The hunt for a killer in Central City | Forensic Files

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At 9 o’clock on the morning of Friday October 2 1987, police officers in the small Kentucky
town of Central City received a call that they needed to head out to a possible crime scene
a few blocks away. An employee of the town’s municipal department, located on Legion Drive,
had noticed something strange upon arriving at work. Parked haphazardly behind the
department’s garage was a battered-looking 1977 Chevrolet Pontiac that looked very out of place.
The employee had gone up to the seemingly abandoned car to get a closer look. What he discovered led him to contact the police.
Lieutenant Billy Fields rushed to the scene and was the first responder to arrive.
He immediately recognised the Pontiac. With a population of just 5000, Central City was small.
Degrees of separation between residents were few. The vehicle hadn’t been reported stolen. Nor had anyone filed a missing person’s report
for its owner. Fields peered through the windows, but couldn’t see anyone inside.
While examining the vehicle’s exterior, Fields sighted what prompted the municipality employee
to summon authorities. Dripping from the locked trunk towards the ground were several streaks of what appeared to be blood. A locksmith was summoned,
who was able to unlock the trunk and lift the lid, revealing the grisly scene within.
Inside the Pontiac’s trunk was the naked body of a woman, wrapped in a blanket and lying in the
foetal position. Her body was so badly battered and mutilated that she was unrecognisable. Blood
caked her skin and hair in such excess, officers couldn’t even determine her race.
Eventually, police identified that the victim was the car’s owner, 20-year-old Corinna Mullen.
Corinna had been tortured before she died. She’d been stabbed twice, cut in the neck,
and struck multiple times in the throat, either with a weapon or the culprit’s fist.
There were so many abrasions that the medical examiner couldn’t figure out where one injury
ended and another began. There were bruises on her back and arms, and one of her nipples had
been sliced off. Defensive wounds on her hands and wrists indicated that she’d put up a fight.
Although the examiner didn’t detect any semen, it was obvious Corinna had endured
severe trauma to her genitals. A rape kit was taken. Cause of death was asphyxiation.
Whoever had attacked Corinna had repeatedly hit her in the head with a blunt instrument, which
had broken her nose. This in turn blocked her airways and made it impossible for her to breathe.
Trace amounts of cannabis and a prescription painkiller were found in Corinna’s system,
but she hadn’t been impaired by either drugs or alcohol at the time of her death.
Central City was a town that saw its fair share of crime, primarily in the form of illicit drug
dealings. But this was a murder of exceptional brutality and it sent shockwaves through the
community. The town’s small size meant that most of the population had learned of Corinna’s
murder within hours of her body being discovered. Rumours and speculation as to who was responsible
ran rife. Tim Williams, a novelist who grew up in the area and was then a teenager who knew Corinna,
later wrote that he and his acquaintances began to fear a serial killer was on the loose in
Central City. But others suspected Corinna had been targeted by someone closer to home.
The investigation into Corinna Mullin’s murder was jointly conducted by the Muhlenberg
County Sheriff’s Department, with Sheriff Harold McElvain at the helm, and the Central City Police Department. Billy Fields led Central City’s investigation.
This was a personal case for the Lieutenant. Like other members of the local law enforcement,
he had come to know Corinna when she performed clerical work at the station. Corinna had incurred a fine and the clerical duties were a form of community service.
Investigators worked to piece together Corinna’s last known movements. Six weeks earlier, Corinna had moved into an apartment on the northern end of Central City.
But she’d suddenly decided she wanted to resume living with her parents, Claude and Patricia Mullen. At the time of her death, she was in the process of moving
back home to the more rural area where they lived - 10 miles outside of town. Corinna was a single mother to a two-year-old girl named Stephanie, who she completely adored.
Corinna’s parents were supportive and helped her care for her daughter. Claude and Patricia told police that they’d last seen Corinna the day before her body was found,
when she’d dropped Stephanie off at their home so she could enjoy a night out with friends.
The plan was for her to return the next morning. Corinna resided at the Hillwood Village Apartments with her roommate, 21-year-old Angela Smith.
Like Corinna, Angela was a single mother with a toddler, and the two women bonded
over their shared experiences. Within a few short weeks, they became good friends.
Investigators made their way to Hillwood Village to search Corinna’s apartment.
The complex was spread out across six separate two-storey, brick buildings, with green lawns and an outdoor parking lot in the middle. The apartment itself was tiny, with
the two women’s bedrooms divided by a thin wall. Corinna’s bedroom became a second crime scene.
Officers snapped photographs and took 23 items into evidence. Discarded on the floor by her bed were a pair of men’s Lee brand jeans
and a pair of men’s underwear. The bed itself was covered in blood, as was the floor.
