The Huntsman Who Used Humans As His Prey | FBI Files | Real Responders

southern ohio's rural counties are perfect for outdoor recreation but the calm of this quiet community was shattered in 1989 when a sniper gunned down an outdoorsman without reason it was only the first in a string of random terrifying murders hiding in the distance behind a high-powered rifle a madman was hunting humans along ohio's county roads [Music] [Applause] [Music] starting in the spring of 1989 a madman prowled the woods and fields of rural ohio he was a hunter a high-powered rifle was his weapon of choice joggers and fishermen were his quarry the hunter roamed fire struck at random and left no clues he was as elusive as he was lethal investigators knew he had to be stopped but no one knew how i'm jim calstrom former director of the fbi's new york office most murderers have a connection to their victims and a motive for their crime but not a serial killer his victims are randomly chosen to fulfill an uncontrollable need to kill often he leads an ordinary life his family and friends unaware of his homicidal passions but serial killers established profiles as distinct as fingerprints and when a match is made it is only a matter of time before they are caught [Music] the rural counties of southern ohio are hilly rocky and wide open a quiet place for coal miners factory workers and farmers the kind of place where people leave doors unlocked and where violent crime is almost unheard of [Music] on april 1st 1989 35 year old donald welling did what he frequently did on saturdays he went jogging along the back roads of tuscaroras county [Music] his quiet morning run ended with a single shot [Music] the rifle bullet ripped through welling's heart killing him instantly [Music] local authorities could find no motive and not a shred of evidence [Music] the rifle was never found [Music] november 10 1990 another saturday morning 19 months later 21 year old jamie paxton of bannock ohio rose early to go bow hunting [Music] leaving his crossbow in the car he took a walk through the tall grass off state route 9. paxton was alone and unarmed he didn't notice the red pickup truck that stopped a short distance away [Music] the gunman was quiet and careful [Music] jamie paxton was shot three times by a high-powered rifle [Music] there were no witnesses the killing horrified a quiet community that considered murder to be a problem for big cities hunting accidents are not uncommon in southern ohio but belmont county sheriff tom mccourt knew right away that this wasn't a hunting accident when we saw more than one wound we knew that it could not be an accident that uh an accidental death hunting accident is called the one shot plus we saw there was a bullet wound instead of of something from an arrow and gun season was not in yet tom mccord's jurisdiction is large geographically but the community is closely knit there people work hard and everyone seems to know everyone mccord even knew jamie paxton what he didn't know was who killed him the gunman had left no clues we checked the area for spent empty cartridge cases for tire tracks for anything that in that area of where we thought the shot came from we also uh checked the area around the body looking for the spent projectiles that had passed through the body we even took metal detectors in looking for the uh the projectiles uh at that time we were unable to find anything by the marina and uh after interviewing jamie paxton's friends family and acquaintances they were unable to find anyone with a motive to kill him everyone in the area knew jamie paxton no one that we knew of or was able even to this day i've ever found anyone who disliked a young man sheriff mccourt had an apparently random killing of a popular young man with no history of trouble they interviewed brad a seemingly unsolvable murder with no physical evidence and no witnesses not even a plausible theory about what happened i think that's about it after her son's death gene paxton's grief impelled her to action she began composing letters to a local paper the martins ferry times leader designed to draw out the killer there was just every time i would sit down to write a letter i would say a prayer and i would say please god just give me the words to get the to the person that killed my son [Music] the letters were at once stern and passionate to the murderer of my son jamie she wrote would it be easier for you if i wrote words of hate i can't because i don't feel hate i feel deep sorrow at losing my son you took a light from my life last november and left me with many days of darkness have you thought of your own death it'll happen unless you confess your sin and ask for god's forgiveness you will face the fire and fury of hell at your own death if the killer were reading gene paxton's letters he seemed unaffected by them on november 28 1990 just 18 days after paxton's murder thirty-year-old kevin lohring was on a hunting trip in muskegon county ohio some 40 miles from where jamie paxton was killed while his friends finished eating lunch kevin decided to get a head start [Music] walking across a field in search of game loring himself became prey unknowingly moving into the sights of the gunman [Music] lauren was killed by a single gunshot wound to the head the killer had taken care to commit his murders in different counties to slow an investigation that would have to take place over hundreds of rural miles the result investigators in muskegon county were unaware of the other sniper victims in nearby counties they decided that lauren's death was probably a hunting accident jean paxton never gave up she kept writing throughout 1991 determined to draw out jamie's killer and i always felt if i could get my letters into the hands of the person that killed my son i felt that i could get a response from them turned out to be right [Music] i am the murderer of