Texas death row inmate Travis Mullis, 'consumed by shame and madness,' killed baby son

This story includes graphic descriptions of crimes committed against an infant.

A death row inmate set to be executed in Texas this week destroyed the only family he ever knew about 16 years ago.

Travis James Mullis, 38, is set to be executed Tuesday for killing his 3-month-old son, who was molested, stomped to death and abandoned at Galveston’s Seawall, a popular tourist destination just south of Houston, on Jan. 29, 2008. 

Mullis murdered his son after he described hitting his “breaking point,” failing to soothe the crying child while they were parked along the seawall, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.

“I tried all the little things that would comfort him since he was born, but none of them worked,” Mullis said. “I thought to myself that the only way to stop him from crying was to kill him.”

If the execution proceeds as scheduled, Mullis will be the fourth person executed in the state this year and the 15th or 16th in the nation, depending on whether he's declared dead before or after Marcellus Williams, another inmate set for execution in Missouri on the same day.

As Mullis' execution day approaches, USA TODAY is looking back at who the man is, the crime he was convicted of and what led him down a path that ended in the murder of his infant son.

Adoptive mother 'completely overwhelmed' by behavior

Travis “TJ” Mullis was taken in by relatives in Maryland when he was a baby, following his mother’s unexpected death. He grew up in Abingdon, an unincorporated community just outside Baltimore, with his uncle Gary Mills and his wife, Anne. 

TJ began to give the couple trouble at the age of 3, exhibiting alarming behaviors like banging his head against furniture, and talking about fire and wanting to burn things down, court documents show. 

Anne Mullis decided to put him in therapy, and TJ soon confided in his therapist that his adoptive father had sexually abused him repeatedly from ages 3 to 6, according to court documents.

TJ had a “tough” time adjusting to life without his adoptive father, who was kicked out of the home and served prison time after the sexual abuse came to light. But the “garbage really hit the fan,” Anne Mullis shared with attorneys, when TJ hit puberty. 

A one-way ticket to Texas

Mullis spent his childhood and teen years in and out of hospitals, receiving intermittent mental health treatment and medication for behavioral issues. He was struggling in school, dealing with traumatic flashbacks and had threatened suicide on a number of occasions, court records say.

There were also isolated episodes of violent and sometimes sexual aggression inflicted on those closest to him, including his grandmother, a younger cousin and a couple of peers, court records say. He stayed with his adoptive mother until he turned 18, at which point he was told that he either needed to take his medications or get out, according to court documents.

“I was completely overwhelmed and had no idea what to do with him,” Anne Mullis wrote in court documents. “He eventually decided to leave.” 

She bought Mullis a one-way ticket to Texas, where he planned to live with a woman he met online but that was short-lived, court documents say.

Mullis lived in and around Houston for a while, crashing with anyone who would take him in. When he moved back in with the woman and her family a year later, he brought his girlfriend, Caren Kohberger, and the couple's then-1-month-old son, Alijah. They all lived together in a trailer in Alvin in metro Houston.

The young family was broke, hoping to find a solution to their financial woes by February 2008, which was when they were expected to start paying rent.

Mullis was ‘consumed by shame and madness’ before murder

Mullis and his family had run out of options by late January 2008. He had been applying for jobs, even interviewing for two, but was still out of work.

He decided to get some air early that Tuesday morning on Jan. 29, inviting his roommate’s 8-year-old daughter to join him on his quest for cigarettes and Snickers bars from a gas station. On their way back, they stopped by the girl’s school and that's when Mullis tried to get her to pull down her pants before driving back to the trailer after she started to cry, according to court records.

Mullis pulled his girlfriend aside when they got back to tell her what he had done. Mullis and Kohberger bickered for hours about what they were going to do, both scared that they would be thrown out of the house and that Mullis would mentally relapse and act out on his impulses again. 

Mullis came up with an excuse to get away, promising Kohberger he would return after running a quick errand. Kohberger insisted Mullis take baby Alijah with him − that way she knew he was going to come back, court documents show.

Mullis drove south toward Galveston with Alijah, who was sound asleep in the car seat. But when Alijah was startled awake, he began to cry. Mullis said he tried to console the baby, but Alijah wouldn’t stop crying. Mullis then molested and choked the infant before he pulled Alijah out of the car, put him on the ground and stomped on his head, court records say.

As Mullis' attorneys said in court documents, Mullis was "consumed by shame and madness" moments before he committed the murder.

Afterward, Mullis flung the car seat and Alijah's body toward the other side of the seawall to get rid of all the evidence. He then fled the state but soon after he turned himself in, offering a full confession to Philadelphia police four days later. Mullis was extradited back to Texas, convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death.

Judge: Mullis has 'enjoyed all the process he is due'

With help from court-appointed counsel, Mullis decided to forgo appeals following his death sentence but later changed his mind and tried to file a state court appeal. He didn't file the appeal in time, which ended his prospects in state court.

Mullis revived his claims in federal district court with new counsel in July 2013, with his attorneys arguing that his trial was "beset by constitutional errors" and that state courts allowed him to waive appeals "despite his severe mental illness, and as a result of ineffective lawyering and court error.” 

Mullis' current attorneys argued that his previous lawyers failed to rebut false evidence, properly investigate and present compelling evidence, and ultimately protect his rights. A federal court eventually dismissed Mullis' request to throw out his death sentence and sided with the state. An appeals court affirmed the dismissal.

U.S. District Judge George Hanks described Mullis as “a disturbed individual whose mental illness has permeated his life.” 

“Questions about mental illness have colored this whole case − from the commission of the crime, to the various waivers, to federal review,” according to Hanks. “As concerns about Mullis’ mental health have come up at each stage, state counsel and various courts have acted with competence and zeal to assure that Mullis has enjoyed all the process he is due.” 

Mullis is set to be executed at the Huntsville Unit north of Houston on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Mullis is one of 5 men being executed in less than a week

Mullis is one of five men expected to be executed in the U.S. in a six-day period. First was Freddie Owens, who was executed on Friday in South Carolina amid fresh doubts over his guilt.

On Tuesday, at the same time as Mullis' execution, Missouri is set to execute Marcellus Williams in the 1998 fatal stabbing of a former reporter despite prosecutors and victim family members arguing that he should be spared.

After Tuesday's double execution, Thursday is expected to bring two more back-to-back executions. Alabama is set to use nitrogen gas to execute Alan Eugene Miller in the shooting deaths of three co-workers in 1999 despite evidence of his mental illness and a witness to the state's previous nitrogen gas execution in January who described the method as "horrific."

Also Thursday, Oklahoma is set to execute Emmanuel Littlejohn in the death of a convenience store clerk in 1992 despite his arguments that he wasn't the shooter.

If all five executions proceed, the U.S. will have executed 18 death row inmates this year. Another six are scheduled before the end of December, and more could be added to the calendar.