OH - Christie Mullins, 14, Columbus, 23 Aug 1975 *killer died*

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Eerily similar to the M.O. used in the unsolved murder of Amy Mihaljevic up in the Cleveland area.
 
For anyone interested in this case, an on-line article "An All-American Murder" written by John Oller can be viewed for free. It is very thorough. As this case stands, a petition has been sent to agencies in Columbus pleading to have the case re-examined.......having read the article, it is pretty evident, if nothing else, "Carol Reeves/Lisa Sprague" (the "friend" at Woolco) knows the true facts and in my opinion my have been involved in setting Mullins up. The cheerleading competition and that call from the DJ were dismissed by local peers, it is in fact possible if not likely that Mullins never even made it to Woolco that day.....the friend was involved, the likley killer seems to be the now deceased Junior and/or his brother....WHY? The motive is MY biggest WHY because the body was not sexually assaulted and the killing was exremely personal and brutal.
 
So much great info in this thread. Thank you for all your hard sleuthing, this is a very sad and strange case.
 
Nycsleuth, your addendums are great, showing amazing progress in finally solving this case. I'm so glad Junior Newell's relatives have been willing to finally share some information about his involvement in the crime. It certainly gives the Columbus PD something to work with.

Great job! Thanks for your commitment to helping Christie's family find justice for her.
 
I suspect Junior Newell is guilty. However, I have a hard time grasping the idea that a man can commit a crime like this then go home and convince his wife and her child to walk with him back to the scene of the crime. It is extremely risky for several reasons.

The police could of easily suspected that he was the predator for the mere fact that he lives close by to the scene of the crime.

His own wife could of figured things out as well and reported him to the police.
The fact that a mentally\disabled impaired man could be capable of such a crime.

Too many unknown factors. It is amazing how the Columbus Police screw this case up.
 
I spent much of yesterday reading this thread and Nycsleuth's book on Christie. What happened to Christie is terrible and I feel so sad that Christie will never truly get the justice she so badly deserves.

I believe that Henry Newell was very likely responsible but he, unlike Christie, has had the freedom to live his life as he has wished. With his death last year he will now never be denied what Christie was denied; the opportunity to live.

With no confessions and no new evidence I suspect that the only way this case will ever be considered 'solved' at this point is if the girl who was with Christie that day decides to reveal what happened. For whatever reason she still appears unwilling to do so.

What a tragic to end to all of Christie's potential.
 
Just read the entire thread. I did notice something that May or may not have been caught. One testimony said that the "eyewitnesses" saw the "perp" beating something into the ground. Then, when "perp" noticed the "eyewitnesses" he THREW the board and ran away. From further testimony, we hear that the Male Eyewitness took the board off of Christie's face. Which was it?

I think we all know who did it obviously, but now the question is why? Hopefully that Carol can come out and say what really happened.
 
Wow, this thread just took me a day to get through but had more information then any thread I have read here, everyone who contributed is amazing, truly. I really hope Christie's family gets the closure they deserve.
 
RichKelly said:
There's a lot of mixed cues, in this case,

1 says she was raped , another says she was not .

One thing to take into consideration is time, supposedly this all occurred within 20 min ?....give or take ?.. that seems odd to me. Id be willing to bet the time frames, involved here are skewed, possibly deliberately.

The phone call, which is a key piece of evidence, seems to never been investigated. However, I find it odd that Carol didn't question a guy that wanted her to walk through the woods, to meet him at a crowded location, where there would be plenty of witnesses, if he were planning to abduct her .

I didn't see anywhere that either girl was a cheerleader prior to the event either, so why are they headed to a cheer competition?...behind a shopping center no less.

The phone call, why was it never traced, through records ?, it was certainly possible back then. and supposedly were talking about MULTIPLE calls , the record may even still be available today. Perhaps, there weren't any phone calls, but the fact that it went to trial once without EVER having brought up sounds like , the police botched the investigation.

Ill say right now the "rape" aspect of the crime seems staged, I also find it hard to believe she was actually raped..

The use of cord as a restraint, seems, odd too, that's usually something that's done spur of the moment and procured at the scene , when the offender has brought nothing because he didn't plan on having to restrain anyone .

If you are planning to abduct someone, you are going to go through the process, of making up a fake cheerleading contest weeks in advance, why not procure, handcuffs, rope or tape, why electrical cord ? there seems to be better options. especially if you've been planning this for weeks, as the phone call story would lead you to believe .

