On Aug. 23, 1975 at 2:30 p.m., Clintonville police received notice of a body that had been found tied up with plastic wire and severely beaten before being dumped in the woods behind Graceland Shopping Center. The body, although not immediately identified, belonged to 14-year-old Christie Mullins.
Christie and her little sister, Kim Mullins, left their house to head over to the pool for the afternoon. On their way there, Christie reportedly left with a friend, leaving her sister to trek back home alone. After Kim arrived home a little after noon, hours ticked by and there was still no sign of Christie. Her mother grew worried, and later received the news a parent never wants to hear; Christie was dead.
Next August marks the 50-year anniversary of this murder. Although it occurred almost half a century ago, the case was only recently closed in November 2015 when the Columbus Division of Police announced that they had identified the perpetrator, who was already deceased at the time.
The age of the case makes it difficult to get in contact with anyone who worked either on the original 1975 investigative team or the 2015 team. When Christie’s case was revived in 2015, a detective named Steve Eppert led the investigation toward the discovery of the true transgressor.
“I have no contact information for [Eppert]; once they leave here, we don’t keep records of people’s emails, or phone numbers, or anything along those lines. I think anyone that was on the unit with him has also since retired,” a representative for the Cold Case Unit at the Columbus Division of Police said.
However, the detectives who initially worked on Christie’s case have been scrutinized regarding the thoroughness of the investigation. More recently, Rich Weiner, Sergeant at the Columbus Division of Police, described the investigation as “shoddy,” and Sergeant Eric Pilya echoed this sentiment, retroactively apologizing for the poor efforts of the police department in 1975.
“The Columbus Division of Police wishes to formally and publicly offer an apology to the family and close friends of Christie Mullins for the lack of action taken in pursuit of Henry Newell as a suspect by investigators 40 years ago, and any hardships that may have resulted from those actions,” Pilya said.
The mishandling of this case began with the discovery of Christie’s body. Henry Newell found her back in 1975, where she was tied up, beaten up to the point of being nearly unrecognizable, and having had her clothing tampered with (suggesting sexual intent). Newell’s alibi for the situation was logical–he claimed to have been visiting Graceland Shopping Center and taking a walk in the woods with his wife and stepson. He also claimed to have seen a man, whom he described in detail, actively attacking Christie with a wooden board moments before running him off. Newell’s wife checked for a pulse, and when one was not found, Newell ran up to the shopping center and called police with the discovery.
Later that day, Phillis Mullins reported her daughter missing and, despite Christie’s extensive injuries, was able to identify the body as her daughter’s.
A classmate of Christie’s named Carol Reeves, who met up with Christie on the day of her murder, claimed to have received a phone call from a man claiming to be a radio DJ hosting a cheerleading competition behind the shopping mall that day. Reeves invited Christie to join her, but the details of Christie’s whereabouts around this time are unclear. Kim Mullins recalls crossing paths with Reeves at times that contradict Carol’s statements. Christie’s father eventually calls Carol’s statements into question as well, but investigators never follow up.
Regarding the phone call, ReevesCarol spoke to MullinsPhillis, saying that she believed herself to be the intended target of the attack; this sparked suspicion surrounding Reeves’ evident knowledge of the crime that occurred.
However, police did not inquire further into Carol’s alleged phone call or search for any other recipients of similar calls. Additionally, they do not focus on Reeves’ involvement in the case, limiting their questioning of her to the use of a polygraph test and writing off any deceit on the so-called “important” parts of her story. This fact contributes to the skepticism surrounding the police investigation and supports claims of potentially false information being used in the investigation.
Additionally, following Christie’s murder, a pair of cut-off jeans that Newell claimed the perpetrator had been wearing were found in the woods by Christie’s father, as well as a pair of men’s bloody underwear discovered by several neighbors. Both items were turned over to police, but mention of them never surfaced in the case.
As investigators began to delve into a pool of suspects, they zeroed in on a man who closely resembled the composite sketch based on Newell’s description: Jack Carmen. Carmen was intellectually disabled and an outpatient of the Apple Creek State Institute, a behavioral health hospital.
Carmen was spotted at a Greyhound bus stop by a Columbus policeman three days following the murder, and the officer took note of his striking similarities in appearance to the sketch Newell had helped create. After calling the discovery in, Carmen was willingly brought into the station, but it is quickly evident that his intellectual abilities limited his understanding of the situation. Rather than bringing someone in who can help facilitate this interaction, police begin to interrogate Carmen for six straight hours. Over this time, officials become convinced that Carmen is the perpetrator they have been after, and he eventually confesses.
Carmen is charged with aggravated murder, rape, kidnapping, felony murder during a rape, and felony murder during a kidnapping, most of which carry the death penalty. Once the trial begins, a plea deal is accepted on Carmen’s behalf by a court-appointed lawyer to drop the rape, kidnapping, and felony murder charges and to avoid the death penalty. On Sep. 3, 1975, Carmen was sentenced to life in prison.
After the trial, people began to question the legitimacy of Carmen’s confession, including Christie’s family. The community’s concern is publicized at a town meeting on Sep. 8, followed by the formation of the “Justice for Jack” committee. Carmen then wrote a letter dismissing his lawyer and calling for another to represent him. His new attorney puts in a motion to set aside and withdraw the guilty plea due to Carmen’s questionable competency, and the motion is granted.
In May of 1976, a judge ruled in Carmen’s favor, stating that his confession was obtained in a way that violated his civil rights. The initial confession and guilty plea are both thrown out, and a new trial begins. Carmen’s defense team is quick to swing the blame to the “key witness” in Christie’s case: Henry Newell.
The prosecution and defense go back and forth over five days in court. The trial heads when Newell’s stepson takes the stand and tells a wildly different version from his parents’ of what happened on the day of Christie’s murder. After his confession, Carmen is acquitted and all charges are dropped.
And while Carmen is deemed innocent, Newell is not charged. Rather, investigators turn their attention towards sex offenders who resemble Carmen.
“The entire investigation lacked any viable information or evidence that points to the involvement of any other alternative suspect,” Pilya said.
Six months following the trial, Christie’s case goes cold. It isn’t until 2013 thatwhen John Oller, a retired lawyer, takes an interest in the case and begins to make connections investigators had missed, leading back to one man: Henry Newell.
Unfortunately, Newell died in September of 2013. Shortly after his death, Oller wrote and published a book, “An All-American Murder”. This book gained Christie’s case traction, and Columbus detectives officially reopened the case in May, 2014.
With a new team of investigators, evidence is combed over and retested and interviews are conducted. And on Nov. 6, 2015, a press conference wasis called by the cold case unit of the Columbus Division of Police where it wasis announced that Henry Newell was the man who murdered Christie Mullins.
With Newell deceased, no charges could be filed, but a public apology was issued regarding the way the case was handled in the 1970s.
“Several facets of the original investigation involved improper investigative techniques and procedures that were directly responsible for the arrest of the wrong man and the failure to follow leads that may have led to Mr. Newell as the primary suspect of this homicide,” Pilya said.
