Daemon S. Francis was a four-year-old boy from Santa Cruz who was killed on January 25, 1973. His death occurred during a series of murders carried out by Herbert Mullin, who believed his killings would prevent a catastrophic earthquake in California. On that day Mullin first went to the home of Jim Gianera, could not find him, and spoke to Kathy Francis, who now lived at that address with her two sons, David Hughes and Daemon Francis. After murdering Jim and Joan Gianera, Mullin returned to Kathy Francis’s home and shot and killed Kathy and both of her young sons, David and Daemon.

Daemon’s death was one of 13 murders in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties attributed to Mullin during the early 1970s. Mullin was arrested in February 1973, later convicted of 11 murders and confessing to two more, and received multiple life terms. Does anyone have memories of the Francis family or information about the neighborhood in Santa Cruz at that time?