Angela Smith was stunned to learn what had happened to her roommate. She last saw Corinna on Thursday the 1st. With their children in the care of others,
Angela and Corinna decided to make the most of their night off from parenting and headed to a bar in the city of Owensboro, 35 miles north of Central City.
The pair took a Valium each and after a few drinks, returned home at around 11:30.
They watched television together for a little while, then Angela went to bed. She’d slept soundly and hadn’t heard any unusual noises during the night. But at some point,
Corinna was attacked, then either left or was taken from the apartment. Other residents of the Hillwood Village apartments were interviewed.
None said they’d heard anything untoward on the night in question, even though the
building’s ceilings were thin and noise carried easily. However, several Central City locals
came forward claiming they’d seen Corinna or her car on the night of the murder. One had
spotted Corinna sitting in her Chevrolet outside of a restaurant on South 2nd Street at 11:30PM.
Two women, Dana Morris and Tracy Vincent, had been parked in a shopping centre parking lot two
hours later, when they saw Corinna’s car drive by. But there was no sign of Corinna. The only person
inside the vehicle was a man behind the wheel. When investigators asked the women if they could
identify the driver, they said that he looked a lot like a local 19-year-old named Jimmy Springer.
Corinna Mullen had started dating Jimmy Springer six months earlier. Although a year younger than
Corinna, Springer was 6 foot two and well-built, making him look older than his 19-years.
He worked odd jobs, primarily physical ones in construction or maintenance. Corinna’s family weren’t thrilled about the relationship. On multiple occasions,
she had called her parents upset because the two had argued. Once, she went over to their house
with her face scrubbed bright red. Corinna explained that during a fight, Springer had
taken a washcloth and vigorously rubbed her face to remove the make up she was wearing.
Concerned, Claude Mullen told his daughter to end the relationship and move back home. She agreed.
Corinna’s housemate Angela told police that when she’d gone to bed on the night of October 1,
Corinna had asked her to leave the front door unlocked in case Springer came by later.
Angela agreed with Corinna’s parents that the relationship was a stormy one and that Springer was a jealous partner.
Being Corinna’s boyfriend, Springer was an obvious suspect. He told investigators that he’d also been out in Owensboro on the night of Thursday October 1,
but he hadn’t spent time with Corinna. Instead, he’d smoked cannabis, then drank at a bar with two
friends, Jimmy Jones and Dale Duncan. At around 11PM, they drove back to Dale’s house,
before Springer decided to head over to Corinna’s apartment. He suspected that she
was upset with him for going out with his friends and wanted to check in with her.
Springer approached the apartment. The front door was unlocked. He walked in and made his way to
Corinna’s bedroom. The door was closed. Springer turned the handle, but it was locked. He noticed
two small smudges of what looked like blood on the door, but thought nothing of it.
Assuming Corinna must be out, Springer got back in his car and drove around downtown
Central City looking for her. After searching unsuccessfully for between 15 and 20 minutes,
he gave up. He went back to his friend Dale’s house, where he stayed overnight.
Springer didn’t go home until the next morning, when Corinna’s body was found. Investigators weren’t buying his story. Springer’s tale about finding Corinna’s
bedroom door locked and smeared with blood seemed especially suspicious. Why hadn’t he called the
police or been more concerned? They theorised that something caused him to become jealous that night.
Then, fuelled by drugs and alcohol, he killed Corinna in a violent rage. When the Mullens learned that Corinna’s boyfriend was a suspect,
they pleaded with Springer and his family not to attend her funeral. When Corinna was laid to rest three days after her body was recovered, they stayed away.
Almost two weeks after their first conversation with Springer, investigators asked to speak
with him again. They hadn’t recorded his initial interview or taken any notes, so this time they aimed to obtain a signed statement. While providing his version of events,
Springer made a number of remarks that officers deemed suspicious. Their focus on him intensified.
In late October that year, Jimmy Springer was put behind bars. He was held on charges
of grand larceny, accused of stealing a 3000 dollar computer monitor from his workplace.
When security guards questioned Springer following the theft, he referenced the murder of Corinna Mullen in a highly suspicious manner.
The guards then passed this intel onto the police. While sitting in his jail cell in late November,
eight weeks after Corinna was found in the trunk of her car, Springer was indicted for her murder.
Springer pled guilty to grand larceny and served a sentence in Nashville, then authorities handed him over to Muhlenberg County in March 1988. Corinna’s family were
relieved that her killer was behind bars and would have to answer for his crimes.
Meanwhile, investigators were steadily building their case. Some forensic evidence existed in the form of blood and hair samples taken from Corinna’s body,
but these were assumed to have come from Corinna and were never compared to Jimmy Springer.
