433: Julia Bulette: Murdered by a Serial Killer? w/ Robin Flinchum

This episode of Most Notorious! explores the life, death, and enduring mythos of Julia Bulette, a prostitute in 1860s Virginia City, Nevada, whose murder in 1867 became the centerpiece of a decades-long mystery. Historian and journalist Robin Flinchum, author of *The Redemption of Julia Bulette*, dissects the romanticized legend of Bulette as a wealthy, cultured madam and contrasts it with the historical reality: she was a working-class woman barely surviving, with no evidence of being a madam or a wealthy socialite. Flinchum traces the evolution of Bulette’s myth through the 20th century, fueled by nostalgia for the American West and the 1960s discovery of her probate records, which offered rare insight into her life. The episode delves into the investigation led by Captain George Downey, who pursued a suspect—French immigrant John Mullane—based on circumstantial evidence, including stolen goods and a witness identification. Despite Mullane’s confession to being present at the crime, he denied killing Bulette, claiming he was an accomplice to two unnamed men. The episode also examines the broader context of serial killings in 1860s San Francisco, drawing parallels between Bulette’s murder and the unsolved deaths of other sex workers, with law enforcement using then-cutting-edge (but pseudoscientific) techniques like optography. Flinchum reflects on the challenges of writing about a woman whose life was erased by time and societal stigma, and questions whether Mullane was truly guilty or a scapegoat in a town desperate to maintain its image of law and order. The episode closes with a haunting reflection on how history is shaped not by facts alone, but by the stories we choose to tell.