New charges against Richfield killer

A man convicted of killing an elderly Richfield woman is now facing murder charges in Arizona.

A grand jury in Yuma, Ariz., indicted Morris Mullins in September on first-degree murder in the slaying on an 80-year-old woman.

"We are taking steps to bringing him back to our state," deputy Yuma County Attorney James Coil told the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday.

Mullins, 23, is currently serving a life sentence in the Utah State Prison for the 2001 murder of Amy Davis, 78. The Richfield woman had been sexually assaulted and beaten to death inside her home. In a deal with prosecutors, Mullins pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and the rape charge was dismissed.

Now, he is facing the possibility of extradition to Arizona to face charges in the 2000 killing of Lilly Kraetch. The 80-year-old woman was found murdered in her home in what prosecutors described as a burglary.

"He killed her because she was home," Coil said.

However, prosecutors dismissed the case against Mullins in 2001 because of a lack of evidence. At the time, the crime lab hadn't finished testing evidence from Kraetch's home. Mullins' father was also convicted of destroying evidence, Coil said.

In the years since the case was dismissed, prosecutors said they have now obtained correspondence from Mullins implicating him in Kraetch's murder.

"Lilly deserves justice," Coil said.

Mullins was a suspect in a number of sex crimes involving elderly women. In 1999, he was accused of exposing himself to a 97-year-old woman in Montana, but reports of whether he was prosecuted for that crime were not immediately available.

His family then moved to Yuma, Ariz., where he was accused of raping an 83-year-old woman. The victim in that case was blind and could not identify Mullins, so the case was dropped.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com