My dad is a California serial killer – and wants to confess

A woman’s claim that her dying father is a mass murderer who killed hundreds of people has prompted a police investigation in California.

Galina Trefil says her 86-year-old father has ‘given his blessing’ for her to speak publicly

A woman’s claim that her dying father is a mass murderer who killed hundreds of people has prompted a police investigation in northern California.

Galina Trefil, from Mendocino county, claimed her father, Jon Trefil, 86, admitted to killing at least one person per month from 1965 to 1999. The murders, she said, took place in California, Idaho, Illinois, Oregon and Virginia, as well as Canada, France and The Netherlands.

The Mendocino county sheriff’s office has been investigating the claims since January 2023, when Ms Trefil first alerted police to her father’s alleged confessions. Ms Trefil has decided to go public with her allegations.

“For so many years now I have lived a double life, carried an impossible secret,” she wrote in a series of Facebook posts last week. “Now everyone needs to know. I am the daughter of a serial killer. He wants to tell his story. He actually wants to go public with his crimes. He’s given his blessing for me to do so in his stead.”

Ms Trefil said her father was bedridden, while the sheriff’s office said he was in a “fragile medical state”.

Detectives, who are aware of the social media posts, said they had reviewed photos, journal entries and recordings provided by Ms Trefil but could not substantiate the claims or identify any confessions.

Authorities said they re-examined one murder from the 1970s which Ms Trefil says her father claimed responsibility for. That is believed to be the killing of Barry Kirk Pinder, 21, who was found dead at his campsite north of Fort Bragg on June 18, 1974.

A DNA sample was taken from her father in May 2023 but it did not match unidentified DNA recovered from the crime scene, the sheriff’s office said.

His sample has since been uploaded to the nationwide Combined DNA Index System for regular comparisons to DNA profiles uploaded from unsolved cases, but no matches have been reported.

His daughter also alleged he buried numerous people he murdered at a cabin in Comptche, close to Mendocino National Forest. Police searched the property but were unable to locate any human remains or burial sites.

Detectives reviewed recordings she submitted of a person she claimed to be her father discussing the crimes, but the voice was inaudible.

“It was very clear that leading questions were provided to him and then, when he would make a sound, she would say, ‘Oh, he confesses to this’,” Sheriff Matthew Kendall told The Press Democrat. “But my detectives could not hear him say yes, no or anything else. A lot of it was just strange moans.”

The sheriff’s office said it would continue to investigate crimes associated with Mr Trefil or allegations that he was a serial killer.

Captain Quincy Cromer said: “You’d be surprised how many calls we get from people confessing to old murders.”

THE TIMES