Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Thomas Dillon

Thomas Lee Dillon (1950 – October 21, 2011) was an responsible for the murders of five men in southeastern between April 1989 and April 1992. Targeting lone outdoorsmen such as hunters, joggers, and fishermen in rural areas across Tuscarawas, , Muskingum, Coshocton, and Noble counties, Dillon used a high-powered .308 to shoot his victims from concealed positions at ranges up to several hundred yards, often leaving no shell casings or other physical evidence at the scenes. His victims included Donald Welling, a 35-year-old jogger killed on April 1, 1989; Jamie Paxton, a 21-year-old hunter shot in November 1990; Kevin Loring, a 30-year-old hunter killed the same month; Claude Hawkins, a 48-year-old murdered on March 14, 1992; and Gary Bradley, a 44-year-old shot on April 5, 1992. Dillon, who earned the moniker "Outdoorsman " for his choice of targets, was a married with a college education and a 22-year career as a draftsman in ; psychological evaluations placed his IQ at 135, in the superior range, and determined he was legally sane despite claiming auditory hallucinations and thrill-seeking compulsions drove his actions. Before escalating to human targets, he had killed over 1,000 animals, including pets and , and set more than 100 fires in the region, behaviors later linked to his killings by investigators. A multi-agency , including the FBI and Ohio Division of Wildlife, pursued Dillon after his taunting letters to newspapers—such as one sent to The Times Leader on November 4, 1991—provided crucial leads; his arrest in April 1992 followed a tip from a suspicious friend and ballistic matches from a recently purchased traced through a dealer. In 1993, Dillon pleaded guilty to five counts of aggravated murder, avoiding the death penalty in exchange for his confession, and was sentenced to five consecutive life terms at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. He died at age 61 in the prison wing of The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus after a three-week illness.

Early life

Childhood and family

Thomas Lee Dillon was born on July 9, 1950, in . His father died of Hodgkin's disease when Dillon was just 15 months old, leaving him to be raised in a single-parent household by his mother. The family resided on 37th Street Northwest in . Dillon's mother was described by forensic psychologist Jeffrey Smalldon, who evaluated him during his legal proceedings, as emotionally cold and distant; Smalldon noted that Dillon had no memories of her ever hugging, kissing, or expressing love to him. No siblings are documented in available records of his early life. As a and teenager, Dillon exhibited of isolation and emerging violent tendencies. He attended Glenwood High School in Plain Township, where he was remembered as intelligent but a with few and no involvement in extracurricular activities. During his teenage years, he developed a strong interest in and began keeping calendars to track the animals he killed, as well as his sexual encounters, reflecting obsessive and detached behaviors. He also engaged in setting fires, later admitting to over 100 such incidents in his youth.

Adulthood and employment

After attending ’s Stark campus, Dillon graduated from in 1972 and entered adulthood in , where he established a stable family life and professional career. In 1978, he married Catherine Elsass, a nurse from nearby , and the couple had one son together; they resided in a middle-class ranch-style home in Pike Township, southern Stark County. Dillon was described by acquaintances as a dedicated family man. Dillon worked for 22 years as a draftsman at the Water Department, a municipal utility serving the city. His supervisor praised him as an intelligent, reliable employee with a strong and no disciplinary issues, attributing his role to Dillon's technical skills likely honed during his studies. The provided steady , allowing Dillon to maintain an unremarkable suburban existence amid his interests in and firearms.

Crimes

Methods and motivations

Thomas Dillon employed sniper-style shootings as his primary method of killing, using high-powered rifles such as a and a 6.5x55 to target victims from a distance, often exceeding 75 feet. He typically operated from his , driving up to 150 miles into rural areas of southeastern to select isolated targets, including hunters, fishermen, and joggers engaged in outdoor activities. These attacks occurred randomly, with Dillon in wooded or remote locations before firing precise shots, such as one described as landing "right between the eyes," and leaving minimal evidence like spent casings behind. Between April 1989 and April 1992, he killed five men across five counties, ambushing them without interaction or . Dillon's motivations were rooted in thrill-seeking and a compulsion for power, with no personal grudges, financial gain, or sexual elements involved; he later described the acts as spontaneous, likening them to "shooting bottles at the dump." He claimed an inner "voice" urged him to kill—admitting it was his own—and attributed some incidents to alcohol-fueled impulses, stating, "I knew when I left my house that day that someone would die by my hand. I just didn’t know who or where." Authorities, including retired FBI agent Harry Trombitas and Belmont County , noted Dillon's lack of remorse and a "god-like" complex, where he derived a rush from exerting control over life and death, viewing victims as mere opportunities in the "wrong place at the wrong time." His behavior escalated from earlier animal killings, tied to combat fantasies that provided a sense of prestige and satisfaction.

