Arrest made in San Rafael homicide cold case 50 years later

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - It took over a half-century, but through the use of DNA, Marin County deputies are saying they have named and arrested a suspect in a cold case from 1973. 

Authorities arrested 75-year-old Michael Eugene Mullen for the murder of Nina "Nadine" Fischer in Idaho on Wednesday. 

Swedish national Nina "Nadine" Fischer was killed in November 1973 during the daytime at her San Rafael home.  Her husband was at work when Mullen allegedly entered and sexually assaulted her before killing her.

The case was investigated but went cold after a lack of leads. 

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Then in 2021, the Marin County Sheriff's Office Investigations Division sent the case to the state's Department of Justice's Familial Search Program to help create investigative leads. Several months later, the department provided the sheriff's office with a lead.

With their assistance, the sheriff's office was able to confirm the lead and identify a suspect three years later. 

Lemhi County Sheriff's deputies and Idaho State Police officers arrested the 75-year-old for Fischer's murder. He was taken to the Lemhi County Jail where he remains pending his extradition to California.

It's unclear if Mullen was a Marin County resident at the time of the killing and if he knew the victim.