The Circleville Letters: Sneak peek | Forensic Files

[Music] something pretty disturbing happened in circleville starting small and flourishing over
decades residents began to receive letters that accused the citizens of being involved in some pretty terrible things
embezzlement domestic violence affairs and even murder the circleville letter writer
knew everything about everyone and knew everyone's secrets they were vicious and ugly
somebody with some severe psychological problems i would hazard to guess the threatening anonymous letters kept
coming hundreds of them most were postmarked from columbus ohio about 30 miles north which is where i
grew up and where i was living in march of 1977. when small town circleville began to
feel under siege when just a walk to the mailbox could trigger terror especially
in the case of one woman who lived here a school bus driver by the name of mary gillespie
mary gillespie goes out to her mailbox she receives a letter she opens it it's an anonymous letter distinct handwriting
and it's telling her to end the affair with the superintendent of the school there
gordon massey mrs gillespie stay away from massey i've been observing your house and i know you
have children it's your daughter's turn to pay for what you've done i shall come out there and put a bullet
in that little girl's head [Music] these letters were being sent to newspapers elected officials private
citizens and they're all saying the same thing that basically gordon massey the superintendent he needs to be exposed he
needs to be fired her husband ron begins to receive them as well mr gillespie your wife is seeing gordon
massey you should catch them together and kill them both he doesn't deserve to live
well he got letters saying that if he didn't do something about this affair his life would be in danger you know
what kind of car you drive you know where your your kids go to school by august of 1977 everything changes
when ron gillespie gets a call late one night enraged he picks up a gun gets in his
truck and drives off and told the daughter that he was gonna confront the letter writer
he was traveling at a high speed lost control of the truck went off the road hit a tree
and was killed the letter writer had made threats to ron gillespie that he could end up dead
then he ended up dead was ron gillespie's death an accident or was he murdered murdered
this case has really left its mark yeah it's destroying a lot of people i think there was a big cover-up
turned out to be quite a mystery do you think you know who wrote those anonymous letters yes i do
[Music] you

An anonymous letter writer threatens to expose a town’s rumored secrets. Is anyone safe? "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports Saturday, Dec. 24 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The Circleville letter writer's threats lead to tragedy and mystery in a small Ohio town.

Key points

The Circleville Letters. Residents of Circleville receive disturbing anonymous letters accusing them of terrible acts.
Tragic Death of Ron Gillespie. Ron Gillespie confronts the letter writer and dies in a car accident under suspicious circumstances.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I shall come out there and put a bullet in that little girl's head.

Threatening letter to Mary Gillespie

1:44WatchAug 23, 2021

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