Herbert W. Mullin, a serial killer who admitted to killing 13 people in the early 1970s, passed away on Thursday while being held by the government.
According to representatives of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Mullin, 75, most likely passed away naturally. Mullin was a prisoner at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, California, a facility for inmates with serious medical conditions or major mental illnesses, when he passed away.
His official cause of death will be determined by the San Joaquin County Medical Examiner.
Mullin started preying on people near Santa Cruz when he was 25 years old and living in Felton. In addition to killing a priest inside a Los Gatos church’s confessional, he also slaughtered an entire family that resided next door to The Mystery Spot.
Then-Santa Cruz County District Attorney Peter Chang said Mullin knew many of his victims before he decided to kill them. Chang described Mullin as a “psychopathic killer,” according to the Valley Press newspaper.