Michael Mullins was convicted in Shelby County, Tennessee, of three separate murders and rapes. He is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for them. In May 2015 he also pleaded guilty in Knox County, Tennessee, to attempted first-degree murder and aggravated rape in a case from 2008, and received the maximum sentence of 50 years.
In June 2012 Memphis police arrested Mullins, then 50, on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Gwendolyn Jackson, 67. DNA evidence led police to name him.
The exact date of the arrest, and the first court dates, are not on record.
Mullins was later named in the deaths of two other women in Memphis and in the 2008 case in Knoxville. He confessed to the three Memphis murder cases. The names of the other two women, the dates of their deaths and the dates of the Shelby County pleas are not on record.
By May 2015 Mullins had been convicted in Shelby County of three separate murders and rapes, and he was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole there. The wording of each Shelby County charge and the terms of each count are not on record.
In April 2008 a woman in Knoxville survived an attempted murder and aggravated rape. DNA evidence led police to name Mullins in that case years later. Memphis police detectives interviewed him, and he admitted to the Knoxville offenses.
In January 2015 Mullins was charged in Knox County with attempted first-degree murder in the 2008 case. He was held in a Knoxville jail while the charge was pending.
On May 1, 2015, in Knox County, Mullins pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and aggravated rape. Assistant District Attorney Leslie Nassios set out the facts of the case before Judge Scott Green. The sentence was the maximum of 50 years in prison. Todd Childress of the Knoxville Police Department was the investigator, and the office of District Attorney General Charme Allen announced the result.
In May 2015 Mullins was serving his Shelby County life sentence. His present prison and any later court proceedings are not on record.
No other killings are charged against Mullins. The Shelby County plea date, the count-by-count wording and the sentencing judge are not on record.
April 2008: a woman in Knoxville survives an attempted murder and aggravated rape.
June 2012: Mullins, 50, is arrested in Memphis on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Gwendolyn Jackson, 67.
Dates not on record: convictions in Shelby County for three separate murders and rapes; life sentence without the possibility of parole.
January 2015: Mullins is charged in Knox County with attempted first-degree murder.
May 1, 2015: he pleads guilty in Knox County to attempted first-degree murder and aggravated rape; sentence of 50 years.