I know there are other threads about this topic, and if the mods think this shouldn't be a new thread, feel free to close it and merge with one of the other threads. I just wanted to share how I've came to a better understanding of the case as a whole, and that how I now believe this case is not as bizarre as it appears on the surface.

It started when I saw a thread on reddit about the case, which piqued my interest back up in it. I went back and reread the threads on this forum, as well as the 164 pages of documents that Paul Freshour himself uploaded to a website prior to his death. I guess I should preface this and say that I've always believed Paul Freshour to be completely innocent of not only the crimes he was convicted for, but for also the things he was accused of doing (writing the threatening letters, targeting the Gillespie's). So I contacted Martin Yant, the reporter/investigator who was featured on the Unsolved Mysteries segment.

(And for those who need a refresher on the case, here's the link to the Unsolved Mysteries website which gives it a rundown:
http://unsolved.com/archives/poison-pen-murder)

My personal working theory at the time (prior to talking with Martin Yant) was that there were several different people using the "Circleville writer" moniker as a way to spread gossip and innuendo around the town about various businesses and residents. It appears now that that theory is incorrect. The very first "CW" letter that was received was by Mary Gillespie sometime in 1976, telling her to end her affair with the superintendent of schools (Gordon Massie). She at first ignored it until more letters came in. Then her husband started to receive threatening letters. This is when Ron and Mary contacted Paul and his then wife (Ron's sister) about what was going on. It's interesting to note here that the letters they were receiving were written in two differnt forms. Some were written with the large block style writing (featured in UM), and others were written with a more normal style and were signed "W". Gordon Massie's son was named William. They wrote, according to Paul, 4 or 5 letters to him, and that "there was no violence in them or anything, just that we knew who he was and what he was doing, and we sent him the letters." Then the letters stopped. The next year in the summer of 1977 is when Ron Gillespie received a phone call which ultimately resulted in his death. He was drunk at the time, and went out to confront the person whom he thought was responsible. He crashed his car, and the death was ruled accidental. The police ruled out a "suspect" (according to UM), and this was probably the guy whom Ron suspected of placing the call. Nothing has ever surfaced (besides the firing of his gun) to suggest otherwise. I honestly believe this was an accidental death.

Fast forward to 1983, which is when Mary Gillespie would see signs along her bus route that targeted her daughter. This is when she eventually found the booby trap attached to a sign, for which Freshour's gun was found inside and what ultimately led to his conviction. It should be noted that in 1982, Freshour and his wife went through a messy divorce, and Freshour kept their house and custody of their children. Not once during the proceedings did his wife mention anything about him being the writer. Then after the divorce was finalized, his ex-wife moved into a trailer on the property where Mary Gillespie lived. And it was only after finding the booby trap that his ex began to claim he was responsible for writing the letters.

On the day the trap was found, another bus driver (20 minutes prior to Mary Gillespie) drove by and saw a man standing near a yellow El Camino. Freshour had an alibi during this time (around noon that day) and did not match the description of the man given. But Paul's ex-wife's boyfriend (and eventual husband) did look like the man seen at the El Camino. And the ex wife had a relative with a yellow El Camino. The picture became clearer.

After discussing the case with Martin Yant, I think I have a better understanding of the case now. Another worker for the school system had repeatedly made advances to Mary, which she rebuffed. When she began the affair with the superintendent, this made the guy jealous. All of the initial letters targeted the affair. And the initial letters were written in two different forms. IMO, the son of Gordon Massie wrote some, while the jealous coworker wrote the others. It should be noted that Paul Freshour lived in a different county altogether, and worked at a beer plant 50 hours a week. There's just no way he would have known the numerous people in Circleville, let alone know intimate details about their lives. But back to the main story. I believe the coworker was the one responsible for the block style letters written to Ron and Mary, and also for the threatening call to Ron. Keep in mind that Gordon Massie's son was only a teenager at the time. I don't think he would have had the time or patience to devote this much of his life to this letter writing campaign about not only an affair involving his father, but other people around town. And the letters always seemed to center around the school system. Which all leads back to the coworker. I think the letters died down initially because Mary and Gordon Massie stopped their affair for a time. Gordon divorced his wife in 1979, and eventually they admitted that they started a relationship after the divorce and death of Ron (I don't believe this). Then the letters started again, which escalated to the signs being placed along Mary's bus route. This just so happens to coincide with a time that Paul and his wife had went through their bitter divorce. I think his ex-wife enlisted her then boyfriend to make a decoy booby trap with Paul's gun (Martin Yant described the boyfriend as a "tinkerer" and that Freshour was a "mechanical klutz") to frame Paul and make him look like the "CW". And because Paul did admit to writing the 4 or 5 letters to the person they initially suspected, he became the prime suspect. With the help of his ex-wife, they built a case around, and eventually convicted Paul Freshour. It should also be noted that around the divorce proceedings, Paul's ex-wife had asked Paul's sister if she could use a typewriter that Paul had loaned to her because she was planning on writing a book. The sister was confused because she never knew his ex-wife to be a typist, and because they were going through a divorce at the time, found it odd that she would want one of Paul's items. His ex assured the sister that Paul was okay with it, so she relented and let her use it. Not so coincidentally was there a typewriter used in some of the letters that the people in Circleville had been receiving around the same time.

So what does this all mean? I firmly believe that this whole thing started out of jealousy, with a guy who wanted to be with Mary Gillespie who spurned his advances and hooked up with Gordon Massie instead. The coworker then took to letter writing to voice his displeasure and began to threaten people (mostly Mary and Ron Gillespie) with the intention of ending the affair, or Mary and Ron's marriage. I think Ron drank up the courage to confront this guy, and legitimately died because of an accident on his way. His family contends he wasn't a strong drinker, so for someone who isn't much of a drinker, his BAC at the time (.16) would make him completely wasted. The only "mystery" is with the fired bullet. For all we now, Ron could have fired the weapon out the window as he was driving out of anger, or it could have discharged accidentally once he crashed into the tree. I then think that after Freshour and his ex-wife divorced, she used the "CW"'s little game of leaving signs (as well as writing letters) as a way to set up Freshour as the writer to get back at him over a bitter divorce dispute. Martin Yant description of her, "she was a very, very angry, manipulative woman who was still planting negative stories about Paul in the early 1990s.", is very telling. What was initially bizarre seems more clear now. Still a weird case, but overall, something that I feel comfortable with having a finality to it. I am also firmly in the belief that Freshour's ex-wife wrote the "el sickos" letter to UM.

One final tidbit: the coworker (the one whom I now believe to be the "CW") was charged with the rape of a young girl, and while on the run, committed suicide.

Great work! I almost started a similar thread a few months ago, after doing the same as you: reviewing the entire PDF, previous threads, etc. I wanted to approach it from the angle of answering each question posed by Unsolved Mysteries (e.g. "Who drove the yellow car?" which is answered in the PDF), but could never give a satisfactory answer to the big question: who wrote the original letters?

Your communication with Yant has added some excellent details to the story and I'm happy you took the time to summarize it. Thank you!

I've only been saying this for years.

I've always wanted to contact Mr. Yant, so I am glad someone here got a hold of him.

One question, though, who was the man in the El Camino? Yant said in the segment that "a suspect in this case had a brother who drove an El Camino." Who was this person?

EDIT: Nevermind. I see you addressed it in your post. Somehow I missed it.

I can't stand people who like to take the fun out of mysteries.

I can't stand people who like to take the fun out of mysteries.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Excellent work! It's fascinating to hear all this new info about the case, though admittedly, learning a detailed explanation for all these events does take a little buzz out of the mystery.

I'm curious if Yant mentioned anything about Sheriff Dwight Radcliff. The UM segment always kinda gave the impression that he was colluding with the perpetrators to frame Paul Freshour and orchestrating a cover-up. But after reading about all this personal drama, I can't imagine why he'd bother, unless he had some sort of personal connection with any of the people involved. It's possible Radcliff might have gotten tunnel vision about Freshour and the whole conviction was just lousy police work.

I think Ron drank up the courage to confront this guy, and legitimately died because of an accident on his way. His family contends he wasn't a strong drinker, so for someone who isn't much of a drinker, his BAC at the time (.16) would make him completely wasted.

There's one thing I've always been confused about here. Ron's kids were home at the time he received the phone call and he told them he was going out to confront someone before he got into his accident. Shouldn't they have been able to verify if he was actually drunk that night or not?

I remember Paul saying that Sheriff Radcliff originally thought there was foul play, but changed his ruling to an accident after ruling out a potential suspect who passed a polygraph. Since someone started sending out letters accusing Radcliff of a cover-up, I wonder if this "suspect" was the aforementioned jealous coworker, Gordon Massie's son, or someone else who legitimately wasn't involved.

I'm curious if Yant mentioned anything about Sheriff Dwight Radcliff. The UM segment always kinda gave the impression that he was colluding with the perpetrators to frame Paul Freshour and orchestrating a cover-up. But after reading about all this personal drama, I can't imagine why he'd bother, unless he had some sort of personal connection with any of the people involved. It's possible Radcliff might have gotten tunnel vision about Freshour and the whole conviction was just lousy police work.

I asked him what his thoughts were about Ron's death, and he never really answered that one. I mentioned Radcliff a couple of times, and the impression I got from Yant was that after the divorce, Paul's ex began "co-opted" the original writer's scheme to steer the investigation towards Paul. His ex-wife led the investigation to Paul. Now my personal opinion is that once the gun was matched to Paul Freshour, Radcliff did everything he could to pin the crimes and letters on him to quell the public's fears and to quickly "solve" the case. I don't think he anticipated the letters continuing once Freshour was in prison. When they did, in order to save face, he had to keep insisting (despite how ridiculous it is) that Freshour was somehow smuggling the letters out of prison. Basically just lousy police work which then in turn made them stubborn into never admitting that they got the wrong guy.

There's one thing I've always been confused about here. Ron's kids were home at the time he received the phone call and he told them he was going out to confront someone before he got into his accident. Shouldn't they have been able to verify if he was actually drunk that night or not?

Again, he didn't really address my questions about Ron's death, but from everything I've read, Ron was definitely intoxicated that night. I don't know how they could have (or why at the time, this was still less than a year since the Gillespie's started receiving letters) fudged Ron's BAC that night. Despite what UM has in their re-enactment, I don't think Ron necessarily rushed out of the house once he got the phone call. I think he sat around and contemplated what to do, and then with the help of some liquid encouragement, went out to confront the guy. His kids may have only seen him for the very brief exchange of him telling them that he was going out to confront the guy, without them noticing that he was drunk.

I remember Paul saying that Sheriff Radcliff originally thought there was foul play, but changed his ruling to an accident after ruling out a potential suspect who passed a polygraph. Since someone started sending out letters accusing Radcliff of a cover-up, I wonder if this "suspect" was the aforementioned jealous coworker, Gordon Massie's son, or someone else who legitimately wasn't involved.

In one of Paul's documents, he mentions Mary Gillespie taking plastic cups from the school to Radcliff to test them for fingerprints to see if the coworker (presumably these were discarded cups touched by the coworker) was involved with the case. During Paul's trial, his attorney tried to get it out of Radcliff that 1 year after Ron's death, Paul met with him to discuss the letters and to reopen the investigation into Ron's death. The implication being, of course, that if Paul was the "CW", why would he want to re-open an investigation into a death he was directly involved in?! I think the suspect at the time was the coworker, who was questioned about Ron's death, and since his death was actually an accident, he passed a polygraph and the death was ruled accidental.

I've only been saying this for years.

Well I've had a similar theory too prior to contacting Martin Yant, but had no idea about the jealous coworker angle. I just thought it was something interesting to pass along to the forum.

I guess I should have also noted that it's possible that the coworker was deliberately writing two different styles of writing in an effort to conceal his identity, and that by signing the letters "W", he may have tried to make them think it was William Massie. Unless UM was vague, and they sent letters to multiple people who they thought was responsible (maybe they sent them to the coworker and Massie), Massie very well may have had nothing to do with them.

Martin Yant simply stated that Paul's ex-wife was the one who came up with the idea and used Paul and "others to smoke out the original writer".

ETA: I found this case (https://casetext.com/case/gallucci-v-freshour#!) appeal from the 90's which involves a dispute between Freshour and his ex-wife over property that they had owned together. Since this is dated 1994, I could see now why, according to Yant, his ex-wife was still spreading negative stories about him into the 90's. And in one of Yant's articles, he mentions (not by name but it's implied) that the ex-wife and her husband threatened his life after he wrote an article leaning heavily on the side of Paul's innocence.

I've always wanted to contact Mr. Yant, so I am glad someone here got a hold of him.

One question, though, who was the man in the El Camino? Yant said in the segment that "a suspect in this case had a brother who drove an El Camino." Who was this person?

EDIT: Nevermind. I see you addressed it in your post. Somehow I missed it.

I was confused about this too, and in my correspondence with him, he repeatedly referred to them as "my prime suspect". When watching UM, when he says "a suspect", I automatically assumed he meant a suspect as the identity of the CW. But I think he was referring to the main suspect (Paul's ex-wife) as to who planted the booby trap.

And, like Yant, I now believe that Mary Gillespie was not involved in the framing of Freshour. Apparently, Ron's parents lived on the property with Ron and Mary, and after Ron's death, Mary Gillespie evicted them (and eventually Paul's ex-wife moved into the trailer they had lived in). More motive for the ex-wife to not only frame Paul, but also take out Mary Gillespie.

The very first "CW" letter that was received was by Mary Gillespie sometime in 1976, telling her to end her affair with the superintendent of schools (Gordon Massie). She at first ignored it until more letters came in. Then her husband started to receive threatening letters. This is when Ron and Mary contacted Paul and his then wife (Ron's sister) about what was going on. It's interesting to note here that the letters they were receiving were written in two differnt forms. Some were written with the large block style writing (featured in UM), and others were written with a more normal style and were signed "W". Gordon Massie's son was named William. They wrote, according to Paul, 4 or 5 letters to him, and that "there was no violence in them or anything, just that we knew who he was and what he was doing, and we sent him the letters."

So Cars, I'm unclear if you think the letters were written entirely by the co-worker, or both the co-worker and William Massie? Thanks.

So Cars, I'm unclear if you think the letters were written entirely by the co-worker, or both the co-worker and William Massie? Thanks.

Some may have been written by William Massie, or the coworker could have tried to write in 2 different styles to disguise his identity and signed them "W" to make them think it was Massie. Martin Yant thinks it's just one original CW. I think it's possible that William Massie wrote some letters to Mary Gillespie, but not the threatening ones.

Very nice work. I always had a feeling it was something like this. Paul's ex-wife was always entirely overlooked in this mess.

There's one thing I've always been confused about here. Ron's kids were home at the time he received the phone call and he told them he was going out to confront someone before he got into his accident. Shouldn't they have been able to verify if he was actually drunk that night or not?



Maybe he didn't drink at the house, but stopped at a bar or a liquor store on the way to the confrontation?
How much time passed between the time Ron left until the time they found the truck? Maybe he was drinking after meeting with someone and crashed on his way home?

