NORTH COAST, Calif. — Following a series of social media posts that began last week in which a woman said her father has confessed to being a serial killer who worked in several states and around the North Coast region — including in Lake and Mendocino counties — the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office on Monday said it has been investigating the allegations.
The posts by Galina Trefil have popped up on various pages across Facebook as she has recounted her allegations about her father, 86-year-old Dr. Jon Charles Trefil.
Dr. Trefil, who is now in failing health, has reportedly told his daughter that he began killing in the 1950s and then “made it a habit” from 1965 to 1999.
“From 1965 onward, he admitted to murdering one person, give or take, per month. Female, male, old, young, and couples. The states involved are Illinois, California, Virginia, Oregon, and Idaho. The outside countries are Canada, France, the Netherlands, and along the Mexican boarder [sic]. Most killings occurred in California, with the specified counties being San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma, and one unidentified county that shares the Northern Mendocino border,” Galina Trefil wrote.
In a followup post, she said one of the people her father claimed to have killed was 21-year-old Barry Kirk Pinder, found murdered at his campsite inside MacKerricher State Park just north of Fort Bragg on June 18, 1972.
In her comments, Galina Trefil alleged that the Fort Bragg Police Department, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office are all aware of her father’s confessions.
“This is the secret that the authorities in Mendocino County are not sharing with the public,” Galina Trefil wrote.
Lake County News reached out to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office about Galina Trefil’s post.
“Yes, we saw the post and are aware of the claims being made,” public information officer Lauren Berlinn told Lake County News in a Friday email. “The Mendocino Sheriff’s Office would likely be the best resource for more information if it is available.”
On Monday, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement in response to the allegations, explaining that it has been following up on Galina Trefil’s information for more than two years.
Later in the day, Galina Trefil made another Facebook post in which she named another alleged victim, William Flint Midgett, 37, of Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office statement, written by Capt. Quincy Cromer, explained that the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office learned about Galina Trefil’s social media posts about her father being a serial killer on March 14.
Authorities explain case involvement“This situation was reported to the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office in January of 2023 after Trefil’s daughter reported to other local and regional law enforcement of her suspicions that her father is a serial killer,” Cromer said in the report.
Based on the referrals from other law enforcement agencies, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office detectives spoke with an advocate of Trefil’s daughter, who also assisted in interviewing Trefil about his alleged crimes, Cromer said.
Recordings, scanned journals and other investigative materials were shared with the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, which conducted investigations into the claims.
“Investigators met with Trefil’s daughter in February of 2023, who said her father spoke about murdering several people from the 1970s through the 1990s. Trefil’s daughter also provided a lengthy written statement to detectives, which was retained as evidence,” the report said.
“As Trefil, his daughter, and the advocate spent time together, Trefil’s daughter said her father spoke about these killings and the daughter began researching unsolved murders in Mendocino County. Trefil’s daughter suspected her father was responsible for a murder in the 1970s in Mendocino County, which she specifically questioned her father about. Per Trefil’s daughter, Trefil ultimately admitted to the unsolved murder in Mendocino County in the 1970s. Detectives also obtained pictures, copies of journal entries, and recordings from the meetings between Trefil, his daughter, and the advocate,” the report said.
To further investigate the unsolved murder from the 1970s in Mendocino County, Cromer said detectives researched that case and compared the information provided by Trefil’s daughter to the facts of the case.
Detectives learned there were numerous evidentiary items that were submitted for DNA analysis in 2006 to the Department of Justice, which resulted in an unknown male DNA source from the analyzed evidence.
Detectives determined there were some consistencies in the information provided by Trefil’s daughter and the unsolved homicide case from the 1970s so they sought a warrant to obtain Trefil’s DNA for comparison to the evidentiary items sent for testing.
In May of 2023, the search warrant was authorized by a judge in Mendocino County to obtain a DNA sample from Trefil for comparison to the DNA profile from the evidence items in the unsolved homicide from the 1970s. The DNA sample from Trefil was submitted to the California Department of Justice Bureau of Forensic Services and ultimately uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System, also known as CODIS.
In 2023, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office received reports from the California Department of Justice regarding the comparison of Trefil’s DNA profile to the evidence in the unsolved murder case from the 1970s. Trefil’s DNA did not match the unknown male contributor DNA profile from the unsolved 1970s murder investigation.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office was also informed by the Department of Justice that Trefil’s DNA profile was uploaded into CODIS for routine and regular comparisons to DNA profiles uploaded from unsolved cases.
As of the publication of the Monday report, Cromer said the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has never been informed of Trefil’s DNA profile being a match or potential match to any evidentiary items submitted to CODIS.
