John James Irwin

[everybodylovesrs]

I can't find any news articles on him, he's the one who got all his grandmother's money and convinced his mother to sell her house; did they ever find out who killed his mother , Dorothy in Wyoming, OH? He refused to take a polygraph when asked about it and did not attend her funeral.

[Judyhymesisalive]

Yeah i also cant find any news articles or updates. Is that the right spelling?

[everybodylovesrs]

I had her name spelled wrong. It was Dorothea Irwin. http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Dorothea_Irwin
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/101855002/
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/103324688/

[Hops3098]

I've done some research on him in the past, since he'd operated 3 businesses in my town in the early 80's. I think they were mentioned briefly in the segment. I decided to focus on the business angle because there just happens to have been a semi-famous Criminology Professor in California also named John Irwin, who was a convicted felon before getting into academia. This really muddied the water in my search.

Anyway, I didn't find a lot of clues when I looked at his companies either:

*Two of the three companies were legally open for less than one year, and the 3rd was open less than two years.
*The address John gave was not a home address, it was located in an industrial area, and the building has since been torn down.
*I don't remember if this little detail was included in the segment, but when he registered his companies, he used the name John J. Irwin, IV.
*Another interesting tidbit is one of the businesses listed a co-owner, Stefano Campagnano. I tried looking him up also but couldn't find hardly anything. The address he gave was a small rental home.

[NDAlum2003]

Originally Posted by Hops3098

I've done some research on him in the past, since he'd operated 3 businesses in my town in the early 80's. I think they were mentioned briefly in the segment. I decided to focus on the business angle because there just happens to have been a semi-famous Criminology Professor in California also named John Irwin, who was a convicted felon before getting into academia. This really muddied the water in my search.

Anyway, I didn't find a lot of clues when I looked at his companies either:

*Two of the three companies were legally open for less than one year, and the 3rd was open less than two years.
*The address John gave was not a home address, it was located in an industrial area, and the building has since been torn down.
*I don't remember if this little detail was included in the segment, but when he registered his companies, he used the name John J. Irwin, IV.
*Another interesting tidbit is one of the businesses listed a co-owner, Stefano Campagnano. I tried looking him up also but couldn't find hardly anything. The address he gave was a small rental home.

Nice job!

[Nsmith819]

Dorothea Irwin was my mom's best friend. We lived 2 blocks from Dotty as she liked to be called. I was 13 years old when the murder occurred. I did babysitting in the neighborhood & Dotty paid me to help clean her property to get it ready for sale. 2 days before she was murdered we had a potluck dinner at my mom's house. The night she was murdered my mom asked me to return a Tupperware container Dotty had left at our house. I walked the 2 blocks to her house & at 7:30 p.m. I knocked on her door but I got no response so I left the container on her doorstep. The next morning as my mom drove me to school we drove by Dotty's house there were lots of police cars & crime scene tape was everywhere. I looked at her doorstep & the container was still there. For all I know I knocked on her door while she was being murdered. My mom was visibly shaken. We drove down the road & my mom saw police cars in the parking lot of a restaurant where we usually got breakfast. We went inside & my mom asked the 1st police officer she saw if Dotty was alright & he paused & then told her no Dotty was deceased. My mom let out a blood curdling scream & crumpled to the floor. She was so pale & sobbing. They have never caught her murderer but I know it was her son John Jay Irwin. I remember to this day the 1st time I ever met him. I was 12 years old & I was at Dotty's house doing some cleaning for her & I heard someone come in the door behind me. I thought it was Dotty but it was a very disheveled looking man. He told me that he was Dotty's son Jay. For some reason I became very frightened of him probably because of the way he was looking at me. He told me that I was a very pretty girl & with every word he spoke he stepped closer to me until I was backed up against the wall & had nowhere to go. I just froze. A minute later Dotty walked into the room & she started screaming at him. They went into another part of the house & closed the door but I could still hear them arguing. She was angry at him for stealing some checks of hers & forging her signature. He cursed at her & called her a greedy bitch & a few other names. Her response was that she should have never adopted him. I felt really uncomfortable so I left. The next day Dotty came to my house to talk to my mom about what happened. I recall Dotty saying to my mom ' He's stolen everything from me except my life & I wouldn't put it past him if he took that too.'. I get chills when I recall her saying that because she was murdered 3 months later. She wasn't just murdered she was annihilated. No human being should ever suffer the way she was made to suffer. My mom passed away in 1993 & 2 weeks before she died she made me promise not to let people forget about Dotty. She was fun loving with a big laugh. She was also the type of woman that didn't take any crap from anyone. She was straight forward & director. She was a fighter & I know she fought for her life until her last breath. I wish they would reopen her case & retest all the evidence because DNA testing wasn't available in 1983. I would love to keep the promise I made to my mom & not let people forget about Dotty. She loved life & didn't deserve to die such a brutal death.