Tell me about the coworker. When did he die?

Tell me about the coworker. When did he die?

I think it was sometime in the late 90's or early 00's. He committed suicide shortly after fleeing from law enforcement, and they didn't find his body for a few years.

Nice work digging all of that up! I have always felt Paul's ex was behind it. I think I even mentioned that way, way back in one of the threads on this topic. It is nice to see some corroboration to that theory. I also always felt more than one person wrote the letters, but I was not aware of the coworker angle. It totally makes sense though. Still a mysterious case, but I think your theory pretty much hits the nail right on the head.

Great work! That really brings a lot more to light, and it makes sense. It's also completely unsurprising that the jealous co-worker would've committed a crime like rape. Geez.

Very interesting read. Thanks!

Any reason you didn’t name David Longberry in the original post?

Any reason you didn’t name David Longberry in the original post?

Because I didn't want people to think that Martin Yant was the one who told me this information. He never named names in any correspondence with me. I found Longberry's information from one of the files posted by Paul Freshour on the internet and connected the dots. Yant only referred to him as a "coworker", so I relayed what he told me.

http://listverse.com/2018/05/07/10-incredible-people-with-incredibly-unfortunate-names/

Circleville, Ohio, is a town built by Hitlers. Little mementos commemorating the importance of the Hitlers are all over the town—from the beautiful waters of Hitler Pond to the greenery of Hitler Park and even across its many roads named for Hitlers.These roads, though, aren’t named for Adolf. They’re named for the good, decent Hitlers who built the community. Men like George Washington Hitler; his son, Dr. Gay Hitler; and the very first Hitlers who settled Circleville.When Dr. Gay Hitler opened a dental center downtown in 1922, his name was nothing more than a sign of pride and connection to the community’s heritage. It only took a few more years, though, for that to change. When the first news reports on fascism’s rise in Berlin started spreading through the country, calling yourself a Hitler stopped being something to brag about.It was hardest for Dr. Gay Hitler’s brother, George, who had moved to Akron. His boss was so afraid of having a Hitler on staff that he tried to bully George Hitler into changing his name.In Circleville, though, the name still held its dignity, and the population never turned their backs on the Hitlers. To this day, they refuse to change the signs that bear the name “Hitler.” Even in the darkest times, Circleville alone was a place where a man could hold his chin up with pride and declare that he was Gay Hitler.

I didn't realize Paul died.

Is Mary still alive?

I didn't realize Paul died.

Is Mary still alive?

To my knowledge, yes.

She's 75 to be exact.

Does anybody really believe that Mary’s relationship with the superintendent began after the letters were sent? Yeah right.

Does anybody really believe that Mary’s relationship with the superintendent began after the letters were sent? Yeah right.

Nope.

What bugs me, is the fact that Paul was denied parole, as the letter kept being sent. One would think it would be fairly easy to rule him out, considering his mail would be vetted, as the main reason he was convicted, was that the jury believed he was responsible for sending threatening letters.

This case is full of holes, and I honestly believe the Ron suspected his wife was having an affair, and knew exactly who the other man was. I do not believe the family is telling the truth. To have a BAC of 0.16, it would take a 180 pound man to drink a considerable amount in a short period of time....maybe 12 drinks in 2 hours, to be that intoxicated. That's blackout drunk.

http://listverse.com/2018/05/07/10-incredible-people-with-incredibly-unfortunate-names/

Circleville, Ohio, is a town built by Hitlers. Little mementos commemorating the importance of the Hitlers are all over the town—from the beautiful waters of Hitler Pond to the greenery of Hitler Park and even across its many roads named for Hitlers.These roads, though, aren’t named for Adolf. They’re named for the good, decent Hitlers who built the community. Men like George Washington Hitler; his son, Dr. Gay Hitler; and the very first Hitlers who settled Circleville.When Dr. Gay Hitler opened a dental center downtown in 1922, his name was nothing more than a sign of pride and connection to the community’s heritage. It only took a few more years, though, for that to change. When the first news reports on fascism’s rise in Berlin started spreading through the country, calling yourself a Hitler stopped being something to brag about.It was hardest for Dr. Gay Hitler’s brother, George, who had moved to Akron. His boss was so afraid of having a Hitler on staff that he tried to bully George Hitler into changing his name.In Circleville, though, the name still held its dignity, and the population never turned their backs on the Hitlers. To this day, they refuse to change the signs that bear the name “Hitler.” Even in the darkest times, Circleville alone was a place where a man could hold his chin up with pride and declare that he was Gay Hitler.

While there are still many Hitlers down in Pickaway County, and in fact at least one road down that way still bears that name, what does any of this have to do with the Freshour case other than that it involves Circleville?

Sheriff Radcliff died early today. His health had been declining for some time.

https://www.dispatch.com/obituaries/20200506/dwight-radcliff-longtime-pickaway-county-sheriff-dies-at-87

I always felt like there was more than one Circleville Writer. I think one was Paul’s Ex wife (who likely had no issue setting him up), one was a co worker and the other was some type of relative of the Superintendent. And YES I think an affair was happening. I think Ron crashed and killed while drunk sadly.

Creepy case. The idea of someone being harassed by letters sent by an unknown stalker is extremely unnerving; the "pistol booby trap" is also very disturbing.

I definitely agree that Paul was set up by someone (possibly his wife). Sad. I don't see why anyone would think Paul was the one sending letters, since they continued after he had been incarcerated & it would have obviously been impossible for him to send them while in jail - ridiculous.

Ron's death is suspect; he may have just crashed while driving drunk - but, he may also have been killed & it was made to look like an accident.

he may also have been killed & it was made to look like an accident.

Murdering someone and making it look like an accident is something out of movies. It very rarely happens in real life, especially with an auto accident. Ron's BAC was extremely high on the night of his death. His killer would have gotten really lucky to murder him on the night where he decided to get blitzed.

The more believable scenario is that Ron was going to confront David Longberry and was drinking for liquid courage. He drank too much and unfortunately crashed his car.

Looks like CBS' 48 Hours will be covering this case.

Sneak peek: The Circleville Letters (https://www.yahoo.com/news/sneak-peek-circleville-letters-100000497.html)

Murdering someone and making it look like an accident is something out of movies. It very rarely happens in real life, especially with an auto accident. Ron's BAC was extremely high on the night of his death. His killer would have gotten really lucky to murder him on the night where he decided to get blitzed.

The more believable scenario is that Ron was going to confront David Longberry and was drinking for liquid courage. He drank too much and unfortunately crashed his car.

Perhaps the reason the gun was discharged was because he tried to shoot at him while chasing him in the car and lost control and crashed?

Something that came to me, recently, regarding the supposed shot that was fired. I wonder if they actually did a GSR test or anything to make sure a shot actually WAS fired. If the pistol was a revolver, and he kept it loaded, a lot of people from that time frame (and earlier, and even today) would leave the hammer on either an empty chamber or empty casing (because older pistols were not safe to carry with a loaded chamber under the hammer). If they just saw an empty casing in the chamber and assumed that he'd fired a shot without actually testing, this might've been a red herring that's been chased all these years that made the case far more sinister than it actually was.

I guess I should have also noted that it's possible that the coworker was deliberately writing two different styles of writing in an effort to conceal his identity, and that by signing the letters "W", he may have tried to make them think it was William Massie. Unless UM was vague, and they sent letters to multiple people who they thought was responsible (maybe they sent them to the coworker and Massie), Massie very well may have had nothing to do with them.

Martin Yant simply stated that Paul's ex-wife was the one who came up with the idea and used Paul and "others to smoke out the original writer".

ETA: I found this case (https://casetext.com/case/gallucci-v-freshour#!) appeal from the 90's which involves a dispute between Freshour and his ex-wife over property that they had owned together. Since this is dated 1994, I could see now why, according to Yant, his ex-wife was still spreading negative stories about him into the 90's. And in one of Yant's articles, he mentions (not by name but it's implied) that the ex-wife and her husband threatened his life after he wrote an article leaning heavily on the side of Paul's innocence.


I listened to Going West's episode on the Circleville letters and they included a bit where Paul Freshour allegedly beat his now ex-wife once before the divorce. According to the hosts, the ex-wife was pretty much looking for revenge because he got the kids and the house in spite of beating her up.

However, I've never seen this bit of PF being a wife beater in any of the research I've done on this case on and off over the years. I'm not sure what to believe.

Nope.

What bugs me, is the fact that Paul was denied parole, as the letter kept being sent. One would think it would be fairly easy to rule him out, considering his mail would be vetted, as the main reason he was convicted, was that the jury believed he was responsible for sending threatening letters.

This case is full of holes, and I honestly believe the Ron suspected his wife was having an affair, and knew exactly who the other man was. I do not believe the family is telling the truth. To have a BAC of 0.16, it would take a 180 pound man to drink a considerable amount in a short period of time....maybe 12 drinks in 2 hours, to be that intoxicated. That's blackout drunk.

Going West's coverage of this case seemed slanted. When the point about the warden stating there was no way PF was mailing those letters was made, the hosts scoffed at this point, saying "How would he know?"

I think the OP theory is a good and solid theory. It fits all of the pieces together. It just sucks that PF spent time in prison for something he didn't do.

Looks like CBS' 48 Hours will be covering this case.

Sneak peek: The Circleville Letters (https://www.yahoo.com/news/sneak-peek-circleville-letters-100000497.html)

Holy crap! Finally another show is covering this case!

Did anyone watch 48 Hours last night? I’m interested in your thoughts.

I thought it was excellent. Obviously viewers were going to learn a lot more last night in an hour than Unsolved Mysteries presented in 20 minutes or so, but nonetheless it was fascinating. I think it was more a balanced portrayal than that of UM, where the segment seemed somewhat slanted toward Freshour.
I don't buy the one analyst's "100 percent" conviction that he was the writer. I still don't think it was him. I'm more convinced than ever that the vengeful ex-wife was behind the letters in their later stages anyway. And the son ... how terrible to treat your own parent like that. The guilt doubtless did him in much later.

That 100% conviction surprised me. Ive always believed PF was innocent. But those handwriting comparisons sure were close. Of course, anyone close to PF that wanted to frame him with the handwriting could have.

It feels like this is getting a lot of attention from different sources recently. Does anyone else feel like when that happens we're going to hear about a break in the case?

I will say I HIGHLY doubt there can be any breaks in this case, but when something starts popping up across different podcasts and TV shows I always wonder if there's something behind the scenes about to come out.

I first saw this case in my teens when it originally aired on UM. Years later I would work and become friendly with someone with the same last name as Paul only to realize it was a nephew, small world.

The more you zoom out from the pile of letters and just look at motives... the OP is spot on.

Found it interesting that Martin Yant came out of retirement to be interviewed. He has turned down a number of them for various podcasts on this topic. I guess when CBS comes calling... you answer.

Is PF’s son a new piece of information?

Paul’s niece placed emphasis on that bit of the show but I’ve never heard anything about his potential involvement or his suicide.

I had a really really long post typed up last Monday about some new developments (before the 48 Hours show aired) based off of a podcast interview Martin Yant did back in March of this year (unfortunately, the name of the podcast escapes me now), and my entire computer system crashed and I lost it. Anyway, from what I saw that was featured in the 48 Hours episode, they went over most of it (involving Paul's son potentially being the one who stole his gun to help his mother set him up), and Yant was pretty adamant that while he believed Freshour did not receive a fair trial, he was never 100% convinced of his innocence. He also said that the story about Ron Gillespie going out to confront the letter writer may have been embellished by the family to make his death seem more heroic. He also said that the police were never able to determine whether or not Ron fired his weapon on the night of his death, or if it had been fired in the days (or weeks) prior to the crash.

I do remember Freshour admitting to writing some of the original letters that they had sent out to the person they had suspected of writing the initial letters. I wonder if that was in the letter samples given to the handwriting expert. Also, they said that some of the letters sent out while Freshour was in prison had his fingerprints on them. One of them highlighted in the 48 Hours show said (partially):

DWITE IS A GOOD BOY AND YES WE WILL KEEP HIM: WE WERE A LITTLE PISSED BECAUSE WE WANTED GORDON REMOVED YEARS AGO BUT THINGS REALLY WORKED OUT BETTER: WE GOT THE GREAT PUBLICITY THAT WE NEEDED: WE FELT THAT THE WORLD MUST KNOW SO WE PUSHED IT THANKS TO [redacted] TO THE LIMITS.

I have no idea as to whether or not this was one of the letters that contained Freshour's fingerprints, but they specifically went to this one when mentioning it at the end of the episode. There was also another letter shown, written to Martin Yant in 1994 shortly after he wrote one of his first articles about the case. It says:

MARCH 1994

PLEASE KNOW:

LETTERS WERE BEFOR 1977: WRITER ALMOST HAD ANOTHER INNOCENT MAN PUT IN PRISON HA HA: DAVID LONGBERRY WOULD HAVE IF THE MAN IN PRISON NOW HAD NOT TRIED TO TRICK WRITER WITH WRITERS OWN WRITING FOR HOMEBREAKER GILLESPIE: SEE WHAT HE GOT HA HA: HE WILL NOT GET OUT OF PRISON OR RADCLIFF WILL TAKE HIS PLACE: THERE WAS FOUL PLAY:

This was one of the first letters to publicly name Longberry. Now, IMO, one of three possibilities exist as to who wrote this letter:

-David Longberry
-Karen Sue Freshour
-Paul Freshour

IMO, the letters written in the early 90's around the timing of the filming of the UM episode were written differently than the original letters, and seemed more taunting and threatening that the original letters...and seemed to taunt Freshour specifically in many of them. I doubt David Longberry would have inserted himself into the letters publicly, and it would make no sense for Paul Freshour to do that (and mention specifically the part about how they tried to trick the writer with letters of their own, which was mentioned by Paul on UM) as well. I honestly believe these letters were written by Karen. I also believe that she helped set up the booby trap to frame Paul.

The original first few letters specifically went after Gordon Massie sexually harassing the female bus drivers, and mentions that the writer's girlfriend was one of the alleged victims of this harassment. They wanted Massie essentially fired, and never mentioned Mary Gillespie by name. Eventually, the letters shifted and started to blame both Massie and Mary, and ultimately switching to mostly Mary. I cannot fathom how Paul Freshour would have been able to know all of these details about what was going on in a town over 50 minutes away from where he lived and worked. How would he have even known about Gordon Massie, the bus drivers, his alleged harassment, and affairs? And why did he continually harass Mary Gillespie for years via harassing letters, to then escalate to a very crude and seemingly inoperable booby trap? By that point, the Gillespie's were ex-in-laws.

Maybe he did write some of the letters while he was in prison. At Freshour's trial, the prosecution's handwriting expert said that the samples that he gave law enforcement were not properly obtained. There is no doubt in my mind that Paul Freshour had nothing to do with any aspect of this case (outside of the letters he admitted to sending Longberry initially) and perhaps some letters written while he was in prison.

