'Very precious:' Baby boy killed by Texas death row inmate Travis James Mullis was loved

This story includes a graphic description of crimes committed against an infant.

The son of a Texas death row inmate set to be executed this week never got the chance to make it out of infancy, dying at the hands of his own father over a decade ago.

There was no one more “extraordinarily beautiful” in the eyes of doting grandmother Carolyn Entriken than her grandson, 3-month-old Alijah James Mullis, who was born in October 2007, according to a March 2011 court transcript obtained by USA TODAY.

“He had steel blue eyes, cute little reddish hair," Entriken told the court. "I know all babies are beautiful ... He just was very precious."

Entriken did make it out to Houston once before her grandson was tragically killed, spending some time in the area with her daughter, Caren Kohberger, Alijah and the baby’s father, Travis James Mullis.

But on Jan. 29, 2008, Entriken got a phone call no grandmother should ever get, learning from her daughter that Alijah had been killed. 

She flew out the next morning to be with Kohberger, who was “pretty numb” after the death of her son and a confession from Mullis that he killed and abandoned Alijah at Galveston’s Seawall, a popular tourist destination just south of Houston. 

Mullis is scheduled to be executed in Texas on Tuesday, about 16 years after he destroyed the only family he ever knew. Entriken died 14 years after Alijah in 2022, and Alijah's mother declined to be interviewed.

As Mullis’ execution approaches, USA TODAY is looking back at the tragic crime and how perfect little Alijah was before his life was ended far too soon.

They looked like any young family

When Entriken learned that her daughter was pregnant in May 2007, she had some concerns. Up until then, she had been helping her daughter cover the cost of living expenses. 

“My concerns were that she didn't have many resources at that time. I didn't know anything about the father of the baby,” said Entiken, who helped the couple out with whatever she could, whenever she could. 

Entriken still remembered the day her daughter called her from the hospital in late October 2007 to share the news of Alijah’s birth.

“And (Alijah) must have been in the room with her. He was crying like a baby would. And I was very emotional now that he was here,” Entriken testified in March 2011. 

Entriken didn’t officially meet her grandson until December that year, taking a trip from her home in norther New Jersey down to Houston with her second husband. They spent the weekend making memories, spending a lot of time on the beach in Galveston.

Mullis, according to Entriken, seemed “very loving and caring.” 

“I have pictures that show his mannerisms that day. He had his arms around my daughter. They were being playful. He looked very loving,” Entriken said. “They looked like a young family out on an outing.” 

Entriken had hoped to return to Texas in a few months for another visit with the young couple and her grandbaby, whom she described as "very calm"

“I wanted to come back and see Alijah,” Entriken said. “I didn't want too much time to go by where he was growing up without my seeing him.” 

Texas couple in disbelief after finding baby Alijah

The day that ripped Entriken's family apart, Jesse Zaro and his wife were enjoying a day off, heading to the Galveston seawall after dropping their kids off at school, according to a court transcript. 

The couple took trips to the beach often, collecting seashells or watching birds as they walked and talked. 

The morning of Jan. 29, 2008 was no different. They stopped at a local donut shop, picking up a sweet treat before they made their way to the seawall. Zaro drove toward the “hurricane levee,” getting up on the wall to avoid dump trucks that were whizzing by. 

Zaro was “cruising real slow” when saw what he initially thought was an abandoned doll when he looked to his left. There was something in him that told him he “better take a look at this.” So he pulled over, telling his wife to stay in the car.

What Zaro didn’t know at the time was that he had stumbled on Alijah, who had been choked, molested and stomped to death by his father.

“It was laying there. And it hurts my heart talking about this. I walked up to it and I was like ‘Oh God.’ I looked down and something hit my heart," Zaro testified in March 2011. "It was like all the wind just left me. ‘God, it’s the horror. It was the horror, man.'"

He ran toward the car and waved at a passing dump truck to no avail, forgetting that they had a cellphone because “everything was going in slow motion.” 

Zaro contacted authorities immediately.

"’Oh, my God. It's a baby. I think it's a baby. I can't believe it. The baby's dead," according to an excerpt of Zaro’s 911 called used by the prosecution at trial. "I can't believe it. Who would do this to a baby?"

What's going to happen to Travis Mullis?

Following Alijah's murder, Mullis convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Texas is set to execute him by lethal injection on Tuesday, which would make him the fourth person executed in the state this year and the 15th or 16th in the nation, depending on whether he's declared dead before or after Marcellus Williams, another inmate set for execution in Missouri on the same day.

A Facebook page started to "honor and show love" to baby Alijah has photos and posts about him through 2020. One of them reads: "We love and miss you always, baby boy."