Thomas Dillon - Life and Crimes

Life and Crimes

Dillon was born in Canton, Ohio and was a resident of Magnolia, Ohio. Dillon had a wife and son and was employed for twelve years as a draftsman at the Canton Ohio Waterworks. Between the period of April 1, 1989 to April 5, 1992, Dillon shot and killed five people in Ohio. His fourth victim, Claude Hawkins, was shot on federal property and was the reason the FBI stepped in to join the investigation along with officers from the other three counties and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. It was after this that the death of Kevin Loring was changed from an accident to a homicide.

Ten days after the task force meeting, Dillon would shoot his fifth victim, Gary Bradley, in Noble County, Ohio. Dillon was placed under surveillance in 1992 when a friend recognized a behavioral profile compiled by the FBI. Larry Oller of Barnhill, Ohio was later shot at by Dillon while out hunting in Tuscarawas county, but he escaped uninjured. Dillon was arrested on a weapons charge on November 27, 1992, and he was placed under probation for owning a silencer. After the death penalty was removed as an option for punishment, Dillon admitted to perpetrating the killings. On July 12, 1993 at the Noble County Courthouse, Dillon plead guilty to the five murders. Dillon was incarcerated at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility for five consecutive sentences of thirty years to life for aggravated murder.. After attempting to sell Dillon's story to Hollywood, Jean Paxton, Jamie Paxton's mother, and Ohio Senator Bob Nigh passed the Paxton Bill, which barred killers or their relatives from profiting from their crimes. In 1998, his crimes were featured in the episode "Human Prey" of the Discovery Channel's The FBI Files.