He also said that the story about Ron Gillespie going out to confront the letter writer may have been embellished by the family to make his death seem more heroic. He also said that the police were never able to determine whether or not Ron fired his weapon on the night of his death, or if it had been fired in the days (or weeks) prior to the crash.

So that tracks with what I said, above. Honestly, at this point, I'm not convinced a shot was ever fired that night.

Wait, apparently the 48 Hours episode concluded that Freshour was the writer?

Wait, apparently the 48 Hours episode concluded that Freshour was the writer?

It had a handwriting expert who said she was 100% convinced that Freshour wrote all of the letters she examined, and that she would swear over a bible in a court of law about it, as well as a podcast host who said she believed based off of everything she had seen that Freshour was the Circleville Writer. Keep in mind that the handwriting exemplars that the expert was looking at could have been from the police files (in which Freshour was instructed to write as close to the original letters as possible, which was confirmed at his trial), and that the podcast host repeatedly referred to Freshour as "Freshowser" throughout her podcast series. She also seemed to scoff at the notion that Paul's ex wife would have wanted to go through such lengths to set up him after a nasty and bitter divorce and made no mention of David Longberry in her series (in fairness, I have made it through 5 episodes thus far, and the website only has transcripts for 7 out of the 8 episodes, and I did a CTRL+F search for "Longberry" in the transcripts and found nothing, so it is possible that he is brought up in episode 8), nor did 48 Hours make any mention of him at all.

Paul Freshour had no criminal history prior to his conviction or after his conviction. He had no connection to Gordon Massie, or the school system for which Mary Gillespie worked. He was also the uncle to Ron and Mary Gillespie's children, of whom one of the daughters was repeatedly the target of the harassing signs that were left around town (one of which said that the daughter would frequently perform oral sex on Gordon Massie). It seems inconceivable to me that Paul Freshour would go through such lengths to not only care about an affair his sister-in-law was carrying on, but be that much in depth with the details about it. The letters even referred to the bus number that Mary drove.

Meanwhile, David Longberry was a bus driver who worked for the same school as Mary Gillespie, and he did have a criminal history, including rape of an 11 year old, of which he eluded capture before committing suicide. Kenneth Reid, a fellow school bus driver and good friend to Longberry, was one of the witnesses who testified against Freshour at his trial and said that he saw a sign with the word "Gillespie" on it at the intersection where Mary Gillespie ultimately found the booby trap between the hours of 11:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. that day. Longberry would have known about the comings and goings within the school system, as well as the affair between Mary and Gordon Massie. As for Kenneth Reid, I do not think there was some grand conspiracy to frame Paul Freshour, mainly because I believe that David Longberry wrote the letters and that Freshour's ex-wife Karen was the one who set up the booby trap to frame Paul Freshour, but I do believe that he could have lied in an effort to deflect attention away from Longberry (who could have had an alibi during the time in question) to protect him from suspicion.

Either Paul Freshour is guilty, and could hide his psychotic nature from everyone for the entirety of his life, who also just so happened to luck into having the man initially suspected by the Gillespie's of writing the letters (Longberry) turn into a sick POS of whom he could then blame as the convenient scapegoat, or, Freshour was in fact innocent of what he was convicted of, and a pre-social media "cancel culture" crusade by a 1977 incel turned into the perfect frame up in a bitter divorce happened. I'm willing to bet on the latter.

Marie Mayhew's podcast, Whatever Remains Podcast, can be accessed here (https://www.whateverremainspodcast.com/circleville). She was featured in the 48 Hours show about the case. On Episode 7, titled "Stolen Treasure", Marie goes over the relationship issues and divorce proceedings between Karen and Paul Freshour. Here are some key excerpts (some of which I had never known before):

-Multiple signs accusing Karen of being a lesbian with a fellow coworker began to pop up at her place of employment in the parking lot in early 1983.

-Karen had told a coworker (the head of security at her job) that her car had been shot at and that Paul had called this coworker to arrange for a meeting between the coworker and a private investigator that Paul had hired. Apparently, Paul hired the PI to find the person who shot Karen's car. Law enforcement were never able to substantiate the claim that her car was shot.

-Karen's coworker told the police that she told him about finding several letters around the home she was sharing with Paul at the time.

-When Karen was interviewed by police she told them about their relationship problems, abuse, and eventual divorce proceedings:

Karen then recounts that for the first few years that they were married, Paul had beaten her up a few times. But then she stood up to him, filing for divorce, only later to decide to drop it. For a long period of time, about 17 years, there were few problems. Then, in the early 80s they began to argue. He accused her of running around with someone else. She told him that she thought he was sick, refusing to get into a car with him.

The City Police Department was called, and an investigation was made at the time. The police got her out of the house, and she spoke with a night prosecutor at the city prosecutor's office, but nothing further was done. Karen went on. She said that they had been separated for about seven months, she had left him about a week before the Fourth of July of 1982. Karen said that Paul had beaten her up in October, broke a soda bottle and held it to her face, threatening to cut her up so bad that her own mother wouldn't recognize her. This description matches the divorce proceedings.

From the report of the referral officer, the Court of Common Pleas of Franklin County, "Upon consideration of matters before the court, the court referral officer makes the following finding of fact. Both parties were present with council on November 22, 1982. The parties have two children and the defendant alleges physical beating by her husband on October 5th, 1982 and showed pictures of a blackened eye with four stitches. The plaintiff has gone to counseling since the incident. The plaintiff went to counseling because he feels bad about what he did. The defendant claims the plaintiff has a violent temper and she left because of being struck."

-Karen also relayed to law enforcement about Paul's hatred for Mary Gillespie:

Karen said Paul had thought a great deal of Ron and Mary Gillispie before Ron died. But after his death, Paul grew to hate Mary. Hated her over the Massie deal, and used to discuss it quite a bit. Saying things like, "Why don't they just go out of state?" Or calling her, "A goddamn slut who slept with Massie." But Karen Sue believed that before Ron died, Mary had nothing to do with Massie whatsoever. Mary told Karen that Mr. Massie impressed her, and she had told her husband that there was nothing going on between them. In fact, both Ron and Karen told Paul this, that there was nothing going on. There was no affair. If Karen and Ron, Mary's husband, believed this to be the truth, that there wasn't an affair, then why couldn't Paul Freshour? What could of possibly mattered to him so much that he would not only take the word of his ex-wife, but of Ron Gillispie, someone that Paul had admired and viewed as a close friend?

When they started to talk about the anonymous letters, Karen told Detective Brown that about two summers ago while house cleaning, she had found a letter hidden between the mattress and the box spring of their bed. The letter was addressed to Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, Missouri and the writing had the same look as some of the other ones that had been sent to Mary. When she asked Paul about this, he told her that he had written the letter as a work reference for someone. When she checked the next day, the letter was gone. She had also found a letter in the toilet. Her son had gotten it out with a coat hanger after the toilet had stopped up. She told Detective Brown that it had been addressed to some church in a nearby town but didn't have a stamp on it. Karen had tried to piece it together when Paul was not at home.

She said she could make out the name Gillispie on the letter. She often found envelopes like this left in odd places in the Freshour home, where she could make out the name Gillispie written on the letter inside. Karen went on to say the night prior to his fatal accident, Ron Gillispie called Mary before she and Karen Sue had left for their trip for Florida. And told his wife he thought he had the matter "figured out". Karen said a short time after Ron had died she had found four letters in white envelopes in the trunk of her husband's car. They had not been mailed and Paul had told her that Ron wanted him to mail them, but strangely enough even though they had stamps on them, they had not been mailed. Karen ended the interview with Detective Brown by talking about what she told Mary Gillispie. She said that, yes, she did believe that Paul was behind the letters and she did tell Mary Gillispie that.

-Marie Mayhew brings up a solid point, in that the Freshour's divorce proceedings began in October of 1982. It wasn't until May if 1983 that the divorce was granted in favor of Paul Freshour because "defense offered no testimony". Paul Freshour was charged with attempted murder in February of 1983. If Karen indeed was the person setting him up, why did she not bother to mention any of this during their divorce proceedings? She brought up physical abuse, but absolutely nothing about the Circleville letters or the attempted murder charge.

Maybe the reason Karen Sue Freshour didn't defend herself was because she made a decision that it was more important to try and defend her children. She recognized that there would be no winning, no gaining emotionally or financially from bringing the letters into their divorce. Karen Sue did not want for her children to hate their father. She saw what was coming, the stories in the newspaper, the attention, the gossip. And she didn't wanna put her children in front of that. Even if on the witness stand one of her daughters said something against her. Even if not hating him meant her daughter would end up hating her instead. What Karen Sue told others like Trainor and Detective Brown shows a more measured restraint in describing her ex-husband than what we've been led to believe. She says that he was abusive, and she believes that he is the letter writer, but she does not seem to take the opportunity to put the proverbial nail in his coffin. She could have. She could have gone to the press, called him a monster or told the judge presiding over her divorce proceedings that he was crazy and that he was dangerous. But she didn't.

-The episode goes over several letters that Paul had written, to the judge in his divorce proceeding, to his attorney, and a local newspaper. In every one, he essentially buries his ex-wife's reputation, and discusses several suicide attempts in years prior.

-Here is how Marie Mayhew ends the episode:

For our story to resolve, the hero must be vindicated. And the villain defeated, relegated to only being remembered as such. But what happens to the story of the Circleville letter writer if our villain isn't as bad as we want her to be? What if she is just another person going through life? If Karen Sue Freshour is not as bad as we thought, then what does that say about our hero? The man wrongfully accused, telling us this story. Author William Congreve famously once wrote, "Hell hath no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman's scorn." Which if you believe Paul Freshour and his story of Circleville, does neatly sum up the character of Karen Sue.

I would ask you to instead consider a different quote by the same author. While it is not as well known or popular, it may closely more resemble the truth, "He that first cries out stop thief, is often he that has stolen the treasure."

Marie Mayhew had brought up several points I had never considered before. However, she also ignored the multiple people in and around Circleville, who knew Karen, who had described her as vindictive. She also seems to rely too heavily on giving the benefit of the doubt to Karen, and that her actions were done solely with the interest of protecting her children. She does not consider the possibility that the reason why Karen brought nothing up at the divorce proceedings involving the attempted murder charge was because she very well may have been involved with setting him up. The divorce was finalized in May of 1983, but Paul's trial did not start until October of 1983. And despite the contentious divorce, and the fact that Paul made some comments about Karen in various letters that were unfavorable about her, none of it matches the vitriol found in the letters written by the Circleville Writer to Mary Gillespie.

I recommend listening to the podcast to get a different perspective, because virtually everything about this case has been from a pro-Freshour slant.

Marie Mayhew's podcast, Whatever Remains Podcast, can be accessed here (https://www.whateverremainspodcast.com/circleville). She was featured in the 48 Hours show about the case. On Episode 7, titled "Stolen Treasure", Marie goes over the relationship issues and divorce proceedings between Karen and Paul Freshour. Here are some key excerpts (some of which I had never known before):

-Multiple signs accusing Karen of being a lesbian with a fellow coworker began to pop up at her place of employment in the parking lot in early 1983.

-Karen had told a coworker (the head of security at her job) that her car had been shot at and that Paul had called this coworker to arrange for a meeting between the coworker and a private investigator that Paul had hired. Apparently, Paul hired the PI to find the person who shot Karen's car. Law enforcement were never able to substantiate the claim that her car was shot.

-Karen's coworker told the police that she told him about finding several letters around the home she was sharing with Paul at the time.

-When Karen was interviewed by police she told them about their relationship problems, abuse, and eventual divorce proceedings:



-Karen also relayed to law enforcement about Paul's hatred for Mary Gillespie:



-Marie Mayhew brings up a solid point, in that the Freshour's divorce proceedings began in October of 1982. It wasn't until May if 1983 that the divorce was granted in favor of Paul Freshour because "defense offered no testimony". Paul Freshour was charged with attempted murder in February of 1983. If Karen indeed was the person setting him up, why did she not bother to mention any of this during their divorce proceedings? She brought up physical abuse, but absolutely nothing about the Circleville letters or the attempted murder charge.



-The episode goes over several letters that Paul had written, to the judge in his divorce proceeding, to his attorney, and a local newspaper. In every one, he essentially buries his ex-wife's reputation, and discusses several suicide attempts in years prior.

-Here is how Marie Mayhew ends the episode:



Marie Mayhew had brought up several points I had never considered before. However, she also ignored the multiple people in and around Circleville, who knew Karen, who had described her as vindictive. She also seems to rely too heavily on giving the benefit of the doubt to Karen, and that her actions were done solely with the interest of protecting her children. She does not consider the possibility that the reason why Karen brought nothing up at the divorce proceedings involving the attempted murder charge was because she very well may have been involved with setting him up. The divorce was finalized in May of 1983, but Paul's trial did not start until October of 1983. And despite the contentious divorce, and the fact that Paul made some comments about Karen in various letters that were unfavorable about her, none of it matches the vitriol found in the letters written by the Circleville Writer to Mary Gillespie.

I recommend listening to the podcast to get a different perspective, because virtually everything about this case has been from a pro-Freshour slant. I am definitely coming around to the idea that Paul Freshour wasn't some "golly gee why did this all happen to me" offer you the shirt off of his back nice guy, and that the guy had a lot of demons. In fact, this (https://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showpost.php?p=4582069&postcount=95) post by someone claiming to be Freshour's grandson confirms a lot of the things mentioned on the podcast. The bit about signs being found at Karen's place of work in early 1983 is very damning, IMO. The signs targeting Mary Gillespie and her daughter also started up in early 1983. It's interesting that the UM segment mentions the letters stopping after the Freshour's and the Gillespie's wrote the letter to the person they suspected of sending the original letters (who I believe to be David Longberry) and that the letters stopped. It was only after Ron's death that the letters started up again. It seems entirely possible that David Longberry stopped writing letters after he was confronted, and then angry over Ron's death and the Sheriff ruling it an accident, as well as Mary Gillespie starting a relationship with the man she was accused of cheating on Ron with, Paul Freshour was the one who took up the moniker and started sending various letters critical of Mary Gillespie and the Sheriff. Just read (https://circlevilleletters.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/the-full-story.pdf) his 164 page report he sent to the FBI years after he was paroled. Guess who he is highly critical of throughout? Mary Gillespie and Sheriff Radcliffe.

https://memegenerator.net/img/instances/81108240.jpg

Look (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Greenlawn+Community+Church,+Five+Points+Pike,+Mount+Sterling,+OH/Five+Points+Pike+%26+Scioto-Darby+Rd,+Darby+Township,+OH+43143/@39.7259632,-83.2095432,16z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x8847611f0468e6b9:0xbd054034de319f91!2m2!1d-83.2044536!2d39.72291!1m5!1m1!1s0x8847611d0fba6469:0x65ca325058ead0f2!2m2!1d-83.205878!2d39.7292409) at how close in relation to the spot where Ron Gillespie crashed (Greenlawn Community Church on the map) to where the booby trap was found. It was definitely deliberately put there, IMO, not only because it was on Mary Gillespie's bus route, but also because of how close it was to where Ron Gillespie crashed.

