Original subtitles

[reporter 1] The FBI has determined that the serial killer

frequented the wooded hunting grounds

in the counties where the murders occurred.

The murders date back to 1989.

The last one was in April of this year.

The person committing these crimes was involved

in a cat and mouse game with the authorities

and felt fairly confident that he could outsmart them.

[man 1] He wrote me a letter, he says...

[reading] "If you're going to commit an infamous crime,

get an AK-47 and 10 30-round clips

and take out a couple 100 people.

I wish that is what I had done.

Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20, they say."

[reporter 2] All of the victims were fishing or hunting,

and all were shot with a high-powered rifle from long range.

They had a picture of him, and they said, "Do you know this person?"

And I said, "Yeah, that's my uncle, Tom."

And believe it or not, we have a serial killer in our family.

I think he killed a lot more than people think.

[man 2 speaking]

[loud gunshot]

[man 1] It was almost like a game to him.

I think he enjoyed the chess match that was going on.

We knew that the clock was ticking.

It was just a matter of time before we had another victim.

[man 3] I'm a victim of a serial killer.

And I'm the victim that no one knew about.

I went to prison for 21 years for something that he did.

[opening music playing]

[poignant music playing]

[Jeff] My name is Jeff Titus.

I'm from Battle Creek, Michigan.

November 17th, 1990, there had been two hunters shot

170 feet from my property line.

[reporter] The hunters became the prey

on November 17th, 1990, when someone gunned them down

at the Fulton State Game park.

Jeff Titus faces weapons and murder charges

for the deaths of Doug Estes and Jim Bennett.

[Jeff] Estes and Bennett, they were outdoorsmen.

They liked to hunt,

and both of them had been shot in the back.

[man] The weapon was found just west of Mr. Titus's property line.

[Jeff] I was convicted of two murders,

and I was given two life sentences in prison

with no chance of parole.

I couldn't believe what was happening.

I know I didn't do nothing,

but here I was going to jail charged for murder,

for something I didn't do.

I lost a farm that I had with 80 acres.

I lost my wife, I lost my one daughter.

Basically, everything.

I knew somebody was getting away with murder,

and I was getting framed for it.

I wondered who the actual killer was.

[gunshot]

March 14th, I got a call from the Knox County Sheriff's Office.

And they indicated that they had a homicide out at Wills Creek Dam,

an individual by the name of Claude Hawkins.

Mr. Hawkins was a little bit older,

beautiful family, you know, they had adult children.

He was a wonderful guy, great neighbor.

Apparently, this is one of his favorite fishing spots.

Somebody came along and shot him once in the back...

[gunshot]

...and left him laying there.

The way he was found and everything,

there was no indication that he was aware

that anybody was behind him or about to shoot him.

With somebody fishing and focusing on the water

and what they were doing, they couldn't hear you coming.

We had no witnesses, no shell casings,

just no evidence at all was left behind.

His family, his friends, his neighbors, his coworkers,

there was nobody that he had a beef with,

or anything like that.

We came to the conclusion that Mr. Hawkins was

most likely killed by a stranger.

The lead detective told me, "You know, I remember,

we've had a couple of homicides

over the years somewhat similar to this,

where somebody was shot, they were out hunting or fishing,

and I'm not sure that they've ever been solved."

The homicide of Donald Welling,

that was on April 1st of 1989.

Mr. Welling was just walking along a roadway

and he was shot with a high-powered rifle.

[gunshot]

The next homicide that occurred was Jamie Paxton.

And that happened on November 10th, 1990 in Belmont County.

He was found laying in a field not too far from the roadway.

[gunshot]

[Harry] He had been shot multiple times

by someone using a high-powered rifle.

Mr. Loring was out hunting on November 28th, 1990.

[gunshot]

[Harry] Mr. Loring had been shot in the head.

His ball cap had blown some 20 feet away.

That's when we started putting two and two together.

All of the cases were similar.

Somebody killed with a high-powered rifle,

no shell casings, no witnesses,

no enemies, shot by a stranger.

There was no connection between the victims.

That part was a mystery, "Why these people?"

And we never found anything at all that

linked the victims together in any way, shape or form.