The murders

Thomas Dillon committed five murders between 1989 and 1992 in southeastern , targeting men engaged in outdoor activities such as , , and . His killings were carried out with a from a distance, often resembling hunting expeditions, and were driven by a compulsive urge to kill for the thrill itself, without personal connections to the victims. Dillon later described the acts as an overwhelming compulsion that dominated his life, comparing the sensation to an requiring escalating risks for satisfaction. The first murder occurred on April 1, 1989, when Dillon shot and killed 35-year-old while he was walking or jogging along County Road 94 in Tuscarawas County. Welling was struck by a single bullet at close range, and Dillon fled the scene without interacting with the body. After a hiatus of over a year, Dillon struck again on , , fatally 21-year-old Jamie Paxton in Belmont County as Paxton bow hunted alone in a wooded area outside St. Clairsville. Paxton was hit by multiple shots, collapsing where he stood, and his death prompted his mother to publish anguished letters in local newspapers pleading for information about the killer. Less than three weeks later, on November 28, 1990, Dillon killed 30-year-old Kevin Loring in during a deer hunt. Loring had separated from his hunting companions when Dillon fired a single shot to his face from a concealed position, leaving no witnesses to the attack. The murders resumed in 1992 with the shooting of 49-year-old Claude Hawkins on March 14, while he fished at Wills Creek Dam in Coshocton County. Hawkins was struck in the back by a rifle bullet and died at the scene, his body discovered by fellow anglers. Dillon's final confirmed murder took place on April 5, 1992, when he shot 44-year-old Gary Bradley in the back twice while Bradley fished in Noble County. Bradley died from the gunshot wounds, with Dillon observing from a distance before leaving the area. These killings spanned five counties and instilled widespread fear among outdoor enthusiasts in rural Ohio, leading to increased law enforcement coordination.

Investigation and arrest

Initial investigations

The first murder attributed to Thomas Dillon occurred on April 1, 1989, when 35-year-old Donald Welling was shot while jogging near New Philadelphia in ; local police initially treated it as an isolated incident with no immediate suspects or leads. Subsequent killings, including that of 21-year-old Paxton on , 1990, in Belmont County, were similarly investigated as standalone homicides, with Belmont County Sheriff handling Paxton's case without initial connections to other crimes. As additional shootings emerged—including a jogger in Tuscarawas County and a in Coshocton County—authorities began linking the cases due to similarities in the random selection of outdoor victims and the use of high-powered rifles from concealed positions across multiple counties. In response, the Southeastern Ohio Homicide was formed, comprising federal, state, and local agencies, including the FBI, which joined after one murder occurred on federal property in the . The , led by figures like Sgt. Walter Wilson, coordinated and efforts while issuing public warnings, particularly ahead of season, to alert outdoorsmen of the threat. Early investigative leads focused on the killer's apparent skill with firearms and possible ties to rural and cruelty incidents in the region, such as unexplained livestock shootings and a killing in Tuscarawas traced to a .25-caliber slug. The examined evidence and victim profiles—predominantly male hunters, joggers, and fishermen—but the perpetrator's choice of remote locations and lack of or sexual motives complicated progress, with no eyewitnesses or directly implicating suspects at this stage.