Although a rape kit had been collected, it was never tested. And there wasn’t much available
in terms of eyewitness reports. No one had seen any blood on Springer around the time of Corinna’s murder. Nor had they seen him with her body.
Detectives primarily focused on circumstantial evidence. Springer had a history of drug abuse and criminal behaviour.
As Corinna’s boyfriend, he was the most likely suspect. Two people were almost certain they’d
seen him driving her car at 1:30AM on the night in question. And his story about leaving her
apartment after finding her bedroom door locked smeared with blood sounded too absurd to be true.
Jimmy Springer’s trial began in July 1988. He pleaded not guilty. The prosecution called
multiple law enforcement officers to testify, as well as witnesses Dana Morris and Tracy Vincent,
who were sure they’d seen Springer behind the wheel of Corinna’s car. Springer took the stand in his own defence, telling the court that he’d been extremely
disturbed by Corinna’s murder and was in no way responsible. He’d maintained his innocence from
the beginning, even though he’d felt pressured to confess during his second interview with police.
The interviewing officers had reassured him that they understood why he’d killed Corinna, that he’d
done it “out of love”. Springer vehemently denied making certain incriminating remarks,
which police had attributed to him. When the prosecutor responded by asking if he
was alleging a police officer had “made a false statement”, Springer retorted: “I believe he has.
He’s not the first person that’s said something false in this case.” Jimmy Springer’s friends Dale Duncan and Jimmy Jones also testified, backing up the
alibi that he provided for the night of October 1 1987. He was with them for the entire night,
except for a period of 15 to 20 minutes when he went looking for Corrinna. Dale said Springer returned straight back to his home and stayed overnight.
The trial lasted just three days. During his closing address, the prosecutor instructed the jury to ignore how clean cut Springer looked as he sat in court.
Instead, he asked them to picture Springer as the violent, drug-fuelled individual that he would
have been on the night of the murder. In contrast, Springer's attorney argued that the prosecution
did not meet their burden of proving Springer was guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt”, stating:
“I say to you again that Jim Springer is not guilty of murdering Corinna Mullen.”
It took one hour for the jury to reach a verdict. Jimmy Springer was found not guilty.
Corinna’s family was devastated. Following the trial, Muhlenberg County authorities declared the case effectively closed. Unless
evidence emerged implicating another person in the crime, they would not be investigating it.
As far as they were concerned, the person responsible had been tried and got away with it.
In December 1988, police returned Corinna’s 1977 Chevrolet to her parents. Upon receiving the car, Claude and Patricia Mullen decided to look inside. A number of innocuous
items were scattered around the vehicle. Then they checked under the driver’s seat.
Wedged beneath the seat was a knife, caked in dried blood and human hairs. Discovering the weapon used against their daughter was not only traumatising;
it affirmed Claude and Patricia’s growing belief that detectives had botched the
investigation into her murder. The Central City police chief defended the oversight,
noting: “It’s possible that [the knife] could’ve been overlooked. With it being lodged
down in the seat, it’s possible that we could have missed that.” The knife was sent to state authorities for testing.
Entirely dubious of the Central City Police Department’s ability to do their job, the Mullens
requested that the case also be transferred to Kentucky State Police. Their request was granted.
Neither the discovery of the blood-stained knife nor the transfer of the case led to
the breakthrough that the Mullens were hoping for. By the beginning of 1989, they were still awaiting
lab results. Eventually, they found out that nothing significant was uncovered from the knife.
They continued to petition for Corinna’s case to be solved, while also raising her now
four-year-old daughter Stephanie. Claude Mullen told Kentucky newspaper the Messenger-Inquirer:
“It’s so hard. Truthfully, we’re not doing too good. We’re just trying to make it day to day.”
Patricia Mullen spoke of the family’s ongoing grief, stating: “As far as missing her,
I can’t put it into words how much we do. I just don’t have any answers. I don’t understand how
someone can die like that and still no one has been held responsible for it.” Meanwhile, Jimmy Springer had moved on with his life. He stayed in Central City,
but no one really bothered him about the murder. Occasionally he saw the case’s lead investigator,
Lieutenant Billy Fields around town and the officer would wave at him. Springer just ignored him. He began working for a local courier service and got married.
In an interview with the Messenger-Inquirer, Springer stated: “It’s hard, yes, but I have to go on. I still have nightmares, I still think of the way she died.
But I try to push it out of my mind. I ask myself why it was so brutal. I hate to think
about what she went through. As bad as it is for us, we know it’s worse for her parents.”
