Herbert Mullin: The Santa Cruz Killer Who Believed Murder Prevented Earthquakes

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Santa Cruz, 1973.

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A city already drowning in serial murder violence gets hit with something nobody saw coming.

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A clean cut, former Boy Scout starts killing strangers because he thinks their deaths

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will stop California from falling into the ocean.

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Thirteen victims, six months, and a delusion so complete that even after his arrest, Herbert

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Mullins still believed he'd save the world.

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In 1973, two of California's most notorious serial killers ended up in prison cells right

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next to each other.

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Edmund Kemper, the co-ed killer in one cell, Herbert Mullins in the other.

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Kemper murdered his own mother, decapitated college students, kept their heads as trophies,

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and this guy looks at Mullins with absolute disgust and says, "Herb killed people for no

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good reason."

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When someone who did what Kemper did thinks you're pointless and irritating, that tells you

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something about how disturbing this case really is.

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Herbert Mullins was born April 18, 1947 in Salinas, California.

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Raised Catholic, stable family the whole package.

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This kid built tree houses with his friends, played literally baseball when on Boy Scout

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camping trips.

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At San Lorenzo Valley High School, he was legitimately popular.

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Good grades, genuinely kind to people.

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Had a girlfriend named LaRetta, who probably regrets that now.

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His classmates voted him most likely to succeed, the teachers adored him.

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But one thing bothered him.

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His birthday was April 18, the same exact date as the 1906 San Francisco earthquake that

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killed thousands and leveled the city.

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Most people that's just a weird coincidence.

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For Herb, it planted something that would eventually consume him completely.

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Summer of 1965, right after graduation, his best friend Dean Richard dies in a sudden

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car accident.

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This is where Herb's entire personality fractures.

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He doesn't grieve like a typical teenager.

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He completely withdraws from everyone, including his girlfriend LaRetta.

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He starts building elaborate shrines to Dean in his bedroom.

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Full shrines.

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He becomes obsessed with reincarnation with this idea that dead people leave behind some

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spiritual debt that the living have to settle.

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He enrolls at Cabrio College, keeps changing his major because nothing feels right to him.

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He's caring to psychology and back again.

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He's desperately searching for some framework to explain what's happening inside his head.

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Then he reconnects with Jim Giannera, a mutual friend of Dean's.

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Jim offers him some pot.

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One joint.

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Herb smokes it.

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And in his increasingly fractured mind, this single moment becomes the source of everything

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wrong with him.

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He decides that marijuana poisoned his brain permanently.

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He will never forgive Jim for this.

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In 1969 and 1972, Herb gets committed to psychiatric facilities five separate times across

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California.

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Every single time psychiatrist diagnoses him with paranoid schizophrenia, the symptoms are

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completely obvious.

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He's hearing voices, giving him commands, experiencing hallucinations, doing this thing

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called "ecopraxia" where he involuntarily copies other people's movements.

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Doctors write in his charts that his prognosis is poor and grave.

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He knows he's dangerous, but California had recently passed the Lanter Men Petra's short

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act.

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The intention was good.

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Protect civil liberties of mentally ill people.

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Prevent indefinite warehousing.

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But the execution was catastrophic because there was zero infrastructure for community care.

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So Herb keeps getting released after 72 hour holds, over and over.

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His internal world becomes this terrifying place.

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He starts hearing what he calls "die songs" in his father's voice, telling him "blood

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is necessary to keep the world stable."

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He fixates on the Vietnam War, but not politically.

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He genuinely believes that as long as American soldiers are dying in Southeast Asia, their

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deaths function as human sacrifices, keeping the tectonic plates from shifting.

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As long as blood keeps flowing over there, California stays anchored.

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When the war starts winding down in 1972, Herb's anxiety goes through the roof because in

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his delusional framework, the sacrifices are stopping.

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He hears about some psychics prediction that a massive earthquake will hit California on

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January 4th, 1973.

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To him, this is scientific certainty requiring immediate action.

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So he formulates a plan.

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He's got to find 13 people who will telepathically volunteer to die.

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He calls it "singing the die song."

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And his psychotic reasoning, he'll communicate with people on some spiritual frequency,

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ask for their permission, and they'll agree because they understand the cosmic necessity.

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Their deaths will satisfy what he calls "the nature god."

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California will be saved.

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He tries to enlist in the Coast Guard and Marines because he wants some legitimate framework

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for the violence that he feels compelled to commit.

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Both branches reject him because of his psychiatric history, so he realizes he's going to

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perform these sacrifices as a civilian.

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October 13th, 1972.

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Friday the 13th.

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Herb is driving his Chevy station wagon along the mountain road when he spots Lawrence

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White, a 55-year-old transient.

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Herb pulls over, pops his hood like he's having car trouble.

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Lawrence stops to help.

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Herb beats him to death with a baseball bat.

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Later, he tells investigators he perceived Lawrence as the biblical "jona" and that Lawrence

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telepathically beg to be thrown overboard so others might live.

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Eleven days later, Mary Margaret Gullfoyle is running late to an appointment.

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She's 24, a student at Cabrio College.

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She decides to hitchhike, which would really calm him back in Santa Cruz in that time.

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Herb picks her up.

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While driving, he stabs her multiple times through the chest and back.

