- il y a 4 mois
Herbert William Mullin est un tueur en série américain qui a tué treize personnes en Californie au début des années 1970. Il a avoué ces meurtres, qui, selon lui, ont permis d'éviter des tremblements de terre. En 1973, après un procès visant à déterminer sa folie ou sa culpabilité, il a été reconnu coupable de deux meurtres au premier degré et de neuf meurtres au second degré, et condamné à la réclusion criminelle à perpétuité. Sa libération conditionnelle a été refusée à huit reprises et il est peu probable qu'il soit libéré un jour.
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00:00Why did Herbert Mullen brutally slaughter 13 innocent victims, including children, campers, and a Catholic priest who was stabbed in his confessional booth on All Souls Day?
00:12If you ask the police, Mullen was a whacked-out druggie with legalized acid tattooed on his belly.
00:18Mullen's lawyers argued that he was a deluded, paranoid schizophrenic.
00:22And if you ask serial killer Edmund Kemper, who terrorized Santa Cruz in the same time frame, Herbie was just a cold-blooded killer, killing everyone he saw for no good reason, he said.
00:35I guess that's kind of hilarious, my sitting here so self-righteously talking like that, after what I've done.
00:42To hear Herb Mullen tell it, he is a hero, a sacrificial scapegoat who killed his consenting victims to save California from a cataclysmic earthquake.
00:51His father, war veteran Martin William Mullen, had telepathically commanded his son to murder.
00:58Why won't you give me anything? Go kill somebody. Move.
01:03In the end, a natural disaster might have been preferable to the unnatural disaster called Herbert Mullen.
01:09His rampage began on October 13, 1972, and ended on January 13, 1973.
01:16He killed 13 people.
01:18Mullen bashed the skull of an alcoholic drifter with a baseball bat, eviscerated a female hitchhiker, stabbed a priest to death in his confessional,
01:27shot and stabbed a drug dealer's wife and children, and a young married couple, murdered four teenage campers, executioner-style,
01:35and shot a retired boxer with a rifle in his front yard.
01:39Clearly, Mullen was mentally ill with paranoid schizophrenia.
01:42He said his victims telepathically gave him permission to kill them.
01:46But schizophrenics can choose to disobey their voices.
01:51And although many serial killers use mental illness to excuse their heinous behavior,
01:55schizophrenics are not more likely to kill than the same population.
02:00So, what pushed Mullen over the edge?
02:02And would the jury, who saw for themselves that Mullen was genuinely disturbed, find him legally insane?
02:10Herbert Mullen was born on April 18, 1947, a date that held great significance for him later.
02:17April 18 was the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
02:21It was also the anniversary of Albert Einstein's death.
02:25Both of these events would, in Herb's twisted mind, give him a cosmic duty to kill.
02:30As a child, Herbert Mullen was described as bright and gentle-natured.
02:35When Herb was five, the Mullins moved from a small farming community to San Francisco,
02:40where his father, Martin William Mullen, worked as a furniture salesman.
02:45Herb and his older sister attended parochial school.
02:48By all accounts, the Mullins were a well-adjusted, educated family.
02:52Bill Mullen had been a military hero in World War II, and he was considered stern, but never abusive.
02:58He was proud of his service and relayed war stories to his son, and even taught him how to use a gun.
03:04Sometimes the elder Mullen would playfully box with his young son in the kitchen before dinner.
03:09Herb would later interpret these matches as a deadly challenge by his sadistic father.
03:14According to the adult Herb, his entire childhood was destroyed by a conspiracy led by his parents.
03:20He saw his parents as killjoy reincarnationists, who believed that by spoiling the enjoyment of others,
03:27they improved their birth position in the next life.
03:30Herb later testified that he believed his father threatened to kill anyone who would play with Herb,
03:35and even went door-to-door asking that everyone ignore his son.
03:39Even the communion services were diabolical.
03:43When I was in the second grade, they told me that Jesus Christ, the person, actually lives in the Holy Eucharist.
03:50It is a lie, designed to induce naivete and gullibility in young children,
03:55thereby making them susceptible to receive and carry out telepathic subconscious suicide orders.
04:00But this is schizophrenic in hindsight.
04:03At the time, Herb seemed happy.
04:05When he was halfway through high school, the Mullins moved to Felton,
04:09a small town among the majestic redwoods in Santa Cruz County.
04:13Despite being uprooted at a vulnerable age, Herb made many friends in high school
04:17and was envied as one of the popular crowd.
04:21He played varsity football, had a steady girlfriend, and was voted most likely to succeed.
04:26A macabre prophecy, considering that Herb would become Santa Cruz County's most prolific serial killer.
04:32After graduating in 1965, Herb went to Cabrillo College and studied engineering.
04:38He considered joining the army.
04:41Everything was going great.
04:42But then, paranoid schizophrenia changed all that.
04:46The incident that stands out as the trigger to Herb's deteriorating sanity
04:50was the tragic death of his best friend, Dean Richardson,
04:54who was killed in a car accident the summer after high school graduation.
04:57Herb was devastated and fell into a state of macabre despair,
05:02building shrines in his room to Dean, where he spent hours alone.
05:06He wondered if Dean's death was some sort of cosmic sacrifice
05:09and became obsessed with the idea of reincarnation.
05:13Although raised as a Catholic, Herb began to fervently study Eastern religions,
05:18looking for answers.
05:19Answers to the tragedy of a lost friend
05:21and answers to the voices that were suddenly haunting his thoughts.
05:26He changed his major from engineering to philosophy
05:28at the state college he attended,
05:30but dropped out after a few weeks.
05:32In the spring of 1966,
05:34he ran into a friend of Dean's at the beach
05:36named Jin Giannara.
05:38Giannara gave him some pot
05:40and told him about the anti-war movement.
05:43Mullen later said
05:44that Giannara spearheaded a movement
05:46to befuddle and confuse me,
05:48and that the pot Giannara gave him
05:49damaged his brain.
05:50If Giannara had given me some Benzadrine instead,
05:54I would have become an artist.
05:56He alienated his longtime girlfriend
05:58with his sudden involvement in hallucinogenic drugs.
06:01He talked about an impending California earthquake
06:03and moving to Canada to avoid it.
06:06His weird glares and bizarre ramblings gave her the creeps.
06:10And he was becoming violent.
06:12When he told her in 1968 that he may be gay,
06:15the relationship was over.
06:17On the surface,
06:18Herb's rebellious activities were typical of the times.
06:22He experimented with drugs
06:23and horrified his military-bred father
06:25by declaring himself a conscientious objector
06:28to the Vietnam War.
06:29He announced that he was going to India
06:31to study yoga.
06:32But his behavior escalated
06:34from weird to alarming.
06:37One night in 1969,
06:39while visiting his sister,
06:40he mimicked his brother-in-law's
06:41every gesture and word.
06:43This is called echolalia and echopraxia,
06:46symptomatic of schizophrenia.
06:49His sister later described it.
06:51When my husband would eat,
06:52Herb would eat.
06:54Whatever my husband would do,
06:55Herb would do.
06:57And that went on for four hours.
06:59Then he just sat and stared at us.
07:02The next day,
07:02his family took him to a mental hospital
07:04where he voluntarily committed himself.
07:06But he was soon out on his own.
07:09Herb later asked his sister to have sex with him.
07:11And when she declined,
07:12he asked if his brother-in-law
07:13would sleep with him.
07:15The whole family grimly worried for his safety,
07:17as well as their own.
07:19Because he had been so normal as a child,
07:22the Mullins thought Herb's sudden scary behavior
07:24was drug-induced.
07:26After all,
07:26it was Santa Cruz in the late 1960s.
07:29Marijuana farms and acid labs
07:31flourished in the nooks
07:32of the Loma Prieta Mountains.
07:34Counterculture blossomed
07:35in the laid-back beach town,
07:37where hippies lived off the land,
07:39women hitchhiked,
07:40and drugs were easily accessible.
07:43Even fifth-graders were selling pills at school,
07:45according to the local papers.
07:47It wasn't a stretch to think Herb was on drugs.
07:50Legalized acid was tattooed on his belly.
07:53Although he dabbled in acid and pot use,
07:55he did not indulge more than his peers.
07:58But mixing recreational drugs with mental illness
08:01is a concoction for psychosis.
08:03Schizophrenia is a hideous mental illness,
08:06which can devastate the life
08:08of a promising young adult.
08:09Typically,
08:10symptoms flare up in the late teens
08:12to early twenties,
08:13including hearing voices,
08:15an intense paranoia of others,
08:17and delusional thinking.
08:19After his release from the Mendocino State Hospital
08:21in 1969,
08:23Herb took a dishwashing job
08:24in South Lake Tahoe,
08:26but soon quit.
08:27He returned to Santa Cruz,
08:29where a ranger found him sitting cross-legged
08:31in a trance-like state,
08:32as if meditating.
08:34When the ranger asked him to leave,
08:36Mullen continued to stare straight ahead,
08:38but slowly reached for a hunting knife by his side.
08:41The ranger caught him before he grabbed the knife
08:43and took him to jail,
08:44but he was soon released.
08:46Mullen drifted down to San Luis Obispo
08:48and told his roommate that he had been receiving messages
08:51which were telling him to do things.