jamie paxton the type written letter read jamie paxton was a complete stranger to me i never saw him before in my life and he never said a word to me that saturday paxton was killed because of an irresistible compulsion that has taken over my life i knew when i left my house that day that someone would die by my hand i just didn't know who or where i'm an average looking person with a family a job and home just like yourself something in my head causes me to turn into a merciless killer with no conscience the letter arrived at the martins ferry times leader a few days before the one-year anniversary of jaime's death the letter described the paxton murder in chilling detail i was very drunk and a voice in my head said do it i stopped my car behind jamie's and got out [Music] jamie started walking very slowly down the hill toward the road i raised my rifle to my shoulder and lined him up in the sights i took at least five seconds to take careful aim my first shot was off a little bit and hit him in the right chest he groaned and went down i wanted to make sure he was finished so i fired a second shot aimed halfway between his hip and shoulder while he was prone on the ground i jerked the shot and hit him in the knee he never moved again five minutes after i shot paxton i was drinking a beer and it blacked out all thoughts of what i had just done out of my mind i thought no more of shooting paxton than shooting a bottle at the dump i know you hate my guts and rightfully so i think about jamie every hour of the day as i'm sure you do for sheriff mccourt the letter was a beginning evidence that might lead to a murderer but he needed more the typewriter used to write the letter while investigators searched the killer continued his own hunting [Music] saturday march 14 1992 claude hawkins got off his midnight shift at the pittsburgh blade and glass company about sun up it was a good time to fish and hawkins went straight to a favorite spot on the river below wills creek dam [Music] [Music] hawkins had a wife and four children another outdoorsman had been killed while alone but this one took place on federal property the fbi stepped in [Music] the fbi joined the hunt for the roadside sniper who just killed his latest victim on federal property investigators from the three counties involved along with the fbi and the ohio division of wildlife formed a task force it didn't take long to realize how few clues they had in each case the killer had no contact with the victim no rifling of pockets no robbery shell casings had been carefully removed and the victim's cars were untouched special agent harry trumbitus was stationed at the fbi's columbus ohio field office what we did know is that mr hawkins died from a gunshot and usually you would find some type of a shell casing in the area and i remember looking very hard metal detectors and hands and knees for any shell casings in that and none were ever found and so that was something that you know if in fact we had somebody who was evidence conscious enough to pick up the shell casing after they shot and killed somebody we were dealing with a different brand of person here the multi-jurisdictional task force concluded that the death of kevin loring first ruled accidental was actually a homicide what i got is [Music] reviewing the four murders the investigative team saw plenty in common outdoorsmen hunters fishermen or joggers alone in a rural setting all shot with a high-powered rifle all but one of the murders occurred on a weekend and the killer was careful enough to leave no evidence it was more clear than ever that a single individual was responsible the task force was on the trail of a serial killer as they began to mobilize the killer struck again i know we can capture this person i know we can [Music] ten days after the task force meeting on april 5th 1992 44 year old steel worker gary brent left his home in neighboring west virginia to go pond fishing in noble county [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] bradley's wife and three children would never see him alive again the task force had another murder the road sniper had to be stopped the task force wanted to learn more about the personality of the sniper they asked the fbi to draw up a psychological profile of the serial killer such an outline would be invaluable in tracking him good well down there's something there major dane treyarch of the coshocton county sheriff's office headed the task force right after we initially made an assessment that maybe these things might be linked to the columbus fbi office and set up a meeting to have the behavioral science unit to come to columbus ohio and actually sit down and talk with the investigators of these five counties of the homicides the fbi's behavioral science unit in quantico virginia can accurately sketch personality profiles of individuals from sparse clues larry ankrum is a member of the behavioral science unit assigned to the road sniper case he studied all the available evidence the investigative reports of the five murders and especially the letter that the killer had written to gene paxton the night i came back to quantico and reviewed these cases more in detail and i came out with a formal profile we were probably looking for a white male we were looking for someone that was intelligent someone who was an outdoorsman himself someone that wouldn't look out a place in the in the woods um someone that was probably uh responding to some significant event in his life that was going wrong at that particular time one of the things that uh was apparent uh that it was a sniper type mentality here that we were dealing with someone that didn't want confrontation someone that was doing things from afar and this is something that we see many times with our arsonists we ought to be looking at some different types of activities that he might be involved in such as