Bio

Michael Joseph Mulder was born in 1950. Mulder had been convicted of armed robbery in Arizona in 1980 and bank robbery in Arizona in 1987. These prior convictions later became aggravating factors used by prosecutors when seeking the death penalty in Nevada.

In July 1996, Mulder and his girlfriend, Kimberly Van Heusen, were staying at the 49er Motel in Las Vegas near the Showboat Casino. They were using drugs during that period. Van Heusen sometimes engaged in prostitution to get money for drugs, while Mulder sometimes worked construction day jobs.

Murder Story

On July 7, 1996, Kimberly Van Heusen met 77-year-old John Ahart at the Showboat Casino in Las Vegas. They spent time drinking and gambling, then later went to Ahart’s home. Ahart drove Van Heusen back to her motel afterward and asked her to return the next day so he could give her money he owed her.

On July 8, 1996, Van Heusen and Michael Mulder went to Ahart’s home. Ahart allowed them inside. While they were there, Mulder looked through Ahart’s belongings and later indicated that he wanted to return to the home to steal from him.

After Ahart left the home with them, he dropped Mulder off nearby and took Van Heusen back toward the motel. About an hour and a half later, Mulder returned to the motel driving Ahart’s maroon 1990 Infiniti coupe. He appeared nervous and told Van Heusen that he had stolen the car. He also had an injured hand, wore a new watch, and had a wooden jewelry box in the car.

John Ahart’s body was later found inside his Las Vegas mobile home. He was lying in a pool of blood, with his ankles and wrists bound with duct tape. He had been severely beaten, and the medical examiner determined that he died from severe impact trauma to the head. Mulder’s fingerprints were found on the duct tape used to bind Ahart.

Mulder and Van Heusen left Nevada and traveled to Phoenix, Arizona. Police later located them there and arrested them on September 12, 1996. On October 11, 1996, prosecutors indicted Mulder for murder, robbery, and burglary.

In 1998, a jury convicted Mulder of first-degree murder, robbery of a victim over the age of 65, and burglary while in possession of a firearm. The jury sentenced him to death for the murder. He also received prison terms for the robbery and burglary convictions.

The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed Mulder’s conviction and death sentence on January 18, 2000. In 2009, the Nevada Supreme Court reinstated his death sentence after a lower court had previously invalidated some aggravating factors. The court ruled that the remaining evidence still supported the death penalty.