Is Paul Freshour now widely accepted to be the Circleville writer?

[JannTosh]

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

[5thcorps]

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

[schmave]

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.

[Killarney Rose]

I’m not convinced.

[StackTime]

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.

[Sewan23]

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.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Sewan23

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.

[Sewan23]

Originally Posted by schmave

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.

[schmave]

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

[Labonte18]

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

[The_King]

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.

[The_King]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

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?

[Labonte18]

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.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by The_King

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.

[CindyBeale]

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.