nuisance types of offenses shooting out windows shooting out tires of cars cruelty to animals arson fires ankram believed that the violence was triggered by stress and fueled by alcohol the task force now had a psychological sketch of the roadside sniper and they had his letter fbi forensic scientists studied the letter intensely they found distinguishing features in the typeface if they could find the typewriter it was written on it would be easy to link the confessional letter to the owner and thus length a murder to the murderer they had to hurry the sniper was still out there on july 21 1992 two hunters in a state park in muskegon county came face to face with the killer as they move through the brush one of them noticed something terrifying a nearby figure with a gun pointed right at them [Music] they called out to him and the man scurried away to a red pickup truck it happened too quickly for the hunters to get a good look at the man or the vehicle's tag numbers bewildered they called local police who alerted the task force throughout 1992 desperate to catch a man still ready to kill the task force investigated and cleared more than 100 suspects by august 1992 after three years the investigation had hit a dead end the task force was badly in need of information and decided to go public it is in the opinion of this multi-agency task force that these they held a press conference and issued a press release detailing the fbi profile of the man they wanted and asking anyone with information to come forward the fbi made a press release and it was done at one time to mass you know it got everybody six o'clock news i mean everybody was showing this this case and the phone started ringing instantly wilson one of those calls received at task force headquarters on august 26 1992 sparked a leak the man on the phone was named richard fry he said he thought the task force should know about a high school friend of his named thomas dillon investigators had a name and someone willing to talk a task force member arranged to meet richard fry at a rest stop on route 77 tom dillon i went to high school with him they used to drive around rural ohio shooting at road signs and small animals but fry eventually found dylan too eccentric and violent for his taste obsessed with serial killers like ted bundy dylan had taken to killing family pets and cattle and and for most of the 1980s forgot about his strange friend but in 1989 fry ran into thomas dillon at a gun show in cleveland tom thomas dylan invited him to ride along with him again just like in the old days old friendships die hard and richard fry again found himself driving the back roads of rural ohio drinking beer and shooting road signs but dylan had deteriorated fry discovered dylan asked whether fry thought dylan had ever killed anyone you've known each other for a long time 20 some years ago yeah do you think i could ever kill anybody tom you know like you said we go way back i mean he discussed how to get away with random killings including the tactic of killing in different counties to thwart investigators kill them in separate counties yeah they never connected and being at random they'd have no clues whatsoever the average your average guy said that when he read the press release he immediately thought of tom dillon he gave a description of dylan including the vehicle he drove a red pickup truck just like the one spotted by the hunt yes matter of fact it is lieutenant walt wilson of the tuscararas county sheriff's office was a task force member his job was to follow up on leads and tips which were coming much more frequently as press coverage of the case increased he decided tom dillon fit the fbi profile and needed to be investigated i began to follow up on the information that mr fry had given us i went to tom dillon's workplace in the city of canton dylan had been employed for a dozen years as a draftsman at the canton ohio award wilson obtained thomas dillon's work schedule to compare dylan's days off with the dates and times of the murders the purpose was to eliminate dylan as a suspect but he couldn't he found that dylan didn't work weekends when most however two weekdays dylan took off from work caught wilson's attention july 21 1992 the day the hunters saw a man point a rifle at them and november 28 1990 the day kevin lauring was killed please dylan could be the one as the other members of the task force followed up on hundreds of leads detective wilson began surveillance on thomas dinner maybe dylan would return to a crime scene or lead investigators to more clues the surveillance began in october 1992. detective wilson followed tom dillon on his weekend excursions driving the back roads of southern ohio typically a day would start be around seven in the morning on tom's days off the weekends usually and he would leave his home and he would sometimes he would stop at a convenience store and buy some beer and then he would go south of his home into other counties just driving all the back remote roadways on october 10th 1992 while tailing dylan wilson briefly lost track of the suspect's vehicle as wilson crept around a corner he came face to face with thomas dillon his cover possibly blown his case in jeopardy wilson had to think fast i waved at him and he waved at me and we kept on going he stopped at the end of the drive to see if i was going to stay there or not wilson couldn't risk being identified he let dylan drive away my big concern was i hope he doesn't stop and ask me what i'm doing on that property because i had all of my gear laying in the car with me and i didn't want him to see my radios and and my gear that i had with me a few days later larry oller of barnhill ohio was hunting about 150 yards off a road in tuscaroras county he heard a car stop through the trees he saw a stalking white male the man lifted a rifle ohler was unhurt and watched in terror as the