Murder of Alijah Mullis

On January 29, 2008, in Galveston County, Texas, United States, three-month-old Alijah Mullis (born October 29, 2007) was found dead along a roadside at Seawall Boulevard. Investigations later connected the victim's father as a suspect behind the murder, and the father, Travis James Mullis (September 20, 1986 – September 24, 2024), surrendered himself and confessed to the crime.

According to Mullis's confession, he had sexually assaulted Alijah before he strangled the infant and stomped on his head several times, which led to the death of Alijah. The murder of Alijah Mullis was regarded as one of the most shocking crimes to happen in Texas during that year.^[1]

Mullis was found guilty of murdering the child and sentenced to death in 2011. After waiving his appeals, Mullis was executed on September 24, 2024.^[2][3]

On January 29, 2008, Travis James Mullis, then 21 years old, reportedly drove his car with his three-month-old son Alijah in the backseat after he argued with his girlfriend, Caren Kohberger. After he parked his car at Galveston, Mullis proceeded to assault his son sexually. When Alijah cried, Mullis strangled the infant, followed by stomping on his head several times, crushing his skull and leading to his death.^[4][5][6]

After he killed Alijah, Mullis disposed of the body by throwing it at the roadside around Seawall Boulevard. Alijah's body was subsequently discovered by a married couple, Jesse and Esmeralda Zaro, who were both searching for wildlife when they made the discovery.^[7][8]

Meanwhile, after murdering Alijah, Mullis fled Texas and went on the run for three days, and a warrant of arrest was issued for Mullis.^[9][10] On February 1, 2008, Mullis surrendered himself to the police in Philadelphia, where he confessed to the murder.^[11][12] Mullis was later extradited back to Texas, where he was charged with the murder of his son.^[13] Mullis's girlfriend was arrested in New York in February 2008,^[14] and charged with child endangerment for entrusting Alijah to the care of Mullis despite her knowledge of Mullis's psychiatric condition and that Mullis might hurt her child.^[15]

Born on September 20, 1986, Mullis was orphaned at about ten months old when his mother died, his father having abandoned the family shortly after his birth. Due to this, Mullis was adopted by his uncle and aunt, Gary and Anne Mullis, who became his foster parents, and he grew up in Abingdon, Maryland. Gary Mullis sexually abused the boy for three years, until he was six; Gary was convicted and incarcerated for molestation.^[5][16]

After the age of four, Mullis often received psychiatric treatment for several psychological problems, including suicidal and homicidal behavior. Mullis reportedly had symptoms of hearing voices and getting flashbacks of his childhood sexual abuse whenever he molested others. When he was 13, Mullis was caught for molesting his eight-year-old cousin and he was thus sent to the Jefferson School in Maryland, a school for emotionally troubled juveniles. Mullis spent four years at the juvenile school before he was released at 17. Mullis later moved to Texas when he was 18, and he later lived with his girlfriend, with whom he had a son, Alijah James Mullis, who was born on October 29, 2007.^[5][17]

Before his arrest for murder in 2008, Mullis had a history of molesting young children.^[5][18]

Travis Mullis stood trial before a Galveston County jury on March 7, 2011, for the murder of Alijah Mullis. During the trial itself, the videotape confession of Mullis was played out; during his questioning by police (including Philadelphia Detective Robert Hesser), Mullis confessed to killing Alijah due to his incessant cries, stating that it was the only way to stop his son's crying. He also told police that he was remorseful for the death of Alijah.^[19][20] Hesser, who interviewed Mullis before his extradition from Philadelphia to Texas, stated that Mullis had admitted to harming Alijah during the interrogation.^[21]

On March 11, 2011, the jury took one hour of deliberation before they reached their verdict, finding Mullis guilty of murdering his son.^[22] Upon conviction, Mullis faced either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.^[23]

During the sentencing trial of Mullis, several children who had previously been molested by Mullis were summoned as witnesses. In addition, Mullis came into contact with his biological family members nearly 23 years after being separated from them at nine months of age. The defense asked for Mullis to be shown leniency on humanitarian grounds due to his troubled childhood and pushed for life without parole, but the prosecution requested the death penalty due to the aggravating factors behind the crime.^[24][25][26] At that point, Alijah's grandmother Carolyn Entriken told the court that her grandson was "extraordinarily beautiful" and stated how precious he was to her; Entriken later died in 2022.^[27]