I would like to see a Victimology report on Christy as well .. this is a High risk victim in a low risk environment.

I also saw no report that there was there anyone who could confirm she was indeed ever at the Woolco?.. other than Carol?

Bludgeoning a victim facially is usually an interpersonal crime.. its destruction of that individual. However its also not a 100% fatal method of dispatching a victim, either UNLESS its done severely and long enough... therefore I feel this individual would've had make sure she was dead, along the lines, of where she was taken, both the method, and the location indicate (at least to me ) someone VERY comfortable with that area

Hence why he asked the girls to go through the woods in the 1st place .

I don't think this is a case of Stalking... it doesn't make sense he would go through all this planning, only to get pissed when he couldn't obtain his original target, and take a victim of opportunity. Stalkers don't work that way, at least none to date that I know of .

And remember Carol never states that she was told to "come alone"

If you look at it from a rape standpoint, then you must speculate that some factor prevented the commission of it ,because no sexual assault was found through forensic examination, though it was made to look as if it did, this is usually pretty indicative of staging

The Witness that found the victim stated he saw an individual striking "something" with a 2x4, He then gleans a pretty good description of a shirtless man fleeing through the woods then states he found her body, and his wife determined she had no pulse.

However, the one suspect they do arrest seems to have NO evidential ties to the case other than physical description. AND that pans out not to be the case. Newell however has s shady past of his own... and a continuous criminal record well after Christy's murder

He also testifies, that he drove to the Woolco, to buy his son a puppet but his son wanted to take a "nature hike" behind the stores... seems kind of odd

I also find it odd that someone with "nurses training" upon seeing a man beat a woman to death, immediately runs over feels for a pulse, but doesn't attempt CPR or anything to try to save her, yet reports, the "blood was frothing from her mouth" Which leads me to believe 1 of 2 scenarios..1) the wife lied or 2) Or the victim, was already dead for sometime.

Then theres a rather suspicious incident where "Junior" Newell states he removed his shirt and placed it over the victims face .... this is known as "undoing" in forensic circles. A means to quell the feelings of guilt one feels when they are familiar with the victim .

The ligature binding is interesting, as well , it states the victims hands were tied IN FRONT of her . But not that she was secured to anything (For EX a tree). So if she wasn't raped, her hands were in front of her she was beat about the face, with no reported defensive wounds ? Though she could use her hands, she didn't ?

This leads me to believe either there was more than 1 culprit, she was blitz attacked, or conned .

Her legs weren't bound, her pants were up , though she was barefoot, her hands were in front of her she could at least defend herself , but she could run..

Perhaps she was tied after she was assaulted , which would feed into the staging aspect as well

If you agree that the call was fake, and that the rape aspect crime was staged, meaning that this was a homicide plain and simple , then the next step is motive

Who was the victim, was there something in her lifestyle that elevated her risk level?

What made her a target? Opportunity?... seems more likely the killer would attack both girls in the woods then, even if Christy WAS alone in the parking lot, he asked Carol about the path through the woods, he knew she would take that route. Even f he assaulted both girls, they were far away enough he could most likely pull off attacking both .

Who would want to harm her ?

Carols recollection of the story seems almost nonsensical ...Junior Newell's story is about as fake as any Ive ever heard especially once I read about the covering of the victims face.. why do that ?

I'm going to go out on a limb based on what I've read here, and state I don't believe the story about the phone call being about a cheerleading contest at all ... I don't believe that sexual assault was even part of the planning of the crime. I don't believe that Junior Newell saw anyone in the woods fleeing, I don't believe that his medically trained wife, would see this and not attempt to help the victim who was still frothing at the mouth when they found her .

I do believe Christy never made it out of the woods that day , I believe Christy was indeed the intended target, I believe Carol was involved, and that Junior Newell is most likely responsible for her death.
Click to expand...

Lots of good points here and many follow my line of thinking. In my opinion, Newell went back to the scene to cover any DNA or traces he may have left at the scene. He covered her face with his shirt, threw away the comb and the board she was killed with? All too questionable actions.

Also, a witness that had seen a male running in the area of the crime phoned LE when she saw the picture of who was arrested and said that wasn't the guy she saw but LE disregarded her concern.

I too believe Carol was in on the murder as well. I don't buy the telephone call regarding cheerleading one bit. Also, too many contradictory reporting in this situation as well. I hope someone gets to the bottom of this case and let the family get the closure they need.