truck sped away although older's description of his assailant resembled dylan he was unable to make a positive identification the task force realized that thomas dillon was their most likely suspect surveillance of him would have to be beefed up throughout october and november of 1992 the fbi coordinated a massive air and ground surveillance dylan was observed shooting road signs and busting car windows with rocks exactly the sort of petty vandalism outlined in the fbi profile but if they arrested dylan for vandalism they might never gather enough evidence to arrest him for the murders it is difficult to tail someone on an empty rural road in broad daylight the stakes were high if dylan tried another shooting and the fbi weren't in the right spot they could have another murder if they crowded dylan too much they might be found out and dylan would slip into hiding the ground surveillance had to be well off of dylan agent trumpitus and captain shreya relied on the air surveillance as their eyes and ears they would move in if something happened one day the surveillance team faced its worst fear from bitis and triot were far behind dylan when the air surveillance called out an alert up ahead of dublin on the river was the classic profile of a road sniper victim a jogger female this time alone in a rural seven if thomas dillon were indeed the gunman this jogger may be irresistible bait [Music] trimbitis and tryout got nervous hoping for the best they sped forward dylan continued two right toward the jogger driving at top speed trombitis and tryout frantically called to the agents in the plane where is he is he stopping the airplane reported back dylan is approaching her there is no one nearby the agent's car hurtled forward a call from the air dylan is pulling up alongside the jungle the agents held their breath he passed without incident [Music] the feeling of relief lasted only moments the airplane radioed that dillon had taken a right turn onto a smaller room the aerial unit stayed on him instructing trimbitis and triop where to turn they called to the airplane is the jogger still there dylan continued to make right turns until he was back on the road the jogger had been on his u-turn justified the agent's fear he was going back for him where is the jogger from vitus yelled into his radio cannot see the jogger came the reply but the agents knew she had to be somewhere ahead of dylan if he came upon her again they were sure he would kill her the air unit called in the dylan had stopped his truck and had gotten out he had something shiny in his hands would he kill her right under their noses the jogger couldn't be seen from the air but that didn't mean she wasn't there the agents in the car heard shots and fear that dylan had struck again while under their surveillance but the airplane radioed that dylan was shooting a stop sign the jogger had turned off the road she was safe unaware of her close encounter with thomas dillon i think so the cat and mouse game with thomas dillon began to wear on the task force members a lot of pressure i mean you're wondering whether uh this guy today is going to go out and kill somebody and you aren't going to be able to stop it and you know that that he's probably the one that is responsible for killing other people um [Music] you're you're working 14 16 hours a day you're living out of a car uh you're drinking coffee like policeman you know and you aren't eating right and the stress is just is tremendous but the net continued to tighten around the suspect the murderer in his letter to the newspaper had admitted being bothered by the paxton murder and visiting his grave investigators returned to video footage of jamie paxton's grave recorded november 10 1991 the first anniversary of jaime's murder many people paid their respects that day but curiosity rather than respect was the agenda of one visitor photographed thomas dillon investigators immediately recognized the man they had been tailing surely he was the sniper but to earn a conviction they needed direct incriminating evidence [Music] after the second anniversary of jamie paxton's death in 1992 surveillance observed dylan entering the times leader building he bought a copy of the previous day's paper full of the details of the paxton memorial service the fbi had good circumstantial evidence on thomas dillon but they still lacked physical evidence a bullet a gun or a typewriter to link him with just one of the victims hunting season was fast approaching dylan was still out roaming the rural roads drunk armed deadly the communities of southern ohio had been terrorized for three years the people feared going outside but tried to live normal lives dylan had to be taken off the streets the task force knew dylan had been in trouble in the past for illegally owning a silencer and was forbidden to possess firearms a stipulation he clearly violated during his vandalism sprees the task force had little choice before he could kill again they would arrest thomas dillon but the plan wasn't just to arrest him on a weapons violation but to convince him he was caught red-handed and get him to confess to murder lacking ballistic evidence and holding only a relatively minor weapons charge on dylan the fbi badly needed to elicit a confession trombitis had a plan since we knew what his routine was through the surveillances and that where he left his residence and he would go to this dairy mart every day before he left and went on his three four hundred mile drives we would try to make the approach at the dairy mart and what we had was an office building right across from the dairy mart where we occupied we took over the basement of that building detective wilson and i did was we went down into the basement where we were going to conduct the interview and we put up along the walls of the the whole room maps of the areas that he drove in crime scene photographs