On August 23, 1975, 14-year-old Christie Mullins was found tied up and beaten to death with a two-by-four in the woods behind the Graceland Shopping Center in Columbus, Ohio. She had gone to the shopping center with a friend to check out a cheerleading event; the friend went inside while Christie stayed outside and was later discovered by a couple walking nearby.

A mentally disabled man, Jack Carmen, was initially arrested after an alleged confession and imprisoned, but he was acquitted at a 1977 trial when his confession was shown to be coerced and he did not match witness descriptions. The case then grew cold until renewed interest and new information prompted investigators to reopen it in 2014. Christie’s body had originally been found by Henry Newell Jr., who reportedly alerted authorities at the time.

Police later received relatives’ accounts that Newell had confessed to family members before his death in 2013, describing luring Christie into the woods and killing her when she resisted. Newell died before he could be charged. The Columbus Police apologized to the Mullins family for errors in the original investigation and for Jack Carmen’s wrongful arrest. If anyone knew Christie, her movements that day, or remembers the Graceland Shopping Center area in 1975, please come forward with information.