Notorious California serial killer who admitted 13 murders dies at Stockton prison facility

Staff and wire reports
·2 min read
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STOCKTON — A California inmate who confessed to killing 13 people in a matter of months during the early 1970s has died of natural causes at age 75 at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, the latest in a string of high-profile killers who have been housed at the facility.

Herbert W. Mullin confessed to killing 13 people in a matter of months during the early 1970s.
Herbert W. Mullin confessed to killing 13 people in a matter of months during the early 1970s.

Herbert W. Mullin's victims ranged in age from 4 to 73 and included a priest he killed in a confessional booth, according to the Santa Cruz County District Attorney's Office.

Mullin died Thursday evening at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, corrections officials said, and the San Joaquin County medical examiner will determine his exact cause of death.

Mullin was serving two concurrent sentences of life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder from Santa Cruz County and nine terms of five years to life for second-degree murder from Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties.

All were for killings he committed during a four-month period in late 1972 and early 1973.

Prosecutors said Mullin committed two other murders for which he never faced charges.

Mullin was denied parole last year.

At the time, District Attorney Jeff Rosell said that Mullin again admitted to the 13 killings during his parole hearing. But he blamed his poor upbringing and said his parents and sister should be held responsible.

Mullin showed "no true remorse for these brutal murders," Rosell argued.

Mullin was the latest in a string of high-profile killers who have been housed at the health care facility. Real estate heir and convicted murderer Robert Durst spent time there before his January 2022 death as he awaited a decision on a second trial in a bizarre legal odyssey that began when his first wife vanished in 1982.

And Phil Spector, the eccentric and revolutionary music producer who transformed rock music with his “Wall of Sound” method and who later was convicted of murder, died at age 81 in January 2021 at a San Joaquin County hospital, where he was taken from the Stockton prison.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on The Record: Serial killer Herbert W. Mullin dies at California prison facility