Circleville is in Ohio, not far from where Dot Wacker lived.... just sayin’.

About 150 miles or so. But they could have vacationed outside Columbus ...

Some other nuggets of information I've stumbled across:

-Freshour initially plead guilty by reason of insanity on August 8th, 1983. After the judge ordered Freshour to get a psychiatric examination and received the results, Freshour changed his plea back to not guilty.

-Mary Gillespie was mailed a Christmas card in December of 1982 saying that taunting signs would soon be placed along her bus route.

-Freshour was sold the gun found in the booby trap 4 months before Mary Gillespie discovered it.

-The jury deliberated for less than 3 hours before convicting him.

-In the defense attorney's closing argument at Freshour's trial, he did not deny that Freshour wrote the letters to Mary Gillespie, just that she was never threatened in any of the letters.

-Only 39 of the letters were introduced as evidence at Freshour's trial. The judge said that if Freshour took the stand, the thousands of other letters would be allowed to be admitted into evidence. Freshour never testified at his own trial.

-On the known letters written by Freshour, he would often use a slanted ":" in place of a period for punctuation. This is the exact same thing the letter writer did.

Wait so Freshour was the writer after all?

Wait so Freshour was the writer after all?

I'm starting to think he was.

I'm starting to think he was.

Which.... that in itself has just knocked me on my butt, as you were one of the biggest supporters of Freshour's innocence! (No judgment here, just a comment! I'm not questioning you bc you've done so much more research on this case than I have!)

I'm starting to think he was.

You’ve got me on the fence. I’ve always believed he was innocent.

You’ve got me on the fence. I’ve always believed he was innocent.

The kicker for me was the signs being placed at Karen Freshour's job accusing her of being a lesbian with a fellow coworker. And then less than a month later, Mary Gillespie started to see signs about sex acts her daughter was doing with Gordon Massie all along her bus route. There is only one person who would have the motive to place the signs targeting Karen and that's Paul Freshour. The odds that the signs placed along Mary Gillespie's bus route being a mere coincidence would be astronomical.

Which.... that in itself has just knocked me on my butt, as you were one of the biggest supporters of Freshour's innocence! (No judgment here, just a comment! I'm not questioning you bc you've done so much more research on this case than I have!)

I used to believe that Karen framed Paul, until I learned that during the divorce proceedings, she never once brought up the attempted murder of Mary Gillespie, the signs at her work, or the hundreds of Circleville letters that were written. If she was trying to make him the fall guy, I'm 100% convinced all of this would have been brought up at what was described to me by Martin Yant as a "very contentious divorce".

I used to believe that Karen framed Paul, until I learned that during the divorce proceedings, she never once brought up the attempted murder of Mary Gillespie, the signs at her work, or the hundreds of Circleville letters that were written. If she was trying to make him the fall guy, I'm 100% convinced all of this would have been brought up at what was described to me by Martin Yant as a "very contentious divorce".

I have thought for awhile now he did write some of the letters at the beginning. i have always thought he and Karen were in on them together. That is why she did not bring them up in court since it would implicate her too. But she could use it to get him sent to prison when she was going to loose everything i. e the kids and house in the divorce.

I wonder how much their son knew. And if he killed himself because of a guilty conscience over his father's incarceration. I have no proof of any of this but it is things I have wondered about over the years

I have thought for awhile now he did write some of the letters at the beginning. i have always thought he and Karen were in on them together. That is why she did not bring them up in court since it would implicate her too. But she could use it to get him sent to prison when she was going to loose everything i. e the kids and house in the divorce.

The problem with this theory is that the divorce was filed in October of 1982, Freshour was arrested in February of 1983, their divorce was finalized in May of 1983, and Freshour was convicted in October of 1983. She could have used this in her favor at the divorce proceedings, and chose not to. Freshour was the one who retained custody (until he was convicted).

I think the son framed him with the gun and at least some of the letters, and that guilt indeed is what led to his death. And if Paul was responsible, how did the letters keep coming up when he was in solitary confinement in Lima?
If Paul did it, he fooled a lot of people. At the very least, he did not come off like someone with something to hide in the show.

I think the son framed him with the gun and at least some of the letters, and that guilt indeed is what led to his death. And if Paul was responsible, how did the letters keep coming up when he was in solitary confinement in Lima?
If Paul did it, he fooled a lot of people. At the very least, he did not come off like someone with something to hide in the show.

Paul had someone on the outside who was mailing the letters for him. Several of the letters mailed while he was in prison had his fingerprints on them.

Paul had someone on the outside who was mailing the letters for him. Several of the letters mailed while he was in prison had his fingerprints on them.

I watched the 48 Hour episode on Circleville. They had an expert who claimed this, but claiming isn't proof. Do you have links to any other evidence for this? I was not impressed with the "experts" they had on this episode, outside of Martin Yant. True crime bloggers are all over the place, they are not necessarily experts or professionals. People have been wrong.

I watched the 48 Hour episode on Circleville. They had an expert who claimed this, but claiming isn't proof. Do you have links to any other evidence for this? I was not impressed with the "experts" they had on this episode, outside of Martin Yant. True crime bloggers are all over the place, they are not necessarily experts or professionals. People have been wrong.

It seems pretty silly for Erin Moriarty to lie about this towards the end of the episode.

I think the writers in this case were Paul, Karen and their son. Paul probably wrote them before his stint in jail, then had his son mail those letters while he was in jail as well as write some of them. Karen may have written the ones around the time of his first appeal.

When I looked at the UM site, It seems like Ohio in the 1970s-1990s had some very bizarre cases, such as this one, the stalking of the Wackers, etc.

Edit: I have one question: How would Paul Freshour know his sister-in-law’s bus route? that’s something i’m not sure about.

We had Dave Bocks and the prostitute-killing trucker to name a few more. Paul Pollis too, and to take it back farther Eliot Ness and the Torso Slayer. Even as an Ohio native I didn't think about how many cases we had on the show.
As far as Paul Freshour, I just never knew what he had to gain by doing any of this ... let alone his wife doing it to her own sister. If that is indeed the case, it adds yet another bizarre layer.

We had Dave Bocks and the prostitute-killing trucker to name a few more. Paul Pollis too, and to take it back farther Eliot Ness and the Torso Slayer. Even as an Ohio native I didn't think about how many cases we had on the show.
As far as Paul Freshour, I just never knew what he had to gain by doing any of this ... let alone his wife doing it to her own sister. If that is indeed the case, it adds yet another bizarre layer.

There’s also the Permon Gilbert Case (Guy was found naked with a bullet wound. Theories are either it was a crime of passion, it was connected to drugs, or it was retaliation over his younger brother testifying against gangs I think).

Anyway, circling back to the Circleville letters, I also think people used this scandal as a way to write letters to air grievances. I can’t think of how Paul and Karen could’ve amassed enough gossip to write thousands of letters to citizens of circleville and across the state of Ohio.

How would Paul Freshour know his sister-in-law’s bus route? that’s something i’m not sure about.

He could have simply asked her, or followed her one time. Very convenient that on the day she found the booby trap was a day he took off from work.

There’s also the Permon Gilbert Case (Guy was found naked with a bullet wound. Theories are either it was a crime of passion, it was connected to drugs, or it was retaliation over his younger brother testifying against gangs I think).

Not to hijack this thread away from the Circleville writer, but the crime of passion killing is really the only theory that sticks with Perm Gilbert.

I would think people collecting drug debts or gang members seeking revenge would outright kill him. I don't see them forcing him to get naked and THEN killing him. But if he was having an affair with a married client and the husband unexpectedly came home and caught them in the act, that would better explain the lack of clothing. Just a hunch.

He could have simply asked her, or followed her one time. Very convenient that on the day she found the booby trap was a day he took off from work.

That does make sense. Either way, I still think this is a very bizarre case.

I stumbled upon this a few days ago and it had some interesting thoughts.

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/rrh499/who_was_the_circleville_letter_writer/?sort=top

That does make sense. Either way, I still think this is a very bizarre case.

This (https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Greenlawn+Community+Church,+Five+Points+Pike,+Mount+Sterling,+OH/Five+Points+Pike+%26+Scioto-Darby+Rd,+Darby+Township,+OH+43143/@39.7259549,-83.2095432,16z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x8847611f0468e6b9:0xbd054034de319f91!2m2!1d-83.2044536!2d39.72291!1m5!1m1!1s0x8847611d0fba6469:0x65ca325058ead0f2!2m2!1d-83.205878!2d39.7292409) is how close the spot where Ron Gillespie crashed his car (near the Greenlawn Community Church) to where the booby trap was found. Mary could have mentioned her bus route went along the same road where Ron died and Paul either heard it or Karen told him about it.

my theory is this... I think that Mary Gillespie and the school superintendant were always having an affair, so they want to be together, maybe there were also some complicated family problems between the Gilespies and the Freshours, So they invent the "circleville writer" and they try to pull off some bizarre plan to actually have someone accuse them of this affair. the circleville writer stalks the family until he pushes them to the edge, especially Ron, and Ron storms out of the house with a gun going after the writer after a phone call, think Santino in the Godfather...

So, someone is lying in wait to kill him. What is strikingly obvious with this case is that law enforcement have been complict in helping them, the accident that Ron was in was never investigated right, it was covered up. they had Freshour copying the Circleville writers writing as best he could, instead of simply writing normally and then looking for certain patterns... thats not how it's done. that shows they wanted Freshour framed at LE level, it shows they were complict.

The booby trapped gun that never went off was never supposed to go off, the poor attempt at wiping off the gun serial number was all a ploy to link Freshour to the whole thing, who pissed off Mary because of family problems and whatever happened between himself and her sister, payback was coming.

So now it's ducks in a row time, the school super and Mary can be together, because Ron is out of the picture and Paul who had done Marys sister wrong (according to her) had got his, he was in prison. everytime i've seen, even in "real life" stories of people who were rumored to be having an affair, denied it, but ended up together "offically" were always having an affair in the first place.

Where were Mary and the superindependent in the unsolved mysteries episode? have they spoke? why although we hear there were "thousands of letters" have we never seen or been told the contents of them? (maybe i'm wrong and this information has been released)

Mary and the super had help from higher ups in the Circleville community, LE maybe even politicans to help them. but i think it's really that simple. this case begins and ends with the Gillispies.

You can believe that there was a grand conspiracy involving multiple people and agencies whose sole purpose was to frame Paul Freshour or you can believe that the same person responsible for placing crude signs at Karen Freshour's office was the same person responsible for placing crude signs along Mary Gillespie's bus route. And there has only been one person who would have had the motive to do this: Paul Freshour.

You can believe that there was a grand conspiracy involving multiple people and agencies whose sole purpose was to frame Paul Freshour or you can believe that the same person responsible for placing crude signs at Karen Freshour's office was the same person responsible for placing crude signs along Mary Gillespie's bus route. And there has only been one person who would have had the motive to do this: Paul Freshour.
You're exaggerating a little, but theres something that nobody can deny and it's that LE in circleville weren't doing their job properly, i watched this segment on UM a few days ago and that scene where Ron Gillesppe gets a phone call, grabs his gun and kisses his childen goodbye in the middle of the night makes no sense, it's like something out of a western.

I don't believe that he didn't tell Mary who was on the phone, i don't know why they couldn't trace that call, the accident that killed Ron was never investigated and makes no sense.the police in my opinion and i think it's pretty obvious that for some reason LE covered up and didn't want the truth to come out about the death of Ron Gillesppe.

Then you have LE going against the rules and instead of having Freshour simply write normally and in doing so looking for patterns that could match the circleville writer, they had him copy the handwriting. then you have a half assed attempt at scrubbing of a serial number on a gun, a gun that just happens to belong to Freshour, so it was always going to get back to him, leaving a gun with a serial number thats yours at the scene of a crime is like taking a picture of yourself with a dead body and sending it to the cops, nobody could be that stupid.

But am i saying that there was some grand conspiracy that reached the heights of the pentagon, the CIA, the FBI and the white house to frame poor Paul Freshour???

NO, of course not, but theres something not right with all this, and it goes all the way back to the death of Ron Gillesppe. LE were not doing their job, they covered things up. the whole narrative of this story makes zero sense, we are told that 1000s of letters were sent all over circleville, so ok, where are they and what do they say?

no appeals from Mary Gillesppe to find the killer of her husband, no unsolved mystery appearance begging for information, she seemingly is over it and happy with the school superintendent.....

Anyone with a brain knows that Mary and the school super were always having an affair. so whats the conclusion to all this? what did the circleville writer achieve? well Rons dead, leaving Mary to be with the super, and Paul Freshour who was no friend of hers after the whole divorce thing with her sister ended up in jail...

How convenient

Anyone with a brain knows that Mary and the school super were always having an affair. so whats the conclusion to all this? what did the circleville writer achieve? well Rons dead, leaving Mary to be with the super, and Paul Freshour who was no friend of hers after the whole divorce thing with her sister ended up in jail...

Paul Freshour was like a pre-internet incel. He hated Mary Gillespie, because he blamed her for Ron's death. He hated Karen Freshour because they were going through a contentious divorce at the time. You could argue that Karen and Mary conspired against Paul to frame him, but then that raises the obvious question: why didn't Karen bring any of this up during the divorce proceedings? She never once brought up the letters, the harassment, the booby trap, etc. She could have, but she didn't.

Paul Freshour wanted to publicly shame Mary Gillespie and Karen Freshour but was stupid enough to set up a booby trap with a gun that he had purchased a few months prior on a day that he had taken off from work without completely removing the serial number. And guess what happened after he got out of jail? Virtually everything about this case has been presented with a pro-Freshour slant. The majority of people do believe he was the victim. So in a way...his plan worked.

I think you'd have to have some type of learning disability to leave a gun at a crime scene, with the serial number for all to see and it belonging to you. i'm not saying that Freshour is a genius, but he's not that stupid, nobody is that stupid.

How can we explain the clear cover-up of Rons death? how can we explain that the circleville writer just happened to know about Mary and the supers affair? which after her husbands death they just happened to get together? why did the police go against the rules and ask Freshour to copy the handwriting instead of writing normally? doesn't that hint at some kind of intent? why was Freshour the only one to go on UM and speak and willingly speak? where were Mary and the super?

I find it surreal that anybody would leave a gun at a crime scene with the serial number for all to see trying to kill his own sister in law, which would be perfectly traceable to him, it's silly, the while gun in a box full of rocks was silly. it was there to set him up.

Paul Freshour was like a pre-internet incel. He hated Mary Gillespie, .

Paul Freshour was married to Marys sister and then later remarried. he was hardly some incel like you say, sat in his parents basement jacking off. these kind of pointless personal attacks are useless.

he was hardly some incel like you say

Putting up signs saying that a 14 year old girl "sucks Massie's peter" is definitely an incel thing to do.

What i've learnt coming to these boards over the years is that there are certain cases, this one for example, Chuck Morgan, Cindy James, Blair Adams... and others maybe, that fascinate us the most because they are utterly bizarre. they make no sense. If you go for one theory, there will 50 things that contradict this theory. these are usually the ones that get the most attention.