Letters to media and capture

On November 4, 1991, Dillon sent an anonymous, typed letter to The Times Leader newspaper in , six days before the first anniversary of Jamie Paxton's murder. In the letter, he identified himself as "The murderer of Jamie Paxton," provided specific details about the November 10, 1990, shooting in Belmont County that had not been released to the public, and described his to kill as an uncontrollable urge exacerbated by consumption. He expressed a lack of , comparing the act to "shooting bottles at the dump," but noted fleeting regret upon learning Paxton was only 21 years old. The letter, which also alluded to other unsolved shootings, was forwarded to the FBI's for analysis. Profilers determined the author was likely a white male over 30 years old with at least a high education, possibly employed in a technical field, and driven by a thrill-seeking need to taunt investigators with a "catch me if you can" challenge. This profile helped narrow the suspect pool in the multi-county investigation, which had linked five sniper-style murders across southeastern since 1989, but it did not immediately identify Dillon. In August 1992, a tip from Dillon's longtime friend, Richard Fry, provided the breakthrough. Fry, suspicious of Dillon's weekend drives, fascination with guns, and history of killing animals, contacted authorities after reading about the case and recognizing behavioral matches. Investigators surveilled Dillon for months, confirming he was on parole from a prior 1985 burglary conviction and had violated terms by purchasing firearms. Dillon was arrested on November 27, 1992, outside a convenience store in , on a federal weapons charge stemming from his parole violation for purchasing firearms. During , authorities learned he had sold a rifle to a gun dealer months earlier; ballistic tests matched the to bullets from four of the murders, including Paxton's. Following the , Dillon contacted WTOV-TV reporter Lisa Kick to confess his involvement before formally admitting it to police, further detailing his methods and lack of motive beyond the thrill of . He did not fully confess to all killings until July 1993, as part of a plea deal avoiding the death penalty. In July 2025, retired FBI agent Harry Trombitas published a recounting the investigation and of Dillon.

Trial and conviction

Legal proceedings

Following his arrest in April 1992, Thomas Lee Dillon faced federal charges related to illegal possession of firearms and silencers discovered during the investigation into the murders. In March 1993, he pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in to these weapons violations, resulting in a sentence of 46 months in federal prison. This federal conviction preceded the state proceedings and was served concurrently with his subsequent state . In January , grand juries in Coshocton and Counties indicted Dillon on two counts of aggravated for the killings of Claude Hawkins and Gary , with prosecutors announcing their intent to seek the death penalty under law. An additional indictment for the of Jamie Paxton was issued in May by a County grand jury. Indictments for the of Kevin Loring and Donald Welling were issued the week before the plea hearing by grand juries in Muskingum and Tuscarawas Counties, respectively, consolidating the cases under Ohio's multi-county jurisdiction for serial offenses. These indictments were based on ballistic evidence linking a high-powered recovered from Dillon's property to the crime scenes, along with his own incriminating letters to media outlets. Trials for the initial two counts were scheduled to begin in August 1993 in Noble County Common Pleas Court, with subsequent trials set for September. To avert capital punishment and the emotional toll of multiple trials on the victims' families, Dillon entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors. On July 12, 1993, he appeared before Judge John Nau in Caldwell, Ohio, and pleaded guilty to all five counts of aggravated murder, formally admitting responsibility for the sniper-style shootings. The agreement explicitly waived the death penalty in exchange for the guilty pleas, allowing for immediate sentencing without a full trial or jury presentation of evidence.

Sentencing

On July 12, 1993, Thomas Lee Dillon, then 43 years old, entered a to five counts of in the Noble County Common Pleas Court in eastern . The plea agreement, which Dillon accepted to avoid a capital trial, covered the sniper-style shootings of five men in remote outdoor settings across multiple counties between 1989 and 1992. Prosecutors had indicted him progressively from January 1993 onward, with the final charges filed the week before the hearing, and trials were set for August and September in various counties. Immediately following the plea, Judge John Nau imposed the sentence: five consecutive life terms in , one for each count of aggravated . This structure ensured Dillon would serve a minimum of 165 years before any possibility of , with eligibility not arising until after 34 years. Nau approved the , stating, "It works out to 165 years. I think it's a reasonable , or I wouldn't have approved it." The consecutive nature of the sentences effectively guaranteed Dillon would die in custody, as law at the time precluded the death penalty under the . Dillon, who had been employed by the Canton Water Department and was already serving 46 months on prior federal weapons convictions, was remanded to the Noble County Jail pending transfer to the within five days. No appeals challenging the sentencing were filed or granted in subsequent years, and the terms remained in effect until his death in 2011.

