Fred Abbie Perez, 72, was shot and killed outside his Santa Cruz home on February 13, 1973. Herbert Mullin drove by, made a U-turn, stopped, and shot Perez in the heart with a rifle. A neighbor witnessed the shooting and recorded Mullin’s license plate, information that led to Mullin’s quick arrest.

Mullin was charged with multiple murders including Perez’s killing. His defense raised severe mental illness, including paranoid schizophrenia, at trial; he was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in August 1973. The murder was part of a series of killings by Mullin in the Santa Cruz area during the early 1970s, a period that saw multiple serial killers active in the region.

Did anyone in Santa Cruz know Fred Perez or see him on February 13, 1973?