An ex-convict previously sentenced for a gunpoint robbery at a Pasadena restaurant was ordered Wednesday to serve life in prison without parole for the 2021 murder of a woman at a homeless encampment in Irwindale.
Steve Carlos Williams, 48, was convicted Sept. 5 of first-degree murder, first-degree residential burglary and assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury in the death of Heather Marvets Kauffman, 37, according to Deputy District Attorney Phil Stirling. Jurors deliberated for less than an hour before reaching their verdict.
The attack occurred Feb. 20, 2021, in the riverbed of the San Gabriel River. Prosecutors said Williams used a pickaxe and a rock to kill Kauffman, and the jury found true the special circumstance allegation of murder while lying in wait. Additional allegations that Williams personally wielded both weapons were also upheld.
Williams testified in his own defense and denied involvement, but Stirling said the defendant made incriminating statements during an undercover jailhouse operation, suggesting he feared Kauffman might cooperate with law enforcement in an unrelated case.
He was also convicted of two counts of resisting an officer during his Feb. 23, 2021, arrest.
Williams had previously been sentenced in April 2022 to three years in state prison for a separate robbery at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles in Pasadena. That incident occurred Feb. 3, 2021, when Williams refused to comply with the restaurant’s face covering requirement as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, brandished a firearm, and stole food orders awaiting pickup, authorities said at the time.
The criminal complaint in the Pasadena robbery case alleged that Williams had prior convictions for burglary, unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle, drug offenses, a weapon offense and grand theft.
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