48 Hours - The Neighbor Across The Street

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

A college student is killed by her boyfriend who lived right across the street. Her family’s long battle to keep him in prison. Erin Moriarty reports. This episode last aired on 5/5/2025.

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. Katina Salarno was only 18 years old when she was shot in the head and killed by her boyfriend. With the flash of a gun, my whole world just got turned upside down. Stephen Burns was convicted of murdering Katina Salerno, 1979. He just looks dangerous. It's like a killer face. If you looked at his eyes, there is nothing

behind him. He has no soul. My name is Nina Salarnum, 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 Bakkeville State prison to protest his release. As a father, I closed her casket and buried my 18-year-old child who was murdered by this animal. This is a body bag of my daughter. This is what you did to her, Steve. 46 years since Katina's death has not diminished one ounce of that pain. Where are we going? We are heading to the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office. I am shaking. Very shaking. You are right now?

How many parole hearings have you attended? Number 13. You've been at every single one of the years? Yes. Every single one. As Steve Burns heads into his 13th parole hearing, what are you thinking? 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 years. over two decades.

You don't think he's a danger. I don't think he's a serious danger if he were to be released. If somebody looked at this and said, it's been 45 years, is this now just about vengeance? No. Keeping Stephen's jail is not about vengeance. For me, it's fear. Fear for my family.

I think he has a very good chance of being found suitable. Isn't it likely at one of these hearings he's going to get out? That's my biggest fear is him getting out. Aaron Moriarty reports, the boy across the street. 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 Katina Salerno.

Harriet and Mike Salerno were getting ready for bed when the phone rang at their San Francisco home. Mike answered it. His tone signaled the news. And I said, what's wrong? He says, Katina's been shot. And she's in the emergency. emergency room. The Salarno's two younger daughters,

Regina and Nina, rushed to their side. Then the phone rang again. And he said, your daughter passed away. I don't think it can be described in words what it's like to watch your mom collapse crying. My dad, a very, very strong man, but you could tell he was shaken to the core. And life just stopped.

I literally, life stopped. Completely stopped. You got the keys to the car? Yeah. 48 hours first met the Salarno family in 1990. Harriet and Mike were making their weekly visit to Katina's resting place. I think coming out here and being able to talk to Katina

gives me a peace of mind also that I can still communicate with my dad. daughter, that it isn't the final end. 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. It's the first skirmish in a long, long battle that this we started today. It was not a journey they had ever expected to make. Harriet, did you and Michael really have kind of a...

the perfect life as parents, three kids. Yes. To answer you, yes, we were so blessed. 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. I think the best way to describe it is it typified a middle-class American family that valued their faith, valued family, valued community as well.

They spent blissful summer days at the cabin in the mountains. Three carefree sisters, with Katina leading the pack, says Regina, younger by 18 months. She was a heart and soul of the family. She had such a good heart. She loved being the older sister. I think the best way to describe Katina is she. She is that person. Every person should meet in their life.

She just brought an air of kindness. When Katina was 14, a new family, the Burns, moved in across the street in San Francisco. There were four children, a girl and three boys, all about the same age as the Salerno sisters. And we were spying on them, so we all made a big batch of cookies, giggled all the across the street, knocked on the door, introduced ourselves, and gave him a batch of homemade cookies. Soon, the friendship between the oldest Salerno sister and the second oldest Burns' brother blossomed into a young love.

Katina and Stephen Burns started dating in the 10th grade. How would you describe Stephen Burns? Well, he was the big brother I never had. You know, and for me, it was like, God, I have a big brother, and I just thought he was great because we got to go to the football games. Steve, who went to an all-boys Catholic school, was a star athlete and captain of the football team. He and Nina, a basketball and volleyball player,

bonded over their shared love of sports. I love Steve. I idolized him. He was a great athlete. He coached my team, so he would help me with my shot. And he took the time to do that. Mike took Steve, who had a difficult relationship with his own dad, under his wing. He not only mentored him,

he gave him a job at his TV store delivering TVs. And my dad, who embraces everybody, brought him in and treated him as a son. Mike trusted him completely, says Regina. They all did. Did you ever see anything between Steve and Katrina that worried you? I have to tell you, I've given hours and hours of thought. that, why didn't I see this? What was it? You sometimes are close to people. You don't always

see little signs where you ignore him. But with hindsight, the sisters say there were signs. In her senior year, Katina, who had been accepted to the University of the Pacific, wanted to break up with Stephen. But he wasn't having it, says Regina. He started threatening her. She said that Steve said that if I broke up with him, he would kill me. But at the time, neither sister took him seriously. Neither one of you told your parents. We just figured he was just saying it, and because of what our relationship was over the years,