They were just outdoors people.

It became clear to everybody that we had a serial killer on the loose.

And we believed that he was targeting his victims at random.

The reality that we had a serial killer

was very frightening for everybody.

We wanted to move as quickly as we possibly could

to prevent another innocent person from losing their life.

But roughly two weeks after the Claude Hawkins homicide,

we had another homicide.

[indistinct police radio chatter]

[man 1 speaks]

-[woman] Yeah. -[man 2 speaks]

[man 3 speaks]

[Harry] An individual by the name of Gary Bradley was shot and killed

by somebody using a high-powered rifle.

He was just a good guy, just out fishing.

And it appeared as though he had been shot twice in the back.

There were no shell casings, no witnesses.

It just seemed to be so similar.

That was clear as a bell that any day, any moment,

somebody else could become a victim.

[Jeff] In looking at these pictures from Ohio,

they were shot in the back or in the front with a high-powered rifle.

No witnesses,

no casings.

They were just left for dead.

And then you have the two murders that I got sent away for.

There is a very strong similarity in the shootings.

I feel sorry for them and their families.

It is shocking that he shot 'em and just left 'em.

He has no respect for human life.

It was a sick guy that did this,

that didn't care.

All he wanted to do was get away with it.

And he did, for so long.

[Harry] The more information we have about

why somebody does something or what they were thinking,

it would help us get inside that person's head,

and maybe even be able to prevent something.

We figured the individual was at least 30 years of age.

There seemed to be a maturity about how they committed the crime.

A young person that didn't have that experience or knowledge

wouldn't know to pick up your shell casings.

Because the homicides occurred on the weekend,

that would indicate typically that somebody has a job.

We believed that there was a good possibility that they would have a family.

Most shootings, most of the time they're close range.

This was different. This appeared to be from a farther distance.

When someone shoots somebody from a distance, especially in the back,

it's a kind of person that if you were in a bar

and you bumped into somebody,

instead of that person wanting to fight you,

what they do is sort of ignore you,

but then they'd go out in the parking lot

and they'd try to flatten your tires.

There was nothing in the profile that indicated

that this person had any intention of stopping.

And if we didn't move fast and come up with a suspect,

I mean, more innocent people could be killed.

[woman] Were you aware of this like outdoorsman killer,

-serial killer in Ohio? Had you... -No, no.

-[woman] You hadn't heard of any... -Nothing.

I didn't notice anything wrong,

but the profile was so accurate.

My uncle took pleasure in being alone.

Loved getting hammered drunk

and walking around with two or three guns on him.

He worked a very menial job for his intelligence level.

He worked for the City of Canton Water Department.

And one of his jokes was,

"You literally either have to die or kill someone to lose this job."

He was very rude to his family.

I never saw him show affection

toward anyone or anything.

But I don't think he knew any better.

I mean, I think that was really his upbringing.

My uncle, he had almost zero parental influence growing up.

Their father passed away when they were young.

And their mother, you know, she was a drinker.

Nobody was telling him right from wrong.

But did we think that he was out killing people? No.

Somebody had sent a letter to The Times Leader,

which is the newspaper in Belmont County,

claiming to be the killer of Jamie Paxton.

When I first read the letter,

it hit me like a ton of bricks.

We could actually hear the words from the killer.

[Harry] The letter reads, "Dear Editor, I am the murderer of Jamie Paxton.

Don't feel bad about not solving this case.

You had no clues of any kind to start your investigation.

With no motive, no weapon, and not witnesses,

you could not possibly solve this crime."

One of the things that I think often is given

insufficient attention and discussion of serial killers

is the element of boredom.

And they're often highly intelligent people

who feel unappreciated, under-stimulated.

And I think in the case of this killer,

he wanted it to be a little riskier

and more exciting and stimulating.

And writing this letter accomplished that goal.

He's a very narcissistic individual.

Being able to outsmart the police,

he was able to feel, "I really am special."

It's part of the cat and mouse game.

It's, uh, "Here I am. Catch me if you can."

Taunting the authorities in a patronizing way saying,

"Don't be upset with yourself because you can't identify me.

You never will."

