Disputes between children and their mothers are common around the world, and most disputes are resolved without resorting to violence. This was not the case with Rachel Mullenix and Barbara Mullenix who was murdered by her daughter Rachel Mullenix and Ian Mullen.
Who was Barbara Mullenix?
Barbara Mullenix was an actress having starred in the hit television series CSI. She appeared in small CSI episodes but it was enough to make her star-struck by the glitz and glam of Hollywood.
Barbara Mullenix never made it as an A-list Hollywood star. Her appearances on CSI episodes were for only small roles, and she only acted as an extra in movies.
Barbara Mullenix was married to Bruce Mullenix with whom she shares one daughter, Rachel Mullenix. The couple met in the mid-1980s and got married in November 1987. The couple lived in Oklahoma City, Okla, United States of America.
Shortly after Barbara Mullenix gave birth to Rachel Mullenix, she and Bruce divorced in 2002. It was at this point that Bruce moved to California to start a new life. However, Barbara Mullenix was struggling to provide for herself and her daughter Rachel Mullenix.
In 2005, Barbara Mullenix moved to California with Rachel Mullenix to live with her ex-husband Bruce. It was this move that landed her small roles in CSI episodes.
Barbara Mullenix’s troubled family story
Confessions made by Bruce Mullenix, Barbara Mullenix’s ex-husband show that Barbara had a troubled family life with both Bruce and her daughter Rachel Mullenix.
According to Bruce’s confessions, Barbara Mullenix was to quote “crazy, mean, drink”. He stated that the primary reason for his divorce from Barbara Mullenix was because Barbara had started developing a heavy drinking habit.
To quote Bruce “when Barbara Mullenix started drinking more and more, things started getting bad”. Presumably, Barbara Mullenix’s drinking problem caused her to lash out at her ex-husband and have an unstable relationship with him.
Bruce had also claimed that due to Barbara Mullenix’s bad drinking habits, she was also abusive towards her daughter Rachel Mullenix. Some sources say that Bruce claimed that Barbara Mullenix had physically abused Rachel Mullenix.
The physical abuse between Barbara Mullenix and Rachel Mullenix got so bad at one point that it warranted a phone call to the police.
To make matters worse, things started escalating more when Rachel Mullenix started seeing Ian Allen. Barbara Mullenix disapproved of the relationship and according to Bruce, Barbara Mullenix was worried that Rachel Mullenix may soon move in with Ian Allen.
A few weeks before Barbara Mullenix was murdered by Rachel Mullenix and Ian Allen, she had grounded Rachel Mullenix for breaking curfew by coming home at 1 am.
According to Rachel Mullenix, she had a good relationship with her mother Barbara Mullenix. Sources report that Rachel Mullenix referred to her childhood as being fun-filled, almost as if she was living in Disneyland.
The case of Barbara Mullenix’s murder: the crime scene
Barbara Mullenix’s body was found on September 13th floating in the water near Newport Harbor Yacht Club. When authorities found Barbara Mullenix’s body, it was badly brutalized and barely recognizable.
When authorities found Barbara Mullenix’s, it was wrapped in a sheet and she had a butter knife sticking out of her eye socket. The knife looked like it was fully stuck in Barbara Mullenix’s skull.
Initial reports said that police weren’t able to identify Barbara Mullenix’s body as it was so brutally damaged. Police were only able to identify Barbara Mullenix’s body by looking at the serial number on her breast implants.
The crime scene where Barbara Mullenix had lived with her daughter Rachel Mullenix looked like a murder had taken place and that someone did a bad job of trying to clean up the murder scene.
When police entered the apartment where Barbara Mullenix lived with Rachel Mullenix, they saw bloodstains covering the bedroom walls. Upon further investigation, police also found several knives that matched the knife they found sticking out of Barbara Mullenix’s eye.
Who did the murder, Barbara Mullenix?
After combing through the crime scene, immediately suspicions turned to Bruce Mullenix the ex-husband of Barbara Mullenix. Police had suspected he had a hand in her murder as the crime scene was the apartment that he owned and had let Barbara Mullenix and Rachel Mullenix live in.
Police had also suspected that Bruce Mullenix had murdered Barbara Mullenix because of the way he was behaving when he was being told about the death of his ex-wife. According to reports, Bruce had walked up to detectives calmly and did not have any facial expressions upon being told that Barbara Mullenix was found dead.
Police then questioned Bruce further about his whereabouts during the time in which Barbara Mullenix was murdered. Bruce had a strong alibi stating that he was in Florida when the murder happened.
After having cleared Bruce, the police immediately turned their attention to Rachel Mullenix and Ian Allen. Bruce Mullenix had given the authorities a full report about Rachel Mullenix and Ian Allen as well as informing the police about Rachel Mullenix’s and Ian Allen’s relationship.