why would we believe that? He enjoyed being part of their family. Why would he destroy a family that he loved? Mike and Harriet never heard about that incident. Never imagined that the life they knew would come to an end. We thought we were doing good and everything would be fine and never thought the boy across the street would murder our daughter. When Katina arrived at the University of the Pacific UOP in September of 1979,

she thought she had left Stephen Burns behind for good. He said he was going to Santa Clara University, and she was going to begin pursuing her longtime goal. She knew she was going to become a dentist. She knew exactly what she was going to do. It was planned for her. That was her goal, her dream. But Katina's excitement was cut short

soon after the Salernos got to campus. We were staying overnight, and we went to the hotel lobby, and then all of a sudden there's Steve and his sister and family, what are you doing here? And he says, well, I'm going to you, O.P. That's really the first time I heard a lot of panic in her voice because that just caught her off guard.

For the first time, Katina turned to her father for help. My dad walked up to him and said, okay, Steve, leave Katina alone. She has told you that. You guys move on to your own ways, be friends, and know that I will always be here for you. The Salarno's headed back to San Francisco, and Katina and Steve each moved into their respective dorm rooms

on opposite sides of the campus. Steven's new roommate, Les Serpa, remembers walking in the room and seeing Katina's picture everywhere. He said his girlfriend was at Pacific as well. There were pictures of her and him together. More pictures than I had ever seen before, but they were everywhere on his desk. He didn't mention that she had wanted to break up? Not at all. It was all very positive. Everything was great.

Across campus, Katina was settling in with her new roommate, Joanne Marks. Then came a knock on the door. It was Steve Burns. After he left, Katina told me that he wanted to meet with her later in the evening for the last time. She was not looking forward to meeting with him, but she was looking forward to it being the last time. She believed that he would stop bothering her. Joanne says Steve came by to pick up Katina about 7.45 that evening. I said something like, you know, have a good evening, and he kind of just grunted. Katina told Joanne she would see her later, but that later never came.

I think it was probably close to here. A freshman out for a walk named Kevin Arlen would be the one to discover why. It was around 9.45 at night when he saw something on the sidewalk. And I kept walking and realized that's a person and figured I needed to go get some help. Kevin, unnerved by what he saw, rushed back to his dorm and got a record. president, advisor. They both ran back to the scene. And we got up to her, and it was a young lady that was laying on the ground and she was still alive. She was unconscious. But there was a big pool of blood around her head.

Kevin would later find out it was 18-year-old Katina Rose Solarno. She had been shot in the back of the head. Her arms were twisted in a way that I never thought the human body could twist. Do you remember her face? I just remember the blood. That had to be heartbreaking. Yeah, I knew it was tragic. I knew it was a very serious injury. While the two men waited for the ambulance to arrive,

Stephen Burns returned to his dorm room, where his roommate Les was watching Monday night full. Monday night football. He went and laid on the bed, propped up a pillow, and started watching the game. Is he nervous at all? He was not nervous at all. The ambulance arrived around 10 p.m. and rushed Katina to St. Joseph's Hospital. She was still alive, barely.

Years later, her family would learn she was not alone. Randy Hate, at the time a young patrol officer who was at the crime scene, met his partner at the hospital. I said, where's a family? And he says, she's a student at UOP from out of town. They're not here. I said, is anybody with her? He says, haven't seen anybody.

It's just us. Katina Rose was pronounced dead at nine minutes after midnight. We made the decision to sit with Katina until the coroners came. Even though she had passed, I just didn't feel right leaving her alone. I prayed. I said a prayer for her. By then, homicide detectives were at Katina's dorm talking to Joanne.

I told the police that Katina had been picked up by Steve Burns, and I told them which dorm he was from. Les and Stephen were in their room when there was a knock on the door. I opened the door, and, you know, there's five guys 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 officers. And then they asked to search our room. They went through everything, every bag, every drawer, everything. What were they looking for?

I didn't know at the time. But later I learned they were looking for a weapon, for a gun. Stephen Burns was pulled from the room and taken to the Stockton Police Station, where he was fingerprinted and photographed. Officer Haye recall seeing him there. He did not appear to be upset in any way. Burns told the police he didn't meet Katina on campus at night and that he spent the evening in his dorm room watching Monday night football. Without the gun, it was never found.

The police didn't have enough evidence to hold him. Stephen Burns was released. His father took him back to San Francisco. The police didn't publicly name a suspect, but Harriet Salerno didn't need a name. She already knew it. I just said to Mike, it's Steve Mike. It's Steve.

