Michael Eugene Mullen, a 75-year-old Idaho man, has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of Nina “Nadine” Fischer in California in 1973. Fischer, a 31-year-old Swedish national, was sexually assaulted and shot three times in her home in San Rafael while her 2-year-old daughter was unharmed in another room. Mullen was identified as a suspect through DNA evidence and was arrested near Salmon, Idaho. He is awaiting extradition to California.
The case had gone cold for decades, with no leads despite questioning witnesses and conducting investigations at the time of Fischer’s death. In 2021, the Marin County Sheriff’s Office sent the case to the California Department of Justice’s Familial Search Program, which led to a possible lead after comparing DNA from the crime scene to a database. After three more years of investigation, Mullen was identified as the suspect.
Mullen’s defense attorney, Dan Brown, has not commented on the case. The Marin County District Attorney’s office and sheriff’s office worked with law enforcement in Idaho to arrest Mullen on suspicion of murder. He is currently in custody in Lemhi County jail awaiting further legal proceedings. The arrest comes more than 50 years after Fischer’s tragic death, bringing some closure to a long-standing cold case.
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