The second anniversary of Corinna’s death came and went. Then, in January 1990, an election
was held in Muhlenberg County for the position of sheriff. The incumbent was Harold McElvain,
who had helped lead the investigation into Corinna’s murder. Running against him was Wayne
Moore, who ran on the platform that he would reopen the notorious unsolved case if he won.
Moore was publicly critical of the way both agencies had coordinated their investigation,
saying: “If it had been handled properly in the first place, this thing would've been closed and there would’ve been a conviction by now.”
Wayne Moore defeated Sheriff McElvain. True to his word, he reopened the Corinna Mullen case
and appointed one of his deputies, Terry Arnett, to lead the investigation. Moore and Arnett reached out to the Central City police department to request access
to their evidence. They admitted that everything they had relating to the case had somehow been lost during the past two years. Frustrated, Moore issued
public appeals for anyone with information about Corinna’s murder to come forward.
One day, the phone rang at the Muhlenberg County Sheriff’s Office. Moore answered. An unidentified
male caller demanded to know why he was “meddling” in the Corinna Mullen case. Moore explained that he wanted it solved. The anonymous caller threatened:
“Take my advice and stay out of it, or you’ll find your ass in the Green River”, referring
to a tributary that passed right by town. Moore retorted: “I can swim”, then hung up the phone.
Over the next few days, more calls followed. During one, the caller warned Moore to
“leave things alone or somebody is fixing to tear your ass up”. In another, a menacing voice asked him to consider how much he cared about his wife and children.
Moore was undeterred. Precautions were put in place to protect his family, but he remained determined to see the case solved.
He was convinced that the threatening calls meant the killer or killers were rattled by his digging.
Moore issued a public statement via the Messenger-Inquirer, stating: “Hell or high water won't stop me. People are starting to sweat.
I think some people are really getting scared. We’ve got some good leads, but that's all they are
right now. It’s circumstantial stuff. But we’re in too deep to back out now." Requiring further assistance, Moore requested help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation
in 1992. Their cutting-edge technology was far superior to anything possessed by the Muhlenberg County’s Sheriff’s Department. Using sophisticated lasers,
F.B.I. agents spent 10 hours meticulously examining Corinna’s car. They were able to
identify some bloody prints on the boot’s exterior that had gone undetected by earlier investigators.
Moore was excited. Only the killer could have left bloodied hand prints in that spot.
If he was able to find a matching print, either already in the database or some time
down the track, he’d be well on his way to making an arrest. Moore and Deputy Arnett shared the good news with the Mullens,
while cautioning them that they still had a long way to go. But Claude was thrilled. For the first time in four years, he finally had something to feel positive about.
The Mullens’ hope dissipated when the investigation slowed again. From the outside, it appeared as though nothing was happening. Months, then years,
passed until two decades had gone by since Corinna’s murder. For that entire time, a woman
was holding onto a secret that could break the case wide open. All she needed to do was speak up.
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16-year-old Sarah (not her real name) walked alone down the Central City streets leading towards
her home. It was night time on Thursday October 1 1987, and Sarah had spent the evening at a friends
house. Central City had its murky underworld and ongoing drug-related crimes, but it was still
a small town where teenagers felt safe being out alone after dark. Sarah just reached her family’s
home when a police cruiser pulled up. Two men got out of the vehicle and walked straight up to her.
They suddenly grabbed her and dragged her into the backseat of the car. Sarah was terrified. One of the men was huge. He looked to be in his early 20s
and was six foot five inches tall with a heavyset build and a round, pudgy face. Sarah had never seen him before. But she recognised her other abductor.
Very well known around town, he was an imposing man, standing six foot three and weighing 265 pounds. It was 44-year-old Central City Police Lieutenant, Billy Fields.
The two men drove Sarah a short distance, then parked the car. As she was forced outside, she saw they were at the Hillwood Village Apartments
complex. She was marched up to one of the residences. It was the apartment Corinna Mullen shared with her flatmate, Angela Smith, both of whom
were home. Several other men were also present, including Corinna’s boyfriend Jimmy Springer,
a short 18-year-old Sarah knew named Jimmy Cramer, and another individual whom she didn’t know.
The group seemed to be just sitting around and drinking after a night out. All of a sudden, Fields began picking a fight with Corinna. Sarah couldn’t understand what
was going on, but it sounded as though they were arguing about Corinna being pregnant.
Fields suddenly grabbed Corinna and pulled her into her bedroom. The large man who had helped abduct Sarah got up pushed Sarah into the room behind them.
They were also followed by Jimmy Springer and Jimmy Cramer. Sarah heard Fields snarl at Corinna that she was going to get what she deserved. He viciously beat
Corinna with a metal bar, before throwing her on the bed and raping her in front of everyone.