08:54After meditating,
08:55he ritualistically burned the end of his penis
08:57with a lit cigarette
08:58and later made an aggressive pass
09:00at his male friend,
09:02whose uncle was a psychiatric doctor.
09:04Mullen was promptly committed
09:05to a psychiatric hospital.
09:07As a result of mental disorder,
09:09said person is a danger to others,
09:11a danger to himself,
09:12and gravely disabled.
09:14In 1970,
09:16he met an older woman
09:17and flew to Hawaii with her.
09:19But within days,
09:20he was back in the psychiatric ward.
09:22He preached yoga,
09:23non-violence,
09:24and left the premises to look for a job
09:26while wearing his hospital gown.
09:28When his parents paid for his flight home,
09:30he scared them so much
09:31with his psychotic rantings
09:33that they pulled off the road
09:34to call the police.
09:36Herb was released
09:36and returned to Santa Cruz.
09:38His sanity continued to deteriorate
09:41and his behavior grew increasingly erratic.
09:44He shaved his head,
09:45went on a macrobiotic diet,
09:47and rapidly lost weight.
09:49Later,
09:50he wore a big black sombrero
09:51and faked a Mexican accent,
09:53then became a boxer.
09:54Although he preached anti-violence,
09:57he smashed a hatchet
09:58against a fireplace
09:59when an Asian woman
10:00ignored his suggestion
10:01that they have
10:02a biracial child together.
10:04Mullen demanded
10:05that the judge legalize
10:06LSD and marijuana,
10:08yet he later despised
10:09hippies and flower children.
10:11After being a conscientious objector,
10:13he tried to join the Marines.
10:15Herb wasn't just bisexual,
10:17as he insisted in court,
10:18or biracial,
10:20as he pretended to be.
10:21He was bi-everything.
10:22Bi-political,
10:24bi-spiritual,
10:26bi-cultural.
10:27Herb knew that there was something wrong.
10:30He obsessed over his life,
10:31trying to figure out what went wrong
10:33and who sabotaged his mind.
10:36He blamed his father
10:36for being too sexually uptight
10:38and later accused him
10:39of being a mass murderer
10:40who commanded him
10:41to kill by telepathy.
10:43He blamed the drugs he took
10:44for messing up his brain
10:45and targeted the drug users.
10:47He blamed the hippies
10:48for brainwashing him
10:49into being a conscientious objector.
10:51He tried drug treatment centers.
10:54He tried outpatient clinics
10:55for the medically ill,
10:56but didn't stick with anything.
10:58He later even tried
10:59Bible study meetings,
11:01but made everyone uneasy
11:02when he declared,
11:03Satan gets into people
11:05and makes them do things
11:06they don't want to.
11:07In May 1971,
11:09when Herb was 24,
11:10he moved to San Francisco,
11:12away from the watchful eye
11:13of his family.
11:14He lived in decrepit apartments
11:16among alcoholics
11:17and drug addicts,
11:18sinking further
11:19into his bizarre belief systems.
11:21Mullen walked into the YMCA
11:23with a Bible
11:23and soon became
11:25a fierce boxer.
11:26In his first
11:27Golden Gloves tournament,
11:28he wouldn't stop
11:29assailing his opponent.
11:30Trainers had to pull him away.
11:32He punched a speed bag
11:33until his knuckles
11:34were covered with blood.
11:36If left unattended,
11:37he stood still
11:38and loudly chattered
11:39with himself.
11:41After losing his first match
11:42in the ring,
11:43Mullen left the boxing ring
11:44with the plans
11:45to become a priest.
11:46He dabbled in art.
11:47After punching the floors
11:49of his apartment
11:49and getting into
11:51screaming matches with God,
11:52the apartment manager
11:53evicted him.
11:55He left the human race
11:56that day,
11:57said an artist friend.
11:58In September 1972,
12:00Mullen moved in
12:01with his parents,
12:02determined to make
12:02something of himself.
12:04But he stopped
12:05taking his medication
12:06and he festered
12:07in his anger
12:07at his father
12:08while living under his roof.
12:10And to top it all off,
12:11a major earthquake
12:12was predicted
12:13to devastate California
12:14in the next few months.
12:15Although the eccentric,
12:17self-taught scientist
12:18who grimly announced
12:19the trembler
12:19wasn't taken seriously
12:21by most,
12:22there was one person
12:23who took it
12:23as a call to action.
12:25Where most people
12:26saw a crackpot,
12:27Mullen saw a prophet.
12:29On a wet October morning,
12:31Friday the 13th,
12:32Herbert Mullen
12:32found a baseball bat
12:33in the garage
12:34and went for a drive.
12:36Earlier in the week,
12:37he claimed that his father
12:38had been sending him
12:38telepathic messages
12:39to kill.
12:41If I didn't kill,
12:42it would bring shame
12:43to the family
12:43by showing cowardice,
12:44he said.
12:46It was kill
12:47or get out.
12:49As he drove along
12:49the winding road
12:50that followed the river
12:51through the redwoods,
12:53Mullen spotted
12:53a transient walking alone.
12:56After he passed him,
12:57he pulled over,
12:58popped the hood
12:58of his 58 Chevy station wagon
13:00and pretended
13:01to have car trouble.
13:02When the homeless man,
13:04Lawrence White,
13:05stopped to take a look
13:06at the engine,
13:07Mullen bashed his head
13:08with a baseball bat.
13:09He then pushed
13:10the lifeless body
13:11of the would-be
13:11good Samaritan
13:12down the side of the road
13:13and drove off.
13:15Then,
13:16Mullen said,
13:17the ball was rolling.
13:20White was an easy target
13:21and wasn't missed.
13:23Between stints
13:23in the drunk tank,
13:25the 55-year-old transient
13:26slept under bridges
13:27and in the woods
13:28where he wouldn't be hassled.
13:30He was a blank,
13:31barely mentioned
13:32in the papers
13:33when his battered body
13:34was discovered
13:34days later.
13:36No family came
13:37to his funeral
13:37and no one rushed out
13:39to find his killer.
13:40Mullen later claimed
13:41that White looked
13:42like Jonah from the Bible
13:43and sent him
13:44telepathic messages.
13:46Hey man,
13:47pick me up
13:48and throw me over the boat.
13:49Kill me
13:50so that others
13:51will be saved.
13:52As a means of
13:53understanding serial killers,
13:55renowned FBI investigator
13:56John Douglas
13:57used this figure of speech.
13:59If you want to understand
14:00the artist,
14:01look at his work.
14:03Mullen took the notion
14:04a step further.
14:05If you want to understand
14:06the artist,
14:07recreate his work.
14:08After reading
14:10Irving Stone's biography
14:11on Michelangelo,
14:12The Agony and the Ecstasy,
14:14Mullen decided that,
14:15as a serious artist,
14:17he should do
14:17what the famous
14:18Renaissance sculptor did,
14:19dissect a body.
14:21Michelangelo spent
14:22hours and hours
14:23secretly dissecting bodies
14:25so he could find out
14:26about the form
14:27of the human body
14:28for his painting
14:28and sculpture and stuff.
14:30That's why his works
14:31are so much better
14:32than anyone else's.
14:34It gave him insights
14:35others didn't have.
14:37His mom had given him
14:38the Michelangelo book,
14:39hoping that Herb
14:40would be inspired
14:40to use art
14:41as an emotional outlet.
14:43What it inspired
14:44was another murder
14:45and the most grisly one
14:47in Mullen's career.
14:48In a rare twist
14:49of maternal wrath,
14:51Herb blamed his mother
14:51for this killing,
14:53believing that she gave him
14:54the book as a hint
14:55to dissect someone.
14:56I think she was trying
14:57to tell me what to do
14:58so I could have
15:00this insight too.
15:02Mary Guilfoyle
15:03was running late
15:03for a job interview,
15:05so she did what
15:05many young women
15:06in Santa Cruz did,
15:08despite the warnings.
15:09She hitched a ride.
15:11Although she was fortunate
15:11that Edmund Kemper
15:13wasn't making the rounds
15:14that day
15:14on this main thoroughfare
15:15near Cabrillo Community College,
15:18just a few blocks
15:18from his duplex home,
15:20she underestimated
15:21the driver
15:21of the 58 Chevy station wagon
15:23that pulled up alongside her.
15:25No doubt
15:26that the 24-year-old Guilfoyle
15:27had heard the cautionary tales
15:29about women,
15:30last seen hitchhiking,
15:31who were missing,
15:32or raped,
15:33or found decapitated.
15:35But the slight,
15:36doe-eyed young man
15:37behind the wheel
15:38didn't look like
15:39a lecherous brute.
15:41He was handsome,
15:42soft-spoken,
15:43and not much bigger
15:44than her.
15:45With Guilfoyle
15:46relaxed in the car,
15:47Mullen pulled off
15:48onto a quiet side street,
15:49yanked out a hunting knife,
15:51and stabbed her
15:51in the chest and back.
15:53Guilfoyle died instantly,
15:55but she would not
15:55be found for months.
15:57After dragging her body
15:58into a deserted area
15:59off the hillside road,
16:01Mullen opened Guilfoyle up
16:02and unraveled her organs.
16:05Mullen thought
16:05he could see
16:06inside people's heads,
16:08but now he wanted
16:09to see inside their bodies.