But what some people do is they cling to a theory when theres dozens of things that tell you it's not that simple, that contradict it. they won't engage on these points, they'll ignore anything, even facts, even clear contradictions. they'll focus on 40% of the case that backs up their theory and pretend the rest never happened.

We need to ask ourselves why LE covered up the death of Ron Gillesppe, why they didn't ask important questions, why the gun was never explained, why did he go out that night and why the call was never traced, we can't ignore the fact that Mary and the super just happened to end up together. we can't ignore how police went against their own laws and basic MO and had Freshour try to imitate the handwriting, instead of have him writing naturally. what does that tell you? but most of all you'd need to have an IQ in single digits to buy a gun, have it registered to yourself but then use it to try kill someone with an awul attempt at a booby trap that was never going to fire and in doing so incriminate yourself, nobody is that dumb. nobody!

If we ignore 90% of a case, the facts and only talk about 10% of it, they we can pretty much prove anything right?

Freshour was the only one willing to go on UM and tell his story, never hid, never ran... where was Mary, the super and her sister? where? their silence is rather deafening.

But what some people do is they cling to a theory when theres dozens of things that tell you it's not that simple, that contradict it. they won't engage on these points, they'll ignore anything, even facts, even clear contradictions. they'll focus on 40% of the case that backs up their theory and pretend the rest never happened.

i'm glad that you recognize your own posting style. it takes courage to look inwardly and be honest with yourself.

im proud of you.:clap:

i'm glad that you recognize your own posting style. it takes courage to look inwardly and be honest with yourself.

im proud of you.:clap:


why are you following me from thread to thread?

why are you following me from thread to thread?

que??

outside of the charles morgan thread, we haven't talked in any other thread. lying is bad

I was trying to be nice, but now you've woken up a sleeping lion "little ted"

First of all I already knew that you were mentally impaired when you kept focusing on the "charles is okay" instead of the bible quote and his subsequent suicide. And to highlight how even more impaired mentally you are, Green Eyes referred to Ruth as "Ruthie" why would she do that on her own accord if she didnt know her?

"you've woken up a sleeping lion"


you must have some level of mental illness or zero self awareness to write something like that, hahahaahaha! the fact you care so much about someones opinion or your own.... i dunno, it's very adam lanza. but telling me i've woken a sleeping lion...

i dunno, thats a level of cringeworthy lack of self awareness that screans autism or something similar. i'd re-read my posts 3 or 4 times if i was you before clicking on "submit"

you've just broken the autism scale

"you've woken up a sleeping lion"


you must have some level of mental illness or zero self awareness to write something like that, hahahaahaha! the fact you care so much about someones opinion or your own.... i dunno, it's very adam lanza. but telling me i've woken a sleeping lion...

i dunno, thats a level of cringeworthy lack of self awareness that screans autism or something similar. i'd re-read my posts 3 or 4 times if i was you before clicking on "submit"

you've just broken the autism scale

Hmmm. I have autism for making a joke, but you literally just lied about me "following you from thread to thread" and then when called out, you don't deny it, but bring up a comment I made that's completely irrelevant?

You seem a few cards short of a deck so I'll leave you be :crazy:

what can i say to make the scary lion go back to sleep, stop you from beating your bed ridden mother who just wants to die to get away from you, or stop you from shooting up a school?

literally just lied? compared to figuratively lying? might be a good idea to learn the meaning of words before you use them, but do scary sleeping lions have dictionaries?

what can i say to make the scary lion go back to sleep, stop you from beating your bed ridden mother who just wants to die to get away from you, or stop you from shooting up a school?

literally just lied? compared to figuratively lying? might be a good idea to learn the meaning of words before you use them, but do scary sleeping lions have dictionaries?

g'night.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTS8j91FBM_PbRyG5NJ_p2IGaJHgHhvalJmnA&usqp=CAU

All right, y’all. That’s more than enough.

Don’t make me get out the “friendship sweatshirt,” where I stuff you both into an oversized sweatshirt until you can get along….

Me, looking at this unfold….🍿🍿🍿

Anyway…

Freshour was the only one willing to go on UM and tell his story, never hid, never ran... where was Mary, the super and her sister? where? their silence is rather deafening.

On one hand, part of me says that maybe they were fed up and did not want to dredge it up anymore. I think when the UM segment aired originally, the letters were still circulating around Circleville. I’d imagine they would be simply tired of them. Also, as was revealed earlier, the divorce was contentious and paul was allegedly quite cruel to Karen.

But on the other hand, it is a bit telling that Mary, Karen, and the superintendent did not make an appearance on UM.

However, I still believe Paul Freshour most certainly wrote the letters during the period after his BIL’s death and before his time in jail, in which he may have had his son send out any letters that still needed to be sent within the first few years of his time im jail. Karen, maybe with the help of her son, then probably wrote some letters, ramping them up around the time of Paul’s first appeal.

On one hand, part of me says that maybe they were fed up and did not want to dredge it up anymore. I think when the UM segment aired originally, the letters were still circulating around Circleville. I’d imagine they would be simply tired of them. Also, as was revealed earlier, the divorce was contentious and paul was allegedly quite cruel to Karen.

There's also the fact that Paul had already been tried, convicted, and served his time in prison for trying to murder Mary Gillespie. They probably wanted to put everything behind them at that point. UM cannot force people to appear on camera, but it would have been nice to have someone agree to appear that wasn't a Freshour disciple in the segment.

How do you explain the man with the yellow El Camino, though at the spot where the booby trap was found?

How do you explain the man with the yellow El Camino, though at the spot where the booby trap was found?

A bus driver saw a man standing next to a yellow el camino near the spot where the booby trap and sign were found. This man did not break a soda bottle and threaten to cut Karen "up so bad that her own mother wouldn't recognize her", would have no reason to target Karen (accusing her of being a lesbian with a fellow coworker), nor would this man have any reason to accuse Mary Gillespie's 14 year old of having sexual relations with Gordon Massie. It's implied on UM that the man with the yellow el camino was related to Karen's then boyfriend at the time, but ask yourself...why would Karen willingly go along with all of this (including the targeted harassment at her job) to frame Paul Freshour and then not bring any of this up (including the letters and the booby trap) at their divorce proceedings?

I see. I was asking as you did mention that Karen had a relative who also owned an electric Camino of that color.

So unless that fact has been debunked, I don’t think we should be quick to dismiss Karen and that relative as suspects for setting up that booby trap and framing Paul.
And no, I’m not saying that this is evidence for Paul being innocent at all: the stuff from court has given proof he could’ve easily written the letters and the signs along the route.

So unless that fact has been debunked, I don’t think we should be quick to dismiss Karen and that relative as suspects for setting up that booby trap and framing Paul.
And no, I’m not saying that this is evidence for Paul being innocent at all: the stuff from court has given proof he could’ve easily written the letters and the signs along the route.

Karen presumably has an alibi for that day. Ditto Mary Gillespie. Paul Freshour, however, does not. He called out from work that day. A friend did come over IIRC around noon and met him at his house, but he had hours before that to go and plant the sign and the trap.

It's implied on UM that the man with the yellow el camino was related to Karen's then boyfriend at the time, but ask yourself...why would Karen willingly go along with all of this (including the targeted harassment at her job) to frame Paul Freshour and then not bring any of this up (including the letters and the booby trap) at their divorce proceedings?

To me, this is the biggest smoking gun in the entire case.

Hello everyone, lurker and a big UM fan on this forum (as evidenced by my name :lol:). I have family in Circleville that were around for these letters.

Someone earlier mentioned that it’s possible that Paul wrote the letters following Ron Gillispie’s death until his incarceration, where he had his son mail letters that he had written before he was imprisoned. Then around the time of paul’s first appeal, Karen may have started writing letters herself and ramping them up as the appeal was in court.

My family over there suspected this was the case. I do know there are some people who do believe Paul was totally innocent and did not write any of the letters.

I Personally think that whole town is wacky ! :crazy:

Just some random thoughts.

1. Having read this information again regarding the signs, I find it really bizarre how whoever did this (most likely Paul) had no problem writing things such as “Massie f**ks employees as the day is long” or “Karen and her coworker (I know it didn’t say coworker, I just don’t remember the name of the coworker) are lesbian lovers,” yet for “Traci Gillespie sucks Massie’s peter,” instead of writing out p**nis, they wrote out “peter.” I’ve never heard this slang used at all.

2. Listening back to Paul talking about remarrying, when he goes “I have a new family, that family is in the past,” and you know the context of him possibly being abusive to his kids and 1st wife, it’s honestly kind of telling.

I’ve never heard this slang used at all.

I have, but it's older slang. Which indicates the sign writer as someone older, like Paul Freshour.

Just some random thoughts. ...

2. Listening back to Paul talking about remarrying, when he goes “I have a new family, that family is in the past,” and you know the context of him possibly being abusive to his kids and 1st wife, it’s honestly kind of telling.

That quote didn't bother me at all. He clearly still cared about seeing Ron Gillespie's murder solved, but he's right, Mary and his ex-wife weren't his family anymore and he couldn't go back and change anything.
Ron Gillespie is probably the person I feel the worst for in the entire saga. But I agree with BuffaloBill, this just gets wackier the more it's examined. I've also always been one who thought the late Sheriff Radcliff totally botched the case and/or covered up key facts. But in those days down there, he was pretty much untouchable.

The slang "peter" instead of p*n*s is something I would have said as a kid in the 80's and 90's....makes me wonder if the letter writer was a teenager? Some people have suggested it was the sheriff's son, other people have suggested there were multiple writers....like people jumping on the bandwagon using the letters as an opportunity to air their grievances.

The El Camino thing has always bugged me a bit. I'm in Canada, not far from where Bernardo and Homolka were. At the time of their crimes, someone reported seeing a cream coloured Camaro, and let me tell you the entire province was looking for this car. Everyone with a Camaro was getting pulled over or questioned, etc. Truth be told, the car was never a Camaro - the witness was completely wrong, and the public and cops went on a goose chase because of it. Could that have happened with the El Camino sighting?

The problem with this theory is that the divorce was filed in October of 1982, Freshour was arrested in February of 1983, their divorce was finalized in May of 1983, and Freshour was convicted in October of 1983. She could have used this in her favor at the divorce proceedings, and chose not to. Freshour was the one who retained custody (until he was convicted).

There’s also the possibility that admitting to being involved in her husband’s harassment campaign could easily backfire on her, resulting in neither of them receiving custody of the children—or at least in Karen’s case, probably for a few years.

So the writers were likely David Longberry and Paul Freshour?

So the writers were likely David Longberry and Paul Freshour?

From 1976 to prior to Ron’s death, I can see this being David Longberry. post-Ron’s death until Paul Freshour’s incarceration, there’s a lot of evidence that implicates Paul.

Personally, I think for the the letters written and mailed from 1983 to 1985 were written by Paul Freshour, but his ex-wife and son mailed them—My reason for this is that Karen previously found a stack letters hidden behind a toilet (I believe); Therefore I don’t think it’s not entirely out of the question Karen and Mark may have found more hidden letters and mailed them out anyway. I think any letters from the time of Paul’s first appeal in 1986 onwards involved Karen and their son, Mark.

So the writers were likely David Longberry and Paul Freshour?

I think the writer was just Paul Freshour.

I think the writer was just Paul Freshour.
I don’t honestly, I do feel he wrote SOME of the letters, but i feel there’s MULTIPLE writers!! The 1st ones to Mary?? Maybe Paul?? The one to Ron?? Paul or his wife (at the time) or a relative of the Superintendent. Who was Ron shooting at?? My guess remains that it was the co-worker that liked Mary (he also could’ve wrote a letter too. The booby trap for Mary!!?? I feel that was Paul’s ex wife AND her boyfriend. He set it up, she told him how too…she also took Paul’s gun to set him up. Who wrote the letters a while Paul was in prison? Likely the other 3 I mentioned and finally who wrote to Paul?? My guess is his EX wife and finally who wrote to Unsolved Mysteries?? My guess is someone close to the sheriff

Lamont At Large traveled to Circleville to talk about the case. He visits the grave of Ronald (Ron) Gillispie. Paul Freshour was cremated.

jXQzDMliNe8

I don’t honestly, I do feel he wrote SOME of the letters, but i feel there’s MULTIPLE writers!! The 1st ones to Mary?? Maybe Paul?? The one to Ron?? Paul or his wife (at the time) or a relative of the Superintendent. Who was Ron shooting at?? My guess remains that it was the co-worker that liked Mary (he also could’ve wrote a letter too. The booby trap for Mary!!?? I feel that was Paul’s ex wife AND her boyfriend. He set it up, she told him how too…she also took Paul’s gun to set him up. Who wrote the letters a while Paul was in prison? Likely the other 3 I mentioned and finally who wrote to Paul?? My guess is his EX wife and finally who wrote to Unsolved Mysteries?? My guess is someone close to the sheriff

There were definitely more letter writers aside from Paul Freshour.

I think you'd have to have some type of learning disability to leave a gun at a crime scene, with the serial number for all to see and it belonging to you. i'm not saying that Freshour is a genius, but he's not that stupid, nobody is that stupid.

I'm still catching up, but as your friendly neighborhood prosecutor, I will tell you that I have seen people do exactly this. Or worse.

EDIT: Okay. I'm all caught up. And I have no idea what to believe now. Dang. All these years I thought Paul had been framed....

I'm still catching up, but as your friendly neighborhood prosecutor, I will tell you that I have seen people do exactly this. Or worse.

EDIT: Okay. I'm all caught up. And I have no idea what to believe now. Dang. All these years I thought Paul had been framed....

Paul definitely had a role in this, and until I hear more evidence that says otherwise, I refuse to believe Karen Freshour had 0 involvement in this entire saga, especially if the claims that Karen could be vindictive at times is also true.

Paul definitely had a role in this, and until I hear more evidence that says otherwise, I refuse to believe Karen Freshour had 0 involvement in this entire saga, especially if the claims that Karen could be vindictive at times is also true.

Karen could have really been vindictive at their divorce proceedings and brought all of the Circleville letter writing and the attempted murder of Mary Gillespie (of which Freshour was still awaiting trial for) yet she chose not to. IMO, she wanted to protect her children from the oncoming onslaught of negative media their father was about to face. If she was really that vindictive, she would've piled on.

Karen could have really been vindictive at their divorce proceedings and brought all of the Circleville letter writing and the attempted murder of Mary Gillespie (of which Freshour was still awaiting trial for) yet she chose not to. IMO, she wanted to protect her children from the oncoming onslaught of negative media their father was about to face. If she was really that vindictive, she would've piled on.

If she was as involved in this saga as Paul and came forward with her and Paul's involvement, I think she felt there was a strong possibility that that strategy would've backfired in her pursuit of custody of the children, thus opening up the possible result where neither her or Paul obtaining custody.

