Alex Hagood’s Perspective on Barbara Mullenix’s Life and Death
(“Runaway Love,” Forensic Files)
Updated with information from October 2022
When a jury contemplated the young couple who ended Barbara Mullenix’s life, the term “mitigating circumstances” probably didn’t come to mind.
Barbara, a 56-year-old dreamer still hoping for an acting career, sustained dozens of stab wounds from at least two weapons, including a dining utensil left deeply embedded in one of her eyes.
The attackers placed her body in a cardboard box, which they slid into the water at the Newport Harbor Yacht Club, nine miles away from her home in Huntington Beach, California, in 2006.
Afterward, the perpetrators took a joy ride through Florida and Louisiana.
The murderers were Ian Allen, 21, and his girlfriend of three months, 17-year-old Rachael Scarlett Mullenix — Barbara’s daughter.
To most viewers of “Runaway Love,” the Forensic Files episode about the case, the homicide seemed like a betrayal of biblical proportions, a woefully entitled girl snuffing out the life of the woman who gave her life.
But as it turns out, Barbara’s son, Alex Hagood, thinks Rachael was more a victim than a predator.
Alex, who is Rachael’s half brother, would like the world to know that there’s a lot more to the story than the 22 minutes of true-crime TV that vilified Rachael for all the world to see.
In a phone interview with ForensicFilesNow.com, Alex discussed his tumultuous home life with his mother and his love for his younger half-sister:
What was your sister like? Growing up, Rachael was a good kid. She made good grades. She was on a couple of basketball teams, she did ballet, and she did gymnastics. The press tried to portray her as this horrible person, and she wasn’t.
Rachael said that your mother could be a lot of fun at times. Did you find the same? I’d have my friends come over and they’d think my mom was cool. She would buy us popsicles or root beers or whatever. And then the minute they were gone, I thought, they didn’t know her.
She could be like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. My girlfriend at the time could see it.
Was your mother trying to protect Rachael from Ian by attempting to stop them from running away together? Before my mother’s death, there were lots of drugs and alcohol around — she liked Skyy vodka and took uppers and downers, and she would party with Ian and Rachael.
My mother realized that Rachael and Ian wanted to go away. She couldn’t make it on her own without alimony and child support, so she didn’t want Rachael to leave.
You’ve said that you doubt the allegations that Rachael had already attacked your mother with a knife in a failed murder attempt in 2005. Why? I moved in with my mother in 2003 when she lived in Oklahoma. A couple of times when I was about to leave, she self-inflicted wounds and threatened to say I did it. She chased me around with a baseball bat. Rachael told me about this same kind of behavior.
Barbara wanted to be the creator and control everyone. She wanted to be the center of attention. If you have children, it’s not like, let’s make a movie – you can’t just push reset.
Emotionally and mentally, she choked Rachael.
Do you believe the contentions that Barbara would deliberately try to embarrass and humiliate Rachael? My mom would call our jobs, our bosses and start problems for no reason. She did it because she felt she was losing control of us. But you can’t do stuff like that. Bosses will fire you.
My stepfather traveled a lot for his job, so he wasn’t always around for Rachael. I tried to protect her. But I had to get out on my own and away from my mother. I moved to Oregon to let everything cool off. I thought my mother would never find me there. She found me in two weeks and she’d call my job.
I’m shocked that the murder happened, but then I’m not. You can’t go around treating people like that and think nothing will happen. At any time, anything can spin out of control.
Do you think Rachael participated in the murder? If anything, Ian was the one behind planning everything. He had a third person.
Were things ever good between Rachael and your mother? The first few years of Rachael’s life, yes, my mother was calm. She dressed Rachael in the best clothes and taught her the best manners.
How have you yourself coped with the murder? It’s taken me 10 years to work through it. I went back to college, got associate’s degrees, one in psychology. I wanted to see what I could make of myself in the aftermath.
Would you like to see Rachael released from jail? Absolutely. She’s suffered enough. I haven’t been able to hug her since 2005.♠
Rachael Mullenix was released from prison on October 14, 2022 and is with her father, Bruce, in Southern California, according to a tipster. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation no longer lists her as an inmate.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube or Tubi
