Family Ties: The Making of Serial Killer…

It was the last day of 1954. The Galion Community was settling in for the New Year. Sixteen-year-old Patricia Spears was home on Christmas break, a popular high school junior who spent her holiday with friends, dances, and the promise of a bright future. Horrifically, Patricia would not live to see 1955. Her strangled naked body would be found 2.5 miles outside of Galion by young hunters on New Year’s Day 1955. Local police honed in on her older brother, Fredrick “Fritz” Spears, known for troubled criminal past and stint in a correctional institution. By January 4th, he had confessed to the murder of his sister stating he “blacked out” during a playful pillow fight at the family home. The Pillow Fight Slaying dominated the regional headlines for most of early 1955. Fredrick was charged with Manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years at the Ohio State Reformatory. He was released after 7.5 years and went on to murder two more young women and was finally captured while assaulting a third young woman. This episode explores the Hidden History behind a local serial killer…