Also, I'm talking about my theory of Karen being behind the letters after Paul's conviction. Think about it, if her and their son found more letters in his house (and I'm sure there were plenty more hidden aside from the ones they found while cleaning the house--weren't there some found in/behind the toilet?), she could've had a lot of material to send--with the added benefit of the writing matching Paul's--to humiliate her sister-in-law. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time buying Mary's claim that her and Gordon Massie began an affair After the letters began.

She could've easily used one letter as a reference for the writing style and format to send various letters.

If she was as involved in this saga as Paul and came forward with her and Paul's involvement, I think she felt there was a strong possibility that that strategy would've backfired in her pursuit of custody of the children, thus opening up the possible result where neither her or Paul obtaining custody.

I don't think she was involved at all. There is no evidence of her involvement. Paul Freshour has never implicated her.

Also, I'm talking about my theory of Karen being behind the letters after Paul's conviction. Think about it, if her and their son found more letters in his house (and I'm sure there were plenty more hidden aside from the ones they found while cleaning the house--weren't there some found in/behind the toilet?), she could've had a lot of material to send--with the added benefit of the writing matching Paul's--to humiliate her sister-in-law. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time buying Mary's claim that her and Gordon Massie began an affair After the letters began.

She was best friends with Mary Gillespie and I cannot fathom her being the brain child behind the sign that said her 14 year old niece "sucks Massie's peter". If she wanted to ruin Paul's reputation she had every opportunity to do so at and during the divorce proceedings. She didn't. But you know who did continue to write countless letters to judges, reporters, and other people tarnishing her reputation while they were incarcerated? That would be Paul Freshour. Who also used ":" as a period for punctuation. Just like the Circleville Writer.

This is one of those cases that managed to captivate everyone but me. The segment drones on and on ad nauseum. Could never get into it. Same with Amy Bradley.

You all may want to check this out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hCz21GCFdw A. J. Gentile, who produces The Why Files, is a genius. He is one of the best storytellers on YouTube with over two million subscribers.

I recently paid keen attention to the UM segment dedicated to giving Paul his final appeal to being wrongfully convicted.

I realized some things: Paul states -I really wish someone would look into who wrote the letters because I certainly didn't write them. (What Paul did not say).

Aside from regretting for not speaking on his behalf (taking the witness stand and pleading the 5th) he states something that he and the attorney didn't think there was enough evidence to convict.

Wouldn't an innocent person repeat "I did not do this. I am innocent. I served time for something that I did not do." I don't think Paul ever said this once during the interview.

And why would a person accused of writing stalking letters agree to "mimic" the writing style as to be ruled out? That makes no sense to me. I'm not the sharpest tool in the toolbox but even I wouldn't agree to providing a writing sample if requested by an investigator.

I think Paul did it and miscalculated that a judge or jury would indeed find him guilty of writing letters and making a booby-trap with his gun.

For years, I gave Paul the benefit of the doubt that he was railroaded, but now I think it was him all along.

I have never found this case at all captivating. Boring, really. The segment drags on forever, too. Ranks right down there with the Huey Long segment. I've skipped over it all but one time when streaming. I found it more interesting as a child when it originally aired, but now it just seems like silly small town drama.

Wow this thread is 7 years old already?! I remember thinking Cars had really cracked the case...time to read it over from the start!

There's many aspects that make this one of my favorite segments - anonymous letters were always a fun addition to any UM case, the recurrent corrupt cop theme, and of course the "is he lying?" element that gives so many segments that repeat value (Tim McClure anyone?). The idea that Paul actually IS guilty in some aspects (have to read the thread again!) really surprised me more than, say, any potential bombshell about Mr. McClure.

The idea that Paul actually IS guilty in some aspects (have to read the thread again!) really surprised me more than, say, any potential bombshell about Mr. McClure.

Mary Gillespie wasn't the only person who was getting taunting signs placed along their place of employment. Karen Freshour, after separating from Paul, would arrive at work to be greeted by signs accusing her of being a "dyke" with one of her coworkers.

Now the simple question: who would have the motive to place these signs at Karen's work, but also signs saying that their 14 year old niece "sucks Massie's peter" along Mary Gillespie's bus route? Karen, Paul, or David Longberry? I initially (7 years ago or whenever this thread was created) believed that David Longberry was the writer, and that Karen, with the help of Mary Gillespie, set up a booby trap in an effort to frame Paul. Until I found out about the harassment Karen was facing at her job as well (which was never mentioned on UM or anywhere online until Marie Mayhew's podcast). That ruled out David Longberry to me. Paul Freshour was physically abusive to Karen. The gun found in the booby trap was purchased by Paul Freshour 4 months prior to the booby trap being found by Mary Gillespie. Paul Freshour was the one seemingly bothered the most by the alleged affair between Gordon Massie and Mary Gillespie. Paul Freshour originally pleaded guilty by reason of insanity. When the judge ordered him to take a psychiatric evaluation, he withdrew the plea. A "vindictive" Karen could have set him up with the booby trap after years of physical abuse and if she believed he was the one responsible for the signs at her job. But during their divorce proceedings? She never said one word about the writers, the abuse, or the fact that Paul was awaiting trial for attempted murder. Which is not something a "vindictive" person does.

^ All of the above makes me believe the right guy was put away for the attempted murder of Mary Gillespie.

Mary Gillespie wasn't the only person who was getting taunting signs placed along their place of employment. Karen Freshour, after separating from Paul, would arrive at work to be greeted by signs accusing her of being a "dyke" with one of her coworkers.

Now the simple question: who would have the motive to place these signs at Karen's work, but also signs saying that their 14 year old niece "sucks Massie's peter" along Mary Gillespie's bus route? Karen, Paul, or David Longberry? I initially (7 years ago or whenever this thread was created) believed that David Longberry was the writer, and that Karen, with the help of Mary Gillespie, set up a booby trap in an effort to frame Paul. Until I found out about the harassment Karen was facing at her job as well (which was never mentioned on UM or anywhere online until Marie Mayhew's podcast). That ruled out David Longberry to me. Paul Freshour was physically abusive to Karen. The gun found in the booby trap was purchased by Paul Freshour 4 months prior to the booby trap being found by Mary Gillespie. Paul Freshour was the one seemingly bothered the most by the alleged affair between Gordon Massie and Mary Gillespie. Paul Freshour originally pleaded guilty by reason of insanity. When the judge ordered him to take a psychiatric evaluation, he withdrew the plea. A "vindictive" Karen could have set him up with the booby trap after years of physical abuse and if she believed he was the one responsible for the signs at her job. But during their divorce proceedings? She never said one word about the writers, the abuse, or the fact that Paul was awaiting trial for attempted murder. Which is not something a "vindictive" person does.

^ All of the above makes me believe the right guy was put away for the attempted murder of Mary Gillespie.

all of that and IIRC a neutral hand writing expert that was featured on the latest documentary was convinced that Paul was the writer. It's interesting that UM said that Paul kept receiving letters in prison while he was in solitary confinement. I wonder if those letters were written by Paul or a cell mate and there was a delay. or if someone was pranking him. I wonder what it would be like to be a fly on the wall watching Paul read those letters from his prison cell if someone was pranking him.

all of that and IIRC a neutral hand writing expert that was featured on the latest documentary was convinced that Paul was the writer. It's interesting that UM said that Paul kept receiving letters in prison while he was in solitary confinement. I wonder if those letters were written by Paul or a cell mate and there was a delay. or if someone was pranking him. I wonder what it would be like to be a fly on the wall watching Paul read those letters from his prison cell if someone was pranking him.

People were getting letters, paul included while paul was in jail, he was kept in solitary and had no way of sending letters, surely his "friends" in jail would have had their letters read before being sent, i'm pretty sure that all inmates have their letters read, those being sent or recieved.

Nobody focuses on something very very important, the circleville writer knew about the affair between mary and the school principle, late one night ron gillespe gets a phone call, goes out in a fit of rage, storms out and gets murdered. the trap was set.

unless we're ignoring reality, we'd have to assume that the circleville writer was the person doing the phonecalls, how do we know? because we're told that the phonecalls started when the letters did.

This seems to me that the caller riled Ron up so much so that he went out with his gun looking for him, lets asking ourselves something, Ron never mentioned who it was to Mary? how can you go looking for someone you don't know? and why wasn't the call traced? why was the whole murder investigation of Ron Gillespe so poorly handled?

Why the did the very same police who handled the case so badly, also have Paul copy the circleville writers handwriting, instead of just writing as he would normally? going againist normal protocol.

Either these cops are useless or theres something strange going on. i still don't believe that paul freshour would be as stupid to leave a very poorly sctatched off serial number on a gun at a crime scene hahahahaha

When all is said and done who "won" ? well Mary got to be with her school principal lover who she was always having an affair with and Ron who had "done her sister wrong" ended up in jail.

Mary Gillespe had no interest in the UM episode, didn't want to tell her story, it's a such a shame that there wasn't a decent detective on the case.

do we know if the writing style of the letters pertaining to Ron Gillispie’s coroner was similar to that of the letters antagonizing Mary and the bus driver?

do we know if the writing style of the letters pertaining to Ron Gillispie’s coroner was similar to that of the letters antagonizing Mary and the bus driver?


I think this was the greatest bluff in history and that it was Mary Gillespe writing the letters all along. At one point Mary had 2 family problems, she was having an affair with the school superintendent and she believed that her brother in-law was making her sister unhappy and their marriage was a disaster, so what does she do?

She does the unthinkable and sends herself and her husband Ron letters from a mysterious writer threatening to expose the affair which creates the illusion of a third party, then the phone calls start, which when Ron can't take anymore grabs his gun and goes looking for someone, Ron had to know the identity of the caller, because how else can you go out with a gun looking for someone you don't know? he would have had to mention this to Mary, yet Mary knows nothing of it, the calls aren't traced either, police failure 1.

So Just like Sonny in the godfather, Ron goes out and gets killed in the trap set for him, yet the police do the worst job possible saying it was an accident, police failure 2.

The door is now open for Mary and the super to be together, time for part 2, getting pay back on Paul which beautifully sets him up as the circleville writer! who would take their gun, do a terrible job of scratching off the serial number and leave it at a potential murder scene!? nobody!! the gun was taken from Pauls garage which Mary or her sister being a family member would have access to and it's left there with the serial number exposed leading it sweetly to Paul.

Paul is then arrested and framed as the Circleville writer, police decide to go againist standard practice and have Paul copy the handwriting as best he can which future indicates he's the writer. police failure 3.

When all is said and done, Mary and school super are together and Ron is in jail. The problems Mary began with are now all solved. it's beautiful!

Mary and the super didn't take part in UM....

Mary and the super had some link to the police chief in circleville, i can't remember where i read it, but there was proof, this allowed all these perfect storm mistakes to be made.

This could explain something really important, anything on this, be it the UM segment, podcasts, websites always mention "the whole town recieved 1000s of letters, someone knew all their secrets"

Why have these 1000s of letters never been published? why does it all focus on the giliespes and freshours?

Do these 1000s of letters really exist?

I think this was the greatest bluff in history and that it was Mary Gillespe writing the letters all along. At one point Mary had 2 family problems, she was having an affair with the school superintendent and she believed that her brother in-law was making her sisterunhappy and their marriage was a disaster, so what does she do?

Mary was Karen’s sister-in-law; Ron and Karen were bio siblings.

Regardless, there’s way too much evidence pointing at Paul where you can’t seriously believe he had zero involvement. Finding out about the signs placed at Karen’s place of work was what solidified the idea that Paul was much more willing to be involved than he wanted us to believe.

Mary was Karen’s sister-in-law; Ron and Karen were bio siblings.

Regardless, there’s way too much evidence pointing at Paul where you can’t seriously believe he had zero involvement. Finding out about the signs placed at Karen’s place of work was what solidified the idea that Paul was much more willing to be involved than he wanted us to believe.


I think it's crazy that nobody understands how simple this case really is.

I've learnt that when 2 people deny having an affair yet later end up together, they were really having an affair the whole time. so we know that mary and the school super were always having an affair, anyone who doesn't see that is dangerously naive.

If they ended up together, we'd assume this was their plan all along right? which would mean getting ron out of the picture one way or another would be good for them.

The letters and phone calls we're told started at the same time, so it would be the same person doing it, one night ron sick of these phone calls grabs his gun and goes out, that means that ron knew who the caller was, because why go out, why go after someone when you don't know who it is? how can you? was ron going to just drive around with his gun hoping to get lucky and find the caller?

no, clearly no, so ron knew where he was going, we assume he'd mention the identity of the caller to mary, i think he did, so why didnt mary ever mention it to the police?

ron was clearly set up so he went out that night and someone shot him.

why weren't the calls traced? why didn't mary tell the police the identity of the caller? why was the obvious murder of ron giliespe put down as an accident when he had a bullet in him?!

So how does this end? it ends with mary and the school superintendent together, which we already know was the plan from the start.

what's that saying? if you want to know who did the crime, then find how who benefits from it?

this is simple stuff.

as for paul freshour, you can't believe that someone who obviously knew he had to scratch off the serial number from the gun would do such a poor job that it was exposed and would lead back to him. it was a set up.

Why didn't mary and the super take part in the segment? Paul had no problem doing it.

Mary Giliespe lied about her affair, she was having an affair, that makes her already a liar. her husband dies in a strange "accident" after rushing out one night with a gun, the police who both didn't investigate his death properly, later broke standard practice and had paul freshour copy the handwriting.

When all is said and done mary and the super ride off into the sunset, behind them a long list of strange events that allowed them to do so.

what's that saying? if you want to know who did the crime, then find how who benefits from it?

this is simple stuff.


Who benefits from placing signs outside of Paul's soon to be ex-wife's place of employment calling her a "dyke"? If you look at it the way UM presented the case, you would come away with the thought that Karen and Mary conspired to frame Paul. Karen, being the savvy criminal mind that she was, didn't bring any of the letters, the signs, or the attempted murder of Mary during their divorce proceedings.

this is simple stuff.

Who benefits from placing signs outside of Paul's soon to be ex-wife's place of employment calling her a "dyke"? If you look at it the way UM presented the case, you would come away with the thought that Karen and Mary conspired to frame Paul. Karen, being the savvy criminal mind that she was, didn't bring any of the letters, the signs, or the attempted murder of Mary during their divorce proceedings.

this is simple stuff.


Everyone keeps ignoring the obvious, what you've said is one dimensional that's like saying why would someone take pauls gun and use it try and kill someone? it's called trying to frame someone. it's obvious that they were trying to frame paul. you're acting like it's never happened before, you're looking at everything in 1 and 2D.

one dimensional is "pauls gun was found in a booby trap set up to kill mary gillespe, let's lock him up, he's guilty"

looking at things in 3D, you see an overtly bad attempt at scratching off a serial number, meaning it would always get back to paul freshour, a booby trap that just very very "luckly" didn't go off, knowing all the time his family had access to his house and his gun.

i don't know why people change the subject and go off on some rant about something else when you mention clear and obvious facts. everyone can't be the circleville writer.