[Harry reading] "I'm an average-looking person with a family,

job and home, just like yourself.

Something in my head causes me to turn into..."

[continues reading]

"Five minutes after I shot Paxton,

I was drinking a beer. I thought no more of shooting Paxton

than shooting a bottle at the dump."

[Dr. Jeffrey] That's an act of aggression

toward the people feeling the pain of his loss

to say, "I thought no more of shooting him than I would shoot,

think of shooting a bottle in a dump."

He knew the impact that that would have on the people

on the other end of his letter.

And it wasn't an accident that he decided to include

that kind of aggressive statement.

I was struck by how matter of fact he was.

He's highly self-involved,

unable to feel empathy for other people.

This was someone who was very deliberately

trying to stump the police

and be very difficult to detect.

[Harry] We knew that in November, hunting season would start.

And there were gonna be more available targets to kill somebody.

Hunters and fishermen were getting a little edgy.

[reporter] Deer hunting season is in full swing.

But this year, hunters and fishermen

are looking over their shoulders

in fear of a serial killer.

[hunter] Anytime that anyone goes out hunting now

is taking a chance.

I don't know what this looney tune is all about,

but it's a scary feeling.

[Harry] You just never knew what was next.

If we didn't move quickly, we were gonna have some more victims.

Some guy calls in and gives

what sounds like just a typical lead.

"I've got a friend. His name is Tom Dillon.

He really fits the profile."

He was a white male, forty-two years of age,

lived very close to the area

where one of these homicides occurred.

The more I talk to our tipster,

the more I'm convinced that

we might be on the right track here.

Richard Fry was his best friend from growing up, all the way from high school.

And I think for a long time they hung out.

And I I think that it got to the point

where Richard Fry realized that, you know,

Tommy wasn't playing with a full deck.

[woman] Take a look at this.

This is a transcription of one of the guy's statements.

[reading] "A couple of years ago, Tom and I got into

a discussion about serial killers and he said,

'You know, it wouldn't be hard for me to go out...'"

[continues reading]

"'...and leave them. And they would never catch you

because there would be no motive.'

This is exactly the pattern Mr. Dillon said he would use

if he would become a serial killer.

The man just scares the hell out of me at this point."

You know, that's my uncle.

When I was younger, he took me to do things that,

you know, 10, 11, 12-year-old kids shouldn't do.

We would go out into the woods,

killing frogs just to... for the sake of killing a frog.

Or we would go out with a milk jug full of gas.

And then I would light a rag next to the milk jug on fire,

and we would just shoot at the milk jugs.

[gunshot]

I think I was smart enough to realize that,

"This is not what normal people do."

[Harry] Saturday and Sunday morning,

he'd buy beer and just start driving.

Sometimes, he would stop and he would commit acts of violence.

I mean, this guy was like a one-man crime wave.

He was shooting at electric meters,

water meters, stop signs,

you know, just doing all kinds of destructive stuff.

[John] That was kind of his MO.

Shooting at stop signs and stuff. I mean, he loved that stuff.

Think if you're an officer following him

when he was being followed, and you're watching him

literally pull up next to a field

and there's a cow right against the field,

and he just pulls out a crossbow and,

you know, drops this thing right between-- Why?

When Dillon talked about his long history of destroying property,

he just said, "I was like a machine of destruction.

I wanted to destroy things."

That was entertainment for him.

[gunshot]

[Harry] At this point, we didn't have any direct evidence

linking him to any of these homicides.

That's not enough.

Get an arrest warrant for him.

Time was of the essence.

If we didn't work together fast,

that next person was going to die.

I remember one weekend, Dillon came out

and started driving like he always did.

We'd have an airplane, and they would call out

where Dillon was going.

And so we were able to drop back a little bit.

And all of a sudden, the plane says,

there's a jogger on the road up ahead.

Dillon's getting closer to the jogger.

He's slowing down.

So my partner and I look at each other,

and we go, "Oh [bleep]"

What is Dillon going to try to do?

Is he going to try to kill this person?

So we immediately go into panic mode.

I had a toggle switch for my siren,

and I've got my finger on it.

Sitting there sweating bullets.