um in newspaper articles we wanted to make that setting just irresistible to him then we're just going to piece by piece to lay this out in front of him and see what kind of reaction we get from him it would be overwhelming and you know it would put him in the best frame of mind for us to be able to sit down and interview him and get a confession on november 27 1992 the plan went into effect their entire case so far rested on getting a confession the idea was for when he came out of the dairy mart we were going to approach him identify ourselves and basically request that that he follow us voluntarily over to this room where we wanted to share some information with him and show him some things that we knew that would interest him if dylan refused trombitis would raise his right hand to signal atf agents who are responsible for making arrests in weapons cases to cuff dylan and i can just remember his reaction i mean his jaw just for about five seconds and then he composed himself and he said i want to talk to my attorney first that was the cue from bitus gave the signal when the atf agent stepped in and arrested thomas dillon [Music] dylan didn't realize it but it was a bitter defeat for the fbi trombitis thought he'd blown it despite all the evidence he gathered despite his certainty that they had the roadster he feared that he would see a five-time murderer quickly released on a minor weapons charge at the very time of dylan's arrest other task force members were executing a search warrant on dylan's house finally the fbi felt they would come away with the physical evidence desperately needed to link him once and for all to the murders but they didn't to their surprise the search turned up nothing more incriminating than some area maps marked with arson and vandalism sites dylan was refusing to talk they were holding him but there was nothing they could do with him it was pretty much over when he said he wanted to talk to his attorney so we went back to the restaurant uh and we're gonna have a cup of coffee and all of a sudden we got the word that uh he wanted to talk to us and uh so walt and i jumped into our car and we made a beeline to stark county jail trimbitis and wilson confronted dylan with one piece of evidence after another photographs videotapes newspaper clippings showing his link to the murders i would pull out one piece at a time and show him and just as we had suspected he just was keenly interested in the information that we had the surveillance pictures the crime scene photos um you know just the animal you know the shots of the animals that we had along the roadways and that he's you could just see that he was just fascinated by that fascinated but not talkative dylan said it would serve no purpose to admit anything now another dead end for the fbi dylan's attorney is arguing that he should be spared jail time on the weapons charge now unless something turned up on him very quickly thomas dillon would have to be released thank the various representatives of the media for showing up today the task force was now fighting the clock desperate for physical evidence they held another press conference appealing to the public for any information about guns they may have bought or sold with thomas dillon haven't had any contact with mr dillon meanwhile task force member jerry wade of the ohio division of wildlife was following up on a tip a witness steered wade to a spot where he had seen thomas dillon firing his rifle a couple of years back wade hoped that would lead him to some ballistic evidence to link dylan to one of the killings this individual uh that brought us to our attention that he'd seen thomas lee dylan shoot this deer with a rifle thought the rifle might be one of them that was used and if we could locate some physical evidence the shell casings per se and if we could get those and match them to the murder weapon we could put that rifle in thomas lee dylan's hand prior to the murders which would really give us a lot stronger case far as him possessing the rifle prior to the murders the chances of finding small shells in such a wide area were slim and it had been two years since the rifle had been fired there determined wade patiently combed inch by inch through a grassy field where the anonymous witness said he saw dylan shoot the deer beginning at the tree described by the witness wade searched the area in a circular pattern by hand and with a metal detector carefully marking off the territory miraculously wade hit the jackpot he found two rifle shell casings later identified as coming from the same gun that killed gary bradley and claude hawkins finally a physical link to the murders [Music] i felt like celebrating uh it was just unbelievable that i found them because after the time the length of time that had been since the shooting and the incident and the individual wasn't sure the location of the tree exactly uh the scene had changed since he had been there they had done removed a fence row and and pushed out the area so i felt very very much fortunate to find him and i felt like a celebration at the time it was just like you know it was a gift handed to you meanwhile the publicity from the press conference asking the public for help was about to bear fruit on december 4th captain shrayak was manning the phones at task force headquarters a man named al cope was on the phone he said he bought a weapon from someone who may have been thomas dillon at a gun show the previous spring tell you what if you give me uh give me about 15 minutes i'll be right back the date april 5th the same day gary bradley was murdered the rifle was sent to the fbi laboratory in washington for ballistics testing special agent paul schrecker is a ballistics expert for the fbi as the bullet passes down the barrel of the weapon that bullet by coming in direct contact with the interior of the barrel of the weapon picks up