Family's battle for justice has impacted victims' rights

It shook the entire campus at the University of the Pacific. A freshman on her first day of college in 1979 was found unconscious, bleeding from her head, in a remote area of the school. Her name was Catina Salarno.

Harriet and Mike Salarno were getting ready for bed when the phone rang at their San Francisco home. Mike answered it. His tone signaled the news.

Harriet Salarno: I said … "what's wrong?" … he says, Catina has been shot and she's in the emergency room.

The Salarnos' two younger daughters, Regina and Nina, rushed to their side. Then the phone rang again.

Harriet Salarno: And they said, "your daughter passed away."

Nina Salarno: 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 Salarno-Novello: And life just stopped. … I literally … life stopped, completely stopped.'

"48 Hours" first met the Salarno family in 1990. Harriet and Mike were making their weekly visit to Catina's resting place.

MIKE SALARNO (1990): I think coming out here and being able to talk to Catina gives me a peace of mind. Also that I can still communicate with my daughter, that it isn't, um, the final end.

At the time, Catina had been gone for 10 years, and her family was just embarking on a decades-long journey to keep her killer behind bars.

MIKE SALARNO (to reporters outside 1990 parole hearing): It's the first skirmish in a long, long battle that this we started today.

Erin Moriarty: Harriet, did you and Michael really have kind of a — the perfect life as parents, three kids?

Harriet Salarno: 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.

Nina Salarno: 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 Catina leading the pack, says Regina, younger by 18 months.

Regina Salarno-Novello: She was the heart and soul of the family. … She had such a good heart. She loved being the older sister.

Nina Salarno: [I] think the best way to describe Catina is she is that person every person should meet in their life. She just brought an air of kindness.

When Catina was 14, a new family, the Burns, moved in across the street in San Francisco. There were four children: a girl a