On March 21, 2011, Mullis was sentenced to death after the 12 jurors unanimously agreed to impose the death penalty.^[28][29][30]

After his sentencing, Mullis stated several times that he wanted to be executed and did not appeal against his sentence, although he later appealed. On April 25, 2012, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed to process and granted the request by Mullis to waive his right to appeal; this was the first time he expressed his intention to not appeal.^[31][32]

After this, Mullis changed his mind in July 2013 and appealed to the federal courts, after the Texas statute of limitations of state appeals for Mullis had expired. In the federal appeals, Mullis's lawyers argued that his sentencing was unconstitutional due to ineffective trial counsel and asked that the death sentence be overturned in his case as it breached his constitutional rights. However, the federal courts rejected these arguments and upheld the death penalty in Mullis's case.^[33]

In July 2018, Mullis once again asked to fast-track his execution and forgo his remaining rights to appeal.^[34][35]

In 2021, U.S. District Judge George Hanks found that Mullis was mentally competent to waive his remaining rights to appeal, and approved his motion to waive his appeals.^[5]

In June 2023, Shawn Nolan, Mullis's lawyer, told the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the state courts erred in ruling that his client was mentally competent to decide on whether to forgo his right to appeals, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Hanks's verdict and approved Mullis's decision to not appeal further in his case.^[36][37]

On May 23, 2024, Mullis's death warrant was issued, which scheduled his execution to take place on September 24, 2024, which was four days after his 38th birthday.^[38]

Mullis was one of the five inmates across five different states in the U.S. who were slated to be executed within one week between September 20 and September 26, 2024. All five were executed. The other four inmates were Freddie Eugene Owens, who murdered a convenience store clerk in South Carolina in 1997; Marcellus Williams, charged for the fatal stabbing of a former reporter in Missouri in 1998; Alan Eugene Miller, charged with the murder of three people in a 1999 spree shooting in Alabama; and Emmanuel Littlejohn, charged with the robbery and killing of a convenience store owner in Oklahoma in 1992.^[39][40] One of these five inmates, Marcellus Williams, was executed on the same date as Mullis despite his claims of innocence.^[41][42] Another one of them, Owens, was executed on September 20.^[43]

During the final months leading up to his tentative execution date, Mullis did not appeal to stay his execution or file for clemency to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.^[44] He additionally stated, "It was my decision that put me here."

On September 24, 2024, Mullis was executed by lethal injection at Huntsville Unit.^[45][46] In his last words, he thanked prison officials and staff for "changes made across the system" that allowed rehabilitation to be possible for even the condemned, and he apologized to his son's mother and her family, stating he regretted causing the death of Alijah but had no regrets for welcoming death and giving up his appeals against the death penalty. Mullis was pronounced dead at 7:01pm after a single dose of pentobarbital was administered to him. Mullis was the fourth inmate put to death in 2024 in Texas.^[47]

Shawn Nolan, Mullis' defense attorney, wrote in a statement that his client had "always accepted responsibility" for the awful crime he committed and that "Texas will kill a redeemed man tonight. He never had a chance at life being abandoned by his parents and then severely abused by his adoptive father starting at age 3. During his decade and a half on death row he spent countless hours working on his redemption. And he achieved it."^[48]

Jack Roady, Galveston County criminal district attorney, stated that Mullis' execution marked the "long-awaited fulfillment of a verdict rendered by a jury who heard all of the evidence." Kayla Allen, first assistant district attorney, noted that the jury's verdict had been "affirmed by 13 years of post-conviction review by higher courts." "Some acts are such egregious violations of not only the law, but of civilized standards, that society's only appropriate response is to impose the ultimate penalty on the wrongdoer," she said, noting that Alijah would have celebrated his 17^th birthday the following month.

• Capital punishment in Texas
• List of people executed in Texas, 2020–present
• List of people executed in the United States in 2024