The Murder and Mistreatment of Mindy Mull's Body

[Hotsauce]

In 1194 my cousin Mindy Mull was found murdered and tied to her radiator. This thread obviously hits a little close to home for me but aside from the public records from the court hearing, there's no news stories or information. I think my family has news clippings, which I will scan and upload later if I find:

Wayne Mull pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to life without parole after a penalty phase tried to the court. In this direct appeal, Mull contends that the trial court erred by: (1) admitting testimony of two witnesses; (2) finding that the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the murder was committed by intentionally killing the victim during the commission of a burglary and attempted rape; and (3) finding that the mitigating circumstances are outweighed by the aggravating circumstances. We affirm.
Factual and Procedural Background


On July 4, 1994, Mindy Mull was found dead in her upstairs apartment. Her hands and feet were bound and her naked body was tied to a radiator. The apartment door was splintered, tool marks were found around the lock of the door, and the strike plate on the door jamb was missing a screw.
Wayne Mull, who was not related to the victim, was a tenant in a downstairs apartment of the building. After first denying any involvement, Wayne confessed to murdering Mindy. According to his confession, Wayne knocked on the door and was admitted by Mindy. He stated that the two “were holding each other and talking [and] one thing led to another.” At some point, Mindy told him to stop and struck him when he pursued his advances. He then “lost control,” stabbed her with a pair of scissors, pulled her into the kitchen by her hands, tied her to the radiator with a phone cord, and “took off.” The State initially charged Wayne with murder, attempted rape, criminal confinement, and burglary. Wayne then pleaded guilty to murder in exchange for dismissal of all other counts. The plea agreement allowed both parties to argue for penalties within the applicable statutory limitations, including life imprisonment without parole.

On September 7, 1995, the trial court sentenced Wayne to life imprisonment without parole. Wayne’s trial counsel was appointed to represent him on appeal, and although a praecipe was filed in October 1995, no appellate brief was timely filed. In January 2001, after this Court granted a petition to file a belated appeal and removed Wayne’s trial counsel as appellate attorney, the trial court appointed new counsel. After Wayne filed his appellate brief in March 2001, the State moved to remand conceding that the trial court’s sentencing order did not meet the requirements for an order imposing life without parole. See Ajabu v. State, 693 N.E.2d 921, 940 n.24 (Ind. 1998) (life without parole is subject to death penalty sentencing and requirements); Harrison v. State, 644 N.E.2d 1243, 1262 (Ind. 1995) (setting forth death penalty sentence requirements). This Court granted the motion to remand for entry of a new sentencing order. The trial court then entered a renewed sentencing order and reaffirmed the sentence of life imprisonment without parole.
I. Admitting Witness Testimony


Wayne argues that the court erred in considering the penalty phase testimony of Angela Pierson and Melissa Jo Loudy. Over Wayne’s objections, Pierson, Mindy’s roommate, testified that Mindy thought Wayne was “strange.” Loudy, another of Mindy’s friends, testified that Mindy had described Wayne as “weird” and complained that Wayne would “always watch her and always know where she was going or what she was doing [and] always stop her by the door and just sit and make conversation with her and she didn’t really want to talk to him.” The trial court admitted this testimony under Indiana Evidence Rule 803(3). See footnote That rule provides an exception to the hearsay rule for “[a] statement of the declarant’s then existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition (such as intent, plan, motive, design, mental feeling, pain and bodily health) . . . .” Relying on Komyatti v. State, 490 N.E.2d 279 (Ind. 1986), Wayne argues that this was error because the victim’s state of mind prior to the murder was irrelevant. He contends that comments made by the victim at some unknown point in time prior to the crime had no relevance to the charged aggravated circumstances, which were that the defendant intentionally killed the victim in the course of both a burglary and an attempted rape. He further argues that at the time these statements were admitted, Wayne had not placed the victim’s state of mind at issue.
Hearsay is “a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” Ind. Evidence Rule 801(c). Here, the testimony that Mindy viewed Wayne as “strange” or “weird” was not offered to prove that he was in fact strange or weird. Similarly, Loudy’s testimony that Mindy complained about Wayne’s watching her and his repeated attempts to engage her in conversation was not offered to prove that these events occurred. Rather, this evidence was offered to prove that Mindy did not consensually admit Wayne into her apartment or voluntarily have sexual intercourse with him.
We believe the trial court correctly found this evidence to be relevant. Wayne placed Mindy’s state of mind in issue by claiming that the sexual activity was consensual. Moreover, defense counsel placed the victim’s state of mind in issue by cross-examining the detective as to Wayne’s claim that the victim admitted Wayne to her apartment. Mindy’s recently expressed opinions of Wayne make it less likely that she would either have admitted him to her apartment or engaged in consensual sex with him.
II. Intent to Commit Burglary and Attempted Rape
Were Proven Beyond Reasonable Doubt

