Maris Karklins
"Hitman for God" kills Allendale Family and mother, 1982
THE CASE
In March of 1982 Maris Karklins shot and killed his mother, then murdered the Paulson family of five in their Allendale home. To conceal the act he set the Paulson house afire.
FINAL RESTING PLACE
Maris Karlins is still alive and resides at the The G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility located in Jackson County, Michigan.
THE KARKLINS STORY
Ottawa County will long recall the name Maris Karklins, the man who, in March of 1982, murdered the Paulsons, a family of five in their Allendale, Michigan home. To conceal the act, Karklins set the Paulson house afire after shooting them all execution-style (in the head), using a .22 caliber Ruger pistol. Karklins then returned home where he shot and killed his mother.
Maris Karlins was born on November 30, 1940 to Juris and Milda Karklins in the country of Latvia in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. According to friends of the Karklins family, Maris, his mother Milda and brother Andris were forced to watch a Nazi execution in the 1940s before they emigrated to America soon after World War II.
Karklins, a former draftsman, confessed to the murders and went on trial in Grand Haven. Waiving his right to a jury trial, Judge James Townsend (of Ottawa County Circuit Court) returned a “guilty” verdict on March 11, 1983 for the slayings of Robert Paulson, 42, his wife, Mary Jane, 40, and their daughters, Cynthia, 18, Carla, 13, and Casey, age 8.
Karklins was also found guilty of killing his 64-year-old mother. Kent County prosecutor David Sawyer believed Karklins agreed to plead guilty to the murders because of his concern over the effect it would have on his 74-year-old father. Juris Karlins had been a witness to his wife’s murder.
In September 1982, Kent County Probate Judge Donald A. DeYoung described how he had twice ordered Karklins hospitalized for mental illness before the shootings. “I’ve had people get mad at me, and say, ‘put them in longer,’” DeYoung said, “but, [under the law] I can’t.”
In a two-and-a-half hour taped audio confession played as evidence during the trial, Karlins told the police he shot his mother because “she was a witch, and a communist agent.” Claiming he was a “hitman for God,” Karlins explained, “I had to kill Bob [Paulson] and the kids. They were demons.” He killed Mrs. Paulson, whom he had stalked while she was a co-worker at the same Grand Rapids drafting firm, to “save her from the rest of her family.”
Karklins also said he had killed numerous other people around the nation, a claim which was unfounded.
A friend of the Karklins family who wished not to be identified said at the time of the killer’s arrest said Karklin’s parents, Juris and Milda “always had trouble with their son.” Another unidentified acquaintance said Maris never got along with his mother. “They always fought and he had a terrible temper.”
Another neighbor of the Karklins family described Maris as an “odd-type person” who was “always into something, different stages all the time.” Karklins “went through a hippie stage with long hair and a beard and a Jesus-freak type of thing.”
Dr. Roy Blunt examiner for the State Center for Forensic Psychiatry testified at Karklin’s competency hearings before the trial said Karklins believed “the spirit of Adolph Hitler has entered him.” Karklins was judged mentally ill, but competent to stand trial.
Neighbors of Mrs. Karklins reported that two days before she was shot Maris had hung Nazi flags outside her home and was seen marching around the house in a German military uniform.
According to Karklin’s job application at the Grand Haven drafting firm he was working at the time of his arrest, he had attended the State Technical Institute and Rehabilitation Center at Plainwell between December 1977 and December 1979. The institute was a state-operated training facility for mentally and physically disabled people, according to Leonard Lee, director of the facility at the time.
Dr. Kenneth Nickel, the former Director of Kent Oaks Psychiatric Hospital in Grand Rapids, where Karklins was once a resident, said in a pre-trial September 1982 Associated Press article, “Karlins probably never should have been released after his first commitment in 1976. The chronic [nature] of his illness would have been recognized, he would have been kept inside.”
Karlins is serving six life terms without the possibility of parole. He is encarcerated at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility located on the northwest intersection of Elm Road and I-94 in Jackson County, Michigan. The prison is a combination of pole barns, which have weatherized buildings, sealed concrete flooring and plaster-board walls, and other buildings that are brick, mortar, steel and glass.
The Paulson family are all buried in a plot in the Rosedale Cemetery in Ottawa County, with one marker noting all of their names.
Maris Karklins is recently turned 71-years old in November 2011. It is possible he was recently moved to a prison in Illinois, but that information could not be verified.