He punched her repeatedly while telling her to keep her mouth shut. Cramer and the other abductor joined in on the beating and threats, then also raped Corinna.
Corinna’s boyfriend Jimmy Springer didn’t seem to be a willing participant. He never hit Corinna and at times tried to help her, but was stopped by the other men. The three
of them eventually insisted that Springer rape Corinna as well. Throughout the vicious attack,
Corinna’s housemate Angela sobbed hysterically from the next room but didn’t intervene.
Sarah watched on in terror. She couldn’t help Corinna because she was being forcefully held down
by one of the men. Fields eventually turned his attention to Sarah, pushing her on the bed on top of Corinna and sexually assaulting her.
Then Fields raped Corinna again, while using a knife to stab and cut her. Corinna had initially
screamed and tried to fight back, but Fields choked her until she could no longer make a sound.
Naked and soaked in blood, Corinna was unrecognisable. Sarah couldn’t tell if she
was dead or just unconscious. Fields and his main accomplice picked up Corinna’s body and placed her
in the boot of her own car. Fields then climbed into the passenger seat and ordered Sarah to
drive the Pontiac to a garage used by a municipal department downtown. Sarah did as she was told.
Fields provided directions as she drove, interspersed with threats as to what would happen to her if she ever told anyone what she’d seen.
Dawn was breaking as Sarah pulled up at the garage on Legion Drive. The other man who had abducted her earlier in the night headed to the garage in his own car,
and was already there, waiting for them. Sarah put Pontiac into park and got out. While the
two men headed to the boot where Corinna’s body lay, Sarah spotted her opportunity to escape.
She raced as quickly as she could in the direction of her home. The following morning, a call came through to Central City police regarding the discovery of
Corinna Mullen’s car. Billy Fields responded to the call and was the first to arrive at the scene.
He was later placed in charge of the investigation into Corinna’s murder. Sarah confided in her mother but didn’t tell anyone else what had happened. They stayed
silent about the matter from then on, terrified of the repercussions if they spoke out against
the well known local police officer. Even when Sarah’s sister later started dating
Jimmy Cramer and her father began working alongside him, Sarah kept her secret.
In the years that followed, Sarah worked with Kentucky State Police as an informant in several
drugs cases. Billy Fields called Sarah from time to time, muttering threats down the phone
and warning her against speaking out. She never said a word to anyone, until mid-2006.
Sarah, who was now 35-years-old, was talking with Kentucky State Police detective Steve Silfies
about an unrelated crime. It was during this conversation, when she finally confessed that
she had witnessed the murder of Corinna Mullen. Silfies gave her details to a colleague named
Detective Damon Fleming, who’d recently been assigned the almost-20-year-old cold case.
Fleming inherited a wealth of information regarding Corinna’s murder from Muhlenberg
County Sheriff’s Deputy Terry Arnett, who doggedly pursued the case for years. Arnett had been getting close to the truth and was certain he knew who the killers were.
He felt so confident that they would one day have enough to make an arrest that he reassured Claude Mullen on multiple occasions: “Don’t give up, we know who did it.”
Then, in 2004 Arnett was diagnosed with cancer. He died the following year, without having solved Corinna’s murder. But his casefile contained many leads.
Detective Fleming met with Sarah and interviewed her at length. He found her very credible. Her
allegations against Lieutenant Billy Fields didn’t come as a total shock to those who knew him.
Billy Fields was renowned in Central City for being involved in, and seemingly leading,
a drug ring. Rumours that he was involved in the Mullen case had been whispered throughout the town
for years. In 1992 when the FBI became involved in the case, Fields abruptly retired from the
Central City police department at the age of 49. This only fuelled local gossip about the case,
though all he would say was: “I knew the girl, I knew who she was, but that was the extent of it.”
There were two individuals Sarah had seen assist Fields that she couldn’t name.
One played a smaller role and was already at Corinna’s apartment when Fields and
his accomplice took her there. Fleming had a theory about who this might be. While going through the casefile that Arnett had put together, Fleming discovered a recorded
police interview with a local man named Crandall Gibson. Apparently discussing Corinna’s murder,
Gibson had told the officers: “You can’t get me without the other two”. Fleming wondered whether Gibson was the one of the people at Corinna’s apartment that night.
As the recording wasn’t authenticated and had been made prior to Fleming being assigned the case, he couldn’t use it as evidence.
Both Arnett and Gibson had since passed away, and couldn’t be questioned about it.
