Herbert Mullin - Killing People To Prevent Earthquakes

Herbert Mullin's Booking Photo - 2/13/73 (Colorized)

Most serial killers have a reason, no matter how bizarre, as to why they kill.  Charles Manson saw the Tate-Labianca killings as a stepping stone in his pursuit of world domination.  The Zodiac Killer claimed in his own words, via a coded message, “I like killing people because it is so much fun.”   David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) claimed that his neighbor, Sam’s, black Labrador Retriever, was possessed by an ancient demon that commanded him to kill people.  Then we have a huge list of serial killers who are sexual deviants and use murder to derive sexual pleasure.  Herbert Mullin, a serial killer in Santa Cruz, killed 13 people to prevent earthquakes. 

HERBERT MULLIN – THE EARLY YEARS

Herbert Mullin was born in Salinas, California, on April 18, 1947.  Oddly enough this was the 41st anniversary of the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.  This would prove important later in life. He grew up in the Santa Cruz area.  Herbert Mullin grew up, along with his sister, as the child of a World War II veteran and his wife.  In high school, he was considered one of the “popular crowd”.  He had many friends and a steady girlfriend.  He was actively involved in sports and voted “most likely to succeed”.   After graduating San Lorenzo High School in 1965, Herb went to Cabrillo College and studied engineering.  He considered joining the army. Everything was going great.  Then paranoid schizophrenia changed his life. 

SCHIZOPHRENIA

Shortly after his high school graduation in 1965, his best friend, Dean Richardson, was killed in an auto accident.  This accident had a strong effect on Herbert Mullin.  He built a shrine to his friend in his bedroom.  He started using huge doses of LSD and Marijuana.  He became obsessed in reincarnation, religion and possible natural disasters.  He extinguished cigarettes on his own skin, attempted to enter the priesthood, and got evicted from an apartment after he repeatedly pounded on the floor, shouting at people who were not there.  He adopted several different personas.  Family and friends noticed his odd behavior.  In 1969 he began imitating every movement of his brother-in-law.  This behavior is known as echopraxia and is a symptom of Schizophrenia.  He was eventually diagnosed with Schizophrenia.  He was institutionalized on and off for several years.  Then he started hearing voices.  He claimed he heard his father’s voice telling him to commit murder.  

HERBERT MULLIN’S VICTIMS

He began his killings on October 13, 1972.  His first killing was a homeless man, Lawrence White, age 55.  Mullin pulled his car off the road and feigned car trouble.  When the homeless man offered to assist him, he beat him to death with a baseball bat. 

On October 24, 1972, his second killing was exceptionally brutal.  She was a hitchhiker, Mary Guilfoyle, age 24.  Herbert Mullin stabbed her to death.  He then sliced her body open, pulled out her organs and scattered them about.

On November 2, 1972, “All Souls Day”, his third killing was Father Henri Tomsi, age 64.  Herbert Mullin walked into the Los Gatos Catholic Church and stabbed the father to death in the confessional booth. 

In the spring of 1966, he ran into a friend of Dean's, Jim Gianera, at the beach.  Gianera gave him some pot and told him about the anti-war movement.  By January 25, 1973, Mullin's paranoia had spun completely out of control.  Mullin decided to kill Jim Gianera, age 24, the man who had introduced him to Marijuana.  He felt that Jim Gianera had purposely tried to destroy him by introducing him to drugs.

Mullin went to Gianera'a address and found that Kathy Francis, 30, had moved in recently.  She gave Mullin Gianera's new address.  Mullin went to the new address and shot his former friend, then decided to punish others for Gianera's perceived crime.  He stabbed and shot Gianera’s wife, Joan, age 23 to death.  He then left this crime scene and returned to Kathy Francis's house.  He shot Kathy to death in her sleep.  He then shot her two children, Daemon, age four and David, age nine, sleeping in the next room.  Five victims in a very short time period.

On February 10, 1973 Mullin found four teenage boys camping in a wooded state park.  He told them they were there illegally, and they needed to leave.  He said that he would be back.  He came back three days later and shot them all while they were sitting inside their tent.  Robert Spector, age 18; David Oliker, age 18; Brian Scott Card, age 19; Mark Dreibelbis, age 19.  He would later claim that he received telepathic permission from the boys to kill them prior to killing them. 

On February 13, 1973 Mullin shot and killed Fred Perez, age 72, while he was working in his front yard.  A neighbor saw the killing and gave a description of the car along with the license plate number.  Mullin was arrested a short distance away.

ARREST AND INTERROGATION

When the police interrogation of Mullin began, Mullin shouted “silence”.  He then claimed that he had stopped a disastrous earthquake from striking California by killing his victims, thus saving countless lives.  Mullin was later quoted as saying in an interview, “We human beings, through the history of the world, have protected our continents from cataclysmic earthquakes by murder. In other words, a minor natural disaster avoids a major natural disaster.”  Mullin claimed the fact that there had not been an earthquake recently was due to his handiwork.  Mullin believed that the Vietnam War had produced enough American deaths to forestall earthquakes as a sort of blood sacrifice to nature, but that with the war winding down by late 1972, he would need to start killing people in order to have enough deaths to keep the earthquake away.  Mullin believed because he was born on the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, he had a privileged position among his generation to save it from future earthquakes.  In addition, Albert Einstein died on April 18th, which proved to Mullin that Einstein sacrificed himself so that Mullin would not have to be killed in Vietnam but could save the coast from earthquakes.

