46-year-old Ryan Mullen was caught stalking his now ex-wife, Debbie Mullen, on August 5th. When Debbie contacted law enforcement, she informed them that in March of 2024, she told Ryan she was filing for divorce and would not be back. Debbie stated that Ryan being out of state and other factors led to their divorce papers being served late on July 30th. Debbie also informed officers that she and Ryan had not been living together for around four months and that she hadn’t seen him in two. During that time, Debbie made it known to Ryan not to contact her and to communicate through her lawyer. She reiterated this on August 4th, both in an email and over the phone, to not contact her.
On July 31st, Ryan emailed Debbie four times. Over the next six days, Ryan sent Debbie a total of 16 emails, which officers observed mostly unopened in Debbie’s spam folder. Debbie also mentioned to officers that Ryan had attempted to contact her through their adult son. In addition to the emails, it was found that Ryan had been leaving notes and letters on Debbie’s car. A three-page handwritten note left by Ryan read at the beginning, ” Debbie, This will be the last time I bother you. I promise.” After leaving that note, Ryan continued to email Debbie. One of these emails contained a satellite image of the residence Debbie was staying at. A separate email had a picture of a man Debbie was visiting. Another email contained “Have fun at Chris” in the subject line, and a separate one said, “I have a right to know where the car is.”
After returning to her current residence on August 5th at 12:30 a.m., Debbie stated that her car alarm went off a few minutes after her arrival. At 12:38 a.m. Ryan sent an email that said, “After 4 hours with your guy friend. I left ya a few things on your car…” After going outside to check on her vehicle, she discovered some of her clothes and lingerie on the hood of her car. In addition to that, she found a message on the back windshield saying, “Let your boy Chris fix.” On the same day, at 8:28 a.m. Ryan sent Debbie an email stating, “It’s shoe polish” and “It will wipe right off.”
On August 7th, there was a domestic disturbance at a residence on North 11th Street involving Ryan and Debbie. Debbie shared that she and two others attended an AA meeting at the specified location. Debbie stated that while they were leaving, they noticed a white Dodge Caravan, which Debbie knew belonged to Ryan. Debbie and the others drove up to the vehicle and identified that Ryan was the driver. Officers deemed that since Ryan already had previous charges of stalking and that he had no reason to be in the area since he lived in another county, he would continue to harass Debbie.
Ryan Mullen was later taken into custody and charged with one count of aggravated stalking and one count of stalking on August 18th.