Michael Eugene Mullen, a 75-year-old Idaho man, has been arrested for the 1973 shooting death of Nina Fischer in California. DNA evidence led investigators to identify Mullen as a suspect in the case. Fischer, a 31-year-old Swedish national, was found sexually assaulted and shot three times in her San Rafael home with her 2-year-old daughter unharmed in another room. After years of no leads, the case was sent to the California Department of Justice’s Familial Search Program in 2021. The program compared DNA from crime scenes to a database to find potential relatives of suspects. After three years of investigation, Mullen was identified as the suspect and arrested in Idaho near Salmon. He is being held in the Lemhi County jail awaiting extradition to California. Mullen’s defense attorney, Dan Brown, has not responded to messages. The Marin County Sheriff’s Office, Marin County District Attorney’s office, Idaho State Police, and Lemhi County Sheriff’s Office worked together to arrest Mullen on suspicion of murder. The case had gone cold for many years before the DNA evidence led to Mullen’s identification as the suspect.
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Man from Idaho apprehended in connection with cold case murder of woman in California dating back 51 years