Information from Trefil’s daughter also alleged her father buried numerous people he murdered at a cabin in Comptche. Cromer said the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office searched the property and cabin and were unable to locate any evidence to substantiate these claims or of possible human remains or burial sites on the property in Comptche.
“The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office is aware that Trefil’s daughter referenced other serial killers identified by her father, but these inferences were not substantiated by detectives,” Cromer said. “The Sheriff’s Office has been unable to substantiate the claims of the other individuals alleged to be serial killers or their involvement with homicides in Mendocino County.”
Cromer said the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has examined the scanned copies of Trefil’s diaries and journals, but did not locate any expressed confessions to any murders.
Galina Trefil informed the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and submitted her DNA and Trefil’s DNA to genealogical / ancestry sites, but Cromer said the Sheriff’s Office has never been informed of any investigative leads from these efforts or from other agencies investigating these claims.
“The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office has and will continue to investigate crimes associated with Trefil or allegations that he was a serial killer in Mendocino County,” Cromer said. “The Sheriff’s Office has not interviewed Trefil directly regarding these allegations due to his fragile medical state and information provided by his family that he will not cooperate with law enforcement. When legally justified and supported by probable cause, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office will continue to investigate this matter.”
Anyone with information regarding this investigation is requested to contact the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office at 707-463-4086 (option 1). Information can also be provided anonymously by calling the non-emergency tip line at 707-234-2100.
The text of Galina Trefil’s social media posts is included below.
March 13My name is Galina. For so many years now, I have lived a double life; carried an impossible secret. This is not a joke. This is the cold reality, which has been strictly on a need-to-know basis. Now everyone needs to know. I am the daughter of a serial killer--a serial killer who knew the identities of two other uncaught serial sex killers, Michael Fries and Julia Strnad Houser. Dr. Jon Charles Trefil, my father, has admitted for almost a decade, giving a consistent story, to being a serial killer ON TAPE, graphically. FBPD, the Sheriff's Department, the Mendocino County DA's Office, they are all aware of his confessions. This is the secret that the authorities in Mendocino County are not sharing with the public. At this point, Jon is 86 years old. He's admitted to being a serial killer to roughly over a dozen people. He's asked repeatedly if only someone, some authority, would take him back to the dump sites where he put the bodies. He's promised that he will point to where the bodies are if police will only take him. They haven't been willing to do so, and he's remained, while bedridden, still free. 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. Though, at times, he's also promised to fake being crazy if he's actually arrested. I, his daughter, have been asked by law enforcement how old he is, and I respond to them, "Well, he's almost a decade older than when I first contacted law enforcement." I have devoted my life to bringing Jon to justice. At this point, the DA's office has dozens of hours of him discussing his murders in intense detail. How he kidnapped. Who he kidnapped. How he kept victims prisoner, sometimes for weeks at a time before killing them. How he tortured. How he killed. Though he said that he began killing in the 1950s, he only really made it a habit from the summer of 1965 to approximately 1999. From 1965 onward, he admitted to murdering one person, give or take, per month. Female, male, old, young, and couples. The states involved are Illinois, California, Virginia, Oregon, and Idaho. The outside countries are Canada, France, the Netherlands, and along the Mexican boarder. Most killings occurred in California, with the specified counties being San Francisco, Marin, Alameda, Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma, and one unidentified county that shares the Northern Mendocino border. The fact that he's 86 should not matter in this case. There is no statute of limitations on murder, and most importantly he can give closure by saying where the bodies. He murdered my grandfather and laughed about killing two of my great-grandparents. He murdered multiple other people that, as a small child, I met back in the early 1980s. When I realized that he was a serial killer in January of 2012, I knew that he'd gone under the radar. If I let it happen, he would probably never be caught. Instead, I decided to devote the next 13 years of my life to building a case for the prosecution, so that the families of the dead could have the justice that they so deserve. The families deserve the opportunity to bury their daughters and sons; the opportunity while my father is still alive that they may stand in a courtroom and give an impact statement. I have contacted every jurisdiction wherein Jon admitted to murder. I have spoken to and given lengthy interviews with law enforcement over 40 times. I have provided DNA samples to law enforcement. At great personal physical risk, I retrieved my father's diaries, wherein he discusses some of the murders. To date, law enforcement hasn't even been willing to read those diaries. I got two of the murder weapons, including a vial of strychnine that Jon used to keep in his medical bag. No one's been willing to take it into custody. Last year, I was able to convince my father to cough up a few of the specific gravesite locations. The bodies of undiscovered victims are located at several places on "13 Curves" on HWY 20--mainly between the 4.5 to 5 mile marker. Also on the Comptche-Ukiah Road, Jon's Albion property, and at a murder cabin in Comptche. He's acknowledged two other murder cabins, located in Westport and Boonville. I asked law enforcement to put a wire on me. To date, they have not been willing to put a wire on me. I have been told that other, more recent cases, take precedent over cold cases. They took Jon's DNA, but have not been willing to put it, or my own volunteered DNA, into CODIS. Over the years, I built a posse, consisting mainly of seven key people, with an additional dozen or so helpers, who have also devoted themselves to bringing Jon Trefil to justice. Pure warriors, and the strain has weighed in on all of them. The time has come to go public though. I am asking the Mendocino County community for help. My father has repeatedly said that there were many victims who actually got away, some of whom were his patients. Hitchhikers, mostly picked up from the Willits junction, and tourists, were his main victims in Mendocino County, he said. He knew that they wouldn't be missed. IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION, PLEASE GO TO THE MENDOCINO COUNTY AUTHORITIES. I'm afraid that, given the lack of DNA analysis, this case absolutely will not be solved without the other surviving victims being willing to come forward. Thank you. Please share.