16:11Whatever it was he saw,
16:13it was enough
16:13to dissuade him
16:14from recommitting
16:15this grotesque
16:16and morbid autopsy again.
16:18If voices were
16:19commanding him to kill,
16:20he was overextending
16:21into fetishistic savagery.
16:24On November 2nd,
16:25All Souls Day,
16:26one of the holiest
16:27of Catholic celebrations,
16:29Mullen stumbled
16:29into a church
16:30in Los Gatos,
16:32just over the hills
16:32from Santa Cruz.
16:34He had been drinking
16:35and decided to go
16:36to St. Mary's Catholic Church
16:37to give me strength
16:39to never attempt
16:40to kill again.
16:41Within moments,
16:42he was brutally
16:43stabbing a priest to death
16:44in his confessional booth
16:45with his hunting knife.
16:47He later claimed
16:48he carried the knife
16:49into the church
16:49to protect himself.
16:51Mullen thought
16:52the church was empty,
16:53but when he heard
16:54Father Henry Tomei
16:55in one of the booths,
16:57he decided,
16:57well,
16:58if you're in here,
16:59I guess I should kill you.
17:01He tried to force
17:02the confessional door open.
17:04Tomei,
17:05hearing the commotion,
17:06opened the door
17:07to see what was going on.
17:08Mullen attacked Tomei
17:09with a hunting knife,
17:11stabbing him in the heart
17:12as he struggled,
17:13trapped in the confines
17:14of his narrow confessional.
17:16A parishioner walked in
17:17and,
17:17seeing the struggle,
17:19screamed and ran out.
17:20She got a glimpse
17:21of a young man
17:22dressed in black,
17:23struggling with the priest.
17:24It must have been
17:25a blur of blackened blood.
17:27The community was outraged
17:28by the senseless murder
17:30of 65-year-old Tomei,
17:31a hero in the French
17:32resistance movement
17:33in World War II.
17:35Civic leaders
17:35attended his funeral
17:36and so did the police,
17:38hoping to catch a glimpse
17:39of the man
17:40dressed in black.
17:41But Mullen
17:42did not return.
17:44He did, however,
17:45leave fingerprints
17:46at the crime scene.
17:47By killing Father Tomei,
17:49Mullen seems to have
17:50struck close
17:51to the source of his anger,
17:52his own stern
17:53Roman Catholic father.
17:55Father Tomei's murder
17:56agitated him
17:57more than any
17:58of his victims.
17:59In his typical pattern
18:00of kill and make up,
18:02Mullen now wanted
18:03to appease his father
18:04and tried to follow
18:05in his footsteps
18:05by joining
18:06the armed forces.
18:08The military
18:08seemed like
18:09the ideal solution.
18:11Mullen could indulge
18:12his violent urges
18:13with the blessings
18:14of the state.
18:15In November,
18:16he applied
18:16to join the Coast Guard.
18:18When he was denied
18:19in December
18:20after failing
18:20the psychological exam,
18:22he lapsed
18:22into his paranoia
18:23that it was all
18:24a conspiracy
18:25against him.
18:26The hippies
18:27and war resistors
18:28were to blame.
18:29They brainwashed him
18:30by giving him drugs
18:31and talked him
18:32into being
18:32a conscientious objector.
18:34Now the voices
18:35were back,
18:36urging a sacrifice.
18:38And this time,
18:39he was going after
18:40the people
18:40who ruined his life.
18:42The peace advocates
18:43and flower children
18:44had played tricks
18:44on my mind,
18:45and I had to
18:46reap vengeance.
18:48He targeted
18:49a long-time friend
18:50and fellow drug user,
18:51John Hooper,
18:52and brought a hunting knife
18:53to his house.
18:54But there were
18:55nine other people there.
18:57Mullen realized
18:58it was time
18:58to upgrade
18:59his killing method
19:00and bought a gun.
19:02At the gun shop,
19:03he gave his occupation
19:04as a sketch artist,
19:06lying about his stints
19:07in the psychiatric wards.
19:09But for some reason,
19:10Mullen decided
19:11to hold off
19:11on killing
19:12the flower children.
19:14Instead,
19:14he applied
19:15to the Marine Corps.
19:16The recruiting sergeant
19:17was reluctant,
19:19but after Mullen's badgering,
19:20he recommended him
19:21for service.
19:22He wrote
19:23in his official report,
19:24Herbert William Mullen
19:25is an intelligent
19:26and highly motivated
19:27young man
19:28with an ultra-zealous
19:29eagerness
19:30to enlist in the USMC.
19:32Because of Herb's
19:33earnest desire
19:34to improve his lot
19:35and climb above his peers,
19:36as it were,
19:37I submit that
19:38Herbert William Mullen
19:39can,
19:40and most likely will,
19:41be a benefit
19:42to whatever unit
19:43he is assigned
19:43and a credit
19:44to his corps.
19:46Mullen was
19:46tremendously excited
19:47that his application
19:48had been accepted.
19:49He now
19:50had a purposeful mission.
19:51On January 15,
19:531973,
19:55Mullen passed
19:55both the physical
19:56and psychiatric exams
19:57for the Marines.
19:59But when he stubbornly
19:59refused to sign
20:00a document
20:01acknowledging his
20:02arrest record,
20:03he was dismissed.
20:04He was devastated,
20:06bitterly denouncing
20:07his parents
20:07for their failures
20:08in raising him.
20:09But they had enough
20:10of Herb's rantings
20:11and told him
20:12it was time
20:13to move out.
20:14On January 19,
20:16Mullen found
20:16a shabby apartment
20:17near the beach
20:18where he sat alone,
20:19his resentments
20:20festering,
20:21and the kill voices
20:22filling his brain.
20:24He decided to kill
20:25the most important
20:26peace advocate,
20:27Jim Giannara,
20:29his high school buddy.
20:30In Mullen's
20:31distorted logic,
20:32Jim Giannara
20:33represented everything
20:34that messed up
20:35his life.
20:36Giannara gave him
20:37the drugs that caused
20:38his brain to malfunction.
20:40Giannara told him
20:40about the peace movement
20:41which made all
20:42of society shun him,
20:43and he even tricked him
20:45out of buying land.
20:47Mullen,
20:47alone and fuming
20:48in his disappointments,
20:50decided that
20:50Giannara had duped him.
20:52On January 25,
20:541973,
20:55Mullen drove
20:55to a shanty area
20:56hidden away
20:57on a muddy road
20:58near the mystery spot,
21:00a popular Santa Cruz
21:01tourist trap
21:01in the mountains.
21:03Soaked by the rain,
21:04he waited for
21:05Kathy Francis
21:05to come to the door
21:06of the wooden shack
21:07she shared
21:08with her husband Bob,
21:09who was in Berkeley
21:10closing a drug deal,
21:11and her two children,
21:12nine-year-old David,
21:13and four-year-old Damon.
21:15When Mullen asked
21:16to see Jim,
21:17Kathy told him
21:18that Jim and his wife Joan
21:19moved to Western Avenue
21:20in town.
21:21Mullen thanked her
21:22and left.
21:23But he would soon
21:24be back.
21:26When Giannara
21:26let the casual acquaintance
21:28into his home,
21:29Mullen cried,
21:30You're claptrapping me,
21:31and shot Jim
21:32as he tried to escape.
21:34Wounded,
21:35he dragged himself upstairs
21:36where his wife
21:37was taking a bath.
21:38Mullen followed him
21:39and shot them both
21:40in the head.
21:41With his hunting knife,
21:42he stabbed both
21:43of the Giannara's
21:44to the point
21:44of overkill.
21:46The Giannara's
21:47would be discovered
21:47later that day
21:48by Joan's mother,
21:49who was babysitting
21:50their infant girl.
21:52The decision
21:52to go back
21:53to Mystery Spot Road
21:54and kill
21:55Kathy Francis
21:56and her two boys
21:56was the most logical
21:58of Mullen's
21:58otherwise unfathomable
22:00killings.
22:01Francis was a potential
22:02witness,
22:03and he was terrified
22:04of jail.
22:05He drove back
22:06to the Francis home,
22:07parked his station wagon
22:08down the road
22:09so it wouldn't get
22:09stuck in the mud,
22:10shoved the cabin door open,
22:12and opened fire.
22:14He shot Kathy
22:14in the chest and head
22:15and killed the two boys
22:17as they played
22:17Chinese checkers
22:18on their bunk bed.
22:19In his rage,
22:20he stabbed all three,
22:22even though
22:22they were apparently dead.
22:24The massacre
22:25looked like a drug burn
22:26to the local authorities.
22:28Both Bob Francis
22:29and Jim Giannara
22:30were known
22:30marijuana dealers.
22:32After Bob Francis
22:33was found
22:33and cleared
22:34as a suspect,
22:35the police asked him
22:36to come up
22:36with any suspects.
22:38Bob produced
22:39a long list
22:39of drug dealers,
22:40rivals,
22:41and other misfits,
22:42but Herb Mullen
22:43was not on that list.
22:45In fact,
22:45the last that Jim Giannara
22:47had seen of Mullen
22:47was in the summer
22:48of 1971,
22:50when Mullen did
22:5010 hits of acid
22:51during a visit.
22:53A few months later,
22:54Mullen sent Giannara
22:55a weird letter
22:56asking him
22:57who he was going
22:57to vote for
22:58in the upcoming
22:59November elections.
