HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The State of Texas carried out the execution of Travis Mullis, 38, Tuesday evening in Huntsville. Mullis gave a final statement saying he was sorry for murdering his son and referring to his execution as a form of “assisted suicide.”
Mullis waived his right to appeal his 2011 capital murder conviction and death sentence.
“I don’t regret this decision, to legally expedite this process. I do regret the decision to take the life of my son. I apologize to the mother of my son, the victim’s family,” Mullis said during his final statement.
Mullis also said he was not the same man he was when he murdered his son.
No members of his, or his son’s family attended the execution. A woman listed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice as a friend of Mullis’s did witness the execution. Galveston County District Attorney Jack Roady and First Assistant District Attorney Kayla Allen also witnessed the execution. Both declined to comment following the execution but did issue prepared statements.
“Today brings the long-awaited fulfillment of a verdict rendered by a jury who heard all of the evidence. We remain grateful for their service. We are also grateful for the diligent investigation of the Galveston police officers who confronted the most disturbing facts and images possible in solving this case. My deepest thanks go to Kayla Allen, Donna Cameron, and the late Lyn McClellan –the prosecutors who faithfully carried this tragic case to trial and ensured that justice was done for Alijah Mullis,” Roady wrote.
“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. It is important to remember why we are here. Mullis sexually assaulted his three-month old son before murdering him in a brutal and unspeakable manner. A jury of twelve citizens heard the facts, and concluded that the evidence and the law required Travis Mullis to receive the ultimate penalty. Their verdict has been affirmed by 13 years of post-conviction review by higher courts. Today, the judgment of those citizens who heard all of the evidence has finally been carried out. Mullis’ son, Alijah Mullis, would have celebrated his 17th birthday next month,” Allen wrote.
An attorney for Mullis also issued a statement on the execution.
“Texas will kill a redeemed man tonight. Travis Mullis committed an awful crime and has always accepted responsibility. He never had a chance at life being abandoned by his parents and then severely abused by his adoptive father starting at age three. During his decade and a half on death row he spent countless hours working on his redemption. And he achieved it. The Travis that Texas wanted to kill is long gone. Rest in Peace TJ,” wrote Shawn Nolan, Chief, Capital Habeas Unit, Federal Defender for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Mullis confessed to the crime in 2008 after driving for three days and eventually winding up at a police station in Philadelphia. Court records read Mullis walked into the police station and told an officer he believed he was wanted in Texas on murder charges. Mullis then wrote a six-page long statement and gave an hour-long videotaped confession to two homicide detectives.
“I regret everything that I’ve done, and I’m willing to take any and all consequences that come about the situation,” Mullis said during his confession on Feb. 1, 2008.
Mullis explained on Jan. 29, 2008, he, his girlfriend and newborn son were living with a friend because they didn’t have money for a place of their own. Around 2 a.m., his girlfriend asked him to go to the store to get cigarettes and candy bars. Mullis said he woke up his friend’s 8-year-old daughter and asked her to accompany him to the store. Mullis said on the way back from the store he stopped at the little girl’s school, and they both walked to the playground.
“At that time, I had asked her to take her pants off, she said, ‘no.’ She started to cry, she got scared, I also got startled,” Mullis told detectives. “I was upset about what I was doing. I knew that it was wrong. So, I told her, ‘Let’s just go home.’”
Mullis said he was having “flashbacks” to when he was molested as a child.
“I felt that I was going to get rid of the flashbacks by, you know, acting on them, but when I got to the point where I was ready to act on them, I changed my mind knowing that it was wrong,” Mullis said.
Mullis said when he returned home, he told his girlfriend what happened.
“She got scared that we were going to be thrown out of the house because of that, she was also scared that I was, you know, that I might try to do it again. At that time, I told her that I wanted to get help and that I needed to get help, you know, before I relapse,” Mullis told investigators.
Mullis said he told his girlfriend he needed to leave for a little while to figure out next steps and make arrangements to find a place to live if they get kicked out of their friend’s trailer home.
“She told me to take Alijah with me because that way she, you know, she knows that I’m going to come back,” said Mullis.
Mullis said he then drove from Brazoria County to an isolated spot on the east end of Galveston while his son was asleep in the back seat. Mullis said his son then woke up and started crying. Mullis said he then hopped in the back seat and tried to console his son, but nothing worked.
“I had hit my breaking point with stress, and I was, you know, scared. I was panicking, I, you know, hit my breaking point and I broke at that point, I felt that the only way to make him stop crying was to kill him,” Mullis confessed.
Mullis said he strangled his son then stomped on his skull before throwing his body on the side of the road. Alijah’s body was found, along with his car seat and other items, by a passer-by. After killing his son, Mullis said he contemplated suicide before driving out of state and stopping at different churches where he got help with gas money and food. Mullis said he also pawned the car’s stereo for quick cash.
“I was scared to go to prison, and I was scared of the consequences for what I had done,” Mullis said.
Mullis told detectives he was heading to Abingdon, Maryland, where he grew up. Mullis said he met with his old “mentor” before eventually driving to Philadelphia and surrendering to police. Mullis was then convicted in 2011 of capital murder. While he made no mention in his confession, prosecutors said Mullis also molested his infant son.