Dillon's down to the stop sign.

He stopped.

We're thinking, Dillon's making a decision

whether he wants to go and shoot her or let her live.

It was one of the most intense moments we had

during the entire surveillance.

I remember looking at my steering wheel.

My hands were like glued to the steering wheel

because there was so much tension.

And then the plane goes, "Dillon is turning right.

He's going away from the jogger."

Maybe he just wasn't in the mood that particular moment

to try to kill somebody.

But thank God he didn't try to kill her.

I think Dillon wanted to talk to us

because he wanted to find out what we knew.

He wanted to know how much trouble he was in.

I think that the most significant motivation for Dillon

was the thrill of the game.

I think Dillon understood from the start

that there was a good chance that they didn't have enough

to convict him.

Dillon was smart and savvy and strategic enough

that he told himself, try to find out what you can

and then make your decision about what to do.

[Harry] I had the box of materials with me.

I had a recording device.

The game plan is I would start showing him the pictures.

He acted in his mind, I think, the way

that he would think the normal person would.

And that is, "Oh, don't show me anymore.

Those photos are disgusting."

But deep down inside, he's going, "Oh, man,

that's really something.

I did that."

It's important in an interview sometimes, you know,

you don't want to just say,

"You're a despicable human being.

You know, how could you do this?"

You want to give somebody an out.

I think he enjoyed back and forth a little bit,

like a chess match.

That's about as confrontational as I've ever heard him.

He certainly is holding his ground there,

which I almost would think

he would just roll over immediately.

We failed.

I think he didn't confess because we hadn't shown him

anything concrete that would tie him

specifically to the cases.

We don't have enough evidence

to be able to get a conviction on him.

What are we going to do now?

Sunday after Thanksgiving,

the FBI came knocking on my door.

I certainly wasn't adamantly like, "Oh, no chance.

No, no, you've got the wrong guy."

But I did not think he would have done that.

I mean, I was like, no, I mean, come on.

He's nuts, but he's not that nuts.

[woman] You still believed in his innocence.

Totally did.

Yeah, I mean, of course I believed in his innocence.

He's my uncle.

[Harry] Once we had Dillon arrested, he would call me.

I remember the first time I got a call from him.

He goes, "Hi, this is Tom Dillon."

He said, "I just thought I'd give you a call,

see what's going on."

And he's trying to feel me out to see where we were.

I think he enjoyed the chess match that was going on.

He's growing more and more confident, not only in himself,

but in our lack of evidence against him.

We just couldn't get him to confess to anything.

If we didn't have enough evidence to charge him

for one of the homicides,

we needed to come up with a game plan

on where we needed to go from here.

We got a call from a tipster who said

he had purchased a Swedish Mauser from Dillon

at a gun show in Maslin, Ohio.

And he still had possession of the gun.

Dillon was eligible for the death penalty.

Now we were in the driver's seat.

The nature of the phone calls changed.

After that, it was clear

we were dealing from a position of strength.

He told me, "I don't want to be on death row."

I said, "Well, we want to solve all the cases, Tom."

And he goes, "I'm hopeful that we can work something out

to everybody's satisfaction."

He was basically a coward.

He wasn't somebody who wanted the death penalty.

And he no longer felt that he could control the situation.

He understood that the game was basically over for him

at that point.

[Harry speaking]

[Harry speaking]

To actually hear what happened in each case,

you know, it was really chilling, fascinating.

There was a callousness there.

It was just like no remorse whatsoever.

[Harry speaking]

"Spur of the moment thing."

A little voice talking to him.

He does not see people as people.

He sees them as something to kill.

Just like a squirrel or a rabbit, a snake, a bug,

or whatever, human beings are the same way.

No compassion, no pity, no nothing.

[Harry speaking]

That's a strange comment.

I mean, "That's why we're here, isn't it?"

It is interesting how he's just so matter of fact, like,

I mean, there's no emotion in his voice.

There's no... It's just...

it's awful.

[Harry speaking]

It's, um, it's exactly how I remember.

He didn't try to minimize anything that he did.

Made no excuses.

We know Dillon's responsible for all five homicides.

[Thomas speaking]

[Jeff] We need to look into other cases.