March 17My name is Galina. I'm the daughter of a serial killer, Jon Charles Trefil. One of the murders that my father admitted to was that of Barry Kirk Pinder. This is one of the rare murders that Jon described in vivid detail in front of both me and Athena Bolton, who now works at the DA's Office. In 1974, John claimed that he went to MacKerricher State Park. Whether this was with the intention to stay at the park or murder someone, I don't know. John spent a lot of time camping out on beaches, in the woods; at reservoirs. In addition to hitchhikers, John claimed that a large number of his victims were out-of-area campers that would set up camp far back in the woods; poor people that had stayed away from campgrounds in order to save money. (There was a lot of that going on in the 1960s and 1970s of Mendocino County.) I do remember vaguely him taking me to campgrounds when I was very little, maybe four or five. He would disappear, leaving me to walk around by myself. I'd wait hours, not knowing when he'd be back. John later told me that he decided killing at MacKerricher was definitely a bad idea because it was far too populated and could easily have resulted in him getting caught. On this particular occasion in 1974, John stated that he was at the campground with a buddy of his: John Shandel. Shandel was a known figure in the construction business. According to John's story, there was some degree of tree-trimming or removal Shandel was providing in the area when this murder happened. The two men were interacting with Pinder. Both Johns were drunk. At some point, John claimed that Shandel attempted a physically intimate moment with Pinder. I do not recall if John Trefil said that Shandel was present for what happened next or not. The DA's Office has the tapes. John claimed to be very angry about the attempted intimacy between Shandel and Pinder, and thereafter because of it beat Pinder to death. At no point did John claim any degree of bodily contact with Pinder. It was John's confession to Pinder's murder which resulted in the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department getting a warrant for John's DNA. I was present for that. I will never forget how pissed off John looked when Det. Logan repeatedly called John "Mr. Trefil," rather than "Dr. Trefil." The DNA did not come back as tying John to the scene, but...it wouldn't. John never claimed to have touched Pinder with his body, or in any other way, left DNA at the scene. The story of John's interaction with Pinder could have been confirmed by John Shandel, but I was told that the Sheriff's Department had stated that Shandel was already dead and could not be questioned. They were wrong. Shandel didn't die for at least six months after the DNA was taken. So far as I'm aware, Shandel was never questioned at all. This was so botched and the Pinder family still has no justice.
March 17My name is Galina. I'm the daughter of a serial killer and I need your help. I understand that law enforcement has officially put out a statement that there is no actual evidence in the diaries of murder. I am now going to share the name of one my father's victims. I had no intention to make specific victims' names public because it will always be my hope that law enforcement will spare the families that public dose of awful and inform them privately in an in-person safe space. That not necessarily being that case changes things. I first contact Charlottesville PD almost a decade ago to share the information that John's diary said a patient named "Midgett" died because of him in Virginia, 1979. I was told by PD that this information was too vague in order to discover the victim--Midgett's--identity. I was blown off. Well, ancestry.com publishes the death certificates of Virginia residents. I was able to find out exactly who "Midgett" is, by the date of death and the fact that he died in the hospital wherein John worked in a position of power. Figuring this out wasn't even hard! William Flint Midgett, age 37. Death ruled of natural causes. John stressed that, whenever possible, he didn't kill his own patients, but rather those of other doctors, so if anything was discovered to be amiss, the other doctor would receive the blame; not him. William Flint Midgett was apparently an exception to the rule. I shouldn't be having to do this research. My posse should not be having to do this research. You the public shouldn't be having to do this research. I'm doing it, and now a lot of you are too, because it's the right thing to do. I was advised by Det. Sam Logan from the Mendocino County Sheriff's Department to allow Athena Bolton, (who now works at the DA's Office,) to scan my father's diaries. I complied with the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office. I did what I was told. I handed them over. Saying they are of no evidentiary value baffles me. Please share.
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