Stephen Wayne Anderson (July 8, 1953 – January 29, 2002) was an American contract killer and serial killer who was executed at California's San Quentin State Prison by lethal injection in 2002 for the murder of Elizabeth Lyman.

He was paroled on that count in 1975, but continued to serve a sentence of 10 to 50 years on multiple aggravated burglary convictions.

[2] On May 26, 1980, Anderson, then 26, burglarized the Bloomington, California, house of 81-year-old Elizabeth Lyman, a retired piano teacher.

In the middle of the night, Anderson cut Lyman's telephone line with a knife, and broke into her home by removing a glass pane from her French doors.

Anderson shot her in the face from close range with a .45 caliber handgun, fatally wounding her.

He covered her body with a blanket, recovered the expelled casing from the hollow-point bullet that killed her, and ransacked her house for money.

"[2] Anderson admitted to six other contract killings in Las Vegas that happened prior to the crime for which he received a death sentence.

On November 24, 1979, he escaped from prison, after which he worked for narcotics traffickers and committed at least one murder in the eastern mountains of Salt Lake County.

[2]On January 29, 2002, Anderson was executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison.