister Regina, myself and friends and family traveled to Vacaville State Prison to protest his release.

**Mike Salerno** (1:16)
As a father, I closed her casket and married my 18-year-old child, who was murdered by this animal. God damn it.
This is a body bag of my daughter. This is what you did to her, Steve.

**Nina Salerno** (1:38)
46 years since Katina's death has not diminished one ounce of that pain.

**Robert Himmelblau** (1:48)
Where are we going?

**Nina Salerno** (1:49)
We are heading to the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office.

**Harriet Salerno** (1:55)
I am shaking. Very shaking you are right now.

**Erin Moriarty** (2:00)
How many parole hearings have you attended?

**Nina Salerno** (2:03)
Number 13

**Erin Moriarty** (2:05)
You've been at every single one of these?

**Harriet Salerno** (2:07)
Yes. Every single one?

**Erin Moriarty** (2:10)
As Steve Burns heads into his 13th parole hearing, what are you thinking?

**Kevin Anderson** (2:15)
I'm thinking that he's no longer a risk to commit the kind of crime he committed coming into prison. I've known Steve Burns for over two decades.

**Erin Moriarty** (2:25)
You don't think he's a danger?

**Kevin Anderson** (2:26)
I don't think he's a serious danger, if he were to be released.

**Erin Moriarty** (2:31)
If somebody looked at this and said, it's been 45 years. Is this now just about vengeance?

**Regina Salerno** (2:41)
No, it's not. Keeping Steve in jail is not about vengeance. For me, it's fear.
Fear for my family.

**Kevin Anderson** (2:50)
I think he has a very good chance of being found suitable.

**Erin Moriarty** (2:53)
Isn't it likely at one of these hearings, he's gonna get out?

**Harriet Salerno** (2:58)
That's my biggest fear, is him getting out.

**SPEAKER_10** (3:10)
Erin Moriarty Reports, The Boy Across The Street.

**Erin Moriarty** (3:17)
It shook the entire campus at the University of the Pacific. A freshman on her first day of college in 1979 found unconscious. Bleeding from her head in a remote area of the school. Her name was Catina Salarna.
Harriet and Mike Salarna were getting ready for bed when the phone rang at their San Francisco home. Mike answered it, his tone signaled the news.

**Harriet Salerno** (3:52)
And I said, what's wrong? He says, Katina's been shot.
And she's in the emergency room.

**Erin Moriarty** (4:01)
The Solarnos Two. younger daughters, Regina and Nina, rushed to their side.
Then the phone rang again.

**Harriet Salerno** (4:10)
And they said, your daughter passed away.

**Nina Salerno** (4:15)
I don't think it can be described in words what it's like to watch your mom collapse crying. My dad, very, very strong man, but you could tell he was shaken to the core.

**Regina Salerno** (4:28)
And life just stopped. I literally, life stopped, completely stopped.

**SPEAKER_11** (4:36)
You got the keys to the car?

**Mike Salerno** (4:38)
Yeah.

**Erin Moriarty** (4:41)
48 Hours first met the Solarno family in 1990 Harriet and Mike were making their weekly visit to Katina's resting place.

**Mike Salerno** (4:53)
I think coming out here and being able to talk to Katina gives me a piece of mine also, that I can still communicate with my daughter, that it isn't the final end.

**Erin Moriarty** (5:05)
At the time, Katina had been gone for 10 years, and her family was just embarking on a decades long journey to keep her killer behind bars.

**Mike Salerno** (5:16)
It's the first skirmish in a long, long battle that we started today.

**Erin Moriarty** (5:22)
It was not a journey they had ever expected to make. Harriet, did you and Michael really have kind of a perfect life as parents, three kids?

**Harriet Salerno** (5:35)
Yes. To answer you, yes, we were so blessed.

**Erin Moriarty** (5:38)
Both Mike and Harriet were juvenile commissioners, assigned by the city of San Francisco to mentor boys and girls. Their arms and home were always open, says Nina, the youngest daughter.