[Hops3098]

Welcome to the board, and thank you for sharing your memories.

Do you have any knowledge or memories of John's father? I always assumed Dorothea was either divorced or widowed at the time she was murdered.

[chukfort]

Originally Posted by Nsmith819

Dorothea Irwin was my mom's best friend. We lived 2 blocks from Dotty as she liked to be called. I was 13 years old when the murder occurred. I did babysitting in the neighborhood & Dotty paid me to help clean her property to get it ready for sale. 2 days before she was murdered we had a potluck dinner at my mom's house. The night she was murdered my mom asked me to return a Tupperware container Dotty had left at our house. I walked the 2 blocks to her house & at 7:30 p.m. I knocked on her door but I got no response so I left the container on her doorstep. The next morning as my mom drove me to school we drove by Dotty's house there were lots of police cars & crime scene tape was everywhere. I looked at her doorstep & the container was still there. For all I know I knocked on her door while she was being murdered. My mom was visibly shaken. We drove down the road & my mom saw police cars in the parking lot of a restaurant where we usually got breakfast. We went inside & my mom asked the 1st police officer she saw if Dotty was alright & he paused & then told her no Dotty was deceased. My mom let out a blood curdling scream & crumpled to the floor. She was so pale & sobbing. They have never caught her murderer but I know it was her son John Jay Irwin. I remember to this day the 1st time I ever met him. I was 12 years old & I was at Dotty's house doing some cleaning for her & I heard someone come in the door behind me. I thought it was Dotty but it was a very disheveled looking man. He told me that he was Dotty's son Jay. For some reason I became very frightened of him probably because of the way he was looking at me. He told me that I was a very pretty girl & with every word he spoke he stepped closer to me until I was backed up against the wall & had nowhere to go. I just froze. A minute later Dotty walked into the room & she started screaming at him. They went into another part of the house & closed the door but I could still hear them arguing. She was angry at him for stealing some checks of hers & forging her signature. He cursed at her & called her a greedy bitch & a few other names. Her response was that she should have never adopted him. I felt really uncomfortable so I left. The next day Dotty came to my house to talk to my mom about what happened. I recall Dotty saying to my mom ' He's stolen everything from me except my life & I wouldn't put it past him if he took that too.'. I get chills when I recall her saying that because she was murdered 3 months later. She wasn't just murdered she was annihilated. No human being should ever suffer the way she was made to suffer. My mom passed away in 1993 & 2 weeks before she died she made me promise not to let people forget about Dotty. She was fun loving with a big laugh. She was also the type of woman that didn't take any crap from anyone. She was straight forward & director. She was a fighter & I know she fought for her life until her last breath. I wish they would reopen her case & retest all the evidence because DNA testing wasn't available in 1983. I would love to keep the promise I made to my mom & not let people forget about Dotty. She loved life & didn't deserve to die such a brutal death.

Hello... I'm very curious as to your identity. I was a personal friend of Jay's for a short time, before he went off the rails. He started his criminal career early by taking orders at school for bottles of liquor he would smuggle out of his father's extensive supply and then leave the orders in the kids' lockers the next day. I don't remember how, but he got busted. Then, he got a job at Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips and after a while he began arriving to work in a limo. This, the manager could not relate to and called his dad to find out what gives. Turns out he was somehow renting the limo and charging it to his dad's company. He truly was a criminal genius. If you'd care to share your identity, privately of course, email me at cfoertmeyer@gmail.com

[Huskerz85]

Saw this one for the first time today - pretty grisly. From the segment/entry on the UM Wiki, I for the life of me can't figure out how the authorities never charged him.

UM Wiki Entry

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by Huskerz85

Saw this one for the first time today - pretty grisly. From the segment/entry on the UM Wiki, I for the life of me can't figure out how the authorities never charged him.

UM Wiki Entry

Most likely reason is that they get one shot. If they charge him and he gets acquitted.. Game over.

while they likely have a whole lot of circumstantial evidence that makes it seem like he is guilty.. Without a smoking gun, it would be a risk.

[Kane]

Originally Posted by Labonte18

Most likely reason is that they get one shot. If they charge him and he gets acquitted.. Game over.

while they likely have a whole lot of circumstantial evidence that makes it seem like he is guilty.. Without a smoking gun, it would be a risk.

I couldn't agree more. Insufficient evidence or lack of it is a very common reason for why no one is charged in a given crime. If there's any chance of John Irwin being indicted for the murder of his mother, the investigators need to find enough evidence to make the charge stick, especially evidence linking him directly to the crime. Otherwise, taking a chance with what they currently have would be foolish. Because of double jeopardy laws, once someone is acquitted in a court of law, he/she cannot be retried in the same case under any circumstances, even if new evidence comes to light. Justice has it share of enemies, but one of its worst enemies is impatience.