Extremely sloppy police work and investigation from start to finish. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out "who done it".
 
I have finished reading all the post on here. I notice that there has not been any recent activity on this forum and I am wondering what has happening with the review of this case? Has the additional information given by N's niece helped any? Has Carole come forward?
 
I think the police thought the mentally impaired man did it and just directed their efforts toward him. I'm sure some officers HAD to be bright enough to see he was innocent, but the damage was done to the investigation.

Rich Kelly brings out an excellent point... why no tracing of the calls since that is a big part of the tale Carol told.

Now that I've learned Christy had zero interest in cheer, I see zero reason for a contest to lure her anywhere. Even if first prize was a date with Donny Osmond... she know she wouldn't win anyway. And if the prize was anything good at all, it would've been advertised over the radio and with signs at Woolco and in the paper. whatever lure they used on her, it was something totally different.

Also, was she not bound with phone cord? In the 70s, that stuff wasn't as easily available as it became later. Not that many people had extra. Except this Newell character did.
 
Nycsleuth said:
this too.

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2014/05/07/columbus-1975-cold-case-murder-review-mullins.html

Here are addendums to the article:


http://www.scribd.com/doc/218905173/Addendum-to-An-All-American-Murder

http://www.scribd.com/doc/222872377/Addendum-2-to-An-All-American-Murder

http://www.scribd.com/doc/222940115/Addendum-3-to-An-All-American-Murder
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for all you guys did to get her case looked at. My heart goes out to her sister; prayers that LE find something to give answers and peace to Christie

Is there a follow up article?
 
Thinking about this case...I lived in the area at the time.
 
There was a good turnout Saturday evening for the Christie Lynn Mullins candle light vigil behind the former Homedale Elementary School in Christie’s neighborhood on the 39th anniversary of her murder.

Following the candle light vigil at the former Homedale Elementary School, there was another vigil that was held at the southwest corner of Graceland Shopping Center by a smaller group of people for a moment of silence, reflection, and conversation.

Nycsleuth and I were present at the candle light vigil at Homedale and the vigil at Graceland.

The candle light vigil for Christie Lynn Mullins was the first news story on the late newscast on all Columbus television stations Saturday night.


http://www.10tv.com/content/stories...vigil-honors-teen-murdered-39-years-old.html#


http://www.10tv.com/content/videos/2014/08/23/christie-mullins-candlelight-vigil.jpg


http://www.nbc4i.com/video?&clipId=10505868&autostart=true
 
Thank you so much for the report, Nerosleuth. The community and media interest is very encouraging. You and Nycsleuth have shown great dedication to finding justice for Christie. I'm glad you were in attendance at the vigil. Many thanks to both of you.
 
Hi,

Just wanted to say that the excellence of this thread moved me from lurking to registering. Which is of no account on its own except as a testament to the perseverance and commitment of everyone on this forum, this thread in particular, and most of all nerosleuth and nycsleuth, who have done exceptional work exposing what happened (as did the original journalists in the 1970s).

In particular I wanted to ask nycsleuth, since your write-up of this case is really quite polished, have you considered submitting it to any magazines or newspapers, online or not, that accept longform journalism? I was all fired up to submit your link to longform.org but since it's not published in a "normal" format but just scribd, it won't be accepted. It is absolutely worthy of publication though. It's a riveting, powerful piece.

From reading the entire thread, the ebook and the three appendices it is rather obvious who is guilty here. What burns me up though is how the authorities failed. It does not look like an honest mistake, it is either gross incompetence or blatant malfeasance. It is hard to understand why the authorities would try to frame one guy and totally protect and ignore the obvious suspect, unless they were protecting him for some reason. The problem is likely the Confidential Informant program.

Probably the Cold Case squad cannot touch this case because it could open the City of Columbus to a lawsuit and if any of the principals are still alive, because the statute of limitations does not expire on murders, they are accessories after the fact and can still be charged with crimes. If I was the victim's family, I would be suing the DA, the lead detectives, be hitting them with FOIA requests, make them expose their Confidential Informant program and try to get a Grand Jury (if it is possible, never been to Ohio, don't know their laws) or a Federal prosecutor to publish all records. I would get the FBI involved, my Congressman, my Senator. And every newspaper and TV station in the state.

This poor girl was murdered by an out of control sociopath and in my opinion the authorities deliberately, knowingly and maliciously hid the truth to protect themselves for reasons unknown. That is the ultimate betrayal and such corruption has no place in the rule of law.
 
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