The second unknown man had played a much larger role in helping Fields abduct Sarah,
assault Corinna, and dispose of her body. Sarah didn’t recall hearing his name,
but his face and imposing physical presence were still crystal clear in her mind. Detective
Fleming showed her a mug shot of a man who was a known accomplice of Fields’. Now 43-years-old,
he had the same round, pudgy face, but framed by a full head of grey hair and a wiry goatee.
Stephanie recognised him right away as one of the main perpetrators. His name was Jeffrey Boyd.
Boyd was already incarcerated at the Kentucky State Penitentiary for a variety of crimes,
ranging from drug trafficking to tampering with evidence. One of the other alleged attackers,
Jimmy Cramer had two prior convictions - one for sexual assault in 1984 and another
for rape in 1988 - but was now freely living his life, as was Billy Fields. It turned out that some Central City residents had known Fields had a connection
with Corinna Mullen for years. Although Corinna had been dating Jimmy Springer,
she was also romantically involved with Fields. Edna McGee Eaves was a single mother who lived in the same apartment complex as Corinna.
Occasionally, the two women chatted when they crossed paths. Edna noticed Fields’ police cruiser
parked directly outside Corinna’s apartment on several occasions and was under the impression
that they were dating. She had also seen Jeffrey Boyd and Jimmy Cramer at the apartment before.
At least two other witnesses came forward to say they saw Fields and Corinna together on
multiple occasions, including the site manager for the Hillwood Apartments. One day, Fields approached him to request that he keep Corinna as a tenant,
even though it was her housemate Angela Smith who was on the lease. Very quickly though, things seemed to sour between Fields and Corinna.
Edna McGee Eaves noticed that Corinna had started to look increasingly upset. One day,
she stopped to chat with Corinna, who confessed that she thought she might be pregnant.
She’d told Fields that he was the father. He wasn’t happy about it. On the night of Corinna’s murder, Edna noticed Corinna’s car backed right up to
the curb with its boot open. Scanning her eyes around the parking lot, Edna realised
Fields’ police cruiser was there as well. When news broke of Corinna’s murder the following day,
Edna realised she might have seen something significant. Too scared to come forward given
Fields himself was leading the investigation, she kept the knowledge to herself for years to come,
later stating: “My concern was, who do I talk to, who do I go to, what do I do?”
Fields had never disclosed just how close he was to Corinna. During the original investigation,
it was his job to doorknock all of her neighbours and take statements from everyone in the building.
Investigators theorised that he might have threatened them into keeping quiet about anything they might have seen or heard.
Digging through official police documentation, detectives discovered a receipt from
August 8 1988. It showed that Fields signed out 18 items of evidence from the Kentucky State Police lab that related to Corinna’s murder, including her rape kit.
None of the evidence had ever been examined because Central City police hadn’t requested
testing, despite the fact that Jimmy Springer had already been trialled. Moreover, Fields asked that the items be returned to him untested. Asking for evidence that had
not been examined by forensic technicians was highly unusual behaviour from an investigator.
The receipt was the final record in the chain of custody. Detectives weren’t sure where the
evidence ended up after being signed out to Fields, but they suspected he destroyed it.
Despite multiple witnesses telling police Corinna believed she was pregnant at the
time of her death, nothing in her autopsy indicated this was the case. Investigators wondered if she merely suspected she was pregnant and never confirmed it.
Whether Fields believed she was carrying his child or not, another motive soon emerged.
While Corinna was completing her community service by doing clerical work at Central City police
station, she became friendly with an officer there named John Scott. The pair already knew
each other through Scott’s sisters, but working in close proximity brought them even closer together.
Eventually, Corinna felt comfortable enough to confide in Scott. Two days before her death, she told him that her boyfriend, Jimmy Springer, was
involved in a drug ring and was also trafficking stolen property interstate. He was undertaking
these criminal activities alongside Jeffrey Boyd and his longtime friend, Dale Duncan.
Corinna agreed to file an official report about these allegations, which Scott recorded for her.
After receiving the report, Officer Scott told his colleague Lieutenant Billy Fields about it.
What neither Scott nor Corinna knew was that Fields was commonly understood to be
the mastermind behind the drug and theft ring. Detectives believed that he murdered Corinna
out of revenge and to keep her from speaking further about the matter. Investigators tracked down more witnesses with incriminating stories to tell.
A local man named Jimmy Gunn saw Jeffrey Boyd approach Corinna at a diner the day before she
was killed. Boyd threatened Corinna with a gun and stated: “Bitch, you’ll die tonight.”
Jimmy immediately phoned the police station. Billy Fields took his call and said he’d attend to the matter. As the police station was just a
couple of hundred yards from the diner, Jimmy expected the officer would arrive quickly.