I don't know why. I just had that feeling. After talking to the family, the police learned that Stephen had threatened to kill Katina if she broke up with him. Two days after the family, the murder of Catina Rose Salerno, Stephen Burns was arrested at his home just across the street from where Katina grew up.

I remember sitting up in the window watching them walk him out and handcuffs and putting them in the patrol car. My whole world got taken from me and really the flash of a gun. I mean, everything was gone. Learning to live without their daughter has been a lifelong journey for Katina's parents. One crippled by what-ifs. Mike Solano never stopped blaming himself. He felt it as a father he let her down.

For decades, Katina's sisters have also grappled with regret, wishing they had told their parents about Stephen Burns threatening to kill Katina. What if I had said something? What if we told them about the threat? about the threat. You're living with guilt, too. And it doesn't change after 40 years.

It's the hole in my heart for missing my sister and what we could have had together. In the wake of the murder, each member of the family retreated into their own private grief. I didn't even care. I even if I wanted to join Katrina.

I didn't know what to do anymore. My whole plan, my whole world, my whole bubble blew up. I mean, I never felt that kind of hurt. I lost my entire family because they fell apart. It was painful enough that my sister had been murdered, but the person that I viewed as a brother and loved betrayed me by taking her life.

The Salernos would learn that the young man they had trusted had stolen a gun from Mike's store weeks before Katina's murder. You believe he played. planned that murder. Oh, yes. The fact that he stole the gun prior, there was no reason for the stealing of the gun otherwise. They came to believe Stephen may have been planning to use that gun to kill Katina even before she left for college.

The night before we took her to UOP, I heard this noise outside. And it was Steve Burns pacing in front of the bedroom window. window. He had a big white towel wrapped around his left hand. Regina says Burns tried to climb up the side of their house and enter through the window of the bedroom the girls shared. But Katina told him to leave. And she said, no, I'm not opening the window. Go to bed, Steve. I'm going to school tomorrow. You know, stop, just stop, just stop. Then there was a sound like he fell, and it was a very distinct sound of metal hitting metal. What do you think now 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 be three dead girls. You think he had a gun with him that? Absolutely. Six months after Katina's death, 19-year-old Stephen Burns went on trial for her murder. It was a bitter awakening for the Salarno's who say there was more concern for the defendant and his rights than there was for his victim. Neither of Katina's parents were allowed in the courtroom, not even while Nina, who was only 14 years old at the time, took the stand.

She had to testify at the trial on her own, without a victim's advocate to support her. What was that like on the sand? Ugh. I think the best word was just awful. I was in a courtroom. The only person I knew in the courtroom was the guy that had murdered my sister. The prosecution argued that Burns met Katina that night, carrying the stolen gun with the intention of killing her if she wouldn't continue their relationship. Still, the jury did not convict him of pre-Metka.

meditated first-degree murder. He was found guilty of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 17 years to life with the possibility of parole. We all thought 17 years to life met life that they would never let him out. He should be in prison the rest of his life. They would learn they were wrong.

Just 10 years into a sentence, Stephen Burns came up for parole. The Salarnoes were outraged. I had no idea of the department. parole system was so rock. Here they are in 1990, talking to then 48 hours correspondent, Bernard Goldberg, the night before the first parole hearing. Okay, Stephen Burns was handed down a 17 to life sentence.

That's right. And here we are 10 years later. That's right. But you don't want them out after 17 years, after 20 years, after 25. Is that fair? Oh, that's a very fair question. Absolutely. I don't want them out.

But I don't even want to go up there. before 17 years because that's what I was told. Going into this hearing, they know there's a chance he could get out. On March 28, 1990, the Salarno's and a bus full of supporters headed to Stephen Burns' parole hearing. That bus ride was the longest ride in my life. The first hardest thing was when she died, this is the second. For the first time since Katina's murder, the Salernos confronted the man. They had once considered part of the family.

Steve sentenced my daughter to death forever. I asked for a fair trade. I ask you to sentence Steve to life in prison. Then it was Burns turned to speak. It's hard to say words. saying words, how difficult it is to live day today about the feelings I have inside about what I did. And regardless of what I do, I can't bring a team back. But I know this, that I am deeply sorry for what I did. And I will work each day on my life, whether it be in prison or outside, to make

up. He apologized, but the Salarno's noticed he never looked at them while he didn't. He didn't, If you can't look at someone in the face and say you're sorry, then you know, Dan, we're all knowing I'm sorry. After an excruciating wait. The board is deliberating right now. We don't know what those commissioners are thinking. The parole board came back with a decision. Stephen Burns was found unsuitable for release, but he would get another chance of freedom

in two years. Two years, we got two years. I feel very, very drained, and I know my family's so worn out. Two years, what about the Salano family? We'll be here. We'll be back. And back they would come over and over again for the next 35 years. There is one thing you can count on with the Salarno's.