Before a defendant can be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for murder, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of at least one aggravating circumstance listed in Indiana Code section 35-50-2-9(b). Here, the trial court found, beyond reasonable doubt, that Wayne intentionally killed Mindy while committing burglary and attempted rape. Wayne argues that the trial court could not find either of these aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt.
Here, the trial court found an intentional killing in the commission of an attempted rape. Indiana Code section 35-42-4-1 states that “a person who knowingly or intentionally has sexual intercourse with a member of the opposite sex when . . . the other person is compelled by force or imminent threat of force” commits rape. Indiana Code section 35-41-5-1 defines attempt in relevant part: “A person attempts to commit a crime when, acting with the culpability required for the commission of the crime, he engages in conduct that constitutes a substantial step toward commission of the crime.” Wayne argues that although he admitted that he continued to try to have intercourse with Mindy after she told him to stop, there was no evidence that this occurred by use of force or the imminent threat of force.
Mindy was found naked, bound hand and foot, and tied to a radiator in the kitchen of her apartment. She was lying in a pool of blood with a blood-soaked blanket beneath her and a pillow at her head. On the pillow was a bloody pair of scissors. The autopsy revealed that Mindy had black eyes (bleeding around and in the eyes), abrasions to her nose and left cheek, contusions and abrasions of her knuckles. There were abrasions on her knees, ligature marks on her wrists and ankles from being tightly bound. On the upper back, at the base of her neck, there was a large area of bruising indicating she had been struck there at least twice. On her leg were contusions corresponding to the configuration of the radiator to which she was tied, indicating that she struggled against the radiator. The cause of her death was a severed carotid artery that, according to the forensic pathologist, would have caused her to bleed to death within a minute or two of receiving the fatal stab wounds. A detective testified that he observed scratches on the defendant within two days of the murder. A forensic DNA analyst testified that the two blood stains on a blouse found in the victim’s apartment contained DNA consistent with both Wayne’s and Mindy’s. Another forensic expert testified that pubic hairs similar to Wayne’s sample were found on the victim and in various places in the victim’s apartment. This is more than enough evidence to support the trial court’s finding that Wayne intentionally killed Mindy during the commission of attempted rape.
Wayne next contends that the trial court erred in finding that he intentionally murdered the victim while committing burglary. Burglary is breaking and entering with intent to commit a felony. I.C. § 35-43-2-1. Wayne argues that the victim let him into the apartment after he knocked on the door and his intent to commit a felony only arose after Mindy hit him. He points out that the State never recovered any tool or instrument that was allegedly used to cause damage to the door. He also contends that Mindy’s roommate failed to notice any damage to the door when she returned to the apartment immediately before finding the victim.
Mindy’s friends testified that Mindy thought Wayne was “strange” and “weird” and would not be allowed into the apartment alone. There was fresh damage to the door and door jamb. The landlord testified that he replaced the locks on the apartment when Mindy and her roommate moved in about three weeks before the murder, and the roommate was certain that the door was not damaged when she left the apartment the day before she found Mindy’s body. Once in the apartment, the evidence of multiple felonies including confinement and battery is obvious."

Sorry for the length, I did not include the entire document but what I felt was important.

Here are some details that were left out for unknown reasons, or kept exclusively in the family:

-Mindy had been repeatedly raped before and after her death, and she also had not been discovered until almost a full week after the murder because her room mate was on holiday

-based on circumstantial evidence and neighbors testimony there is reason to believe he spent two nights in Mindy's apartment, during which he indeed engage in post mortem intercourse.

-the radiator was on when she was tied to it, and clicked on and off throughout the week. I'm not sure why this is left out, but she basically cooked on it and one of her eye balls began to pop out of socket

Lastly, and I can not find any news reports although I'm sure it's because it's been a well kept secret, Mindy's body was originally set to be buried in Earlier cemetery. However, another employee stepped forward to say he had witnessed a coworker fondling Mindy's corpse's breasts while masturbating. This employee was custodial staff who should not have had access to any bodies and was fired and arrested. Mindy's body was laid to rest in the next town over, Centerville, Indiana.

I scrubbed the internet and could not find any mugshots or photographs of Wayne mull.

[Hotsauce]

Here is an official document noting that Mindy's burial plot and body was relocated.

[Hotsauce]

I was born December 18th of that year....she died at age 20 and I'm here age now. I live in an apartment building and I'm so glad to know my neighbors. And for my bank vault like doors.