But minutes passed and there was no sign of him. Meanwhile, Boyd moved his car and then his mother turned up at the restaurant. Jimmy saw Boyd pass
something over to her, which Jimmy believed to be his firearm. When Fields finally arrived at the
scene almost 20 minutes later, Boyd held up his hands, as though to prove that he was unarmed.
Another witness came forward to say he saw Fields and Boyd in the early hours of October 2 1987. The pair were walking along Legion Drive,
the same street near where Corinna Mullen’s car was dumped with her corpse inside.
Mike Phillips, who had been a Central City police officer back in 1987, also reportedly saw Boyd
walking near Legion Drive at 3AM that same day – six hours before Corinna’s body was found.
Armed with this new evidence, Detective Damon Fleming of Kentucky State Police began making arrests on November 2 2006. Retired Central City police officer Billy Fields, now
63-years-old, was charged with first degree rape, kidnapping, murder, and tampering with evidence.
He was also charged with one count of sodomy for his assault of eyewitness Sarah.
His accomplice Jimmy Cramer, aged 37, was also arrested and charged with first degree rape,
kidnapping, and murder. He spoke out against the arrest, telling reporters: "That's one thing I'm
not. I ain't no murderer, rapist or kidnapper, no way. I would take a DNA test, a lie detector test
whatever, to prove my innocence... I hope they do get whoever did this because they do need to
be put away, but I know I didn't have anything to do with it and don't know nothing about it."
The third individual arrested was 40-year-old Angela Smith, Corinna’s former housemate.
Because she had been present during the rape and murder of Corinna, yet never tried to intervene, she was charged with complicity to rape, kidnapping, and murder.
Jeffrey Boyd was already serving time for drug trafficking and evidence tampering.
He was charged the following day with rape, kidnapping, and murder. As Jimmy Springer had already been tried and acquitted of Corinna’s murder in 1988,
he couldn’t be charged with killing her again. Instead, he was charged with complicity to rape, kidnapping, and sodomy.
Corinna’s family were aware that arrests were imminent. The apprehending of Fields, Cramer, and Smith coincided with Patricia Mullen’s birthday,
but she had passed away one month prior. The Mullens were devastated to learn that the man
they’d believed was helping to find their daughter’s killer was actually the culprit.
During the initial investigation, Fields visited the family home and sat at the kitchen table,
offering comfort and commiserations. Once, he even took Claude Mullen out to look for clues together.
Still, they were also relieved that arrests had finally been made. Claude told the Messenger-Inquirer: “We waited a lot of years. My wife passed away five weeks
ago. That’s what hurts. It was five weeks too early. I wish she could have waited a bit longer.”
Corinna’s daughter Stephanie, who was just a toddler when her mother died, was now
21-years-old. She had just learned that she was pregnant when the news of the arrests broke.
Corinna’s sister Heather told the Messenger-Inquirer how difficult Stephanie’s childhood had been, stating: “It’s bad enough to grow up without knowing your parents, but to get
to know your parents in this way. It distorts the person she knows that her mom was. Watching [her]
grow up and having to hear all these things about her mother, that was one of the worst things.”
The following month, a Grand Jury indicted all defendants on the charges that had been laid.
The trial was initially slated to commence in November 2007, but was postponed so it could be moved to a court in another part of the state.
Corinna’s murder and the individuals charged for it were so notorious in Muhlenberg County
that there were fears the defendants wouldn’t receive a fair trial there. Before the case finally began, the three charges against Angela Smith were dropped
in exchange for testifying against Fields, Boyd, and Cramer. She would instead face
a single count of perjury for the false testimony she gave at Jimmy Springer’s trial
in 1988. She would be tried solo. Springer would also face court separate from the others.
On April 21 2009, Billy Fields, Jimmy Cramer, and Jeffrey Boyd all filed into court,
handcuffed and dressed in orange prison jumpsuits. Now bespectacled and balding with a white ring of hair,
Fields struck a very different figure than the imposing lawman he’d been back in the late 80s.
Eyewitness Sarah took the stand and told the court about what she and Corinna endured at
the hands of the defendants more than 20-years earlier. The defendants’ attorneys subjected her
to a fierce cross-examination. They demanded to know why she hadn’t spoken up earlier,
especially when her own family members became involved with Jimmy Cramer. One cast doubt on her recollections by suggesting that if she really witnessed Corinna’s murder,
then those responsible wouldn’t have let her live to tell the tale. He theorised Sarah cobbled her story together from town gossip. But Sarah stood firm.