23:00Bob Francis
23:01and Jim Giannara
23:02laughed at it
23:03and didn't give Mullen
23:04much thought
23:05after that.
23:06Santa Cruz County
23:07was petrified.
23:09In 1970,
23:10John Linney Fraser
23:11terrorized the town
23:12with his cold-blooded
23:13execution
23:14of the Oda family
23:15and secretary.
23:17A note under
23:18the windshield wiper
23:19of the Oda's
23:19Rolls-Royce
23:20was frightfully
23:21Manson-esque.
23:23Today,
23:24World War III
23:24will begin
23:25as brought to you
23:26by the people
23:27of the free universe
23:28and warn that
23:29anyone abusing
23:30the environment
23:30for the sake
23:31of materialism
23:32will die.
23:33Gun sales
23:34rose sharply,
23:35especially among
23:36homeowners.
23:37who took the
23:38threat seriously.
23:39Some thought
23:40it was a bloodthirsty
23:41ecological cult,
23:42but Fraser,
23:43who was diagnosed
23:44as a paranoid
23:45schizophrenic,
23:46had acted alone.
23:47He did have
23:48some competition,
23:49however.
23:50Female hitchhikers
23:51began vanishing
23:52in April 1972.
23:54Some had been
23:55found decapitated.
23:57On February 5,
23:581973,
23:59Alice Liu
24:00and Rosalind Thorpe
24:01disappeared.
24:02The next day,
24:03a 79-year-old widow
24:05was found ripped
24:05and strangled to death
24:06in her bathtub.
24:08Before the month
24:08was over,
24:09another six victims
24:10would be discovered.
24:11And many hitchhikers
24:13were being raped.
24:14Was this the work
24:15of one fiend?
24:17A few days after
24:18the Liu and Thorpe
24:18disappearance,
24:19Guilfoyle's skeleton
24:20was discovered
24:21on February 11th.
24:23Earlier,
24:24Cynthia Schall's
24:24body parts
24:25had been found
24:26strewn along the coast,
24:27and Marianne Pesque's
24:28head was discovered
24:29in the Loma Prieta
24:30mountains.
24:32Yet,
24:32college women
24:33continued to hitchhike,
24:34insisting it was
24:35a lifestyle.
24:37In Henry Cowell State Park,
24:38the Card Brothers
24:39built a temporary campsite
24:40out of plastic sheets
24:41and spare wood,
24:43far from the rangers' route.
24:44They chose a spot
24:45called the Garden of Eden,
24:47and on February 10th,
24:48the four teenagers
24:49who lived in it
24:49were about to be
24:50permanently expelled.
24:52The wrath of the camp rangers
24:54would have been nothing
24:55compared to the wrath
24:56of Herb Mullen,
24:57self-styled,
24:58avenging angel.
25:00Mullen discovered
25:00the illegal campsite
25:02when he wandered around
25:03in the woods.
25:04The four boys,
25:05Brian Scott Card,
25:07David Ollaker,
25:08Robert Spector,
25:09and Mark Dribelbus,
25:11invited him in,
25:12but Mullen was hostile.
25:14He demanded
25:14that the boys
25:15pack up and leave
25:16because they were
25:17defacing government property.
25:19Mullen was angry
25:20that he had been hassled
25:21by a ranger
25:21for doing the same thing
25:22a while earlier,
25:23and didn't think
25:24it was fair
25:25that these teenagers
25:25should get away with it.
25:27The boys looked
25:28at the scowling Mullen,
25:29comic in his intent
25:30to enforce the law,
25:32and laughed at him.
25:34As they argued,
25:35Mullen said,
25:36I decided to kill them
25:37and asked them
25:38telepathically if I could,
25:39and they all answered yes.
25:41They were all
25:42in a sitting position,
25:43and it was all over
25:44in a few seconds.
25:46Later,
25:47Mullen would say that
25:48they asked for it.
25:49He meant it literally,
25:51but prosecutors
25:52took it as proof
25:52of his hatred
25:53for renegade campers,
25:55hippies,
25:55flower children,
25:56and other
25:57counterculture deviants.
25:59Had he ever really asked
26:00for the victim's permission,
26:02it's likely he would not
26:03have had many takers.
26:05The scene of carnage
26:06in the woods,
26:07discovered a week later
26:08by the brother
26:08of one of the victims,
26:10revealed a desperate struggle
26:11that lasted more
26:12than a humane
26:13few seconds.
26:15One of the teenagers
26:16was shot trying to
26:17claw his way
26:17through the plastic walls.
26:19They were trapped,
26:21and Mullen viciously
26:22shot them one by one.
26:24When Mullen was finished,
26:25he took their rifle
26:26and $20.
26:26On February 12th,
26:29trap shooters
26:29found Mary Guilfoyle's remains.
26:32Again,
26:33police warned
26:33against the danger
26:34of hitchhiking
26:35and implored young women
26:36to stay out
26:37of the cars
26:37of strangers.
26:39It's like Russian roulette,
26:41they said.
26:42But this warning
26:42carried little weight
26:43with a victim
26:44Mullen would hit tomorrow.
26:46Who would have known
26:47that pottering
26:47in your front yard
26:48at 8 in the morning
26:49could be deadly?
26:51On February 13th,
26:52Mullen planned
26:53to bring some firewood
26:54to his parents' home,
26:55but a telepathic message
26:56came from his father.
26:58Don't deliver
26:59a stick of wood
27:00until you kill somebody.
27:02The voice suggested
27:03Uncle Enos,
27:04but when Herb resisted,
27:06the voice wasn't
27:07as particular.
27:08Just kill somebody,
27:10anybody.
27:11Mullen drove by
27:12Fred Perez
27:12as he worked
27:13in his driveway.
27:14It was a still,
27:15foggy morning.
27:17He shot the retired
27:18prize fighter
27:18once in the heart,
27:19and he died instantly.
27:21Mullen sat quietly
27:22in his car for a moment,
27:24holding the rifle
27:25he took from the campsite
27:26a few days ago.
27:27Then he backed up
27:28and drove away slowly.
27:30If for Mullen,
27:31the young campers
27:32represented his own
27:33flower child phase
27:34that he now wanted
27:35to wipe away,
27:36his 13th victim,
27:37Perez,
27:38oddly enough,
27:39represented someone
27:40who Mullen wanted to be.
27:42He was someone
27:42I respected,
27:44Mullen said,
27:44although he didn't know him.
27:46He had no explanation
27:47for why he shot Perez.
27:49The prosecution
27:50would later argue
27:51that it was a
27:52come-catch-me crime
27:53that Mullen was ready
27:55to call it quits.
27:56This time,
27:57there was a witness.
27:59A neighbor heard the shot
28:00and, peering out her window,
28:01caught a glimpse
28:02of the killer's vehicle.
28:04Mullen was headed
28:04towards Felton,
28:05his Chevy station wagon
28:07filled with firewood
28:08for his parents,
28:09with the rifle
28:09in the front seat
28:10covered by a paper bag.
28:12A policeman pulled him over
28:13without backup
28:14and arrested him.
28:16Mullen didn't resist.
28:18But he wouldn't speak,
28:19either.
28:20At the police station,
28:21Mullen sulked
28:22and refused to talk.
28:24Even routine questions
28:25such as,
28:26do you have an attorney?
28:27Or,
28:27would you like to make
28:28a phone call?
28:29met with Mullen's
28:30loud reply of,
28:31silence.
28:33He continued to chant
28:34the word silence
28:34until everyone
28:35had had enough.
28:37Frustrated investigators
28:38ordered him to his cell.
28:40As they took him away,
28:41Mullen announced,
28:42you people were responsible
28:43for the three million killed
28:45in World War II.
28:47The doctor at the police station
28:48who examined Mullen
28:49was surprised
28:50by the garish tattoos
28:51on his belly.
28:52Legalize acid
28:53and
28:54Eagleize marijuana.
28:56Other tattoos read
28:57Birth,
28:58Mahashamadi
28:59and
29:00Kriya Yoga.
29:02Strange tattoos
29:02for someone who appeared
29:03so clean-cut
29:04and hated hippies
29:05with a passion.
29:07At his sparse apartment,
29:08where Mullen had lived
29:09for the last three weeks,
29:11police found a Bible,
29:12the paperback book
29:13Einstein,
29:14The Life and Times,
29:15an address book
29:16with Giannara listed,
29:17and newspaper articles
29:18about the recent murders.
29:20The revolver
29:21had been discovered
29:22in his station wagon,
29:23and ballistic tests
29:24were soon underway.
29:26They also found
29:27the following note.
29:29Let it be known
29:29to the nations of the earth
29:30and the people
29:31that inhabit it.
29:33This document
29:33carries more power
29:34than any other
29:35written before.
29:37Such a tragedy
29:38as what has happened
29:39should not have happened,
29:40and because of this action,
29:42which I take
29:43of my own free will,
29:44I am making it possible
29:45to occur again.
29:47For while I can be here,
29:49I must guide
29:50and protect my dynasty.
29:52Like the thick morning fog,
29:54speculation rolled
29:55through the Santa Cruz Valley.
29:57Was this diminutive young man
29:58the same guy
29:59who was beheading hitchhikers?
