The Troubling Case of Herbert Mullin | Crime Daily Dose

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In the shadows of Santa Cruz, California, during the early 1970s, an unthinkable terror was unleashed. The name of this terror was Herbert Mullin, a man whose distorted reality led him on a brutal killing spree that still haunts the city's memory to this day.

Born on April 18th, 1947, Herbert William Mullin seemed to have a normal upbringing. A bright student, athletic, and popular amongst peers, he was a boy marked for success. However, the glimmer of normalcy shattered when, at age 18, Mullin's best friend died in a car accident. No thanks to his rampant use of LSD and marijuana, the tragedy sent Mullin spiraling into a realm of paranoia, schizophrenia, and, eventually, violent murders.

As he ventured into his early twenties, Mullin's mind began to fill with delusions of earthquakes that he believed would swallow California whole. But, according to him, there was a way to prevent it — blood sacrifice. In his distorted mind, he was convinced that human sacrifices would appease the earth and keep the disaster at bay. His delusion was so profound that he believed his own father, through telepathy, had commanded him to kill​.

The autumn of 1972 marked the start of Herbert Mullin's horrendous murder spree. His first victim was Lawrence "Whitey" White, a solitary, homeless man well-known to the local community for his peaceful and rather friendly demeanor. The 55-year-old Whitey spent his time at the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, his home amongst the majestic trees. In broad daylight, without a hint of remorse, Mullin attacked the unsuspecting man with a baseball bat.

Eventually, it was Whitey's absence that alerted local residents that something was wrong. When his battered body was discovered, shockwaves of fear rippled through the community, whispers of a murderer loose on the streets began to circulate.

With the taste of violence now on his lips, Mullin soon claimed his second victim, Mary Margaret Guilfoyle, a student from Cabrillo College. Mullin reportedly met Margaret while on her way to campus. He innocently offered her a ride and given that she was running late, she reluctantly agreed. While driving, Mullin stabbed her on the chest in one coldhearted fashion.

This time, his paranoia and dark tendencies got way worse. Mullin committed the heinous act of dissecting Guilfoyle's corpse, a twisted investigation into his bizarre theories on environmental pollution​. But to the fear of the nation, he was just getting started.

On November 2, 1972, Mullin visited St. Mary's Catholic Church in Los Gatos with the intent of confessing. While in the confessional booth, Mullin spoke with Father Henri Tomei. Under delusions, Mullin believed that Father Tomei had volunteered to be his next sacrifice. Reacting to these hallucinatory instructions, Mullin brutally attacked Father Tomei, using his fists and feet before stabbing him, leading to the priest's tragic death on the spot before Mullin fled the scene​​.

As the year 1973 unfolded, Herbert Mullin's violent urges heightened, leading him to seek out Jim Gianera, a former high school acquaintance who had introduced him to marijuana. Mullin blamed Gianera for his descent into a life of substance abuse and hallucinations. Upon deciding to confront Gianera, Mullin discovered that his former friend had relocated. Nonetheless, he managed to obtain Gianera's new address from Kathy Francis, who had moved into Gianera's previous residence. The confrontation culminated in a cold-blooded double homicide as Mullin shot both Jim and Joan Gianera in the head before savagely stabbing their bodies​​.

However, the bloodshed did not end there. Concerned that Kathy Francis and her two young children, Daemon and David, could serve as witnesses to his obtaining Gianera's address, Mullin decided to eliminate them as well. The brutal act saw Mullin shooting Kathy Francis and her two young sons, extinguishing four innocent lives in a single day​​.

And like a twisted, sinister movie, Mullin's madness did not cease there. In February 1973, he encountered four teenage boys camping in Santa Cruz's state park. Impersonating a park ranger, Mullin first warned them to leave, accusing them of "polluting" the forest. When they failed to heed his warning, Mullin returned the following day, executing them with his .22 caliber pistol.

It was on February 13th, 1973, when Mullin was finally apprehended. Mullin readily admitted to the killings, calmly recounting the details and revealing his twisted logic of sacrifice to prevent an earthquake.

In court, Mullin's lawyers attempted to plead insanity, but the jury wasn't swayed. Instead, they found him guilty of first-degree murder in two cases and second-degree murder in the others. Mullin was sentenced to life in prison.

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