From what was told by Bruce, the authorities deduced that Ian Allen is the murderer of Barbara Mullenix and that he was holding Rachel Mullenix involuntarily against her will.
Police set out to find Ian Allen and Rachel Mullenix. They did this by posting a nationwide bulletin that led to a sighting in Louisiana. There they found Ian Allen (supposed murderer)’s truck and Rachel Mullenix ran to the authorities screaming.
Rachel Mullenix’s testimony about the murder of Barbara Mullenix
After having found Rachel Mullenix in Louisiana with Ian Allen, the authorities took Rachel into questioning about the murder of Barbara Mullenix and why she was in Louisiana with Ian Allen.
Rachel Mullenix’s story that she told the authorities was that it was her boyfriend Ian Allen who had murdered her mother Barbara Mullenix. She also told the authorities that Ian Allen had kidnapped her and brought her to Louisianna against her own will.
The authorities weren’t buying the story Rachel Mullenix was telling them. There is surveillance footage from a convenience store that shows Rachel Mullenix roaming around freely shortly after Barbara Mullenix was murdered. If she was being held captive, she wouldn’t have been able to walk around a convenience store freely.
While in questioning, Rachel Mullenix kept breaking out and repeating over and over again that she did not kill her mother Barbara Mullenix.
Ian Allen’s testimony on the murder of Barbara Mullenix
While Rachel Mullenix was being interrogated in one room, in another the authorities were getting ready to question Ian Allen.
According to reports, Ian Allen was ready to confess to everything that happened the day Barbara Mullenix was murdered. Police were able to find out why Ian Allen and Rachel Mullenix were in Louisana days after Barbara Mullenix was found dead.
Ian Allen confessed that Rachel Mullenix had claimed that her mother, Barbara Mullenix had abused her and that Barbara Mullenix hated him and wanted to find a way to get him fired from his job.
According to Ian Allen and Rachel Mullenix, Barbara Mullenix did threaten Ian Allen once by saying that if he didn’t leave her daughter alone she would call the police on him.
Ian Allen also stated that Barbara Mullenix grounding Rachel Mullenix was the last straw for Rachel and that she told him she wanted to run away.
Ian Allen had confessed that he listened to Rachel Mullenix to the point where he took her advice and murdered Barbara Mullenix.
On the night that Barbara Mullenix was murdered in her apartment, Ian Allen entered the apartment through the back door and grabbed two knives from the kitchen. Ian Allen said it took him 1 hour just to go up to the bedroom because he was nervous to carry out the act.
Ian Allen and Rachel Mullenix had both stabbed Barbara Mullenix 52 times according to the confession made by Ian Allen. Regards to the butter knife sticking out of Barbara Mullenix’s eye socket, Ian Allen confessed that he intended that strike to be the strike that killed her but it only got lodged in her skull and made her scream.
Where are Ian Allen and Rachel Mullenix now?
After the harrowing testimony given by Ian Allen to the authorities, Ian Allen and Rachel Mullenix were both convicted of the murder of Barbara Mullenix.
Ian Allen had hoped that his confession and fessing up to being the one who perpetrated the crime would ease and minimize Rachel Mullenix’s involvement in the crime, however, authorities and the court did not buy that Rachel had a little part in the murder of her mother Barbara Mullenix.
According to the prosecutor of this case Sonia Ballester, Rachel Mullenix to quote “Is not capable of feeling anything at all” as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Prosecutors of this case believe that although Ian Allen laid a fatal blow to Barbara Mullenix, it was Rachel Mullenix who was the true mastermind and criminal behind this horrific crime.
The stories that Rachel Mullenix told to the authorities of her childhood feeling magical and like Disneyland were most likely lies she told herself to cope with the fact that her mother was a heavy drinker. It was the fact that Barbara Mullenix did not approve of her daughter’s relationship with Ian Allen that drove Rachel Mullenix over the edge.
Rachel Mullenix was a love-struck 17-year-old who fell deeply in love with Ian Allen and could not take the fact that her mother Barbara Mullenix disapproved and tried to “control” her life.
Rachel Mullenix was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Barbara Mullenix. In 2010, Rachel Mullenix filed an appeal for her conviction claiming that there was misconduct regarding the way the prosecution dealt with her case. The appeal was denied, and up till today, Rachel Mullenix is still serving time in prison.
As for Ian Allen, after confessing to the murder of Barbara Mullenix the court convicted Ian Allen on the charge of first-degree murder. Ian Allen received the same sentence as Rachel Mullenix and is also currently still serving time in prison.
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