Little is known about the life of Lena Betty Coffin, a 35-year-old woman whose story was tragically cut short in the spring of 1935. Her death, however, would eventually become a key chapter in the story of a serial predator who moved between the coasts of the United States, leaving a trail of violence. Lena’s murder in San Francisco went unsolved for years, a painful mystery that highlighted the vulnerability of a woman who crossed paths with a dangerous man by chance.
On the night of
Saturday, April 6, 1935, Lena met a sailor on Market Street in San Francisco. The man, who called himself H. Meyers, was in fact William L. Johansen, a Danish-American sailor who also used the alias Harry W. Gordon. The two went to a nearby motel, where Johansen secured a room for them under the names "Mr. and Mrs. H. Meyers." About an hour after they checked in, the encounter turned violent. Johansen attacked Lena, strangling her until she was nearly unconscious before taping her mouth to prevent her from screaming. He then brutally stabbed her to death. Before leaving, Johansen meticulously cleaned the room to remove any fingerprints or other evidence, then walked out and returned to his life as a seaman.
For more than five years, Lena Coffin’s murder remained a cold case. The killer had vanished, shipping out of San Francisco for Portland soon after the crime and spending time on the Gulf of Mexico and in Texas. Johansen was a predator hiding in plain sight, a man who had already killed and would do so again. His first known victim was his own wife, Florence, whom he had strangled in New York in October 1933. Investigators at the time had mistakenly ruled her death a suicide. After killing Lena, Johansen eventually returned to California, married a woman who ran a flower shop in Long Beach, and continued his transient life.
The break in the case finally came in the summer of 1940. On June 24, Johansen murdered his third known victim, a woman named Irene McCarthy, in a San Francisco hotel. This time, however, detectives found a witness who had seen McCarthy with Johansen and knew his alias. Police arrested him in Los Angeles on July 9, 1940, as he was leaving a meeting. Employees from the hotel where McCarthy was killed identified him as the man she was last seen with.
Faced with the evidence, Johansen not only confessed to the murder of Irene McCarthy but also admitted to killing Lena Coffin five years earlier. He then shocked investigators by revealing his true identity and confessing to the murder of his first wife in New York. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the California killings.
During his trial, Johansen’s disturbing nature became fully apparent. He sought to be confined to an asylum, telling a judge, "I'll kill some other woman if you free me. I'll do it again, sure!" Despite his claims of insanity, the court found him legally sane in October 1940 and convicted him of both murders. When he was sentenced to death the following day, he was apathetic, telling the judge, "it doesn't make any difference." He expressed no remorse for his crimes, later telling reporters, "I don't give a damn if I go to the gas house. Not much doubt I'm a menace. I've killed three women and I'd probably do it again unless they get me out of the way."
William Johansen was executed by gas chamber at San Quentin State Prison on September 5, 1941. While justice was served for his horrific crimes, the life of Lena Betty Coffin remains largely in shadow, defined only by the brutal circumstances of her death. She is remembered as one of three women whose lives were stolen by a remorseless serial killer.
