Man Convicted of Killing Cabbie in San Mateo County Murdered by Cellmate

A man convicted of killing a taxi driver during a series of cab driver kidnappings and robberies in San Mateo County in the 1990s was murdered by another inmate at a state prison in Folsom over the weekend, prison officials said.

Investigators believe Anthony Steadham, 38, was killed by his cellmate at California State Prison-Sacramento, 43-year-old Maurice Woodson, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Steadham was found in his cell at 3:10 a.m. Saturday and was transported to an outside hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:04 a.m.

Steadham was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery, according to the CDCR.

He killed cab driver Thomas Simones, a 43-year-old San Jose man, in an execution-style shooting during a robbery on Nov. 22, 1993.

Prosecutors said the crime spree began in 1993 in San Mateo and ended about a year later when Steadham left town. Steadham was convicted of Simones' killing in September 1997.

Woodson has been in state prison since 2001 and is serving a sentence of 46 years and four months for second-degree murder, discharge of a firearm and assault with a firearm, CDCR officials said.

He had previously served a 13-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter.

--Bay City News

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