Imprisonment and death

Prison life

Following his conviction and sentencing on July 13, 1993, to five consecutive life terms—totaling 165 years in prison, with parole eligibility after 34 years—Thomas Dillon was incarcerated at the in . At SOCF, a maximum-security , Dillon was assigned to the facility's trash crew, performing custodial duties as part of the inmate work program. He remained at the institution for the duration of his imprisonment, with no reported disciplinary incidents, appeals, or media interactions that drew public attention during his nearly 18 years there.

Death and aftermath

Thomas Lee Dillon died on October 21, 2011, at the age of 61, from natural causes following a three-week illness. He passed away at 7:55 a.m. in the prison wing of The Medical Center in , after being transferred from the where he was serving five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of for 165 years. Dillon's death marked the end of his , which had begun in 1993 following his guilty pleas to the murders of five men in southeastern between 1989 and 1992. His burial location remains unknown, with no public records indicating a formal interment or memorial service. The news of Dillon's passing elicited reactions from officials involved in his case, who viewed it as providing final closure for the victims' families after more than two decades. Belmont County Fred Thompson remarked that Dillon "has caused enough grief and heartache in southeastern that he’ll never be able to pay for his debt," emphasizing the lasting impact of the crimes. Former Belmont County Tom McCort described the killings as "tragic," highlighting Dillon's lack of and the random nature of his sniper-style attacks on outdoorsmen. No appeals or posthumous legal actions were reported in connection with his death.

Legacy and popular culture

Media portrayals

Thomas Dillon's crimes have been depicted in various documentaries and television episodes, often emphasizing his profile as an unassuming outdoorsman who escalated from animal hunting to targeting humans. The 1998 episode "Human Prey" of the documentary series The F.B.I. Files, aired on , chronicles the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit's role in profiling and capturing Dillon, highlighting how his sniper-style shootings terrorized rural communities. In 2022, Oxygen's Twisted Killers devoted its first-season episode "The Sniper's Bullet" to Dillon's case, focusing on his lack of remorse as expressed in letters to the and interviews, where he compared killing people to shooting bottles at a dump. The episode reconstructs his progression from vandalism to murder and the psychological insights from investigators. Dillon's story has also appeared in formats, such as the April 2022 episode "The Outdoorsman Sniper" of iHeartRadio's Serial Killers series, which explores his seemingly normal life—a college degree, stable job, and family—contrasting it with his hunting obsession that led to five confirmed killings. More recently, the 2024 episode of the Fatal Blend delves into Dillon's background, his confession, and the impact on victims' families, drawing from court records and news archives. Books providing in-depth accounts include Sniper Killer: The True Story of Thomas Dillon by Joanne Hiller (2016), which examines Dillon's convoluted path to becoming a , including his early life and the bizarre elements of his crimes that baffled authorities. A more authoritative perspective comes from retired FBI agent Harry Trombitas in My Life As An FBI Special Agent: The Thomas Lee Dillon Case (2025), offering firsthand details of the , Dillon's letters, and the agency's breakthrough via a psychological profile. No major feature films or scripted series have portrayed Dillon, though his case has inspired discussions in broader literature, such as entries in compendiums like The Big Book of Serial Killers (volume 2, LAK Publishing), which profiles him alongside other American murderers for comparative analysis of sniper killers.