Mary and the super were having an affair the whole time, if they ended up together then we have to assume that their plan was always to be together, getting ron out of the way would be good for them, and guess what, he did get out of the way, he died in a strange accident after firing his gun at someone, why? why didn't mary tell the police who the caller was? why were the calls not traced? why wasn't the "accident" investigated right? and why did the police who had already had done such a bad job break standard rules and have freshour copy the writing as best he could?

why did the letters continue? and most of all you don't see that after all this mary and the super ended up together?!

i don't know how someone writing "dyke" on signs changes any of this, your wonderful sarcasm or not...

Who benefits from placing signs outside of Paul's soon to be ex-wife's place of employment calling her a "dyke"?
this is simple stuff.

Let's say that you and i are enemies,yet i know you have problems with your wife and it's getting messy. i can't send letters to your wife, i can't leave signs outside her place of work? done in a tone and such a way that it seems you, the husband whos going through a messy divorce is doing it? you'd be the obvious suspect.

why would i do it? your great wit and sarcasm aside, we have no idea what mary giliespe and karen are like, we don't know them personally and they didn't want to appear on the UM segment, so your "crimimal mastermind savvy" stuff...

looking at things in 3D, you see an overtly bad attempt at scratching off a serial number, meaning it would always get back to paul freshour, a booby trap that just very very "luckly" didn't go off, knowing all the time his family had access to his house and his gun.

Okay now that I have my 3D glasses on, I can see that Paul bought the gun 4 months before the booby trap was discovered. The booby trap was found in February of 1983. Karen, citing documented physical abuse from Paul, filed for divorce in October of 1982. Paul got the gun around this time. Karen did not "have access to his house and his gun" because they were already living apart at that point. This too is documented in letters that Paul was sending to everyone while awaiting trial, trashing Karen and her reputation. Did you know that Paul would often use ":" as punctuation in these letters? Guess who else did?

don't know why people change the subject and go off on some rant about something else when you mention clear and obvious facts. everyone can't be the circleville writer.

Yes. It can't be Mary Gillespie. It can't be David Longberry. It can't be Karen Freshour. But it can be Paul Freshour.

Mary and the super were having an affair the whole time, if they ended up together then we have to assume that their plan was always to be together, getting ron out of the way would be good for them, and guess what, he did get out of the way, he died in a strange accident after firing his gun at someone, why? why didn't mary tell the police who the caller was? why were the calls not traced? why wasn't the "accident" investigated right? and why did the police who had already had done such a bad job break standard rules and have freshour copy the writing as best he could?

Ron was wasted and crashed his truck. There is no mystery there. Mary and Gordon Massie probably were having an affair before his death. Who cares?

why did the letters continue? and most of all you don't see that after all this mary and the super ended up together?!

Mary and Karen got together and conspired to frame Paul Freshour by publicly humiliating Mary's 14 year old daughter with a sign that said that she "sucked Massie's peter", for all of the school children to see? That makes total sense man. Seeing things in 3D is so cool!

don't know how someone writing "dyke" on signs changes any of this, your wonderful sarcasm or not...

There is only one person with a motive to put harassing signs outside of Karen's place of work and that would be the Circleville Writer, Paul Freshour.

Let's say that you and i are enemies,yet i know you have problems with your wife and it's getting messy. i can't send letters to your wife, i can't leave signs outside her place of work? done in a tone and such a way that it seems you, the husband whos going through a messy divorce is doing it? you'd be the obvious suspect.

Karen and Mary Gillespie were very close and I have no idea what any of this rambling is about.

why would i do it? your great wit and sarcasm aside, we have no idea what mary giliespe and karen are like, we don't know them personally and they didn't want to appear on the UM segment, so your "crimimal mastermind savvy" stuff...

You admit to having no idea what Mary or Karen are like yet you have no issue accusing her of having an affair and carry on this master plan at framing Paul "I don't have an alibi for most of the day that my gun was found in a booby trap for an attempted murder" Freshour.

Okay now that I have my 3D glasses on, I can see that Paul bought the gun 4 months before the booby trap was discovered. The booby trap was found in February of 1983. Karen, citing documented physical abuse from Paul, filed for divorce in October of 1982. Paul got the gun around this time. Karen did not "have access to his house and his gun" because they were already living apart at that point. This too is documented in letters that Paul was sending to everyone while awaiting trial, trashing Karen and her reputation. Did you know that Paul would often use ":" as punctuation in these letters? Guess who else did?



Yes. It can't be Mary Gillespie. It can't be David Longberry. It can't be Karen Freshour. But it can be Paul Freshour.



who
Ron was wasted and crashed his truck. There is no mystery there. Mary and Gordon Massie probably were having an affair before his death. Who cares?



Mary and Karen got together and conspired to frame Paul Freshour by publicly humiliating Mary's 14 year old daughter with a sign that said that she "sucked Massie's peter", for all of the school children to see? That makes total sense man. Seeing things in 3D is so cool!



There is only one person with a motive to put harassing signs outside of Karen's place of work and that would be the Circleville Writer, Paul Freshour.



Karen and Mary Gillespie were very close and I have no idea what any of this rambling is about.



You admit to having no idea what Mary or Karen are like yet you have no issue accusing her of having an affair and carry on this master plan at framing Paul "I don't have an alibi for most of the day that my gun was found in a booby trap for an attempted murder" Freshour.


He DID have an alibi for that day! go back and watch the episode! i admit that i have no idea what karen is like! it's you who did that really cool sarcastic thing where you called her a criminal mastermind! maybe she is!

You don't think it matters that they were always having an affair and lied about it the whole time in the great scheme of things?

Think about it like this, take away the whole mysterious circleville writer with his reign of terror on the people of circleville, let's say theres a UM segment.

Theres rumors of a man and a woman having a affair, they deny it, one night the husband of the woman accused of having an affair dies in mysterious circumstances, firing a bullet, yet it's never solved and later the man and woman accused of having an affair end up together, they also refuse to take part in the episode, what would your conclusion be?? you'd say there was more than likely some conspiracy going on and the husband was off'd so they could be together, naturally.

so theres where you need to focus when it comes to this case. i don't know why you'd answer something like this with "but someone called karens place of work and called her a dyke!"

if this is the logic being used then i understand why 45 years later this case isn't solved.

He DID have an alibi for that day! go back and watch the episode! i admit that i have no idea what karen is like! it's you who did that really cool sarcastic thing where you called her a criminal mastermind! maybe she is!

He did not have an alibi that day until roughly noon. He took off of work that day. Something that Mary and Karen wouldn't have known. In your fictional scenario of them conspiring together to frame Paul, what would have happened to their plan if Paul was at work that day?

You don't think it matters that they were always having an affair and lied about it the whole time in the great scheme of things?

No, because it's possible that they were being truthful and were not having an affair until after Ron's death.

rumors of a man and a woman having a affair, they deny it, one night the husband of the woman accused of having an affair dies in mysterious circumstances, firing a bullet, yet it's never solved and later the man and woman accused of having an affair end up together, they also refuse to take part in the episode, what would your conclusion be?? you'd say there was more than likely some conspiracy going on and the husband was off'd so they could be together, naturally.

The police were unable to determine if Ron did in fact fire the gun at all that night or even in the days prior to his death. I'd say in your elementary writeup of the case, people would think that there was something going on and that Ron's death was a murder. But when you objectively look at everything leading up to his death, including his high BAC, his death was a tragic and preventable accident. All of this talk about "confronting the writer" was even described by Martin Yant as something the family made up to make his death seem more heroic.

So in reality the situation is: a woman receives a letter accusing her of having an affair. She shows her husband who asks if its true. She says it isn't. Husband believes her. Her brother-in-law becomes obsessed over this perceived affair and can't seem to let it go. More and more letters come in. Husband is drinking heavily one night and dies in an accident. There is nothing mysterious about any of this other than the identity of the person who was writing these letters.

so theres where you need to focus when it comes to this case. i don't know why you'd answer something like this with "but someone called karens place of work and called her a dyke!"

No, someone deliberately placed signs in her employer's parking lot saying vile things about Karen. Everyone who worked there would drive by and see that sign. It was placed there for one purpose: to humiliate Karen. For some reason you seem to keep glossing over the fact that the same thing was done to Mary Gillespie. Who had the motive to place these signs targeting these two women by humiliating them publicly?

if this is the logic being used then i understand why 45 years later this case isn't solved.

Freshour was convicted of attempted murder back in 1983, so the case was solved Ted.

He did not have an alibi that day until roughly noon. He took off of work that day. Something that Mary and Karen wouldn't have known. In your fictional scenario of them conspiring together to frame Paul, what would have happened to their plan if Paul was at work that day?



No, because it's possible that they were being truthful and were not having an affair until after Ron's death.



The police were unable to determine if Ron did in fact fire the gun at all that night or even in the days prior to his death. I'd say in your elementary writeup of the case, people would think that there was something going on and that Ron's death was a murder. But when you objectively look at everything leading up to his death, including his high BAC, his death was a tragic and preventable accident. All of this talk about "confronting the writer" was even described by Martin Yant as something the family made up to make his death seem more heroic.

So in reality the situation is: a woman receives a letter accusing her of having an affair. She shows her husband who asks if its true. She says it isn't. Husband believes her. Her brother-in-law becomes obsessed over this perceived affair and can't seem to let it go. More and more letters come in. Husband is drinking heavily one night and dies in an accident. There is nothing mysterious about any of this other than the identity of the person who was writing these letters.



No, someone deliberately placed signs in her employer's parking lot saying vile things about Karen. Everyone who worked there would drive by and see that sign. It was placed there for one purpose: to humiliate Karen. For some reason you seem to keep glossing over the fact that the same thing was done to Mary Gillespie. Who had the motive to place these signs targeting these two women by humiliating them publicly?



Freshour was convicted of attempted murder back in 1983, so the case was solved Ted.


the case wasn't solved, why was he let out of jail then? why was the case on a show called UNSOLVED mysteries? if it's solved? hahahaha

inteligent people know that when 2 people are accused of having an affair and later they end up together "officially", then they were having an affair all along.

that's just basic common sense and not being born yesterday. then when the husband of the woman accused of having an affair, has an "accident" where he fires a gun off, and storms out in the middle of the night and nobody knows why and the womans version of events are sketchy to say the least, then inteligent people can see that maybe theres something there, if getting rid of the husband was the plan all along.

as for paul freshour and the feeble attempt at scraping off the serial number, well again inteligent people can see that it's kinda like eating a piece of cake you're told not to, then smearing a bit of icing on your sisters face and yelling "daaaaaadddd"

your mode of thinking is very much "paint by numbers" it's kind of autistic if you want me to be honest, but then again you never know who you're interacting with online.

the case wasn't solved, why was he let out of jail then? why was the case on a show called UNSOLVED mysteries? if it's solved? hahahaha

He was paroled after serving 10 years and died a convicted felon.

inteligent people know that when 2 people are accused of having an affair and later they end up together "officially", then they were having an affair all along.

I would also expect an intelligent person to be able to spell the word correctly, but what do I know?

that's just basic common sense and not being born yesterday. then when the husband of the woman accused of having an affair, has an "accident" where he fires a gun off, and storms out in the middle of the night and nobody knows why and the womans version of events are sketchy to say the least, then inteligent people can see that maybe theres something there, if getting rid of the husband was the plan all along.

The affair has zero bearing on this case other than the impetus as the motive for why Freshour wanted to kill Mary Gillespie.

as for paul freshour and the feeble attempt at scraping off the serial number, well again inteligent people can see that it's kinda like eating a piece of cake you're told not to, then smearing a bit of icing on your sisters face and yelling "daaaaaadddd"

Criminals are dumb. News at eleven.

your mode of thinking is very much "paint by numbers" it's kind of autistic if you want me to be honest, but then again you never know who you're interacting with online.

I'm sorry I'm not as "inteligent" as you.

My theory tends to agree with the OP of this post. I feel that it was multiple writers and honestly two different time periods.

I feel the first letter writer was a combination of the co-worker of Mary's and the son of the superintendent. Their motive was simple, to end the affair of Mary and Massie. I don't think they killed Ron, I think Ron drank too much. Remember, he was likely suffering with the rumors of the affair (which I think happened), so I think he got drunk, shot at the co worker (I do think he saw him) and missed and hit a tree. I think it was an accident.

The second part, I think it the letter writers and the ones who set the trap was Paul's ex wife, her boyfriend at the time, maybe even her brother and maybe even the son of Ron and Mary. Their motive was two fold, payback on Mary (and also to do harm to her) while setting up Paul for murder. The fact it says "we set em up, they stay set up" makes me believe it's them together.

Something that confuses me (after watching the case on YT live again) is the attitude change of the writer. At first he/she claimed that the sheriff was perpetrating a cover up, but then he/she demands UM “do nothing to hurt Sheriff Radcliffe?”

I don’t know who or why, but to this day I don’t believe Paul Freshour was guilty of anything. The only explanation for the letters to continue while he was in prison is an accomplice which I’ve never seen evidence of. Paul seemed to carry no bitterness for what he went through, in fact he looked to be one of the few who gave a damn about the case and his ex b-i-l’s death in later years. I cannot explain the handwriting analysis.

Something that confuses me (after watching the case on YT live again) is the attitude change of the writer. At first he/she claimed that the sheriff was perpetrating a cover up, but then he/she demands UM “do nothing to hurt Sheriff Radcliffe?”

I don’t know who or why, but to this day I don’t believe Paul Freshour was guilty of anything. The only explanation for the letters to continue while he was in prison is an accomplice which I’ve never seen evidence of. Paul seemed to carry no bitterness for what he went through, in fact he looked to be one of the few who gave a damn about the case and his ex b-i-l’s death in later years. I cannot explain the handwriting analysis.


the most important thing to understand about this case is how the "writer" knew about the affair between mary and the superintendent.... heres the thing, when two people are accused of having an affair and end up getting together "officially" then they were having an affair the whole time...

I mean what are we supposed to believe? that some random stranger invents that mary and the super are having an affair, just plucks this out of thin air, then when marys husband ron dies... that mary sat at home one day thinks "hey! maybe that deranged circleville writer was on to something, maybe me and the super would be great together!"

so she puts a nice dress on, dolls herself up and goes down to the school tells her feelings to the super, who takes her in his arms and kisses her and then leaves his wife!? obviously that didn't happen and common sense tells us they were having an affair from the get go.

so we know that mary and the super lied, they were having an affair, now, is it natural to lie and cover up cheating? yup 100%...but in the context of this case you can't leave it there and say "well thats that!" marys husband ron dies in very strange circumstances....seemingly lured to this death sonny corleone style, made angry after a phone call and goes out and ends up with a bullet in him....

what did this chain of events allow? well it allowed for mary and the super to end up together...free now of ron and her marriage. very nice.