30:01The day following his arrest,
30:03officials announced
30:04that ballistics proved
30:05that Mullen had also killed
30:06the Francis family
30:07and the Giannaras.
30:09Those who knew
30:10the 25-year-old Mullen
30:11remembered him
30:12as bright,
30:13deeply religious,
30:14but somewhat uptight.
30:16But he had fallen
30:17into heavy drug use
30:18and blew his mind.
30:20Mullen was charged
30:21with six counts of murder.
30:23The count rose to ten
30:24after the bodies
30:25of the campers
30:25were discovered
30:26two days later
30:27on February 17th.
30:28Bodies seemed to be
30:29turning up
30:30on a daily basis.
30:32But now that they had
30:32a suspect in custody,
30:34Santa Cruz authorities
30:35looked at the recent
30:36unsolved murders,
30:38hoping to tie them
30:39to Mullen.
30:40Investigators compared
30:41Mary Guilfoy's skeleton
30:42with the remains
30:43of other women found.
30:45Los Gatos authorities
30:46submitted the fingerprints
30:47found at the church
30:48where Father Tomei
30:49was stabbed to death.
30:51Reporters clamored
30:52to know if it was
30:53the same killer.
30:54District Attorney
30:55Peter Chang,
30:56with some resignation,
30:58said,
30:59We must be the murder
31:00capital of the world
31:01right now.
31:02When asked why
31:03the murder rate
31:03in Santa Cruz
31:04was so high,
31:05Chang said,
31:06First,
31:06we've had a homicidal maniac
31:08whom we know
31:09has killed ten people.
31:10After a reporter asked
31:12about the additional
31:13five bodies
31:13of female hitchhikers,
31:15Chang grimly responded,
31:16We then have another
31:18homicidal maniac.
31:19As much as they would
31:20have liked to tie
31:21all the murders
31:22to Herb Mullen,
31:23there was no evidence
31:24that linked him
31:25to the murdered coeds.
31:27The skillfulness
31:27of the decapitations
31:29of two women
31:29found on February 15th,
31:31the same day
31:32as Mullen's arraignment,
31:33convinced investigators
31:34that another killer
31:35was working the area.
31:37Mullen's murders
31:38were not as anatomically
31:39precise or obsessive.
31:41Although Mary Guilfoyle
31:42was similar
31:43to the other killer's
31:44victim profile,
31:45she was not decapitated
31:46or dismembered.
31:48For now,
31:48there were no links
31:49between Guilfoyle
31:50and the other
31:51unidentified serial killer
31:52currently prowling the area.
31:55Authorities tried
31:56to calm the public
31:56by playing up
31:57the drug dealer connection
31:58between Mullen
31:59and his victims.
32:01Giannara and Francis
32:02were known dealers,
32:03and the camping teenagers
32:04were described
32:05as flower children.
32:07The campers
32:07might have been
32:08the victims
32:08of a drug deal
32:09gone bad.
32:10Tying the elder,
32:11conservative Perez
32:12to drug culture devotee
32:14Mullen was more difficult,
32:16but they found a way.
32:18Perez had a grandson
32:19who did drugs
32:19and was close
32:20to Mullen's age.
32:22Maybe they had
32:23a falling out.
32:24This is the result
32:25of people flipping out
32:26and people taking drugs
32:27and people doing
32:29their own thing,
32:30said D.A. Chang.
32:32Homeowners
32:32who were terrified
32:33by the Otis slayings
32:34in 1970
32:35could relax.
32:36These murders
32:37were a countercultural
32:39byproduct,
32:40not a menace
32:40to the good citizens
32:41of Santa Cruz.
32:43But the court
32:43would soon see
32:44that drugs alone
32:45could not account
32:46for Mullen's
32:47bizarre behavior.
32:49Mullen was charged
32:50with ten counts
32:50of murder.
32:51He had not yet
32:52been charged
32:52with killing
32:53Lawrence White,
32:54Father Henry Tomei,
32:55or Mary Guilfoyle,
32:57his first three victims.
32:59At his hearing
32:59on March 1st,
33:00Mullen carried
33:01a two-volume legal book
33:02and startled the court
33:04by trying to plead guilty.
33:05But the judge refused
33:06to accept a guilty plea
33:07in a case
33:08of such magnitude.
33:10I won't accept that,
33:11Mullen replied.
33:13You gave me a choice,
33:14and I chose.
33:15When his lawyer
33:16tried to intervene,
33:17Mullen said,
33:18in his clipped manner
33:19of speech,
33:20I refuse counsel.
33:22He later insisted again
33:23on representing himself.
33:25When the judge
33:26again refused,
33:27Mullen said,
33:28pointing to his lawyer,
33:29James Jackson,
33:30I don't care
33:31to be represented
33:32by a long hair.
33:33The judge tried
33:34to assure Mullen
33:35of Jackson's competency,
33:36despite the fact
33:37that his bushy hair
33:38was a little over the collar.
33:40James Jackson,
33:41who had been
33:42Frazier's defender,
33:43would later represent
33:44Edmund Kemper.
33:45In that case,
33:46I plead guilty
33:47to ten counts
33:48of first-degree murder.
33:49Back to square one.
33:51Mullen was furious
33:52that he couldn't
33:53represent himself.
33:54The judge was quickly
33:55losing patience
33:56with Mullen,
33:57and the trial
33:58hadn't even started.
33:59He seriously doubted
34:00Mullen's competence
34:01to stand trial.
34:03D.A. Chang said,
34:04You can't just
34:05hand a guy a complaint
34:06and let him plead guilty
34:07to ten counts
34:08of first-degree murder.
34:10If we let him plead guilty,
34:11we would be thrown out
34:12on our ear
34:13by the Supreme Court.
34:15Psychiatrists were called in
34:16to examine Mullen.
34:18It was unanimous.
34:19Herbert William Mullen
34:20was a paranoid schizophrenic.
34:22Typically,
34:23schizophrenics,
34:24Greek for split in mind,
34:26suffer from
34:26auditory hallucinations,
34:28or hearing voices,
34:29fragmented thinking,
34:30and delusional belief systems
34:32of self-importance,
34:33including being psychic.
34:35Despite rational evidence
34:36proving otherwise,
34:38a schizophrenic
34:38will be convinced
34:39that there's a grand
34:40conspiracy against them,
34:41so huge it can span
34:43from the FBI
34:44to intergalactic UFOs.
34:47Mullen's extensive
34:47hospital records,
34:49along with his
34:49one-on-one examinations
34:50with the doctors,
34:52convinced everyone
34:53that he was seriously
34:53mentally ill.
34:55Everyone agreed
34:56that Mullen killed
34:57at least ten people.
34:58The trial would determine
35:00whether he was legally
35:01insane when he did it.
35:03Legally speaking,
35:04insanity was determined
35:05by the McNaughton standard,
35:07which says that
35:08if a defendant
35:08understood the difference
35:10between right and wrong,
35:11then the defendant
35:12was guilty.
35:13If a defendant
35:14makes an attempt
35:15to conceal the crime,
35:16this can be taken
35:16as evidence
35:17that the defendant
35:18knew it was wrong.
35:19If Mullen was found
35:21legally insane,
35:22then he would be
35:23considered not guilty.
35:25Therefore,
35:25any actions Mullen took
35:26to hide what he did
35:28would be closely examined.
35:30Also at issue
35:30was the notion
35:31of diminished capacity.
35:33If Mullen did not
35:34understand the meaning
35:35of his actions,
35:36he could not be found
35:37guilty of first-degree murder.
35:39His defense knew
35:40that diminished capacity
35:41was crucial to prove
35:42and constructed their case
35:44on Mullen's weird
35:45doctrines of dementia.
35:47Mullen sat in his jail cell
35:48and ceaselessly
35:49scribbled out
35:50his philosophies,
35:51convinced he could explain
35:52the grand design
35:53behind his killing.
35:54He wrote on Jonah,
35:56Einstein,
35:57and earthquakes.
35:58These delusional belief systems
36:00would support his case,
36:01but not for the reasons
36:03in which he hoped.
36:04These bizarre notes
36:05would prove
36:06important evidence
36:07for the defense
36:07in attempting
36:08to prove his insanity.
36:10While waiting for trial,
36:12Mullen came face-to-face
36:13with the other
36:14homicidal maniac
36:15who had been terrorizing
36:16Santa Cruz,
36:17Edmund Emil Kemper III.
36:19After a murderous bender
36:20in April 1973,
36:22when he dismembered
36:23his mother and her friend,
36:24he drove non-stop
36:25to Colorado.
36:27After being disappointed
36:28that there wasn't
36:29a national manhunt
36:30out for him,
36:31he stopped at a payphone
36:32and called Santa Cruz police
36:33to confess that he was
36:35the notorious
36:35co-ed killer.
36:37Finally,
36:38after repeated calls,
36:39they sent officers
36:40to the phone booth
36:41where he was patiently waiting.
36:43Someone thought
36:43it would be amusing
36:44to give Kemper and Mullen
36:45adjoining cells.
36:47The two mass murderers
36:48mixed like fire
36:49and brimstone.
36:51At six foot nine inches tall,
36:53Kemper towered
36:53over the petite Mullen
36:54and hassled him
36:55in any way he could.
36:57Kemper boasted
36:58of his power over Mullen.
