If the scene in Whatcom County Superior Court yesterday is any indication, Michael A. Mullen doesn't like to sit and wait for the wheels of justice to turn.

On Aug. 27, according to police, Mullen killed two sex offenders who had served their time and had been quietly living in suburban Bellingham. About a week later, police say, he confessed to the crime. And yesterday, during his first court appearance, Mullen's main concern was getting the process over with.

"Can I have a speedy trial?" Mullen, 35, asked Superior Court Commissioner David Thorn during his preliminary hearing. He didn't even want a lawyer. "I would just like to plead guilty," he said.

Mullen, who is being held on $1 million bail, is expected to be charged today with two counts of first-degree murder, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mac Setter said.

Police said the motivation behind the slayings was the highly publicized case in Idaho in which children were allegedly abducted and their family killed by convicted sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III.

The men Mullen allegedly killed, two Level 3 sex offenders, were found dead in their home on Northwest Avenue in Bellingham. Victor Vazquez, 68, and Hank Eisses, 49, were each killed with a single gunshot to the head.

According to Bellingham police Lt. Craige Ambrose, none of the usual motives — such as money or drugs — presented themselves during the outset of the investigation. That both men were registered sex offenders fueled speculation the killer was a vigilante and might kill again. Letters sent to a Bellingham newspaper and a television station last week, purportedly from the killer, threatened other sex offenders.

On Monday, Mullen called police and turned himself in.

Ambrose said Mullen provided information only the killer would know, such as the caliber of weapon used in the slayings and that a briefcase had been carried to the scene. He also told them the plan had been in the works for some time, Ambrose said.

On July 13, Mullen examined the list of sex offenders on the Whatcom County sheriff's Web site, Ambrose said. From that list, he chose at least one of the two victims.

Then he came up with two stories — one for the sex offenders and another for a friend, who inadvertently helped him carry out the plan, according to Setter.

Mullen and a female friend were looking for a rental home, Setter said. Mullen told her he wanted to check out a house on Northwest Avenue and asked her to drop him off there. He would call for a ride home later.

Setter said the woman is not a suspect in the slayings and she didn't realize anything was wrong until she was questioned by police — at which point she also realized Mullen may have used her gun, which is missing.

At the house, Mullen told another story, police said: Pretending to be an FBI agent, he told the men their names appeared on a hit list. Wearing an FBI cap and a blue jumpsuit, Mullen spent several hours there, even drinking a can of beer, Setter said.

The bodies were found later by a roommate, also a sex offender.

Mullen's record, while long on criminal convictions, is mostly for nonviolent felonies. He has several convictions in Washington for theft and writing bad checks.

About 6-feet-5, goateed and burly, with tattoos covering his right arm, Mullen spent much of his life in Whatcom County, where he attended Blaine High School.

In recent years, he has moved back and forth between Skagit and Whatcom counties. A records search turned up numerous addresses associated with Mullen, including one in a gated community on Birch Bay, northwest of Bellingham.

Records also show Mullen was married in 1990. His ex-wife, who asked that her name not be used, said he had spent time in jail not long after their wedding, effectively ending their relationship. They divorced in 1996.

In 1993, he was convicted of unlawful issuance of a bank check after he passed a bad check for 150 pounds of veal from an Everett meat purveyor. In 1997, he was convicted of theft for taking $2,185 from an electronics dealer while saying he would use the money for a cellphone deal with the man.

"He said, 'I'm a thief, I'm a con man," Setter explained. " 'I steal money, I usually get caught for it.' "

The story of Duncan, a sex offender arrested in July, had a profound effect on Mullen, Ambrose said. Duncan made headlines after being charged with killing three people at a house in rural Idaho and abducting the remaining two children, one of whom he later allegedly killed.

"If we're to believe a portion of what he said, a lot of the impetus came from that case in Idaho," Ambrose said. "That got him thinking about it."

Vazquez was convicted in 1991 of molesting several people. The abuse was ongoing and led to serious psychological problems for some of the children, according to court documents. Eisses was convicted in 1997 of raping a 13-year-old boy at his home.

Eve Vazquez, one of Vazquez's victims, had a letter distributed to members of the media at Mullen's court hearing, saying she had reconciled with Vazquez in recent years. She wrote that it's wrong if people think the killer's actions were justified.

Even after Mullen stood in court yesterday announcing his intention to plead guilty, investigators were perplexed.

"He's describing on one hand wanting to get rid of sex offenders," Setter said. "On the other hand he's taking himself out of the picture" by confessing to the crime.

Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com