Man arrested on suspicion of shocking daytime execution of Marin mom

An Idaho man has been arrested in connection with the killing of a Marin County mother that shocked the quiet community in the 1970s. Michael Eugene Mullen, 75, is in custody and awaiting extradition to California.

On the morning of Nov. 15, 1973, Swedish business executive Gunnar Fischer left for work in San Francisco. It was a busy time for the young Fischer family: Gunnar and his 31-year-old wife Nina “Nadine” Fischer were packing up their home on Point San Pedro Road in San Rafael for the big move back to Sweden, where they both grew up. Along with their 2-year-old daughter, the Fischers had enjoyed three years in the Bay Area, but Gunnar’s job was taking them back to Europe. 

Around 10 a.m., neighbors said they saw Nadine speaking with a mover. In the early afternoon, a man arrived at the house to appraise the appliances they were looking to sell. He later told police he knocked on the door, received no reply and left. Several calls made by Gunnar to the home went unanswered. 

Gunnar returned home in the early evening. He was met by a scene out of a nightmare. Nadine was dead on the floor of their bedroom, hands bound and mouth gagged. She had been sexually assaulted, shot multiple times and left naked under a blanket. Newspapers at the time called it an execution. Their young daughter was found upset but unharmed in another bedroom.

Law enforcement searched the home from top to bottom, taking dozens of fingerprints and probing for a motive. There was no sign of forced entry, and although Nadine’s purse was missing, more valuable items were left untouched. Detectives tracked down the two men who had been at the...