37:00Well,
37:01Mullen had a habit
37:01of singing
37:02and bothering people
37:03when somebody
37:04tried to watch TV,
37:05so I threw water
37:06on him to shut him up.
37:07Then,
37:08when he was a good boy,
37:09I'd give him some peanuts.
37:11Kirby liked peanuts.
37:13That was effective
37:14because pretty soon
37:15he asked permission
37:15to sing.
37:16That's called
37:17behavior modification treatment.
37:20He also called Mullen
37:20a creep with no class
37:22and offered to rat on Mullen
37:24if he heard him
37:24say anything incriminating.
37:27In return,
37:27Mullen was disgusted
37:28by Kemper
37:29and complained constantly
37:30about the noise
37:31when he was trying
37:32to meditate.
37:33Both Mullen and Kemper
37:34viewed their own
37:35killing rampages
37:36as missions
37:37and thought the other
37:38was a heathen.
37:40Mullen killed
37:40to save the world
37:41from earthquakes
37:42and despised Kemper
37:43as a brutish sex maniac.
37:45In turn,
37:46Kemper said that Mullen
37:47was just a cold-blooded killer
37:49killing everyone he saw
37:51for no good reason.
37:53Kemper thought
37:53he was the one
37:54with the social statement
37:55making a demonstration
37:57to the authorities
37:58of Santa Cruz
37:58by killing the young women
38:00society treasured the most.
38:02Together,
38:03the lumbering Kemper
38:04and diminutive Mullen
38:05must have looked
38:06like the Laurel and Hardy
38:07of multiple murders.
38:09Kemper is well known
38:10for his mother issues.
38:12Mullen,
38:12on the other hand,
38:13was transfixed
38:14by his father.
38:15killing a Catholic father
38:17and a retired war veteran
38:18might be considered
38:19displaced aggravation
38:20against his own parent.
38:22He insisted
38:23that his father,
38:24Martin William Mullen,
38:26was a mass murderer.
38:27I want his fingerprints
38:29to be taken
38:29and compared
38:30with all murders
38:30which occurred
38:31in California
38:32and Oregon
38:32since 1925,
38:34he demanded.
38:36In addition to being
38:36responsible for all murders
38:38on the West Coast
38:39since the 20s,
38:40Herb also believed
38:41that his father
38:41telepathically
38:42ordered Dean Richardson
38:43to commit suicide
38:44by crashing his car
38:45in 1965.
38:47Herb Mullen's trial
38:48began on July 30th, 1973
38:51with the now predictable
38:52disruptions
38:53and objections
38:53by the defendant.
38:55The formal plea
38:56had been entered as
38:57not guilty
38:58and not guilty
38:59by reason of insanity.
39:01On the second day,
39:02the shackled Mullen
39:03interrupted the proceedings
39:04by hobbling over
39:05to the judge
39:06and handing him
39:07a spacey note
39:08entitled
39:09Observations
39:10of an Observer
39:11from a Point
39:12on the San Francisco Peninsula,
39:14a two-page rant
39:15claiming that someone
39:16had been going through
39:17his personal notebook.
39:18Make no mistake,
39:20Mr. Mullen hears voices
39:21and the voices
39:22told him to kill,
39:24said defense attorney James.
39:26These were not acts
39:27of murder
39:27but acts of sacrifice.
39:30Jackson focused
39:31on Mullen's bizarre behavior
39:32before the murder spree.
39:34Mullen thought
39:35he was a Mexican laborer,
39:36columnist Herb Kane,
39:38and an Eastern philosopher.
39:40Jackson then
39:41dramatically introduced
39:42his client's
39:42kill-joy sadism
39:44conspiracy theory.
39:46Everyone in Mullen
39:47was out to destroy
39:48his chances
39:48for happiness,
39:50both in this life
39:50and the next.
39:52He had to kill them.
39:54The courtroom
39:54fixated their attention
39:55on the scowling,
39:56dark-haired Mullen
39:57as he rocked
39:58back and forth
39:59slowly in his chair.
40:01He showed little emotion
40:02through the course
40:03of the trial,
40:04staring straight ahead
40:05at the wall
40:05when witnesses testified.
40:07Mullen was annoyed
40:08that his defense
40:09was intent
40:10on proving insanity.
40:11He couldn't wait
40:12to get on the stand himself
40:14and tell them
40:15the truth
40:15of why he killed.
40:17The prosecution
40:18was brief.
40:19Bob Francis testified
40:20on Mullen's
40:21voracious consumption
40:22of LSD.
40:24Weirdly,
40:25Mullen nodded his head
40:26in agreement
40:26as Francis talked
40:27as if it proved
40:28the necessity
40:29to kill Giannara.
40:31Joan Giannara's mother
40:32recalled finding
40:33the young married couple
40:34shot to death
40:35in the bathroom.
40:36Ballistics experts
40:37and medical examiners
40:38portrayed for the jury
40:39the extent of Mullen's
40:40violent overkill
40:42while Mullen hunched over,
40:44taking extensive notes.
40:46Mullen believed
40:46that the duty
40:47of sacrificing
40:48yourself for others
40:49by murder
40:50for the sake
40:51of the community
40:51was best demonstrated
40:52by his interpretation
40:53of Jonah.
40:54The thirteenth man
40:56must be a scapegoat
40:57and sacrifice himself
40:58for the others.
40:59I mean,
41:00you read in the Bible
41:01about Jonah.
41:02There were twelve men
41:03in a boat.
41:05Jonah was in the boat,
41:06you know,
41:07it was just like Jesus,
41:08you know,
41:09and Jonah stood up
41:10and said,
41:10God darn,
41:11if someone doesn't die,
41:13you know,
41:13all thirteen of us
41:14are gonna die.
41:15And he jumped overboard,
41:17you know,
41:17and he was drowned,
41:18you know,
41:19and the sea,
41:20about in a half hour or so,
41:22it calmed down.
41:23When Dr. Lund said
41:24that Jonah was pushed
41:25and didn't die after all
41:27because he was spit up
41:28by a whale,
41:29Mullen responded defensively,
41:31I'm asking you
41:32to swallow this Jonah story
41:33and believe
41:34that a minor natural disaster
41:35will prevent
41:36a major natural disaster.
41:38Did Mullen come up
41:39with the
41:40killing to stop earthquakes
41:41theory before
41:42or after he was caught?
41:45Dr. Donald Lund
41:46said that Mullen
41:46devised this theory
41:48years earlier,
41:49citing Mullen's letters
41:50written to the UN
41:51and other organizations
41:52requesting statistics
41:54on yearly death tolls
41:55and natural disasters.
41:57Among his personal notes
41:58were disjointed theories
41:59on the phenomenon.
42:01Because Mullen was born
42:02on April 18th,
42:03the anniversary
42:04of the 1906
42:05San Francisco earthquake,
42:07he believed
42:07he had a privileged position
42:08among his generation
42:09to save it
42:10from future earthquakes.
42:12Einstein died
42:13on April 18th,
42:14which proved,
42:15to Mullen,
42:16that Einstein
42:17sacrificed himself
42:18so that Mullen
42:19would not have to be
42:20killed in Vietnam,
42:21but could save the coast
42:22from earthquakes instead.
42:24It's grandiose,
42:26said Dr. Lund.
42:27Another conspiracy,
42:29Mullen argued,
42:29was his family's attempt
42:31to hide the healthiness
42:32of bisexuality from him.
42:34He said that for most,
42:35homosexual behavior
42:36begins around the age of 8,
42:38but his parents
42:39maliciously hid this from him.
42:41Mullen speculated
42:42that everyone in his family
42:43practiced homosexuality.
42:45He wrote that his entire family,
42:47including his aunt and uncle,
42:49Bernice and Enos,
42:50were in on the plot
42:51to retard his sexuality.
42:53When I was 5 years old,
42:55I feel intuitively
42:56that Bernice and Enos
42:57Forat talked my parents
42:59into ignoring me.
43:00My parents actually
43:01did not tell me
43:02the necessary facts of life,
43:04sex and death rate,
43:06social conversion techniques,
43:07etc.
43:08Bernice and Enos
43:09did not have any children.
43:11Why did Bernice and Enos
43:12convince my parents
43:13that I should be shunned?
43:15My guess is that
43:16my cousins and sister
43:17were having orgasms
43:18at age 6.
43:20When I was 5,
43:21Bernice and Enos
43:22wanted to stop
43:22my mental and physical growth.
43:24They did not want me to mature.
43:26Why?
43:27I think they were jealous
43:29and envious of the fun
43:30I and my parents
43:31were going to have
43:32when I started
43:32to grow up normal.
43:34I think they believe
43:35in reincarnation
43:36and that by confusing
43:37and retarding me,
43:38they might improve themselves
43:40in the next life.
43:41Lund testified about details
43:43of Mullen's homosexuality,
43:45which at one point
43:45Mullen interpreted
43:46in attorney-like fashion
43:48and said,
43:49I'll stipulate
43:50that I'm bisexual.
43:52Both the prosecution
43:52and defense
43:53looked at William Martin Mullen
43:55as a reason behind
43:56the murders,
43:57but with drastic differences
43:58in the level
43:59of responsibility.
