Not reading that whole big thread but that seems to be what people are saying near the end which would be a huge change from what people originally thought

I don't think he had anything to do with it. I think it was that janitor

There's a sizable faction here convinced of his guilt. I am not among them. He had no reason to do it early on, and it would have been pretty dumb to copycat them later.
The estranged and later ex-wife, their son and her sister had the motive and opportunity to frame him and write at least some of the letters.
The Pickaway County sheriff seemed to have made up his mind early on and refused to waver.

I’m not convinced.

I think Freshour is not an entirely innocent man, but, get sketchy vibes from just about everyone in that story, including the sheriff.

What I cannot get past is the extremely different handwriting. On the left here, is an early CW letter; on the right, the CW letter to UM. I guess one person, working to disguise penmanship, might be able to do both, but, they clearly do not match by default.

I absolutely believe he was an active Participant in the years between Ron’s death in 1977 and his conviction over the booby trap in 1983.

I absolutely believe he was an active Participant in the years between Ron’s death in 1977 and his conviction over the booby trap in 1983.

Absolutely.

I've brought this up several times in other threads about this case, but UM omitted the fact that Mary Gillespie was not the only person who had taunting and threatening signs placed along her bus route: Karen Freshour (Paul's ex-wife) also had signs plastered all over the parking lot where she worked. Most of them were accusing her of having an affair with a female coworker. No one can come up with a plausible answer as to who would have had the motive to place these signs targeting Karen except for one person: Paul Freshour.

There's a sizable faction here convinced of his guilt. I am not among them. He had no reason to do it early on, and it would have been pretty dumb to copycat them later.
The estranged and later ex-wife, their son and her sister had the motive and opportunity to frame him and write at least some of the letters.
The Pickaway County sheriff seemed to have made up his mind early on and refused to waver.

Mary Gillispie was Karen’s sister in-law.

Karen and Ron were siblings.

Yes, I know that. I just didn't list all of their first names.

I think he was likely ONE of the people involved. But.. There had to have been others.

We know he wrote some of the letters in the beginning according to what TheCars1986 had said he said, so yes, he is partially responsible.

However, we know there were eventually thousands of letters written involving all kinds of people and it's clear to me he wasn't the only writer.

It's easily one of UM's most fascinating cases though.

Absolutely.

I've brought this up several times in other threads about this case, but UM omitted the fact that Mary Gillespie was not the only person who had taunting and threatening signs placed along her bus route: Karen Freshour (Paul's ex-wife) also had signs plastered all over the parking lot where she worked. Most of them were accusing her of having an affair with a female coworker. No one can come up with a plausible answer as to who would have had the motive to place these signs targeting Karen except for one person: Paul Freshour.

Have you read/heard anything that would clear David Longberry?

The people who used to do Buzzfeed Unsolved have started their own channel called Watcher and brought back a similar show, called Mystery Files.

They covered the Circleville letters as their season premier about 2 weeks ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqNcCyQ5bUQ

They came to the conclusion that Paul was the writer as well. Remember, their show leans more towards comedy, but.. Can be informative and, at the very least, gives a different perspective.

I have to say, while I can certainly get behind Paul being the person who wrote the letters, and there certainly is enough evidence to suggest that he was..

One of two things has to be true in addition to that.

1) He didn't do it alone

or

2) Someone was doing a copycat.

Because, some of those letters were sent while he was in prison.. When it would have been impossible for him to send them.

So.. I would agree that Paul was involved here.. But not everyone involved was caught.

Mystery Files touched on the possibility of Paul's son perhaps writing some of the later letters.

Oh.. And they bring up the fact that Unsolved Mysteries got a letter as well.

Have you read/heard anything that would clear David Longberry?

Longberry did not know Karen Freshour for one. And IIRC, there was a witness who testified at Freshour's trial, named Kenneth Reid who worked for the school district as a treasurer. Reid was a friend of Longberry's, and he testified that he drove by and saw the sign at around noon prior to Mary Gillespie finding the booby trap attached to it. IIRC, Reid was Longberry's alibi for most of that day.

Having read Paul’s rambling appeal to reopen the case, and then hearing more evidence such as the signs at Karen’s office calling her a lesbian, I’m not surprised in the slightest Paul Freshour was more guilty than he wanted us to believe.

As to whether or not Karen Freshour herself was involved in the campaign against her sister-in-law at any point during the 15-20 years the letters were circulating, I think it’s still a possibility. I think by choosing not to speak out about the letters from her POV she ironically did herself a disservice and caused her to be put under more scrutiny.

He was either not involved at all, or there were multiple writers including him. Not sure if there can be an in-between given everything that happened.

I think eventually he was one of a handful of writers, but definitely not while he was incarcerated in Lima. I don't think he was involved at first and I do believe that he was as in the dark as to how Ron Gillespie died as everyone else.

I always felt that Paul wasn't guilty of writing any letters to Mary or writing the ones in prison. Could he have written some accusing his ex wife?? Yes, but I don't think he was part of the original ones.

My guess is the first part was written by Mary's co-worker who wanted her and the superintendent's son. I think Ron tried to shoot at the co-worker's car and hit a tree.


the trap to shoot Mary in my book was set up by Paul's ex wife Karen, her boyfriend and maybe even their son. I think they also framed Paul for that. As for the letters written when Paul was in prison, I think it was Karen and the family.

Paul wasn't the circleville writer.

I think you have to look at this based on who has gained something. The circleville writer claims he knows that mary and the super were having an affair. Mary denied this. One night her husband gets some mysterious phone call, angry he grabs his gun and goes looking for someone. then is found dead in very strange circumstances.

1, why wasn't the call traced? 2, why didn't mary ever mention who was on the phone? (surely she knew) and 3. why did the police botch the investigation into Rons death?

Ron was clearly lured to his death.
-
So with Ron out of the way now, Mary and the super just happen to get together! oh wow! but they weren't having an affair no! no! how very strange!

So someone then takes Pauls gun out of his home, does a terrible job of scratching off the serial number, easily linking it to him and uses it as part of some elaborate booby trap, that luckly doesn't go off and leaves yet again the very lucky Mary without a scratch.

The police then pull freshour in and going against standard basic protocol have him copying the handwriting, instead of writing naturally and then trying to find similarites...

So you strangely have the police doing a comically bad job with Rons murder, but they then break basic protocal and rules which makes you think they want to frame Paul.

Paul ends up in prison, yet the letters continue...There was no way that he was writing these letters and was even put in solitary confinement.

So break it down, who comes out of this with all their ducks in a row? Mary!! she gets to be with the super, who she was clearly having an affair with all along, and Paul who she didn't like got framed and sent to jail!

Mary and the super didn't take part in the UM episode, why not? wouldn't they want justice? Paul did!

Mary Gilliespie and the super pulled off the greatest bluff ever, she wrote those letters with the purpose of creating a third party, a third party that never existed to create the illusion of someone else. which later they'd blame on paul.

All done with the help of Sheriff Radcliff. he botched the intevestigation into Rons death on purpose and had Paul framed.

Everything i've read on this says the town of circlesville was subject to 1000s of letters, where are they? why are we only privy to the gilliespies? do they even exist? or is Radcliff lying to make it look bigger than it was?

Karen passed away back in May.

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/karen-sorrick-obituary?id=55236113#guestbook

Mary is still alive.