Herbert Mullin (The Killer of Santa Cruz)

Herbert William Mullin was born on April 18, 1947, in Salinas, California. Raised in a middle-class family, Mullin was considered intelligent and sociable during his childhood and was voted "Most Likely to Succeed" by classmates during high school. Friends later recalled a dramatic change in his behaviour following the death of a close friend in a car accident during his late teens.

After briefly attending college, Mullin became increasingly withdrawn and developed symptoms of severe mental illness. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and underwent multiple psychiatric hospitalisations during the late 1960s and early 1970s. His condition was complicated by heavy drug use, particularly cannabis and hallucinogens, although experts disagreed on the extent to which substance use contributed to his psychosis.

By 1972, Mullin believed he was receiving messages through telepathy and that human sacrifice was required to prevent devastating earthquakes in California. Investigators later concluded these delusions became the driving force behind his murders.

Between October 1972 and February 1973, Mullin murdered 13 people throughout Santa Cruz County. His victims included a homeless man, a Catholic priest, a woman, four teenage boys camping in the mountains, and several other individuals selected with little apparent connection to one another.

Investigators determined Mullin targeted victims opportunistically, often attacking strangers he encountered during everyday activities. The murders occurred in a variety of locations, creating significant concern among law enforcement as the body count rapidly increased.

The killings took place during a period when another serial killer, Edmund Kemper, was also active in Santa Cruz. The simultaneous investigations contributed to the area's grim reputation as the "Murder Capital of the World" during the early 1970s.

Mullin's victim selection appeared largely random, reflecting the influence of his delusional beliefs rather than a consistent victim profile. Investigators found that he used a variety of firearms to kill victims, frequently acting without warning before leaving the scene.

Following his arrest, Mullin claimed he believed each murder was a necessary sacrifice that would prevent catastrophic earthquakes from destroying California. Psychiatrists concluded these beliefs were genuine symptoms of severe schizophrenia rather than an attempt to avoid criminal responsibility.

Unlike many serial killers motivated by financial gain, sexual gratification, or revenge, Mullin's offences were driven by fixed delusional beliefs associated with chronic mental illness.

On February 13, 1973, Mullin shot and killed 72-year-old Fred Perez while Perez was working in his garden in Santa Cruz. Witnesses immediately alerted police and provided officers with a description of Mullin's vehicle.

A short time later, officers located Mullin driving nearby and conducted a traffic stop. He surrendered without resistance, and investigators quickly linked him to the earlier murders through ballistic evidence, witness statements, and his own admissions.

His arrest ended a four-month killing spree that had left communities throughout Santa Cruz County living in fear.

Herbert Mullin was charged with 13 counts of murder. During his 1973 trial, the defence argued he was legally insane because of severe schizophrenia and the delusions that motivated the killings.

The jury rejected an insanity defence but acknowledged his documented mental illness. Mullin was convicted of ten counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder.

He received a sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole. Despite multiple parole hearings over the following decades, each request for release was denied. Mullin died in prison on August 18, 2022, at the age of 75.

Herbert Mullin's case has become one of the most extensively studied examples of severe mental illness in serial homicide. Mental health professionals have examined his long history of schizophrenia, delusional thinking, and psychiatric treatment to better understand the relationship between psychosis and violent offending.

The fact that Mullin and Edmund Kemper were simultaneously committing murders in Santa Cruz remains one of the most unusual coincidences in American criminal history. Their overlapping cases placed extraordinary pressure on local investigators and contributed to the area's notoriety during the early 1970s.

Today, Herbert Mullin remains one of California's most well-known serial killers. His crimes continue to be discussed in criminology, forensic psychiatry, and true crime media because of the rare role that documented psychosis played in motivating his offences.