43:59The prosecution
44:01blamed Mullen's
44:02intense hatred
44:03of his father,
44:04while Herb Mullen
44:04blamed his father
44:05directly for the murders.
44:07He was the murderer,
44:08as far as Herb was concerned,
44:10because he was telepathically
44:11issuing the kill commands
44:13to his son.
44:14William Mullen
44:14was a Marine
44:15who was proud
44:16of his World War II service
44:18and, according to Herb,
44:19taught his son
44:20that violence is natural
44:21and taught him
44:22how to shoot a gun
44:23with the aim
44:23of a marksman.
44:25It's hard to know
44:25the extent of William Mullen's
44:27rational influence
44:28over his son.
44:29It's not a crime
44:30to tell your son
44:31war stories
44:32or to teach him
44:33how to handle a gun.
44:34Perhaps William Mullen
44:36was attempting
44:36to engage his child
44:37in the events
44:38of his life
44:38that rendered
44:39the most meaning,
44:40which can be true
44:41for many war heroes.
44:43And the boxing matches
44:44in the kitchen
44:45had seemed to be
44:46no more than
44:47a little playful
44:47roughhousing
44:48before dinner.
44:49But for Herb,
44:50these gestures
44:51were intimidating.
44:52He thought his father
44:53was challenging him.
44:55After Herb's experience
44:56in the ring,
44:57he returned
44:57to his father's house
44:58a month before
44:59the murders began.
45:01He cornered his father
45:02with his fists up.
45:03Come on, let's go.
45:04It won't last long.
45:05Herb punched his father out.
45:07It scared me,
45:08the elder Mullen
45:09told Dr. Lund.
45:11It was such a departure
45:12from what we had normally
45:13done all our lives.
45:15He was not the same kid
45:16we had raised and known.
45:18Herb's father
45:19appeared to be a stoic,
45:20stern,
45:21but reasonable man.
45:23William Mullen
45:23even wrote a letter
45:24supporting Herb's CO status,
45:26which must have
45:27greatly upset him.
45:29Later, Herb wrote
45:30to his dad,
45:31My conscientious objection
45:32thing was against
45:33your will.
45:34Well, that's past now.
45:36I don't know
45:37who was right
45:38or who was wrong.
45:39All I know
45:40is that I got hurt
45:41real bad
45:42because of all
45:42the confusion.
45:44Would you let me
45:44live in your home again?
45:46But at the trial,
45:47Mullen blamed his father
45:48for sending him
45:49to San Jose State University,
45:51knowing that the
45:51anti-war movement
45:52was strong on the campus,
45:53and he somehow
45:54wanted to trick his son
45:56into falling in
45:56with the counterculture.
45:58Herb was caught
45:59in a spiral of rebellion
46:00and reconciliation
46:01with his father,
46:02doing things that hurt him,
46:04then trying to win back
46:05his approval.
46:06One psychiatrist,
46:07in his testimony
46:08for the prosecution,
46:09said that Mullen's
46:10inability to express
46:12hate to his father
46:12led to some of it
46:14being misdirected
46:14to others.
46:16Father was a Marine Corps
46:17sergeant
46:17and was used to
46:18ordering people to kill,
46:20said Herb.
46:20I feel I was
46:22under my father's control
46:23like a robot.
46:25Throughout the trial,
46:26he asked Dr. Lund
46:27and his attorney
46:28to compare his father's
46:29fingerprints
46:29to evidence
46:30from all the murder cases
46:31in Oregon and California
46:33since 1925.
46:35If Herb could prove
46:36his father was a mass murderer,
46:38perhaps they would
46:38go lighter on him.
46:40On the stand,
46:41in his own defense,
46:42Mullen was described
46:43by one reporter
46:44as striking
46:45a lecturer's pose.
46:47He stood in the witness box
46:48with his many notes
46:49and blamed his family,
46:51friends and teachers
46:52who wanted to keep him
46:53from becoming
46:54too powerful
46:55in the next life.
46:57Reincarnation
46:58wasn't just
46:58a cosmic ponderance.
47:00For Mullen,
47:00it explained everything.
47:03Everyone was bargaining
47:04for power and position
47:05in the next life.
47:07I am chosen
47:07as a designated leader
47:08of my generation,
47:10he said,
47:11because Einstein
47:11died on his birthday.
47:13This birthday
47:14also gives me
47:15an extremely dominant position
47:17in the reincarnation.
47:18He believed
47:19that his parents
47:20told him that
47:21they were going
47:21to give me
47:22a good time
47:23in the next life,
47:24but they couldn't
47:24this time.
47:26One man consenting
47:26to be murdered
47:27protects the millions
47:28of other human beings
47:29living in the
47:30cataclysmic earthquake
47:31tidal area.
47:33For this reason,
47:34the designated
47:35hero leader
47:35and associates
47:36have the responsibility
47:37of getting enough people
47:39to commit suicide
47:40and or consent
47:41to be murdered
47:41every day,
47:43Herb Mullen
47:43explained to the jury.
47:45As far as his victims go,
47:46Mullen said,
47:47I never thought
47:48about them.
47:49I wasn't thinking.
47:50I don't think.
47:52I was reacting.
47:54He claimed his victims
47:55consented to die,
47:56in fact.
47:57In fact,
47:58they were willing
47:59to die
47:59and told him so
48:00by psychic transmissions.
48:02Every homo sapien
48:03communicates
48:04by mental telepathy.
48:05It's just not
48:06accepted socially,
48:07he said.
48:08He blamed his father
48:09and asked that he be
48:10removed from the courtroom
48:11before he continued
48:12his testimony,
48:13but the judge refused.
48:15But the elder
48:16Mullen was moved
48:17so his son
48:18wouldn't have to
48:18look at him.
48:19He also blamed
48:20the Santa Cruz police
48:21for not keeping him
48:22incarcerated
48:23after he was arrested
48:24for drug possession.
48:25I never would have
48:26killed anyone
48:27if they sent me
48:28to jail.
48:28If they don't punish
48:29you for breaking
48:30the law,
48:31what were they doing?
48:33Waiting until I broke
48:34a big law
48:34so they could put me
48:35in prison all my life?
48:37Mullen admitted
48:37that he could
48:38and did
48:39disobey commands
48:40to kill.
48:41He had received
48:42telepathic commands
48:43to commit suicide
48:44but refused.
48:45If he was the victim
48:46of irresistible voices,
48:48he would have killed himself,
48:50said prosecutor
48:50Chris Cottle.
48:51He said that he ignored
48:53messages to kill.
48:54I received a message
48:55in December
48:56I did not act on.
48:58I just didn't want
48:58to kill anymore.
48:59I just didn't think
49:01it was right.
49:02This last statement
49:03was crucial
49:03to the prosecution's case
49:05against Mullen.
49:06He was admitting
49:07he knew the difference
49:08between right and wrong.
49:10He was not
49:11his father's robot,
49:12powerless to disobey,
49:13as he had previously said.
49:15He was capable
49:16of selectively obeying
49:17his father's messages
49:18to kill.
49:20When he heard his father
49:21tell him to kill
49:21his uncle Enos,
49:22Mullen refused
49:23and the voice
49:24then suggested
49:25an alternative victim.
49:27For all the fearful wrath
49:28Mullen associated
49:29with these telepathic commands,
49:31they were surprisingly reasonable
49:32and willing to negotiate.
49:34If Mullen was legally insane
49:36and did not comprehend
49:37what he was doing
49:38was wrong,
49:39then why did he take
49:40such careful measures
49:41to cover his tracks?
49:43Assistant DA Chris Cottle
49:44told the jury
49:45that after killing White,
49:47he sandpapered the bloodstains
49:48off the baseball bat.
49:50He picked up the shell casings
49:51at the Giannara house,
49:52he claimed,
49:53because they belonged to me.
49:55Mullen shot Francis
49:56and her kids
49:57because they were witnesses.
49:59He ground off
49:59the serial number
50:00of his .22 caliber gun.
50:02While the prosecutor
50:03presented his case,
50:04Mullen,
50:05who usually avoided
50:06looking at anyone
50:07at the court,
50:08glared at Cottle.
50:09But Mullen had already
50:11undermined his case
50:12with reckless comments.
50:14Sometimes he sounded
50:15coolly sane and rational.
50:17In an earlier interview,
50:18Mullen had said
50:19he had killed Joan Giannara
50:20because she was a witness
50:22and I didn't want
50:23to be punished.
50:25The quake theory
50:25was developed
50:26as an afterthought,
50:27according to one
50:28court-appointed psychiatrist
50:29who had examined Mullen.
50:31He killed Giannara
50:32for getting him into drugs
50:33and Joan,
50:34Kathy and Damon
50:35and David
50:36because they were witnesses.
50:38He killed the campers
50:39because he had a thing
50:40about hippies
50:41and he described them
50:42as hippies.
50:43Another court-appointed psychiatrist
50:45said that his motivation
50:46was pure hatred.
50:47He told me
50:49John Giannara
50:49introduced him to LSD
50:51and that ruined his life
50:52and he took revenge.
50:54In a strange split,
50:56Dr. Charles Morris
50:57testified that
50:58after examining Mullen,
50:59he concluded
51:00that he was legally insane
51:01when he murdered
51:01the transient,
51:02the hitchhiker
51:03and the priest,
51:04but legally sane
51:05during the last 10 murders.
