# Herbert Mullin · The Cult Dossier · The Atlas · The Congregation of Tomorrow

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The Cult Dossier · No. 175 · Shared Psychosis / Mandated Killing
Herbert Mullin
The Santa Cruz earthquake killings
1972-1973 · Santa Cruz County, California, USA
XVII. SHARED PSYCHOSIS AND THE MANDATE TO KILL
A private cosmology assembled from Catholic sacrifice imagery, reincarnation and Eastern reading. IT HAD NO CONGREGATION AND NEVER ACQUIRED A SINGLE FOLLOWER.
### Who led it
### What it worshipped and taught
### Who was in it
### How it ended, or where it stands
### The dead
### Of note
### Its timeline
- 1965 His closest friend DEAN RICHARDSON is killed in a car accident shortly after their high school graduation. Mullin builds shrines to him and becomes preoccupied with reincarnation. Those who knew him date the change from here.
- 1969-1972 ADMITTED TO MENDOCINO STATE HOSPITAL IN 1969 AND CYCLED THROUGH FIVE MENTAL HOSPITALS OVER THE FOLLOWING YEARS. HE WAS RELEASED EVERY TIME. Paranoid schizophrenia was diagnosed. His family sought commitment and did not obtain it.
- 13 OCTOBER 1972 Kills LAWRENCE WHITE, 55, on a road outside Santa Cruz.
- 24 OCTOBER 1972 Kills MARY GUILFOYLE, 24, a student hitchhiking to an appointment.
- 2 NOVEMBER 1972 KILLS FATHER HENRI TOMEI, 64, INSIDE HIS OWN CHURCH.
- 25 JANUARY 1973 Kills JIM GIANERA, 25, and JOAN GIANERA, 21, then KATHY FRANCIS, 29, and her two young sons, DAEMON, 4, and DAVID, 9.
- 10 FEBRUARY 1973 SHOOTS FOUR TEENAGE BOYS CAMPING IN THE WOODS — DAVID OLIKER, 18, ROBERT SPECTOR, 18, BRIAN CARD, 19, and MARK DREIBELBIS, 15.
- 13 FEBRUARY 1973 Shoots FRED PEREZ, 72, in his garden in full view of a neighbour, who takes the licence plate. HE IS ARRESTED WITHIN MINUTES. Thirteen dead in four months.
- 30 JULY 1973 Trial opens. THE PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSIS IS NOT SERIOUSLY CONTESTED BY ANYONE. The question put to the jury is legal sanity: did he know what he was doing and know it was wrong.
- 19 AUGUST 1973 AFTER ABOUT FOURTEEN HOURS THE JURY REJECTS THE INSANITY DEFENCE. Convicted of TWO COUNTS OF FIRST-DEGREE MURDER — the Gianeras and Kathy Francis, held to be premeditated — and EIGHT COUNTS OF SECOND-DEGREE MURDER. Sentenced to life.
- 11 DECEMBER 1973 Pleads guilty to second-degree murder for Father Tomei.
- 1980-2022 DENIED PAROLE AT EVERY HEARING. Held for most of his sentence at Mule Creek State Prison.
- 18 AUGUST 2022 DIES OF NATURAL CAUSES, AGED 75, AT THE CALIFORNIA HEALTH CARE FACILITY IN STOCKTON. He had been in custody for forty-nine years.
### Its people
### Herbert Mullin
Herbert William Mullin
Killed thirteen people to prevent an earthquake · 18 April 1947 – 18 August 2022 · active 1972–2022
Before the law. Convicted 19 August 1973; life imprisonment; never paroled; died in custody 2022.
Where things stand. Deceased. HIS CASE IS THE CLEAREST STATEMENT IN THIS DOSSIER OF A DISTINCTION THAT GETS BLURRED EVERYWHERE ELSE: THE CLINICAL QUESTION AND THE LEGAL QUESTION ARE NOT THE SAME QUESTION. He was schizophrenic and everyone at the trial agreed he was. He was convicted anyway, because California asked only whether he knew the acts were wrong, and the evidence that he did was BEHAVIOURAL — he chose isolated victims, concealed bodies, hid a weapon and ran. A MAN WHO BELIEVES HE IS SAVING CALIFORNIA HAS NO REASON TO RUN. Read L301 immediately after this file: same test, opposite answer, and the hinge is conduct after the act.
- 1969–1972 Admitted to Mendocino State Hospital and then cycled through five mental hospitals. RELEASED EVERY TIME. His family sought commitment and did not obtain it.
- 13 OCTOBER 1972 – 13 FEBRUARY 1973 Thirteen killings across Santa Cruz County, including a priest in his own church, a mother and her two small sons, and four teenage boys camping in the woods.
- 13 FEBRUARY 1973 Arrested within minutes of shooting Fred Perez in front of a witness who took his licence plate.
- 19 AUGUST 1973 CONVICTED. Two counts of first-degree murder and eight of second-degree. THE INSANITY DEFENCE FAILS THOUGH NOBODY DISPUTED THE DIAGNOSIS.
- 11 DECEMBER 1973 Pleads guilty to second-degree murder for Father Henri Tomei.
- 1980–2022 DENIED PAROLE AT EVERY HEARING.
- 18 AUGUST 2022 Dies of natural causes at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, after forty-nine years in custody.
Checked 2026-09-06
### Donald Lunde
Donald T. Lunde
Forensic psychiatrist; examined Mullin and wrote the standard account · 2 March 1937 – 15 December 2007 · active 1973–2007
Before the law. None. He was an expert witness and an author.
Where things stand. Deceased. A CAUTION THAT APPLIES TO EVERY SOURCE ON MULLIN, INCLUDING THE GOOD ONES. Most of what circulates about that case traces to two places: Lunde's clinical writing, and prison interviews with EDMUND KEMPER, who occupied the adjoining cell and despised Mullin. Lunde is the better source of the two by a wide margin, but he is still a secondary source with a thesis. WHERE ENTRY 175 STATES A FACT IT RESTS ON THE TRIAL RECORD.
- 1937 Born in Milwaukee.
- 1969 Made full professor of psychiatry at Stanford.
- 1973 Examines Herbert Mullin and testifies at his trial.
- 1976 Involved in the PATTY HEARST proceedings — see 058, where a coercion argument failed in court in the same decade Mullin's insanity argument failed.
- 1970s–1990s Publishes the books that became the standard secondary accounts of both cases.
- 15 DECEMBER 2007 Dies of cancer, aged 70.
Checked 2026-09-06
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