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In the summer of 1975, 14-year-old Christie Mullins, a Clintonville, Ohio, resident, was found partially naked, tried up, and bludgeoned to death behind a shopping center in Columbus not far from her home on August 23.
Although Jack Carmen, a man with severe developmental disabilities, was convicted of the crime that year about a month after the incident, a subsequent trial in December 1977 proved that he was in fact innocent.
Reports state that Carmen initially entered a guilty plea, which was later revoked when concerns about his mental state surfaced. Christie's case remained unsolved for nearly 40 years until 2014, when a deceased man, Henry Newell Jr., was named the killer in the case.
Trigger warning: This article contains graphic information about violence.
On Thursday, Dead Days of Summer will revisit the tragic story of young Christie Mullins, who was taken away from the world too soon. The episode titled A Wall of Silence will air on ID on September 8, 2022, at 9:00 pm ET. The synopsis of the episode reads:
"In Ohio, police arrest a vagrant for the daytime murder of 14-year-old Christie Mullins; a journalist discovers that the suspect has an alibi, and a court acquits him; it will take four decades before someone will point to the actual killer."
The heinous murder of Christie Mullins and the wrongful conviction of Jack Carmen
On August 23, 1975, Christie Mullins was last spotted seated on a railing at the Graceland Shopping Center, a few blocks from her Clintonville home. She was subsequently discovered lifeless, battered to death, behind the shopping center. The 14-year-old was reportedly found partly naked and tied up.
Eight days after Christie was brutally murdered in the woods behind the shopping center, investigators detained a local man, Jack Carmen, with severe developmental disabilities. He was soon tried for the murder of the teen and sentenced to life in prison. This happened within two weeks after Christie's murder.
Police reports from the time state that Carmen admitted to the murder and a key eyewitness, Henry Newell Jr., named him in the case and identified him as the suspect. His guilty plea was considered the truth in the case. However, his impairments led him to admit to the killing of a girl he never met after a grueling police interrogation.
But the victim's family and the people of the community never believed he was capable of committing such a heinous murder. In addition to this, some of the accounts did not add up when other witnesses claimed to have seen Jack on the other side of the city. Jack Carmen was retried following media outrage caused by Ohio State University student journalists. He was released a few months later.
One of the journalists, while talking about Jack Carmen's retrial, reportedly said:
"I was in the courtroom the day the judge said he was vacating Jack Carmen's guilty plea. I was proud of our work then and I remain proud of it today. The work we did righted a wrong and helped to clear an innocent man."
People suspected that Henry Newell Jr. was the killer in the Christie Mullins case
The Mullins family always had suspicions that Henry Newell Jr., a former Clintonville neighbor, was likely the murderer from the very beginning, given that he reportedly discovered the crime scene while strolling through the woods surrounding Graceland. He then reached out to authorities to inform them about the crime.
Newell claimed to have witnessed Christie's killer strike her with the board that killed her. He asserted that he saw the alleged killer make the last blow and managed to flee the scene. He also claimed that he touched the board the killer used and covered Christie's face with a shirt. His stepson disputed some of the things he told detectives.
Additionally, two other relatives came forward, informing authorities that he had confessed his crime to them. Although police had enough incriminating evidence to indict Newell, it was all to no avail, considering that the revelations were made only after he died of cancer in 2013.
Sgt. Eric Pilya of the homicide cold-case unit reportedly stated:
"The suspect responsible for her death is Henry H. Newell Jr."
Offering a public apology, Pilya added:
"The Columbus Division of Police wishes to formally and publically offer an apology to the family and close friends of Christie Mullins for the lack of action taken in pursuit of Henry Newell as a suspect by investigators 40 years ago, and any hardships that may have resulted from those actions."
Dead Days of Summer on Investigation Discovery will revisit Christie Mullins' case this Thursday, September 8, 2022.