[vagabond]

I am sorry this happened to your cousin and your family. What a horrible death- that POS should go the same way.

[Susan]

You look quite similar, esp round the eyebrows.

[Susan]

Indiana Department of Correction
Offender Data


WAYNE A MULL

DOC Number 954934
First Name WAYNE
Middle Name A
Last Name MULL
Suffix
Date of Birth 09/10/1965
Gender Male
Race White
Facility/Location Pendleton Correctional Facility


Sentence Information
Date of Sentence 09/07/1995
Description MURDER
Term in Years / Months / Days





LIFE


Type of Conviction M
Indiana Citation Code 35-42-1-1
Cause Number 89C01-9407-CF-085
County of Conviction WAYNE
Projected Release Date 00/00/0000

[Megamel29]

How horrid. I'm so sorry for what happened to your cousin. I'm glad they caught the guy and he is locked up for life. What a creep. And this happened only a few weeks after she moved into the apartment?

[Hotsauce]

Originally Posted by Megamel29

How horrid. I'm so sorry for what happened to your cousin. I'm glad they caught the guy and he is locked up for life. What a creep. And this happened only a few weeks after she moved into the apartment?

Yes from what I understand he really bothered her the ENTIRE time she lived there

[Amy]

Memorial passage:

IN REMEMBRANCE
When I was a young girl, I had a best friend named Mindy Mull. She was a unique soul, funny, talented, and always left you wondering what she was going to do next. She had this way of throwing her head back as she laughed, as though everything in life had this beautiful, comedic twist that would just be shameful to ignore. She made friends easily, injecting this spirited nature into every interaction she had with others, and epitomized what it truly meant to be a ‘free spirit’.

Many nights were spent singing along to Beatles and Janis Joplin records while playing ping-pong in her basement, or hanging out at our local skating rink. We shared a lot of 'first times', and she was the one person I could confide in about anything. I remember her drawing pictures of some of our more interesting classmates in Algebra, making me erupt with laughter and eliciting a stern glance from the teacher, and the time we had Saturday school together and she tried to convince to eat all the principals' donuts.

To this day, I have never met anyone quite like her.

As we got older, well into our high school years, we didn’t hang out quite as often. We were still friends, but on different paths I suppose. Both trying to find ourselves and figure out what it was we were supposed to do with the next 16 years of our lives. We drifted into different social circles, and for reasons I can’t even remember now, ended up in a huge fight. Two weeks before graduation.

As our class went through all the typical pomp and circumstance preparations on that muggy June night, we ran into each other and exchanged hateful words. I felt myself starting to tear up, and wondering just what had happened between us. I wanted to cry and throw a punch at her all at the same time, and for the first time in my life really felt a ‘hatred’ for someone. What should have been a joyous celebration felt more like a burden I couldn’t wait to be done with, just so I would never have to see her again.

She died one month later.

She had moved into an apartment on the south side of town with a friend of hers. They lived above a guy that was obviously creepy enough that they made a pact never to let him in unless both of them were home. On July 4, 1994, she was attending a holiday party, and returned to her apartment around 11pm. Alone and intoxicated. It was never 100% determined whether the neighbor broke in, or if, in a moment of inebriated weakness, she let her guard down and let him in. He then proceeded to brutally rape her, leaving black and blue marks all over her arms, lower back, and eyes. As she tried to fight him off, he grabbed a pair of scissors and stabbed her in the neck repeatedly, severing her carotid artery. He then bound her wrists and feet, and left her naked, bloody body tied to the kitchen radiator.

Her roommate found her later that night.

It was one of the most gruesome crimes ever to happen in Wayne County, Indiana.

I remember keeping a scrapbook of all the newspaper clippings from the investigation-his trial, the autopsy reports, anything that gave me a little piece of her to hold onto. I felt so much guilt over what had happened, and couldn’t believe that, at such a young, naive age, had experienced my first loss. Not by natural causes, which is hard enough to digest, but by a cold-blooded killer. And as much as it hurt, I couldn’t stop myself from reading it. Each day I would reach into the mailbox for the newspaper and splattered across the top were the horrifying headlines and menacing face of the man who took her life. At 18 years of age.

She never even got a chance to live.

So, now, with every passing breath, I ask myself, "Do you want to give up the opportunity to tell someone how you feel?" I've always found the answer to quietly resonate 'no'.

http://www.wiltedrose.com/prose.html

You may be able to write that woman to get copies of her scrap book.

[Amy]

Court document. Full.

http://www.in.gov/judiciary/opinions...50201.trb.html