Angela Smith had turned state’s witness for the prosecution and explained how she’d lied during the original murder trial. She confirmed
that she and Corinna had gone out to a bar with Jeffrey Boyd on the night in question,
prior to heading back to their apartment and the assault on Corinna beginning. Billy Fields took the stand to testify in his own defence. He’d only worked two or three murder
cases in his entire policing career, but still claimed his memory of the Corinna Mullen case was
vague. He detailed how he scoured Corinna’s bedroom for evidence and collected her hair
for testing, though he couldn’t recall finding any men’s jeans or underwear in the room. Fields was
shown crime scene photos of these items at the scene, with his legs visible in the background.
He insisted he only vaguely knew Corinna through her community service work. He was never involved
with her and certainly hadn’t been to her home. Eyewitnesses who saw Fields’ police cruiser
parked outside Corinna’s residence multiple times gave evidence contradicting his claims.
None of the other defendants testified. A former inmate who’d been incarcerated alongside Jimmy
Cramer while he was awaiting trial gave evidence that Cramer showed him photos of
Corinna. Cramer obtained the photographs during the discovery phase of the trial,
and they depicted her naked corpse in the car boot, as well as during her autopsy.
Cramer seemed proud of the images and bragged to his fellow inmate: “Look what we done to her.”
After a day’s deliberation, the jury found the three defendants guilty on all counts.
Jimmy Cramer received three 20 year sentences to be served consecutively, for a total of 60 years.
Billy Fields and Jeffrey Boyd were sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
Corinna’s daughter Stephanie shared her relief, as well as her sorrow, saying: “We never thought this day would come. I didn’t have a normal life because of them.
My life was watching the two people I cared most about, my grandparents, cry every day.”
In 2011, Fields, Boyd, and Cramer all appealed their convictions but were denied. The details of what happened to Corinna’s boyfriend, Jimmy Springer, are unclear.
Although he was to be trialled separated for complicity to rape and kidnapping,
Casefile was unable to find any record of relevant court cases. Springer has since served sentences
for drug related charges, and was incarcerated for trafficking methamphetamine in 2020.
Angela Smith pled guilty to perjury and was given a five-year suspended sentence.
-- In the years since Corinna was murdered, those who knew and loved her have endeavoured to keep
her memory alive. They remember Corinna by her nickname “Reny”, her long, wavy, dark-blonde hair,
blue eyes, and wide smile. Happy and strong-willed, she loved unicorns, teddy bears, and the 1984 film Footloose. She had since become a grandmother.
At the time of his daughter’s murder trial, Claude Mullen stated: “We'll stick with it until it is done no matter how long it takes,
that's what I told them 20 years ago - I mean it then and I mean it now." In the years following the guilty verdict, Claude Mullen found it
easier to visit Corinna’s gravesite, knowing justice had finally been served. He was initially heartbroken that his wife Patricia wasn’t there to see it, remarking:
“I wish she were here. She probably wouldn’t have believed it after all this hard work.”
Patricia was buried alongside her daughter, in the open, grassy fields of Sunnyside Cemetery
just outside of Central City. In 2011, Claude was laid to rest alongside his wife and daughter.
He would remain forever close to Corinna, just as he had been in life. Corinna had loved her family, especially her father. On special occasions,
Corinna would give her father a single red rose and he would give her one in return.
Corinna’s sister Heather, quote: “The biggest thing I remember was that [Corinna]
had the brightest personality of any person we’ll ever meet. She had a lot of energy.
She loved to laugh, and she loved to be around her family. It was the best thing about her.”

Case 169: Corinna Mullen

On October 2 1987, a council employee in Central City, Kentucky reported finding an abandoned, blood-smeared Pontiac outside his workplace. When Lieutenant Billy Fields arrived at the scene, he found the bloody and beaten body of 20-year-old Corinna Mullen in the boot...

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Narration – Anonymous Host Research – Holly Boyd Writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas

Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn

For all credits and sources please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-169-corinna-mullen

Brief Summary

Corinna Mullen's murder in 1987 leads to shocking revelations about local law enforcement and a long fight for justice.

Key points

The Discovery of Corinna Mullen. Corinna Mullen's body is found in the trunk of her car, leading to a murder investigation.
Jimmy Springer's Alibi. Springer claims he was out with friends on the night of Corinna's murder, but his story raises suspicions.
Trial and Verdict. Jimmy Springer is tried for Corinna's murder but is found not guilty, devastating her family.
The Abduction of Sarah. 16-year-old Sarah is abducted by two men, one being a police lieutenant.
Corinna's Tragic Fate. Corinna Mullen is brutally assaulted and murdered in front of witnesses.
The Arrests. Billy Fields and his accomplices are arrested for Corinna's murder after years of silence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It’s so hard. Truthfully, we’re not doing too good.

Claude Mullen on coping with the loss of Corinna.

21:46WatchMar 20, 2021

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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