Psychological analysis

Forensic Jeffrey Smalldon conducted a comprehensive of Thomas Dillon following his 1992 arrest, marking Smalldon's first major assessment of a . Dillon, who presented as a stable family man and longtime municipal employee, exhibited a high level of intelligence, with an IQ estimated at around 135, placing him in the superior range. However, Smalldon determined that Dillon was not legally insane, as he fully comprehended the wrongfulness of his actions and could distinguish between right and wrong. Dillon's psychological profile revealed a deeply compartmentalized , characterized by a "darker, true identity" hidden behind his outwardly unremarkable life as a husband, father, and college-educated draftsman. He harbored grandiose fantasies of power and achievement, imagining himself as a president, rock star, or combat hero, which contrasted sharply with his mundane reality. Smalldon noted that Dillon experienced an internal "voice"—later admitted by Dillon to be his own intrusive thoughts—that compelled him to commit acts of violence, including the killings. This internal dialogue underscored a profound detachment from reality, though not to the extent of . Additionally, Dillon's childhood memories painted a picture of emotional ; he described his as cold and unresponsive, with no recollections of praise or punishment, potentially contributing to his later emotional void. A hallmark of Dillon's psyche was his complete lack of and toward his victims, whom he viewed as mere opportunities in the "wrong place at the wrong time." His killings were spontaneous and motiveless, often triggered by fleeting impulses during outdoor activities like or target practice, rather than premeditated vendettas. Yet, post-murder fascination emerged as a key trait: Dillon revisited crime scenes, researched victims (such as studying news clippings about Kevin Loring), and even visited gravesites, indicating a morbid that blurred the line between predator and observer. His extensive history of animal cruelty—claiming to have killed over 1,000 pets and wildlife—and , with more than 100 fires set, aligned with the often associated with serial offender development, suggesting early patterns of escalating violence. Smalldon highlighted Dillon's underlying need for notoriety as a driving force, evident in his decision to leak the psychologist's evaluation report to and grant numerous media interviews after capture, where he boasted about his precision as a . This behavior suggested a thrill-seeking component intertwined with , positioning the murders as a means to achieve . Prosecutor Michael Miller echoed this assessment, describing Dillon as proud of his deeds and likely to reoffend if not incarcerated, reinforcing the view of him as a calculated yet impulsive predator whose intelligence enabled him to evade detection for years. Overall, Dillon represented a classic case of a "thrill " with tendencies, whose normalcy masked profound psychological fragmentation.

