The Eathquake Killer: Herbert Mullin
On April 18th, 1947, Herbert William Mullin was born in Salinas, California. His birth was also the anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake — an important day in history, and you’ll soon understand why.
Herbert’s father was a World War II veteran who was a very strict man— though not abusive. Herbert grew up very social, and was reported to have had many friends in school. He was even voted “Most Likely to Succeed” at his school.
After graduation, however, things started to change for Herbert. One of his best friends passed away in a car accident, and Mullin built a shrine in his room dedicated to the friend he lost. Later, Herbert started to express fears that he was homosexual, despite having a long term girlfriend at the time; however this was only the beginning of his strange behavior.
According to reports, Mullin repeatedly put cigarettes out on his own skin, attempted to join the priesthood, and was evicted from his apartment for pounding on the floors and shouting at people who weren’t there. He was later found to have paranoid schizophrenia, which may have been accelerated by constant LSD and amphetamine use.
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise when, in 1969 at the age of 21, his family committed him into a mental hospital. In fact, he was committed to multiple institutes, but always checked himself out after only a short stay at each one.
In 1972, at the age of 25, he moved back in with his parents in Felton, California. This is around the time he began hearing voices telling him an earthquake was imminent and that he could stop it by offering up human sacrifices. Mullen believed the Vietnam War had produced enough American deaths to stall the earthquake, but with the war winding down, he would need to kill to keep it at bay.
His first murder was committed on October 13th, 1972. Mullen was driving when he spotted a 55 year old homeless man named Lawrence White hitchhiking. Mullen pulled over and popped the hood of his car, pretending to have vehicle troubles. He convinced Lawrence to help him look at the engine. He then beat the homeless man to death using a baseball bat and drove off. The body was not discovered until the next day.
Later, Herbert Mullin claimed this victim was actually Jonah from the Bible, and said that he had been sent a telepathic message that told him, “Pick me up and throw me over the boat. Kill me so that others will be saved.”
His next victim was a 24 year old college student named Mary Guilfoyle. She had been running late for an interview on October 24th, 1972, and decided to hitchhike. Mullin picked her up, stabbed her to death, and then dissected her body and scattered the remains along the road.
On November 2nd, 1972, Mullin went to confess his sins at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Los Gatos, California. There he met the 64 year old priest, Father Henry Tomei, and believed the priest wanted to volunteer to be his next sacrifice. Mullin beat, kicked, and then stabbed Father Henry in the heart. He ran away, though he was seen by a witness.
The witness described to the police a tall young man dressed in dark clothing and black boots. This proved not to be very helpful to the police, who assumed the murder was committed by a burgler.
Soon after this murder, Herbert decided to join the U.S. Marines. Though he passed both the physical and the psychiatric tests, he was denied entry when it was discovered he had a number of minor arrests on his record due to his bizarre and disruptive behavior. Rejection only fueled Mullin’s paranoid delusions.
By January of 1973, he had stopped using drugs, and started blaming them for all of his problems. So he purchased several guns and set off to kill his old high school friend who sold him marijuana— 25 year old Jim Gianera.
On January 25th, 1973, he went to Gianera’s house — a cabin near Mystery Spot. The house, however, was now owned by 29 year old Kathy Francis. Kathy happened to be a friend of Jim Gianera, so she gave Mullin the correct address to find Jim.
Herbert Mullin then drove to the Gianera house and shot both Jim and 21 year old Joan Gianera in their heads, and repeatedly stabbed their bodies.
Realizing he couldn’t leave a witness, Mullin then drove back to the house of Kathy Francis where he murdered her and her two children, aged 9 and 4. This murder would be what later eliminated him from his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
His next four kills happened on February 10th, 1973. He was walking in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park when he came across four teenage boys camping illegally. Mullin pretended to be a park ranger and ordered them to leave, claiming they were polluting the forest. The boys — 18 year old David Oliker, 18 year old Robert Spector, 19 year old Brian Card, and 15 year old Mark Dreibelbis — refused to leave, so he shot them all. Their bodies weren’t discovered until the next week, after Mullin had been caught.
He was caught on February 13th, 1973, minutes after committing his last murder. He drove past a 72 year old retired fisherman named Fred Perez, who was weeding his lawn at the time. For unknown reasons, Mullin made a U-turn, stopped, and then shot Perez in the heart and drove off. It was broad daylight and there were several witnesses, one of which memorized Mullin’s license plate number to give to police.
He was arrested without resisting at an intersection. He confessed to the crimes and claimed voices told him he had to kill to prevent an earthquake. Oddly enough, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern California just eight days after his arrest, causing an estimated $1,000,000 in damages.
His trial began on August 19th, 1973, where he was charged with two counts of first degree murder and eight counts of second degree murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to Mule Creek State Prison, where he has been denied parole ten times since 1980.
Thanks for reading! If you have any suggestions on what true crime case I should write about next, email me at historyofmurderblog@gmail.com
