Herbert William Mullin

Serial Killer

Herbert William Mullin: The Santa Cruz Serial Killer

Early Life and Declining Mental Health

Herbert William Mullin was born on April 18, 1947, in Salinas, California, and spent much of his youth in the Santa Cruz Mountains. During high school, he was remembered as sociable and promising, and his classmates reportedly voted him "Most Likely to Succeed." His behavior began to change significantly during his late teenage years, particularly after the death of a close friend in an automobile accident. Mullin became preoccupied with death, reincarnation and unusual spiritual ideas. As he entered adulthood, Mullin experienced increasingly serious psychiatric problems. He spent time in several mental-health institutions and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He also used marijuana, LSD and other drugs, although his delusions continued even during periods when he claimed to be sober. He reported hearing voices and became convinced that ordinary events carried hidden supernatural meanings. By 1972, Mullin believed that California was in danger of suffering a catastrophic earthquake. He developed the delusion that human deaths acted as sacrifices that could prevent earthquakes. Mullin later claimed that the number of American soldiers dying in the Vietnam War had previously protected California, but that the reduction of combat deaths meant he had to provide additional sacrifices himself. These beliefs were entirely the product of his delusional thinking, but they became the justification he used for killing 13 people between October 1972 and February 1973.

The Beginning of the Murders

Mullin committed his first known murder on October 13, 1972. He encountered Lawrence "Whitey" White, a 55-year-old homeless man, near a roadway in Santa Cruz County. Mullin stopped his station wagon and pretended that he was having mechanical trouble. When White approached and offered assistance, Mullin attacked him with a baseball bat. He then dragged White's body away from the road and left it in a wooded area. Eleven days later, Mullin picked up 24-year-old Mary Margaret Guilfoyle, a college student who was hitchhiking because she was late for an appointment. While she was inside his vehicle, Mullin stabbed her. He transported her body to a remote location and attempted to examine it, later claiming that he was searching for evidence of environmental contamination. Her remains were not discovered until February 1973, after Mullin had already been arrested. On November 2, 1972, Mullin entered St. Mary's Catholic Church in Los Gatos. He approached Father Henri Tomei, a 64-year-old priest, inside the confessional. Mullin later claimed that Tomei had somehow volunteered to become a sacrifice, but there was no basis for that assertion. Mullin attacked the priest, beating and stabbing him before fleeing the church. The sudden killing of a priest in a place of worship appeared unrelated to the earlier roadside murders, preventing investigators from immediately recognizing that the crimes were connected. ...

Confirmed Victims: (13)

Lawrence White Age: (55), Date of Death: 1972-10-13

Herbert Mullin - Wikipedia