Every week for almost 46 years. You're right? They've gone to the cemetery where Katina now rests. I'm going to get the water out of the flowers. These days, there's another grave to tend. Mike Salerno died in 2013 of cancer. There's something else you could be sure of. Every time Stephen Burns comes up for parole, they will be there.

Thank you for the strength that you impart on all of us and has we faced this next parole hearing. We all said we would be back, and we've continued to be back 12 times. Not just because he murdered Katina, but because he is a dangerous murderer that will kill or harm again. And that's just the bottom line. In January 2025, they were about to go to their 13th parole hearing.

Give this family the strength to continue to fight. That fight for victims' rights has shaped all of their lives. Was I going to be a nurse 40 years ago? No. And now I am. The reason why I did it is because I swear. or nobody would die alone. Nina was so traumatized by the trial,

she vowed she would become a prosecutor. And so she did. She became a specialist in domestic violence cases. I believed, like my sister, so many victims are either not heard, afraid to be heard, or just don't understand the magnitude of what's happening to that. She became the DA,

in Modoc County. Cowboy country, about as far north in California as you can get. Being able to be out in the mountains or work on a cattle ranch. To ride my horses and have that time

is just, it's who I am. Harriet went on to start Crime Victims United, an organization that has changed hundreds of laws. Before Harriet Salerno, victims in California, weren't allowed to give impact statements at sentencing.

Now they are. Parents, even if witnesses, can now attend the trial. And children, unlike Nina, must now be accompanied by a support person when testifying. She's my hero. I mean, absolute hero. And it's just so significant to see how she supports people and just really fights for what's right. I have a passion. For Harriet, that has meant fighting to keep Stephen Burns behind bars.

I've been doing it for 45 years, and I will continue to do it, as long as I'm alive and as long as he's in prison. Stephen Burns has been in prison for 45 years, but the Salernos are convinced he hasn't changed. He still has yet to admit to the facts of the crime. Stephen Byrne's story says Deputy District Attorney Robert Himmelblow has changed at least 12 times over the years. He had said repeatedly that Katina pulled the gun, that Tatina was the one who had the revolver, ignoring the fact that we knew that he had stolen Katina's father's revolver. Sometimes she shot him.

Sometimes they struggled over the gun, and it accidentally went off. In 2016, 37 years after the murder, Stephen finally stopped lying about Katina's action, says Nina. He told the commissioners, quote, I became very, very angry, and I pulled out a gun and shot Katina. But Stephen continued to deny 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 sister. but the behaviors and the need for his power and control and the obsessiveness is what makes him dangerous. And according to a complaint brought up at the last parole hearing,

he has shown those same obsessive behaviors inside prison. A professor who taught incarcerated students reported that Burns' behavior towards her was, quote, disturbing and manipulating. He was relentless towards her. because she would not allow him into a class. He focused on her and was not going to stop till he got what he wanted. Do you think that if Stephen Burns is released, he could hurt someone?

Yes, the next woman he goes out with who says no. But there are some who believe that Stephen Burns deserves a second chance. Kevin Anderson, once a respected pediatrician, got to know Burns when he was incarcerated, also for murder. After 24 years in prison, Kevin was released on parole in 2023. He started working as a counselor. We first spoke to him the day before Stephen's 2025 parole hearing. Do you think that Stephen Burns is a danger to society?

I can't say 100%, but I do think that Stephen Burns has done a lot of the work to get to that point where you're no longer a danger to society. Stephen has earned a college degree and has worked with hospice patients. He has participated in numerous anger management and rehabilitation programs. Some alongside Kevin. I think that he has the tools now that he didn't have before. Kevin worked with Steve in mock hearing sessions to help him prepare for the upcoming parole hearing.

We had to push him. And once we got him 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 in the honest terms that maybe he wasn't able to do 10 years ago, 15 years ago. Kevin says Stephen told him he snapped when Katina rejected him. She said, I want you to stay away from me and my family. And he said, at that point, I just lost it. And as he was describing this, he was crying, because now he realizes where he was going with this and what this was leading to.

