Herbert Mullin: The Earthquake Killer

Herbert Mullin's life took a horrifying turn in the early 1970s when he became convinced that he could prevent an impending earthquake by killing people. This tragic belief led him to murder thirteen people in California in 1972, earning him the notorious title of the "Earthquake Killer."

Early Life and Onset of Schizophrenia

Herbert Mullin was born on April 18, 1947, in Salinas, California. He grew up in a seemingly normal environment, and by the time he graduated from high school, he was voted "Most Likely to Succeed." However, after high school, things took a sharp downward turn. The tragic death of his best friend in a car accident is believed by some experts to have triggered the onset of his schizophrenia.

At the age of 19, Mullin experimented with drugs like cannabis and LSD for the first time. He quickly became a regular user, and it was reported that his drug use exacerbated his mental illness. By the age of 21, his family began to notice signs of schizophrenia. Although he voluntarily admitted himself to a local hospital for treatment, he left after six weeks with a poor prognosis.

Over the next few years, Mullin was in and out of various hospitals and treatment programs, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Despite multiple diagnoses of schizophrenia by different doctors, he failed to adhere to his prescribed treatments and group therapy sessions. As his condition worsened, Mullin began hearing voices and at the age of 23, he was formally diagnosed with schizophrenia by three different doctors.

The Earthquake Warnings

Mullin’s birthday coincided with the anniversary of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake. As his schizophrenia worsened, he developed strange thoughts connected to this tragic day. In 1972, a scientist predicted that the San Andreas Fault would trigger another massive earthquake in Northern California on January 4, 1973. The voices in Mullin’s head, already linking his birthday to the earthquake, convinced him that human sacrifice was the key to preventing the disaster.

Mullin later explained, “Throughout human history, we have protected our continent from catastrophic earthquakes by killing. In other words, small natural disasters prevent a major natural disaster.” With this mission of human sacrifice in mind, Mullin began his killing spree.

The Killing Spree

On October 13, 1972, Herbert Mullin began his murderous rampage by killing Lawrence White, a transient man. Mullin bludgeoned White to death with a bat after seeing him standing at an intersection on the side of the road. Mullin later claimed that he believed White was Jonah from the Bible and that Jonah had asked Mullin to kill him to save others.

Mullin’s second victim was Mary Guilfoyle, a college student who was hitchhiking on October 24. He stabbed her repeatedly, dismembered her body, and scattered her remains along the side of the road. The third murder occurred on November 2 when Mullin visited a Catholic church to confess his sins to Father Henry Tomei. He bludgeoned and stabbed the priest to death, believing that Tomei had volunteered as a sacrificial victim. After the attack, Mullin fled, leaving Father Tomei to bleed to death on the church floor.

On January 25, 1973, Mullin killed five people in one day. The absence of an earthquake convinced him that his killings were indeed preventing the disaster. On that day, he killed an old friend and his wife, followed by a woman and her two children in the same house. With the death toll now at eight, Mullin went to a campsite on February 6 and killed four teenagers, believing that they had given him permission to do so.

Arrest and Trial

Herbert Mullin was finally arrested after his thirteenth and final murder on February 13, 1973. He had shot and killed a man in his driveway in broad daylight. A neighbor took note of Mullin's license plate number and called the police. When he was apprehended, Mullin did not resist arrest.

Prosecutors were able to try Mullin for ten of the thirteen murders he committed, and he was found guilty on all ten counts. Despite attempting to defend himself without a lawyer, the judge ruled that Mullin was not mentally competent to do so, and a public defender was appointed to represent him. Mullin tried to dismiss the public defender, but the judge refused. During the trial, Mullin spoke about the voices he heard that instructed him to kill.

Despite the evidence of Mullin’s premeditation, which indicated legal sanity, the jury found him guilty of all ten murders. He was sentenced to life in prison and remains incarcerated at the California State Prison in Ione. Although eligible for parole, Mullin has been repeatedly denied release. His next opportunity for parole was set for 2020.

Conclusion

Herbert Mullin's story is a tragic example of how untreated mental illness, combined with drug abuse and delusional beliefs, can lead to horrific consequences. His belief that he could prevent a natural disaster by taking innocent lives is a chilling reminder of the destructive power of untreated schizophrenia. Today, Mullin remains behind bars, a reminder of the dark path that his untreated illness led him down.