Graphics: Articles from 1982 about Karklin's arrest and his "hitman for God" claim. Recent photo of Maris Karklins in prison. OTTAWA COUNTY MURDERERS ONLINE is a historical series produced in conjunction with the STRANGE GRAND HAVEN book series written by Kevin Scott Collier, Grand Haven, Michigan.
Maris Karlins was born on November 30, 1940 to Juris and Milda Karklins in the country of Latvia in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. According to friends of the Karklins family, Maris, his mother Milda and brother Andris were forced to watch a Nazi execution in the 1940s before they emigrated to America soon after World War II.Karklins, a former draftsman, confessed to the murders and went on trial in Grand Haven. Waiving his right to a jury trial, Judge James Townsend (of Ottawa County Circuit Court) returned a “guilty” verdict on March 11, 1983 for the slayings of Robert Paulson, 42, his wife, Mary Jane, 40, and their daughters, Cynthia, 18, Carla, 13, and Casey, age 8.
Karklins was also found guilty of killing his 64-year-old mother. Kent County prosecutor David Sawyer believed Karklins agreed to plead guilty to the murders because of his concern over the effect it would have on his 74-year-old father. Juris Karlins had been a witness to his wife’s murder.
In September 1982, Kent County Probate Judge Donald A. DeYoung described how he had twice ordered Karklins hospitalized for mental illness before the shootings. “I’ve had people get mad at me, and say, ‘put them in longer,’” DeYoung said, “but, [under the law] I can’t.”
In a two-and-a-half hour taped audio confession played as evidence during the trial, Karlins told the police he shot his mother because “she was a witch, and a communist agent.” Claiming he was a “hitman for God,” Karlins explained, “I had to kill Bob [Paulson] and the kids. They were demons.” He killed Mrs. Paulson, whom he had stalked while she was a co-worker at the same Grand Rapids drafting firm, to “save her from the rest of her family.”
Karklins also said he had killed numerous other people around the nation, a claim which was unfounded.
A friend of the Karklins family who wished not to be identified said at the time of the killer’s arrest said Karklin’s parents, Juris and Milda “always had trouble with their son.” Another unidentified acquaintance said Maris never got along with his mother. “They always fought and he had a terrible temper.”Another neighbor of the Karklins family described Maris as an “odd-type person” who was “always into something, different stages all the time.” Karklins “went through a hippie stage with long hair and a beard and a Jesus-freak type of thing.”
Dr. Roy Blunt examiner for the State Center for Forensic Psychiatry testified at Karklin’s competency hearings before the trial said Karklins believed “the spirit of Adolph Hitler has entered him.” Karklins was judged mentally ill, but competent to stand trial.
Neighbors of Mrs. Karklins reported that two days before she was shot Maris had hung Nazi flags outside her home and was seen marching around the house in a German military uniform.
According to Karklin’s job application at the Grand Haven drafting firm he was working at the time of his arrest, he had attended the State Technical Institute and Rehabilitation Center at Plainwell between December 1977 and December 1979. The institute was a state-operated training facility for mentally and physically disabled people, according to Leonard Lee, director of the facility at the time.
Dr. Kenneth Nickel, the former Director of Kent Oaks Psychiatric Hospital in Grand Rapids, where Karklins was once a resident, said in a pre-trial September 1982 Associated Press article, “Karlins probably never should have been released after his first commitment in 1976. The chronic [nature] of his illness would have been recognized, he would have been kept inside.”
Karlins is serving six life terms without the possibility of parole. He is encarcerated at the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility located on the northwest intersection of Elm Road and I-94 in Jackson County, Michigan. The prison is a combination of pole barns, which have weatherized buildings, sealed concrete flooring and plaster-board walls, and other buildings that are brick, mortar, steel and glass. The Paulson family are all buried in a plot in the Rosedale Cemetery in Ottawa County, with one marker noting all of their names.
Maris Karklins is recently turned 71-years old in November 2011. It is possible he was recently moved to a prison in Illinois, but that information could not be verified.
Graphics: Articles from 1982 about Karklin's arrest and his "hitman for God" claim. Recent photo of Maris Karklins in prison. OTTAWA COUNTY MURDERERS ONLINE is a historical series produced in conjunction with the STRANGE GRAND HAVEN book series written by Kevin Scott Collier, Grand Haven, Michigan.
