The Circleville Writer: Less Bizarre Than it Appears

[mwcarolina]

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.

[Allierain]

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.

[bigted12]

Originally Posted by Allierain

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.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Allierain

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.

[Mike82]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

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.

[bigted12]

Originally Posted by Mike82

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.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Mike82

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?

[Rayroy]

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.

[bigted12]

Originally Posted by Rayroy

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...

[mwcarolina]

Originally Posted by Allierain

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!!!

[mwcarolina]

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.

[bigted12]

Originally Posted by mwcarolina

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.

[mwcarolina]

Originally Posted by bigted12

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!!!