the microscopic imperfections the microscopic features of that barrel so that bullet is marked with the fingerprint of that barrel fragments of bullets taken from the bodies of victims claude hawkins and gary bradley were examined at fbi labs a bullet fragment may still be a value for comparison even though a bullet may fragment may break up as a result of striking a victim and maybe only fragments are ever recovered those fragments are still marked they still bear the impressions of the inside of the barrel of the weapon and those fragments can still be used to make a positive association or an identification when the weapon was submitted to our laboratory the weapon was test-fired and the test-fired bullets from this weapon were then compared to the bullet fragments taken from the victims alcope's gun was test-fired and the bullets examined for characteristics they may have in common with the bullet fragments taken from gary bradley and claude hawkins the conclusion al cope's gun sold to him by thomas dillon matched the gun used to kill both gary bradley and claude hawkins the fbi finally had the goods on thomas dylan [Music] agent from vitus visited dylan in jail and confronted him with the evidence he and his truck fit the descriptions of a few witnesses he had been off work when each murder had occurred he had a history of random violence and gun play and the fbi could prove in court that a gun he once owned killed at least two of the victims what kind of proof all the proof we need but trumpitus knew dylan was guilty of all five murders and he wanted closure for the victim's families he offered dylan a deal as leverage from biters reminded dylan that he faced ohio's electric chair dylan got nervous and he began to negotiate man what's your assessment of the situation i still can't believe you got thomas dillon met with the prosecutors in june of 1993 he agreed to admit to five killings if the death penalty were dropped as a possible terms sentence each for each of the acts committed on july 9 dylan confessed to prosecutors in order to save his life on july 12 1993 a smirking thomas dillon walked into the noble county courthouse to make his play mr dillon at this time how do you plead to count one in the indictment in case number 93 cr4 involving the death of the aggravated murder charge involving the death of gary bradley how do you plead guilty with the families of the victims watching dillon confessed to murdering donald welling kevin loring claude hawkins gary bradley and jamie paxton in that case he was still smirking and unrepentant as he left court at this time of the indictment in case number 93 cr4 guilty hello dylan's incredibly cavalier attitude was detailed by a local reporter whom dylan repeatedly called from of prison marveling at his own violence reveling in his celebrity and laughing off the murders let's talk about the other guys i mean except one really good he would not discuss the murder of jamie paxton forget it alright just forget it gene paxton jamie's mother was in court the day dylan pleaded guilty i just want to talk to him about jamie the kind of person jamie was jamie was everything thomas dillon could never be he is uh dylan is a coward he hid behind a gun and jamie was jamie was not that way little did i know that on the evening news he was watching that and it made him very angry that i had called him a pathetic coward we talked to him about remorse and how did you feel after these homicides and and the only one that he said that it really bothered him about was jamie paxton he said i didn't realize the kid was so young gene paxton had looked forward to confronting dylan in court but his guilty plea cost her that opportunity she asked sheriff mccourt to arrange a conversation mccord agreed that evening gene paxman's phone rang she found herself speaking with the murderer of her son when i picked up the phone that evening it was just like somebody calling up to sell me something he said mrs paxton this is tom dillon it was just almost more than i could comprehend the tone of his voice the way he came across still the arrogance was there you really hurt my feelings this afternoon when dylan told gene paxton that when she called him a coward she had hurt his feelings i really don't think he expected to get what he got from me i think that thomas dillon could have handled the crying the screaming the saying of calling names the cursing i think he could handle that but i did not lower myself to that level i talked to him as a mother and i really feel that through this whole thing that is what got to thomas dillon i understand after three years gene paxton felt vindicated i felt really good i walked out on my front porch and i just felt like for the first time in three years that i was free i was free of thomas dillon i felt that i had defeated him by words and i did it all for jaime thomas dillon made it clear he did not want to go to lucasville prison the toughest in ohio so gene paxton saw to it with a petition drive that that was exactly where dylan was sent in august 1993 gene paxton won a 25 million dollar wrongful death judgment against any future money dylan might make dylan's wife had been trying to sell his story to hollywood haxton and state senator bob nye passed the paxton bill barring killers or their relatives from profiting from the crime thomas dillon remains in lucasville prison he is eligible for parole in 165 years

Channel: Real Responders

Views: 43,117

Keywords: police documentary, forensic science, investigation, detectives, police investigation, cold cases, criminals, crimes, true detectives, real crimes, real detectives, private detective, fbi files, fbi documentary, crime documentary, true crime, crime documentaries full episodes, crime documentary murders solved

Id: UPKPsDPR7SQ

Length: 52min 24sec (3144 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 29 2021