HERBERT MULLIN: THE EARTHQUAKE MURDERS

The earthquake in Haiti is a grim reminder of how cruel Mother Nature can be. Sadly, nothing can be done to stop such devastation. Though that is not what serial killer Herbert Mullin thought. In Herbert’s mind a massive earthquake was set to hit California, the only way to stop it was through murder. In 1972, when he was 25, Herbert killed a homeless man with a baseball bat. He believed the vagabond was Jonah, from the bible and that the man sent him telepathic messages that said, “Kill me, so that others will be saved.” That murder became the first in what became a crusade to save California.

The fact that Herbert was born on April 16th, the anniversary of the 1906 earthquake, was very significant to him. It was another sign that he was the one to stop the earthquake. Surprisingly, Mullin didn’t show many signs of trouble in his youth. In fact, he was voted “Most likely to Succeeded” by his high school class. It wasn’t until after his best friend died in a car crash did he start to unravel. Drugs and several mental breakdowns lead to him being committed to mental hospitals. Though his stays were always short, as he would check himself out.

Two weeks after the homeless man Herbert killed a 24-year-old woman. This time he did much more than kill. After picking up the hitchhiker he stabbed her to death while driving. He then pulled over and brought her into the woods where he sliced open her stomach and strung her intestines on tree limbs so he could examine them for “pollution”. The murder was not linked to the homeless man because it was mistaken for the work of another serial killer that was killing at the same time, Edmund Kemper. A mere four days later Mullin was feeling guilty. He went to a priest to confess his sins. Though instead of confessing, he kicked and stabbed the priest to death, because he thought the priest wanted to “volunteer to be his next sacrifice”.

By 1973 Herbert decided all his problems were because of drugs. He quit taking them and decided to kill an old high school friend who sold him marijuana, because he was partly to blame. That one murder turned into four. Mullin shot his old friend and the man’s wife twice in the head each, then repeatedly stabbed their corpses. While looking for his old friend he met a woman, whose husband was also a drug dealer, so he killed her as well as her nine and four year old children. The murders were thought to be drug related, so Herbert once again slipped away unnoticed.

Herbert’s next two murders where two teenage boys that where camping in a park. He believed that they were polluting the place by being there. When they refused to leave, he shot both of them. Mullin’s last murder was done in broad day light in front of many witnesses. As he was driving down the street he saw a man weeding his lawn. Abruptly he did a u-turn, got out of his car with his rifle, took aim and shot the man. He then calmly got back in his car and drove off. The witnesses gave police his license plate number leading to his arrest only minutes later.

In custody Herbert proudly admitted to all the murders. He told about how the voices in his head told him to commit them, to save California. And that there had been no earthquake recently because of his handy work. In fact, in 1971, before Mullin started killing, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit San Fernando, killing 65 people. During Herbert’s spree there was no notable earthquakes. Yet soon after his arrest, earthquakes began again.

Mullin was eventually convicted of ten murders and sentenced to life in prison. He will be eligible for parole in 2025, he will be 78. The question is, will he still need to save California?