51:07In January,
51:08when he quit doing LSD
51:09in hopes of becoming a Marine,
51:11Mullen killed out of revenge
51:12with the exception of Perez.
51:15He had been made
51:16morally numb
51:16by killing
51:17his first three victims
51:18so that killing again,
51:20especially out of anger,
51:21no longer carried
51:22moral consequences.
51:24Perez was shot,
51:25he argued,
51:26because Mullen was tired
51:27and wanted to get caught.
51:29Dr. Morris contended
51:30that it was probably LSD
51:32that precipitated the murders.
51:34In response,
51:35defense attorney Jackson
51:36read a note from Mullen
51:38and asked the doctor
51:39if the rambling
51:40was written
51:40by someone on drugs.
51:42The doctor acknowledged
51:43that it was possible.
51:45The note was dated
51:45July 1973,
51:47months after Mullen
51:48had been incarcerated.
51:50It was a complaint
51:51written to the judge
51:52by Mullen
51:52regarding court procedure.
51:54Mullen's claim
51:55that he heard
51:55the victims telepathically
51:57agree to be killed,
51:58said Dr. Morris,
51:59was a concocted rationalization.
52:02He developed this belief
52:03as an afterthought,
52:04he said,
52:05and wasn't surprised
52:06by Mullen's
52:06cosmic sacrificial excuses.
52:09He's an individual
52:10with a high mental capacity
52:11and an interest
52:12in the occult,
52:13psychology,
52:14and philosophy.
52:16One doctor testified
52:17that Mullen told him,
52:18I chose to be vindictive
52:19because these people
52:20caused me to be an objector
52:22in the greatest country
52:23on earth,
52:24so I punished them.
52:25There was no question
52:26that Mullen was mentally ill.
52:28To prove the legal definition
52:30of insanity,
52:31the defense had to demonstrate
52:32that Mullen did not know
52:33the difference
52:34between right and wrong
52:35at the time of the murders.
52:36If he was found
52:37legally insane,
52:38then he would be found
52:39not guilty by the jury.
52:42If the jury found
52:42that Mullen was suffering
52:43from diminished capacity
52:45and that he did not understand
52:46the meaning of his actions,
52:48he could not be found guilty
52:49of first-degree murder.
52:51The prosecution told the jury
52:52it did not matter
52:53why Mullen killed.
52:55Motives are ambiguous
52:56and not necessary to prove.
52:59In countering the defense's theory
53:00that Mullen's delusions
53:01made him kill,
53:03the prosecution said,
53:04simply because
53:05two plus two equals seven,
53:06in his mind,
53:07does not mean
53:08Mr. Mullen
53:09is not responsible
53:10for his acts.
53:11In closing,
53:12the defense asked the jury
53:13to consider the fact
53:14that Mullen kills people
53:16because he has to
53:17but he doesn't know why.
53:19I suggest that a person
53:20who kills 13 people
53:21and doesn't know why
53:23is mad.
53:24The prosecution told the jury,
53:26there's no question
53:27he's mentally ill.
53:29Seriously mentally ill.
53:30But that does not mean
53:32he's legally insane.
53:34He hid his crimes
53:35and even ground down
53:36the serial numbers
53:37on his gun.
53:38The six-man,
53:39six-woman jury
53:40deliberated for over 14 hours,
53:42finding Mullen sane
53:43and guilty.
53:45The verdict was delivered
53:46on August 19, 1973.
53:49Mullen premeditated
53:50the deaths
53:51of Jim Giannara
53:52and Kathy Francis,
53:53thereby making two counts
53:55of first-degree murder.
53:56The rest were considered
53:57impulse by the jury,
53:59therefore,
54:00second-degree murder.
54:00It's as insane
54:02as Mullen is,
54:03says his defense
54:04attorney, Jackson.
54:05They were afraid
54:06because he might get out
54:07and kill somebody,
54:08which is not an
54:09illogical consideration.
54:11They didn't want
54:12his 14th victim
54:13to be one of them.
54:14The prosecution
54:15was disappointed
54:16with only two counts
54:17of first-degree murder.
54:19Mullen only shrugged
54:20when he heard his verdict.
54:21Mullen was sentenced
54:22to life in prison
54:23with the possibility
54:24of parole in 2025.
54:27But Mullen's case
54:28didn't sit right
54:29with the jury foreman.
54:30He soon took action.
54:32After the trial,
54:33the jury foreman
54:34wrote that California
54:35Governor Ronald Reagan
54:36was as responsible
54:38as Mullen
54:39for the deaths
54:39of 13 people.
54:41Reagan's administration
54:42had been systematically
54:43closing down
54:44California's mental hospitals
54:46with a plan
54:47to deactivate
54:48all of them
54:48in a few years.
54:50None of these deaths
54:51need ever have happened,
54:52he declared
54:53in an open letter
54:54to Reagan.
54:55Although the jury
54:56had believed
54:56that Mullen could tell
54:57the difference
54:58between right and wrong
54:59and therefore sane
55:00according to legal standards,
55:02they were also convinced
55:03that Mullen should have
55:04been institutionalized
55:05after being repeatedly
55:06diagnosed as dangerous.
55:09Five times prior
55:10to young Mr. Mullen's arrest,
55:12he was entered
55:12into mental hospitals
55:13and five times
55:15his illness
55:15was diagnosed.
55:17At least twice,
55:18it was determined
55:18his illness
55:19could cause danger
55:20to the lives
55:21of human beings.
55:22Yet,
55:23in January and February
55:24of this year,
55:25he was free
55:25to take the lives
55:26of Santa Cruz residents.
55:28Reagan responded
55:29that it was
55:30a psychiatric mistake
55:32and that the state
55:33was not dumping out
55:34on the street
55:35the previously
55:36hospitalized mentally ill.
55:38Mullen had been committed
55:39to five different
55:40mental hospitals
55:41but always released
55:42despite the lack
55:43of his prognosis.
55:45Alarmed by his
55:46deteriorating sanity,
55:47his parents desperately
55:48tried to find a hospital
55:50for long-term care,
55:51but mental hospitals
55:52were rapidly closing.
55:54It would have cost
55:55over $100 a day
55:56to keep Mullen
55:57in a private hospital,
55:59which was far beyond
55:59a postal worker's wages
56:01in the late 60s.
56:03Outpatient clinics
56:03were ineffective
56:04for someone like
56:05Herb Mullen.
56:06Although he received
56:07prescriptions
56:08and sporadically
56:09attended group therapy,
56:10without supervision,
56:11he was incapable
56:12of taking his medication
56:13regularly.
56:15Even in a hospital setting,
56:16when he was closely monitored,
56:18he was still aggressive
56:19and violent,
56:20he was dangerous
56:20and should have been
56:21kept off the streets.
56:23Within a year
56:24after the Mullen trial,
56:25California legislators
56:26passed a bill
56:27to prohibit the closure
56:28of any other
56:29mental hospitals.
56:31Herb Mullen did not kill
56:32because he was schizophrenic,
56:34but for him,
56:35his bizarre paranoia
56:36and twisted self-importance
56:38justified his murders.
56:40After all,
56:41he was saving California
56:42from earthquakes.
56:44His life mission
56:44was to be
56:45his generation's scapegoat,
56:47but it was the others
56:48who would have to
56:49sacrifice their lives.
56:51According to
56:52Dr. Donald Lund,
56:53the mentally ill
56:54are actually
56:55less likely to murder
56:56than the general population.
56:58Those who argue
56:59that antisocial
57:00personality disorder,
57:01a common characteristic
57:02among killers,
57:04is a form of mental illness,
57:05will also concede
57:06that these people
57:07are not hospitalized
57:08for their condition
57:09and are able
57:09to function in the world.
57:11The disorder
57:12is not diagnosed
57:13until the person
57:14is incarcerated
57:15for violent activities.
57:17Even after the diagnosis
57:18of antisocial
57:19personality disorder,
57:20there is little
57:21that can be done
57:22to treat the person.
57:23Incarceration is the only
57:25means of protecting others
57:26from sociopaths
57:27who have killed.
57:28Paranoid schizophrenia,
57:29however,
57:30is a treatable disease.
57:32But in severe cases,
57:34the patient must be
57:35closely monitored
57:35in a hospital-like setting.
57:38Medication helps,
57:39but paranoid schizophrenics
57:40can easily stray
57:41from treatment
57:42if left on their own.
57:44Unlike antisocial
57:44personality disorder,
57:46paranoid schizophrenia
57:47is usually diagnosed
57:48before violence occurs.
57:51Dr. Lund,
57:52who examined
57:52John Lindsay Fraser,
57:54Herb Mullen,
57:55and Edmund Kemper,
57:56had said that,
57:57among the small proportion
57:58of murderers
57:59who are mentally ill,
58:00the single most common disorder
58:01is paranoid schizophrenia.
58:04He did not find Kemper
58:05to be schizophrenic.
58:07Mullen's propensity
58:08toward violence
58:08was grimly evident to many,
58:10but there was nothing
58:11that could be done
58:12to keep him institutionalized.
58:14If his parents
58:15had the funds,
58:16they would have kept him
58:17in a hospital.
58:18If the hospitals
58:19who had held Mullen
58:19had the authority,
58:21they would have kept him
58:22in treatment.
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