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He drives her body to a remote hillside, disembowels her because he claims he's searching

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for physical proof of the pollution he believes is contaminating humanity.

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November 2nd, 1972.

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Herb goes to St. Mary's Catholic Church in Los Gatos.

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He's having doubts, feeling like he needs to confess.

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He enters the confessional booth where father Henry Tomé, a 65-year-old priest, is hearing

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confessions.

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During the sacred ritual, Herb's psychosis completely reframes the interaction.

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He becomes convinced that the father has telepathically volunteered to become the next sacrifice.

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He attacks the priest inside the confessional.

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Beats him, kicks him, stabs him to death in this holy spacemen for redemption.

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The community is horrified, but law enforcement can't connect these murders.

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A transient, a hitchhiker, a priest.

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There's no discernible pattern link here.

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After murdering Father Tomé, Herb goes quiet for two months, but January 4th passes

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without any earthquake, and his paranoia intensifies.

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He decides he needs to eliminate the one person who started this mental deterioration, the

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guy that gave him the marijuana.

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January 25th, 1973.

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Herb drives the gyms' old address, but Kathy Francis lives there now.

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She's friendly, tells him Jim and his wife Joan recently moved to a cabin in the woods,

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gives him directions.

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Herb drives to the cabin and confronts Jim.

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He demands to know why Jim gave him that marijuana.

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When Jim's answer doesn't satisfy him, Herb shoots him.

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Jim tries crawling to warn his wife, but Herb breaks down the door and shoots her as well.

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Then he stabs both their corpses repeatedly because this murder is deeply personal.

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But now he has a problem.

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Kathy Francis can link him to the generis, so he drives back to her house.

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She's home with her two young sons, nine-year-old David and four-year-old Damien.

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Herb murders all three, shoots both children in the head and stabs their small bodies.

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When the police discover the massacre, they're like, "Uh, yeah, it looks like drugs."

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Looks like drug-related.

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They have no idea what's going on here and they have no idea how this connects to anything

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else.

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February 10th, 1973.

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Herb is hiking through Henry Cowell State Park when he encounters four teenage boys illegally

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camping.

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Robert Spector, 18, Brian Card, 19, David Oiker, 18, and Mark Drobelbus, 15.

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Herb approaches them pretending to be a park ranger.

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Tells them they're polluting the forest and they need to leave.

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The boys dismiss him.

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The next day, Herb returns and shoots all four in the head through the tent fabric.

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He later claims that he asked each telepathically for permission and they all agreed.

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Three days later, February 13th.

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Herb is driving through Santa Cruz and sees Fred Perez, a 72-year-old retired price fighter

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working in his front yard.

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Herb busts a U-turn, rests his rifle across the hood and shoots Fred in the heart.

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In broad daylight.

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A neighbor witnesses everything.

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She writes down his license plate and immediately calls the police.

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Herb gets pulled over within minutes.

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He doesn't resist, doesn't say a word.

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And his mind, his mission, is complete.

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Herb 13 human sacrifices performed.

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California is saved.

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The trial becomes an intense legal battle over sanity.

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Herb admitted to all 13 murders.

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The only question is whether he understood right from wrong.

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His defense, of course, presents his psychiatric history brings in forensic experts who tells

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everyone that he genuinely believed he was saving millions.

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But the prosecution points to the generic and frances murders.

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The fact that Herb returned to eliminate a witness demonstrates he understood legal consequences.

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The jury deliberates 14 hours and returns a split verdict.

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First degree murder for Jim Genera and Kathy Francis because those were premeditated revenge

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for the other victims' second degree murder because they were impulse killings driven

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entirely by delusions.

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Herb eventually gets housed right next to Edmund Kemper.

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Kemper stands six foot nine and absolutely despises Herb.

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Hates his constant singing, his bizarre behaviors.

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Kemper would throw water on him to shut him up, given peanuts as rewards when he stayed quiet

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like training an animal.

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Herbert Mullin was denied parole eight consecutive times.

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He died of natural causes on August 18th, 2022 at age 75.

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No believing he had successfully saved California from catastrophic destruction.

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Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, Bingeable True Crime Stories.

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I'm Joe, I'm the host and here's an email.

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long drives on the i80. Joe, I drive i80 across Nebraska for work more often than I'd like.

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Especially the stretch between KERNIE and NorthPlat where there's not much to look at.

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Your podcast has become my go to during that part of the drive because it keeps my brain focused

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without feeling overwhelming. Ten minutes at a time feels exactly right out there.

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Figured I'd finally say thanks. Mark in KERNIE Nebraska. Mark, I really appreciate it.

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I've never been out that way. I have seen photos and videos and part of that area.

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It does look kind of boring when you're driving through. Just very, very flat.

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I'm used to being around and living in places that are very mountainous and have some landscape

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that's pretty and nice to look at from time to time. So I guess I'm privileged in that.

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But Mark, keep on keeping on. I really appreciate your email. I appreciate you listening

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during your boring stretches on your commute. Hey, if you're a brand new listener to this podcast,

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welcome in. Rolling it. This is me rolling out the red carpet for you. Sit back, relax,

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When I remember, OG listeners, I love you. Keep sharing this podcast with your friends

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and your family and rating it five stars wherever that is possible. And that's going to do it.

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That's your episode for today. Thank you again for listening to 10minute murder. See you next time.