Father Eric Freed
Age 56 · Eureka, California
Crime Year
2014
Offender
Gary Lee Bullock
Sentence
Life without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder, plus a consecutive life term for torture and additional prison terms for related crimes
This victim's offender could become eligible for release under the proposed regulations.
On New Year’s Day 2014, parishioners at St. Bernard Catholic Church in Eureka became concerned when their beloved pastor, Father Eric Freed, failed to appear for the 9:00 a.m. mass. A parish deacon went to the rectory and discovered that something was terribly wrong. As police and medical personnel responded, members of the congregation remained at the church, praying the rosary for their pastor.
Father Freed had been brutally murdered inside the rectory. Authorities determined that he had been beaten to death with a wooden stake and a metal gutter pipe. Gary Lee Bullock was later convicted of Father Freed’s murder and torture and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Father Freed had served as pastor of St. Bernard since 2011 and was remembered throughout the community as a warm, kind man who devoted his life to his faith, his students, and the people he served.