Herbert Mullin

(The Terminator)

Herbert Mullin was born on April 18, 1947, in Salinas, California. The day of his birth was also the 41st anniversary of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Herbert grew up in a household his father once described as "oppressively religious". Herbert seemed to be a normal kid growing up. He was even voted "most likely to succeed" in his high school yearbook.

The end of his normal life was when his best friend died in a car crash. Mullin thus went into his own world. He arranged his room furniture around a photo of his friend, and told his girlfriend that he was turning gay.

By the time he was in his 20's, Mullin became a moody and extremely hostile young man. He began to study Eastern religions and experiment with illegal drugs. He was also prone to extreme outbursts of anger.

By 1969, Herbert was completely messed up by LSD and checked himself into a mental hospital, where he was diagnosed as echopraxiaa, a strong symptom of schizophrenia. He checked out 6 weeks later. In October of the same year he re-admitted himself to another mental institute, only to be released against his will a few short weeks later. While in the second institution Herbert started writing letters to complete strangers. He would sign the letters, "a human sacrifice, Herb Mullin".

In June 1970, Herbert went on holiday to Hawaii. Shortly into his vacation, he was yet again committed to another mental institution. In September of 1972, 24-year-old Mullin arrived in Santa Cruz to visit his parents. He shaved his head, began to water his doormat every day and and claimed to have begun receiving telepathic messages from his father saying, "burn your dick with a cigarette" and "Herb, I want you to kill me somebody".

On the October 13, 1972, Mullin decided to start listening to the voices. While out for a joy ride, Mullin noticed an old man, Lawrence White walking alone by the side of the road in the Santa Cruz mountains. Mullen stopped his car, and told the old man there was something wrong with the engine, and asked for his assistance in exchange for a lift. The old man gladly agreed, then as Lawrence White was leaning over the hood of the car, Mullin beat him brutally with a baseball bat. He left the body lying on the side of the road where it fell.

11 days later Mullin stabbed a young female hitchhiker Mary Guilfoyle to death. He then dismembered her body and scattered her remains along the road. On November 2, 1972 (All Souls Day), Mullin walked into St. Mary's church and confessed all of his sins to Father Henry Tomei, a Roman Catholic priest. Once he felt satisfied he had released all of his guilt, he dragged Father Henry out of the confessional box and stabbed him to death. When explaining the crime later Mullin said, " I saw the light over the confessional and the voice said: That's the person to kill."

Around this time, Mullin believed he had been chosen by Albert Einstein as the "designated leader" of his generation, and his voices had changed; now they belonged to his victims, giving their permission to be killed. In December of 1972, Mullin bought a rifle to aid him in his quest.

On January 25, 1973, Mullin went to visit Jim Gianera, the friend that had introduced him to marijuana. Mullin went to Gianera'a old address where he met Kathy Francis age: 29, who had recently moved in. She gave Mullin Gianera's new address. When Mullin arrived at the new address he shot and killed his former friend, then stabbed and shot Gianera's wife to death.

After leavening the crime scene Mullin returned to Kathy Francis's house and shot her to death in her sleep. He then discovered her 2 children, ages 4 and 9, sleeping in the next room. He shot and killed them as well.

On February 6, 1973, Mullin was hiking in a nearby state park when he came across a tent with 4 boys (aged 14-19) out camping. He approached them and demanded that they leave! The teenage boys acting as teenagers do, told Mullin to "fuck off!” Well this seemed to really piss Mullin off because he took out his .22 caliber rifle and shot all 4 of them. He left them dead where they fell.

At the same time as Mullin's crimes, Edmund Kemper was also in his "Co-Ed Killer" murder spree and Santa Cruz became known as "Murderville USA."

On February 13, 1973 just 1 week after killing the teenage boys. Mullin, while loading firewood into his car, heard the voices yet again. He then drove through Santa Cruz, where he happened upon an old man Fred Peruse who was outside working in his garden. Mullin pulled the car over, got out and shot the poor old man dead on the spot.

This would turn out to be the end of Herbert Mullin's murderous spree. One of Fred Peruse's neighbors’s noticed all the commotion next door and wrote down Mullin's license plate number as he drove away. Police captured Mullin within minutes after the shooting. Once in custody, Mullin confessed to everything. He explained that the murders he committed were in fact for the good of man, and that he had saved the world from earthquakes.

During his trial Mullin rambled on about his earthquake theory, saying: "A rock doesn't make a decision while it's falling, it just falls." The jury decided that he was sane, and found him guilty on 10 counts of murder. Herbert Mullin was sentenced to life in prison. He currently resides at Mule Creek State Prison in California. Mullin will come up for parole in the year 2020.

In the book "Whoever Fights Monsters", written by FBI profiler Robert Ressler, Ressler described Mullin as "docile, polite, and handsome, but uncommunicative". Every few minutes he would ask, "Sir, can I go back to my room now?" Ressler also stated he does not believe Mullin should be in prison, that he is in fact insane and should be in a mental institution. He also stated that Mullin still believes that what he did was good for society, that he saved us all from certain death - the earthquakes.