Mullin insisted that his father, Martin William Mullin, was a mass murderer.  Mullin wanted the police to take his father’s fingerprints and compare them to all the murders which occurred in California and Oregon since 1925.  Mullin believed that his father telepathically ordered his best friend, Dean Richardson, to commit suicide by crashing his car in 1965.  Mullin also stated that his father had telepathically ordered him to kill his first three victims.

SANTA CRUZ - MURDERVILLE USA

In the late 1960’s and 1970’s California was the epicenter for serial killers.  There was Charles Manson, The Hillside Stranglers, The Zodiac Killer, The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murderer, Juan Corona and the Golden State Killer; just to name a few.  At the same time that Mullin was committing his crimes in Santa Cruz, Edmund Kemper "Co-Ed Killer" was also on a murder spree  in Santa Cruz.  Santa Cruz became known as "Murderville USA."  Santa Cruz District Attorney, Peter Chang, stated "We must be the murder capital of the world right now."

HERBERT MULLIN AND EDWARD KEMPER - ROOMMATES

Someone thought it would be amusing to give Kemper and Mullin adjoining cells. The two serial murderers did not get along well with each other.  At 6' 9", Kemper towered over the petite Mullin, at 5’ 7”.  Kemper boasted of his power over Mullin: "Well, [Mullin] had a habit of singing and bothering people when somebody tried to watch TV.  So, I threw water on him to shut him up.  Then, when he was a good boy, I'd give him some peanuts.  Herbie liked peanuts.  That was effective, because pretty soon he asked permission to sing.  That's called behavior modification treatment."  Kemper believed Mullin was a "creep with no class," and offered to rat on Mullin if he heard him say anything incriminating.  Mullin was disgusted by Kemper and constantly complained that Kemper made too much noise when he was trying to meditate.  Both Mullin and Kemper viewed their own killing rampages as missions and thought they were making social statements while the other was a just a cold-hearted killer.   Kemper is well-known for his mother issues.  Mullin, on the other hand, had issues with his father. 

THE TRIAL

Mullin had admitted to all the crimes and therefore the trial focused on whether he was sane and culpable of his actions.  Several psychiatrists testified that he was mentally ill.  The defense argued that the defendant had a history of mental illness.  Even the prosecution said that there was no question that Mullin was seriously mentally ill.  However, mental illness does not mean a person is legally insane.  Legally insane means that you do not know that the act you are committing is wrong.  Mullin had shown premeditation in the planning of the murder of Jim Gianera and had killed Joan Gianera and Kathy Francis to eliminate witnesses.  He hid several of his crimes.  He also ground off the serial number on his .22 caliber gun. The six man, six women jury deliberated for over fourteen hours, finding Mullin sane and guilty.  On August 19, the verdict was delivered. Mullin was declared guilty of first-degree murder in the cases of Jim Gianera and Kathy Francis because they were premeditated.  Mullin was found guilty of second-degree murder for the other eight murders because they were more impulsive.  Although he was convicted of 10 murders, he had previously confessed to killing all 13 victims.  He was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Santa Cruz County trial.   He is incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison, in Ione, California. 

Herbert Mullin - Recent Picture

PAROLE

At Mullin’s March 23, 2006 parole hearing, Mullin admitted to killing the people he was accused of killing but claimed he was not guilty due to insanity. 

He blamed his parents for denying him maturity and not teaching him the facts of life.  Mullin stated that his entire childhood was destroyed by a conspiracy led by his parents.  His parents didn't explain the "pecking order" to him, adding he's learned about the system of deference to those in power while in prison.  He said that his parents were the ones that were responsible for the murders, as they were the ones who made him do it. They put him in a situation where he became mentally insane.  However, he believed he was healed.  He stated that he regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and hadn't taken any kind of medication since 1976.

The commissioner denied Mullin’s parole because of the "cruel and callous" manner in which Mullin carried out his crimes.  In addition, he hadn't accepted responsibility for his crimes, and he continues to pose a danger to society.

                Herbert Mullin has been denied parole ten times since 1980.  He will be eligible for parole again in 2020.  Herbert Mullin is 72 years old.



References:

Blanco, J. I. (n.d.) Murderpedia, Herbert William Mullin
                http://www.murderpedia.org/male.M/m/mullin-herbert.htm

Harvey, I. (2018, November 12) The California earthquake maniac – his obsession “to save” led to violent madness, Herbert Mullin Photo

    https://www.thevintagenews.com/2018/11/12/herbert-mullin/ 

Learning History (n.d.) Herbert Mullin:  American serial killer
                https://www.learning-history.com/herbert-mullin/

Santa Cruz Ghost Hunters (n.d.) Herbert William Mullin Photograph
                http://www.santacruzghosthunters.com/herbert-mullin.html

Souerbry, R. (2018, December 19) Herbert Mullin:  The man who tried to prevent an earthquake by killing 13 people.
                  https://allthatsinteresting.com/herbert-mullin