With the history he did, you had to wonder, is there more?

We were interviewing him, getting his confession,

and we asked him if there was anything else.

And he just blurts out,

"Yeah, there was an incident in 1980."

The shot rang out, and I felt like

I had been electrocuted.

The bullets split into two main pieces.

Both of them went in my back.

That was shocking to us

because we were unaware of that.

We actually came up with a couple of cases in Michigan

that were somewhat similar.

[reporter] The hunters became the prey on November 17, 1990,

when someone gunned them down

at the Fulton State Game Park.

The ones in Michigan where there were two hunters killed,

that was totally not Dillon.

He was looking for lone victims.

We talked to Dillon repeatedly about were there any others.

He denied any involvement

in any others outside of the five

that he told us about.

[Jeff] I was arrested for two counts of murder

because I found the missing gun.

I didn't know that the Ohio cops believed Thomas Dillon.

I know I'm innocent.

I've always known I was innocent.

I didn't do it.

[reporter] I'm going to show you the sketch.

[John] That's so bizarre. It's my uncle.

[woman] Do you think if you saw this at the time,

you would have made the connection?

I think so.

If I'd seen this at the time,

I would have said, "Yep, that's him."

You can look at it and see they're so similar

that it's uncanny.

And that could have cleared the case up

right then and there.

And then I never would have went to prison.

Never looked into it.

[groans]

Boy, that's bringing up agitated feelings.

To find out that this was sad

and that they weren't interested,

it really upsets me.

He's a serial killer

and you don't thoroughly investigate it.

I think Dillon was sitting there laughing. [scoffs]

He made a fool out of the police.

That he did another two murders

and he's not getting a death penalty.

And I'm sure that he heard about me getting convicted.

He didn't care.

He didn't have that remorse or thing in his body.

Is there anybody else in prison for one of his murders?

Damn good chance that the answer is yes.

Even though he was in prison for five murders,

he still won the game because he committed other crimes,

never got charged for him.

We've never, ever encountered anything to indicate

that he ever killed anybody other than the people

he admitted to killing.

This is a letter that Tom Dillon wrote to me from prison.

It's dated June 30, 1994.

He says, "I never told you orTrombitas,

a lot of things that happened or things I did.

I maybe someday will go into greater detail

about quote, early years."

And unfortunately, because I never went to see him again,

that remains an open question in my mind even today.

Of course.

Of course, and 50 more.

[John] Yes.

[Jeff] Susan!

[Susan] Welcome home.

[Jeff] Oh, thank you.

Oh, I owe you so much.

[Susan] It's so good to see you.

Previously undisclosed evidence in the case

involving Jeff Titus contains approximately 30 pages

relating to an alternative suspect, Thomas Dillon.

It's been 22 years waiting for this day,

and it should never have happened in the first place.

To describe walking out of prison,

they wasn't sure it was true,

or if it was a game or something.

And I was worried I was going to get snatched

and pulled back in.

I've been out six months now,

and now I'm trying to relearn my life

and get readjusted to society.

It's a shock.

This is Thomas Dillon, the man who cost me 21 years

of my life.

And to me, he's a piece of crap.

And I really don't even want to look at him. I don't wanna.

Nothing, because all the harm that he caused me,

he made me a victim.

During one of our conversations,

he mentioned a series of murders that he was aware

had been committed of prostitutes who had been working

at a truck stop in Ohio.

[inaudible]

I think there's a strong possibility

that he killed people that he never confessed to killing.

Only five homicide, one attempted homicide.

That's what he told us. To this day, that's what I believe he did.

You know, someday I would like to go meet this FBI agent

and ask him, why did you believe him?

Why did you take everything he said for granted?

I would let him know that I think he failed in his job.

He let Dillon win.

He told the police wh,

got what he wanted, life in prison.

No death penalty.

I mean, he's dead.

And all the other things that he's done died with him.

They shouldn't have believed the serial killer.

He's got away with it.

♪♪

This is the suspect, and I'm like, "Holy [bleep]".

I know him....really well.

The ransom note said death will be the end result.

We're never going to find her.

Why would anybody take my mother? Why?