Herbert Mullin
| Herbert Mullin | |
|---|---|
Mullin's mugshot
|
|
| Born |
Herbert William Mullin April 18, 1947 Salinas, California |
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 13 |
|
Span of killings
|
October 13, 1972–February 13, 1973 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | California |
|
Date apprehended
|
February 13, 1973 |
Herbert William Mullin (born April 18, 1947) is an American serial killer who killed thirteen people in California in the early 1970s. He confessed to the killings, which he claimed prevented earthquakes. In 1973, after a trial to determine whether he was insane or culpable, he was convicted of two murders in the first degree and nine in the second, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Mullin was born in Salinas, California but grew up in Santa Cruz. His father, a World War II veteran, was strict but not abusive. He frequently discussed his heroic war activities and showed his son how to use a gun at an early age. Mullin had numerous friends at school and was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by his classmates. Shortly after graduating from San Lorenzo Valley High School, however, one of his best friends was killed in a car accident, and Mullin was devastated. He built a shrine to his deceased friend in his bedroom. Later he expressed fears that he was homosexual, even though he had a longtime girlfriend at the time.
In 1969, at the age of 21, Mullin allowed his family to commit him to a mental hospital. Over the next few years, he entered various institutions, but discharged himself after only a short stay. 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.
Many years later, FBI profiler Robert K. Ressler said Mullin had paranoid schizophrenia, manifesting as early as his senior year of high school, and could have been accelerated by the use of LSD or amphetamines.
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Wikipedia