Now we get to paul freshour, someone who mary hated... who claims to have had a gun that went missing from his home, it's then found with a comically bad attempt at scratching the serial number off, in an even more comically badly made booby trap.

paul is pulled in, the gun is linked to him and against all police protocol is made to copy the writing instead of writing naturally he ends up in jail.

mary who hated ron sees him go to jail and manages to survive the booby trap, what a very lucky woman....talk about ducks in a row...

unsolved mysteries run a segment and mary has no really interest in going on the show appealing for help to find what happened to her husband, the writer... she's moved on....

heres the thing, no matter where you read or hear about the circleville writer, you hear of 1000s of letters sent all over town, menacing the entire town.... but where are these letters? what do they say? do they even exist?

all i see is a conflict that seems to only exist inside one or two specific families with mary gillisepe coming out if it smelling of roses yet leaving behind her a whole bunch of inconsistences and a police department that seemingly went against every protocol, be it rons death or pauls investigation... to get mary what she wanted...

in these parts this reality is too hard for some to grasp.

I don’t know who or why, but to this day I don’t believe Paul Freshour was guilty of anything. The only explanation for the letters to continue while he was in prison is an accomplice which I’ve never seen evidence of. Paul seemed to carry no bitterness for what he went through, in fact he looked to be one of the few who gave a damn about the case and his ex b-i-l’s death in later years. I cannot explain the handwriting analysis.

39 letters written to Mary Gillespie from 1977 to 1982 were admitted as evidence at Freshour's trial. A handwriting expert testified that all 39 letters were written by Freshour. A different expert was interviewed for the 48 Hours show a few years ago and she concluded that Freshour wrote the letters that were supplied to her. I'm convinced they got the right guy.

39 letters written to Mary Gillespie from 1977 to 1982 were admitted as evidence at Freshour's trial. A handwriting expert testified that all 39 letters were written by Freshour. A different expert was interviewed for the 48 Hours show a few years ago and she concluded that Freshour wrote the letters that were supplied to her. I'm convinced they got the right guy.

Admittedly I'm not expert, but it seems to me that handwriting "experts" are just like eyewitnesses and far from infallible. I know in a couple of UM cases (can't remember which ones) the so called expert turned out to be wrong.

Admittedly I'm not expert, but it seems to me that handwriting "experts" are just like eyewitnesses and far from infallible. I know in a couple of UM cases (can't remember which ones) the so called expert turned out to be wrong.



LE made paul freshour copy the handwriting of the "writer" as best as he could, this is NOT how you do you it, you have people write normally, as they would then you look for similarities. this broke standard police protocol.

why would LE do this? we could put this down to a little mistake, sure why not?

until you factor in the very same LEs comically bad handling of ron gilliespes murder...we're told that so annoyed after a phone call from who we can only assume to be the writer.. ron grabs his gun and goes out into the night.... but ron must have known who was on the phone, naturally... because what was the plan if he didnt?!? drive around circieville looking for some guy with a pen and paper!?

obviously he knew exactly who he was looking for, and logically he would have said this to his wife mary.. so why didnt mary make it known? why didn't the police trace the calls or do something to find out who it was? then you have rons death, which was clearly murder and again was buried by the very same LE who had paul go against standard protocol.

some coincidence right!? i had family who lived in a town in ohio like this in the 80s ajnd 90s, same size, very similar, i mean it isn't just ohio... but we used to call these towns "sown up" it always seemed that like the scheriff was married to the sister of the mayor, the school super was married to the cousin of some prosecutor.. always sown up like that...

you have to look at this and see that mary gilisepe walked away with two things, she just happed to walk off into the sunset with the guy she was always having an affair with ron out of the way after a strange murder! and her brother in-law who she hated ends up in jail after the police go against basic protocol...

if someone doesn't see how glaringly obvious this is, then they'd have to be dangerously naive or have the surname "gilesepe"

it's all there.

Admittedly I'm not expert, but it seems to me that handwriting "experts" are just like eyewitnesses and far from infallible. I know in a couple of UM cases (can't remember which ones) the so called expert turned out to be wrong.

While I would be inclined to agree with you, CBS hired an independent expert who verified the original's expert's findings in this case. And she did not examine letters that Freshour claims he did at the Sheriff's urging during questioning, she examined his personal letters that he wrote. Both Freshour and the Circleville Writer both used colons and semi-colons as punctuation marks. That's an incredible coincidence for Freshour to not have been involved.

His ex-wife also found lewd signs placed outside of her job, during her contentious divorce from Freshour. Who, other than Freshour, would have had the motive to do that as well putting signs along Mary Gillespie's bus stop route taunting her and her family?

I watched the segment before getting on here. The feeling I got from Freshour was that he was a guy who was guilty trying to look innocent to clear his name and someone who wanted attention. He sure must have used a ton of stamps. The serial number being scraped sounds like he would have done it but he was careless. Someone allegedly framing him would not have tried to remove the serial number.

I watched the segment before getting on here. The feeling I got from Freshour was that he was a guy who was guilty trying to look innocent to clear his name and someone who wanted attention. He sure must have used a ton of stamps. The serial number being scraped sounds like he would have done it but he was careless. Someone allegedly framing him would not have tried to remove the serial number.




No,You have to make it seem like the gun owner tried to erase any evidence leading it back to him, but you obviously you need to leave enough of a trace of the serial number to be able to trace it to him!

Paul didn't need to go on unsolved mysteries to try and prove anything, he was free, and no charges or investigation was being done on him.

sometimes with these cases, people arrive at a theory and no matter what, they'll stick with it and ignore things that can't be ignored.

heres the thing, the "writer" accused mary and the school super of having an affair right? they denied it., but when ron was murdered, by magic the super and mary just happened to get together.

now, i've learnt, be it from true crime cases or even people i know in real life, that when two people are accused of having an affair, deny it, yet end up together, then they we're always having an affair. people don't pluck accusations like that out if thin air right?

if they weren't having an affair, then what was marys train of thought?


"well i've just spent a while being harrased by a deranged "writer" who sent be harrassing letters which ended up with my husband dead in strange circumstances, he's accused me of even having an affair!.....but you know what, maybe the sicko is right! maybe me and the super would make a great couple!"

ahaha no, they were having an affair from the get go. so this now in my opinion mary in a very interesting situation, where we know she lied, we know she was cheating, and her husband murdered, she just happens to end up with the guy she was having an affair with... and ron who she hated goes to jail"

she did well eh!? critical thinking would tell us something is off about all that...

Something that confuses me (after watching the case on YT live again) is the attitude change of the writer. At first he/she claimed that the sheriff was perpetrating a cover up, but then he/she demands UM “do nothing to hurt Sheriff Radcliffe?”

I don’t know who or why, but to this day I don’t believe Paul Freshour was guilty of anything. The only explanation for the letters to continue while he was in prison is an accomplice which I’ve never seen evidence of. Paul seemed to carry no bitterness for what he went through, in fact he looked to be one of the few who gave a damn about the case and his ex b-i-l’s death in later years. I cannot explain the handwriting analysis.
Hence my theory of MULTIPLE letter writers!! I wouldn’t be surprised if Sheriff Radcliffe himself wrote that letter to Unsolved Mysteries!! That’s how crazy I feel this case is. I think there are are least 4 or more letter writers!!!

Ok since I feel there are MULTIPLE letter writers (maybe even Paul!!!) I won’t try to solve THAT case since I think there were at least 2 people writing them to Mary/Ron and Paul and his ex had a circleville letter writer battle with each other and I even can’t rule out the Sheriff writing letters!!

Now to the major crimes or accused crimes. I think Ron was killed going after someone, was it murder is hard to guess. If I had to guess, he crashed his car while trying to confront “someone.” I think that “someone” was the Superintendent!!! I think he called (maybe with the help of Mary) and they set him up to either get arrested or killed!!

As for the booby trap, to me, this case is easier. I blame Paul’s ex wife and anyone helping her. She was mad at the affair and likely (correctly) blamed Mary and the Superintendent of causing Ron’s death.

Ok since I feel there are MULTIPLE letter writers (maybe even Paul!!!) I won’t try to solve THAT case since I think there were at least 2 people writing them to Mary/Ron and Paul and his ex had a circleville letter writer battle with each other and I even can’t rule out the Sheriff writing letters!!

Now to the major crimes or accused crimes. I think Ron was killed going after someone, was it murder is hard to guess. If I had to guess, he crashed his car while trying to confront “someone.” I think that “someone” was the Superintendent!!! I think he called (maybe with the help of Mary) and they set him up to either get arrested or killed!!

As for the booby trap, to me, this case is easier. I blame Paul’s ex wife and anyone helping her. She was mad at the affair and likely (correctly) blamed Mary and the Superintendent of causing Ron’s death.


But a bunch of random people at the same time just didn't start to write letters to people in a town... it was the same person, or multiple people with the same goal.

Mary hated Ron, they weren't working together.. when it comes to this case we have to look for who wins, because people don't just do this for no reason.

but you're exactly right, it was the super and mary!

they were "accused" of having an affair, denied it, yet ended up together, when by a strange fate, when ron her husband goes rushing out of his home one night, gets killed, the cops don't even bother investigating, dont trace the calls, nothing...

then they pull paul in, break protocol and have him try to copy the handwriting.. why!?

i mean we're always told that the town of circleville was "haunted by 1000s of letters to people" where are they!? wheres the letters to the smith family across town? the jones'? the willamsons?!

they don't exist. this is all within the giliespe family. mary got rid of her husband, ended up with the super and her enemy paul went to to jail.

the sheriff and super were either family or friends...

the greatest bluff in history.

But a bunch of random people at the same time just didn't start to write letters to people in a town... it was the same person, or multiple people with the same goal.

Mary hated Ron, they weren't working together.. when it comes to this case we have to look for who wins, because people don't just do this for no reason.

but you're exactly right, it was the super and mary!

they were "accused" of having an affair, denied it, yet ended up together, when by a strange fate, when ron her husband goes rushing out of his home one night, gets killed, the cops don't even bother investigating, dont trace the calls, nothing...

then they pull paul in, break protocol and have him try to copy the handwriting.. why!?

i mean we're always told that the town of circleville was "haunted by 1000s of letters to people" where are they!? wheres the letters to the smith family across town? the jones'? the willamsons?!

they don't exist. this is all within the giliespe family. mary got rid of her husband, ended up with the super and her enemy paul went to to jail.

the sheriff and super were either family or friends...

the greatest bluff in history.
First and foremost, I don’t the FIRST letters were by a bunch of randoms, I feel that was Mary’s co-worker and a family member of the superintendent!! I feel the co-worker was jealous and the family member wanted it to end, they conspired together and did the first letters. When Ron was killed (likely by Mary and the superintendent). Then the letter writer was Paul ‘s ex wife and maybe even someone close to his ex and I won’t be shocked if even Paul wrote some. The booby trap I definitely feel was Paul’s ex!! The rest of them I can’t even guess, but my guess are people are using the letter writer as a way to accuse and get stories out. The letter to Unsolved Mysteries is likely someone close to the Sheriff or even the Sheriff himself!!!

Any letters written between 1977 up until Paul’s conviction in 1983 were undoubtedly the work of Paul Freshour.

Any letters written AFTER Paul’s conviction, however…it could be anyone connected to Paul.

Any letters written between 1977 up until Paul’s conviction in 1983 were undoubtedly the work of Paul Freshour.

Any letters written AFTER Paul’s conviction, however…it could be anyone connected to Paul.
I don’t believe so, don’t get me wrong, i think he did write some letters, but as I’ve stated, I think there are MULTIPLE letter writers!! My guess is the ones written to Mary at first were written by someone who works with her or the superintendent. They knew her employee number which is why I don’t think Paul was behind that part. My guess is when the affair was finally made public, then Paul (and his now ex wife) likely both wrote letters. I think the booby trap was set up by the ex wife (just can’t prove it sadly) so she could frame Paul and if Mary died, two birds with one gun (Ron was her brother, bet she wasn’t happy)

I don’t believe so, don’t get me wrong, i think he did write some letters, but as I’ve stated, I think there are MULTIPLE letter writers!! My guess is the ones written to Mary at first were written by someone who works with her or the superintendent. They knew her employee number which is why I don’t think Paul was behind that part. My guess is when the affair was finally made public, then Paul (and his now ex wife) likely both wrote letters. I think the booby trap was set up by the ex wife (just can’t prove it sadly) so she could frame Paul and if Mary died, two birds with one gun (Ron was her brother, bet she wasn’t happy)



people are over complicating the case...we're told that the town was subject to 1000s of letters, i mean it's called "the circieville writer" meaning that it seems to be some major event where the whole town got letters, but theres never been any trace of them...

why aren't we privy to these letters? why didn't UM interview the jones family who got letters saying bla bla bla, the smiths? the reynolds family? the clarks, the whoever?!

they don't exist. it's a lie.

people bizarrely skip the fact that mary and the super were accused of having an affair, marys husband dies in very strange circumstances, and then mary ends up with the super!

rational thinking would say that this whole episode with her husband being murdered and it begining with the accusations would and should have made her kinda sickened by the whole thing, yet she ends up the super!

the fact that nobody wants to accept the very likely possibilty that this was some plan to get rid of ron so she could with the super... i dunno!

wasn't mary obsessed with the plots from noir films? sounds very 1940s noir to me..

people are over complicating the case...we're told that the town was subject to 1000s of letters, i mean it's called "the circieville writer" meaning that it seems to be some major event where the whole town got letters, but theres never been any trace of them...

why aren't we privy to these letters? why didn't UM interview the jones family who got letters saying bla bla bla, the smiths? the reynolds family? the clarks, the whoever?!

they don't exist. it's a lie.

people bizarrely skip the fact that mary and the super were accused of having an affair, marys husband dies in very strange circumstances, and then mary ends up with the super!

rational thinking would say that this whole episode with her husband being murdered and it begining with the accusations would and should have made her kinda sickened by the whole thing, yet she ends up the super!

the fact that nobody wants to accept the very likely possibilty that this was some plan to get rid of ron so she could with the super... i dunno!

wasn't mary obsessed with the plots from noir films? sounds very 1940s noir to me..
Just because they say “writer” doesn’t mean there’s no multiple ones. I feel that (because of all the writer said they know and knew) it was multiple people. Reportedly, the writer knew Mary’s employee number, they knew who were pedophiles and all kinds of town rumors.

I do feel the crime of Ron’s death smells of the super and Mary, but I don’t think they wrote the letters because why expose themselves??

I do feel the crime of Ron’s death smells of the super and Mary, but I don’t think they wrote the letters because why expose themselves??


because it was the perfect bluff, you'd said, it, you'd never think it was them... mary giliespe was obsessed with the plots of film noir...

the letters create the image of a third person, someone else, a writer...

mary and the super were having an affair, when ron was out of the way, they ended up together, getting rid of ron allowed them to be together.

the "writer" or the idea that there was a writer, allowed this to happen.

because it was the perfect bluff, you'd said, it, you'd never think it was them... mary giliespe was obsessed with the plots of film noir...

the letters create the image of a third person, someone else, a writer...

mary and the super were having an affair, when ron was out of the way, they ended up together, getting rid of ron allowed them to be together.

the "writer" or the idea that there was a writer, allowed this to happen.
My issue with them being the letter writers is why involve her own daughter and why set up a booby trap on herself??

I’m with you though on the super being behind Ron’s death and he was likely the one on the phone that night