And Katina saw it too, says Kevin. He described to me her body language, what her eyes were doing, how they had just grown really big. I said, what else? And he said, her voice was shaking. And I said, and what did that mean to you? And he would say it meant she was scared to death. But it didn't stop him. Stephen Burns shot the woman he claimed to love in the back of the head and walked away,

leaving her to slowly bleed to death. Did he say why he left and didn't get help for? He did say that what he did afterwards was a very cowardly act. Stephen Burns is about to get another chance to convince commissioners that the same man who left Katina to die that night is a change man. And this time, the Salerno's fear, the odds are in his favor. It scares the living daylights out of me, having him come out. As Harriet Salerno counts down the days to the 2025 hearing,

she does what she's done for the past four decades. She goes to work. At 92, Harriet still goes to the office at Crime Victims United every day. We're going to use these at the parole hearing. Harriet and Nina are picking out photos to show the commissioners at the parole hearing. Here's Katina. I think that's her 16th. It's important that they understand that she was a beautiful human being.

Our dog was very important to her, and her life was taken for no reason. Nina has been preparing for this hearing for months. And in here, I keep everything from the trial. to all those subsequent parole hearings. Nina, the prosecutor, is leaving nothing to chance. Here's transcripts for the 2010 hearing. But Nina, the protector, is calling on Katina and her dad to help the things she can't control.

As a DA, Nina knows his chances of getting out are better than ever. Keith Watley is founder of Uncommon Law, an organization that helps incarcerated people navigate the parole process. From what I've seen so far on paper in terms of the time he's done, the program that he's put together for himself and how well he's performed there, he does seem like somebody who under the law should be granted parole. Wattley, who has never met Stephen, but has reviewed his last two parole transcripts,

says Stephen has two other important things going for him. His age, he was only 18 when he committed the crime. California has passed laws to say that we have to consider someone's youth at the time of the crime. None of us are fully developed in the brain before we're age 25. And his age at the time of the hearing, 63. Watley says he's eligible for special consideration under the elderly parole program. He says people simply age out of crime, especially violent crime. But in Stephen Burns case, isn't 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 a great question. It's an important question. The science and the statistics say no. They say that people who come home from a life sentence are among the least likely to recidivate. That's just true. But sometimes statistics are no match for the human spirit. When the family comes consistently to these parole hearings, especially a family like the Salarno's, doesn't that make it much more difficult for someone like Stephen Burns to get a chance at parole?

I would say yes. Yes, it does. Have an impact on the process. The Salernos are praying they'll make. make an impact again this time. Thank you for allowing us to be able to be a voice for Katrina. Harriet, Nina, her daughter Lexi, and a group of loyal friends head to the DA's office in Stockton, California, where they will attend the parole hearing via video, the post-COVID new normal. But won't hearing all this today make you relive everything?

It does. does. I am shaking. Very shaky. You are right now? Yes. I'm afraid on him being released. I just, I'm afraid that he'll come after us. Harriet braces herself as she heads into the conference room, knowing she will have to again see the man who put her daughter in a grave. Looking at Steve Burns when he walked in, he just looks dangerous. looks dangerous. He acts dangerous. And what he says is dangerous. Forty-eight hours was not allowed to record video or audio during the hearing. But I was able to sit with the family and friends

to observe. Stephen Burns, his affect flat, his voice monotone, once again denied he planned to kill Katina that night. This audio was recorded by the parole board. you didn't plan to kill her? No. And you deny that you threatened to kill her previously, correct? Yes. Do you understand why previous panels have found that you minimize what you did and your intentions? Based on that, yes.

After almost four hours, the commissioners retreated to make their decision. Is this the hardest part just waiting to see? Waiting this is the most difficult. Plar. Twenty minutes later, the family was called back into the conference room. The decision was in. Even after 45 years in prison, we see very little change on those issues that led you to murder Katina, that led you to do things in prison that offended others.

We see very little change. Stephen Burns was found unsuitable for parole. I don't know. I can just talk about. Really sweet tonight. This is the first real smile I've seen on your face. Oh, you did a great job, Mom. I'm very proud of you.

When Kevin Anderson, Steven's friend from prison, read the transcript of the hearing, he was stunned. He sent 48 hours an email, some of which I read to him, when we spoke again after the hearing. Reading this transcript is hurting my head, heart and soul. This man is absolutely not ready to be released. No. The way he came across in that hearing, he was absolutely not ready.

All the work he has done, I didn't see it showing up there at all. Four days after the hearing, Nina and Harriet went to deliver the news. We got a five-year denial, Dad, so I'm still holding strong to my promise to you. It was Katina's 64th birthday. Katina, it's the best birthday present I think we can give you was that denial. So thank you for watching over Mom and watching over everyone. Happy birthday, Katina. I love you both so much and miss you.

Stephen Burns is expected to go before the parole board again in 2030. Join me Tuesday for post-mortem from 48 hours, where we'll dive even deeper into today's episode and answer your questions about the case.