References

  1. [1]
    Serial killer Thomas Dillon dies - The Times Leader
    Oct 25, 2011 · Serial killer Thomas Lee Dillon, imprisoned for killing five outdoorsmen including Bannock resident Jamie Paxton, has died in the prison wing of The Ohio State ...
  2. [2]
    A Sniper's Mind - CBS News
    Oct 23, 2002 · Thomas Dillon was a serial sniper who terrorized Ohio in the 1990s. He used a high-powered rifle to randomly murder five people.
  3. [3]
    Hunter of Humans: The True Story of Thomas Lee Dillon by David Lohr
    His father succumbed to Hodgkin's disease and died when Dillon was just 15 months old. Psychologist Jeffrey Smalldon said that Dillon viewed his mother as a ...
  4. [4]
    Thomas Lee Dillon | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers
    It predicted that the killer lived within a short distance of all of the crimes (Dillon lived as far away as 150 miles), and that the murderer would be in his ...
  5. [5]
    https://www.crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/predators/dillon/8.html
  6. [6]
    The chilling story of Thomas Lee Dillon - the Ohio Outdoorsmen killer
    The chilling story of Thomas Lee Dillon - the Ohio Outdoorsmen killer ... Like many serial killers, Dillon began with cruelty to animals and started setting fires ...
  7. [7]
    Serial Killer Thomas Dillon Had 'No Remorse' For Shooting Ohio Men
    Feb 17, 2022 · Crime News Twisted Killers. 'Like Shooting Bottles At The Dump': Ohio Serial Killer Said He Had 'No Remorse'. Thomas Dillon wrote a letter to ...Missing: childhood | Show results with:childhood
  8. [8]
    THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT; Sniper Cases Prove Hardest For the ...
    Oct 19, 2002 · Catching a deadly sniper has long been harder than solving most other forms of homicide, with more sniper killings going unsolved than murders in general, ...
  9. [9]
    Former FBI agent shares inside story of serial killer Thomas Dillon's ...
    Oct 2, 2025 · The story that drew the most attention from the crowded room was Trombitas' account of serial killer Thomas Dillon, who terrorized southeastern ...
  10. [10]
    FBI agent writes book on the hunt and capture of Thomas Lee Dillon
    Jul 25, 2025 · COSHOCTON − Retired FBI Agent Harry Trombitas knows serial killer Thomas Lee Dillon didn't give a second thought to fatally shooting his five ...
  11. [11]
    Addicted: Obsessed With Killing? - CBS News
    Oct 18, 2002 · ... serial killer kill? Dillon wrote of a "compulsion that has taken over my life." He signed the letter "The Murderer of Jamie Paxton." "Like ...Missing: motivations | Show results with:motivations
  12. [12]
    Thomas Dillon, Hunter of Humans (OLD, but interesting article, most similar PREVIOUS sniper)
    ### Summary of Initial Investigations, Police Actions, Task Force Formation, and Early Leads on Thomas Dillon
  13. [13]
    Dillon pleads guilty, sentenced to 165 years - UPI Archives
    Jul 13, 1993 · An eastern Ohio man pleaded guilty Monday to five counts of aggravated murder in the sniper killings of five men in eastern Ohio between ...
  14. [14]
    Killer Dillon, who hunted outdoorsmen, is dead
    Oct 22, 2011 · Thomas Lee Dillon has gone to his death. Dillon, who stalked the woods of eastern Ohio and shot five outdoorsmen to death between 1989 and 1992, died yesterday.
  15. [15]
    Thomas Lee Dillon (1950-2011) - Find a Grave Memorial
    Ohio serial killer Thomas Lee Dillon has gone to his death. Dillon, who stalked the woods of eastern Ohio and shot five outdoorsmen to death between 1989 ...<|control11|><|separator|>
  16. [16]
    Southeastern Ohio Serial Killer Dies - Fox 5 / Marquee Broadcasting
    was convicted of stalking the woods of ...Missing: March | Show results with:March<|control11|><|separator|>
  17. [17]
    Serial killer Thomas Lee Dillon dies - The Columbus Dispatch
    Oct 21, 2011 · Ohio serial killer Thomas Lee Dillon has gone to his death. Dillon, who stalked the woods of eastern Ohio and shot five outdoorsmen to death ...
  18. [18]
    "The F.B.I. Files" Human Prey (TV Episode 1998) - IMDb
    ... killer, leading agents to 42-year-old Thomas Dillon ... His murder spree led to the passage of the "Paxton Bill", named after his ...
  19. [19]
    Watch The Sniper's Bullet | Twisted Killers - Oxygen
    Twisted Killers ... The Most Twisted Movie Murderers Of All Time. Extras. Thomas Lee Dillon Tk 107. Crime News. Ohio Serial Killer Bragged That He Had 'No Remorse ...
  20. [20]
    “The Outdoorsman Sniper” Thomas Dillon - Serial Killers - Spotify
    Apr 28, 2022 · Listen to this episode from Serial Killers on Spotify. Thomas Dillon had a degree, a good job, a house, and a family.Missing: media portrayals documentaries books films
  21. [21]
    Thomas Dillon | Fatal Blend - Podbean
    Nov 7, 2024 · The Big Book Of Serial Killers Another 150 Serial Killer Files of The World's Worst Murderers (Vol. 2). LAK Publishing. Serial Killer Thomas ...
  22. [22]
    Sniper Killer : the True Story of Thomas Dillon ... - Google Books
    Thomas Lee Dillon's story is not one of the more well-known in the history of serial killers, but it is a convoluted and sometimes bizarre tale that kept ...
  23. [23]
    My Life As An FBI Special Agent: The Thomas Lee Dillon Case
    In stock Free deliverySocial Sciences · True Crime · Murder · Serial Killings & Mass Murders · Social Sciences · True Crime · Murder · Serial Killings & Mass Murders. Customer ...
  24. [24]
    Real crime story. The Man Who Hunted Humans | The FBI Files
    Like many serial killers, Dillon began with cruelty to animals and started setting fires. He would later admit to setting more than 100 fires and killing more ...
  25. [25]
    Inside Jeff Smalldon's Quest to Spend a Career ... - Columbus Monthly
    Aug 6, 2024 · Columbus forensic psychologist Jeffrey Smalldon left his hospital admin job to study some of the most violent, frightening killers in modern ...