"We Are Under a Gag Rule": The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Briefing After the Felton Campers Were Found, 1973

Name: "We Are Under a Gag Rule": The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Briefing After the Felton Campers Were Found, 1973
Uploaded: 2017-05-16T00:00:00Z
Duration: 8 min 11 s
Description: AP newsfilm from Felton, California, February 18, 1973, the day after the bodies of four teenage campers were found: a sheriff's spokesman briefs reporters and cites a gag rule.

AP newsfilm from Felton, California, February 18, 1973, the day after the bodies of four teenage campers were found: a sheriff's spokesman briefs reporters and cites a gag rule.

Subject: Herbert Mullin
Recorded: about February 18, 1973
Runtime: 8:11

Content warning: Concerns the shooting deaths of four young campers, one of them 15; the briefing mentions gunshot wounds to the head. No further graphic detail.

The Interview

This is not an interview, and Herbert Mullin is neither heard nor named in it. It is Associated Press newsfilm shot at Felton, California, on February 18, 1973, the day after the bodies of four young campers were found in nearby Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. The first five minutes are silent picture. In the last three minutes, a spokesman for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office updates reporters and answers their questions.

Historical Context

Between October 1972 and February 1973, Herbert Mullin killed 13 people in and around Santa Cruz. On February 10, 1973, he shot four young men at a makeshift campsite in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park: Robert Spector, David Oliker, Brian Scott Card and Mark Dreibelbis. On February 13 he shot Fred Perez in Santa Cruz; a witness noted his car, and a patrolman arrested him minutes later. The campers' bodies were found on February 17, after he had already been charged in other killings. At the time, Santa Cruz County was also living through the killings later attributed to Edmund Kemper, who did not surrender until April 1973.

Circumstances

The film was shot the day after the discovery. AP's own story line called the four deaths a rise in the county's "body count to 13," a running local total of the time that mixed killings later attributed to different people.

What the Recording Covers

The spokesman says further searches of the crime scene will be made the next day, that the area will stay restricted until then, and that information will be released to the press at noon and 5 p.m. the next day. He lists the agencies assisting the six-man sheriff's investigation team: the Sheriff's Reserve, the Sheriff's Mounted Posse, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department criminalistics laboratory and the State Division of Forestry. Asked a question he will not answer, he says, "We are under a gag rule, and that would violate that gag rule." He says the victims were shot in the head, that it is not yet known whether once or twice, that projectiles and fragments were found and would go to ballistics, and that the caliber was not known. Reporters ask how long the bodies had been there and whether there was a connection with other recent shootings in Santa Cruz County.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The film records the investigation in the days after Mullin's arrest, with the sheriff's office already constrained by a gag rule.

Archival Importance

The film is from the Associated Press's own archive.

Important Caveats

Mullin is not heard or named in the audio; AP's slate links the film to the Mullin case. The spokesman is not named; AP's slate lists Leland Davis and Douglas James, whose roles are not verified, so the page should not name the speaker. The mute first 5:15 has been checked only in four sampled frames (aerial views of forest, coastline and a town); it has not been viewed in full. Several of the reporters' questions are unclear in the machine text. Mark Dreibelbis's age is given as 15 by Wikipedia and 19 by Murderpedia. Mullin's claim that the killings were sacrifices to prevent an earthquake is his claim.

Sheriff'S Spokesman: This is, uh, just to bring you up to date from this morning: the further developments [unclear: "in the deaths" / "and deaths"] of these four male victims in the Felton area. Further searches of the crime scene will be conducted tomorrow, and the area is restricted until those searches are completed. Then the area will be open. It is anticipated that further available information will be released to the press at noon tomorrow and at 5 p.m. tomorrow. Assisting the six-man sheriff's investigation team today are members of the Sheriff's Reserve, the Sheriff's Mounted Posse, the San Mateo County Sheriff's Department Criminalistics Laboratory, the State Division of Forestry, and the California [unclear: "Department" (Whisper only); the phrase is cut off]. That's all we have at this time today, and hopefully we'll have something for you tomorrow. We'll have something to key in on. Naturally, if we have something that's available after that, then we're going to have to do what we can to get it out to [unclear: "you before" / "you as before"], [unclear: "same thing" / "it's the same thing"].

Reporter: Is there [unclear: "anything in these parties that" (Whisper) / "anything in" (captions)] the investigation so far?

Sheriff'S Spokesman: [inaudible] At this time.

Reporter: [unclear: "Is the animal about the same?" (Whisper) / "the DMO about the thing" (captions)]

Sheriff'S Spokesman: We can't make any comment on that, because we are under a gag rule, and that would violate that gag rule.

Reporter: And the new, the new bodies, [unclear: "would be" / "let me"] shot once in the head, or shot more than once?

Sheriff'S Spokesman: Shot. This is all I can tell you, through the preliminary examination. We don't know whether it's once or twice, [unclear: "or" / "sir"].

Reporter: How long were the bodies [unclear: "there" / "in"]?

Sheriff'S Spokesman: We don't know that yet. That should be determined tomorrow morning.

Speaker Uncertain: Absolutely.

Speaker Uncertain: [unclear: "We can't tell yet." (Whisper) / "you can't tow that" (captions)]

Reporter: Do you have slugs, or, do you have slugs in the body?

Sheriff'S Spokesman: There's projectiles in the head. There'll be some kind of ballistics things eventually, hopefully, [unclear: "all very definitely" / "all very deadly"]. Yes, certainly hope so.

Reporter: Explain, explain why you can't tell [unclear: "as we" / "is we"]...

Sheriff'S Spokesman: Until, at the mortuary, the blood is taken off and the examination is made, we won't be able to tell. The blood is still on the bodies until the pathologist starts in the morning.

Reporter: [unclear: "So in the head, is it blood sludge in each hand?" (Whisper only; not in the captions)]

Sheriff'S Spokesman: Well, we have projectiles. We have fragments. [unclear: "We have projectiles. That's the other thing we can't say." (Whisper) / "fragments of your projectile, it's really" (captions)]

Reporter: What's the caliber?

Sheriff'S Spokesman: No idea of the caliber.

Reporter: [unclear: "Small-caliber weapons" (captions only)]. Is that similar to other recent shooting victims?

Sheriff'S Spokesman: [inaudible] So many areas of the state.

Reporter: I'm not talking about other areas of the state. I'm talking about Santa Cruz County.

Sheriff'S Spokesman: Well, [unclear: "it's similar as a small caliber" (Whisper) / "is as if it's small caliber" (captions)].

Reporter: Is there any physical evidence [unclear: "that could"] seem to give you any indication there's a connection between [unclear: "the moment" (Whisper) / "low" (captions)] and these people?

Speaker Uncertain: [unclear: "Okay." (Whisper only)] [08:09 to 08:11: no further speech; clip ends.] ---