BELLINGHAM – A man arrested in the shooting deaths of two convicted child rapists tried to plead guilty Tuesday before he had even been formally charged.
Michael Anthony Mullen, 35, who police said claimed responsibility for killing two sex offenders turned, himself in to police late Monday.
That was the same day he had pledged, in letters to the media, to start killing more sex offenders on his own hit list if police did not arrest them first.
During his initial court appearance Tuesday, Mullen said he wanted to represent himself.
“I would like to plead guilty,” he said.
According to court rules, he cannot plead guilty until his arraignment next week.
Mullen called Bellingham’s 911 center from a Bellingham restaurant about 7:30 p.m. and told them details about the killings that had not been made public, Bellingham police said.
He revealed he had shot Hank Eisses, 49, and Victor Vazquez, 68, in the head with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, according to police.
Medical Examiner Gary Goldfogel confirmed Tuesday that Eisses was shot in the back of the head at “contact range” and Vazquez was shot in the side of the head. They were found dead inside their Northwest Avenue home Aug. 27.
Police went to the restaurant and arrested Mullen while he was still on the phone with dispatchers. Mullen has no fixed address but has lived in Whatcom County most of his life.
Mullen told police he wrote letters that were sent to The Bellingham Herald and KING-TV news in Seattle that included a list of more offenders he said he would kill.
Justifications for the killings were “too broad and disjointed” to explain clearly, police Lt. Craige Ambrose said, but Mullen did mention the case of the sex offender in Idaho accused of killing a family and kidnapping two children to molest them.
The letter sent to the Bellingham Herald also states he would kill sex offenders because they are a threat to the public.
Mullen is being held in Whatcom County Jail on $1 million bail.
Mac Setter, chief criminal deputy with the prosecutor’s office, said he anticipates charging Mullen with two counts of premeditated murder. Each carries a sentence of 20 years to life. It is not a death penalty case, Setter said.
Eisses, Vazquez and their roommate, James Allen Russell, were all Level III sex offenders, those deemed most likely to reoffend.
They were at the home they shared Aug. 26 when a man who said he was an FBI agent came to the door, Russell told police.
Russell left the house around 9:30 p.m. while the supposed FBI agent was there.
When Russell got home from work around 3 a.m., he found the bodies and called police.
Mullen told investigators he was the phony agent, police said. He has no connection with the FBI.
No one else on the hit list was harmed. Police did warn all of the offenders listed about the killings and the letter threatening them.
The gun used in the killings has not been recovered, Setter said.
A witness came forward who said she had driven Mullen to the house and picked him up later but was not aware of what he was doing, Setter said. She also told investigators her handgun was missing.
The investigation is continuing to see if anyone else is involved in the killings, Ambrose and Setter said.
The killings have raised questions about whether making public the registration information of sex offenders promotes vigilantism. State legislators, who would be the ones to change the law, have said public safety outweighs the danger to offenders.
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