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The Plain Dealer
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 Columbus - A former sheriff's deputy who was part of the investigation into the killing of a postmistress nearly 25 years ago now says he has doubts about the state's case against the man sentenced to death in her murder. "I'm not aware of any tangible physical evidence," former Hancock County Sheriff's Deputy Brad Bell told the Columbus Dispatch and the Ohio News Network about the investigation into the 1982 killing of 48-year-old Betty Jane Mottinger. After all this time, he said, "Something doesn't smell right to me as far as what went on there." John Spirko was convicted of killing the Elgin postmistress, who was abducted and repeatedly stabbed, then wrapped in a tarp and dumped in a field. Her body was found three weeks later in Hancock County in northwest Ohio. Back then, Bell believed postal inspectors had proved that Spirko was guilty, but now he has doubts. Spirko's case was the subject of a Plain Dealer investigative series in January last year that raised questions about the evidence used to send him to death row. Gov. Bob Taft has delayed Spirko's execution three times, most recently in January to allow more time for DNA testing. It's now set for July 19. "All I want is justice. Period," said Spirko, 59, being held at the Ohio Penitentiary in Youngstown. Relatives of Mottinger continue to believe Spirko is guilty. Spirko was arrested after he contacted federal authorities about the murder. He said he only knew about the crime from reading newspapers and made the call to cut a deal for a girlfriend. Paul Hartman, a U.S. postal inspector, met with Spirko 16 times. Now 59 and retired, Hartman said he has no doubt that Spirko is guilty. Among details Spirko told investigators were what clothes and jewelry Mottinger was wearing the day she was killed. Hartman's notes from a Jan. 11, 1983, meeting show that Spirko told him, "Lay it all on me. I killed her." Spirko was indicted eight months later on kidnapping and aggravated murder charges. He denies making a confession. Spirko was living near Toledo about 70 miles from Elgin at the time of Mottinger's death. He said he visited his parole officer in Toledo the day she died, stopping at home and heading to the Swanton post office. He said he could not have been in Swanton and Elgin, which are about 90 miles apart, that morning. Investigators, at the request of Spirko's lawyers, are conducting DNA tests on hairs found on duct tape wrapped around the tarp that contained Mottinger's body. No physical evidence tied Spirko to the murder. He was convicted based largely on his statements to police and an eyewitness who had claimed to see Spirko's friend and former cellmate, Delaney Gibson, at the post office. Gibson had initially been charged in Mottinger's death, but prosecutors dropped the indictment against him. See Following Article For Correct Information AP Has Its Facts Wrong With Regard To The Spirko Case
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