Monday, March 24, 2008
1893 Murder Confession on Display
The confession - scrawled on a piece of wood - was recently donated to the Fountain Valley Historical Society and Museum south of Colorado Springs. Ryan Warner speaks with Larry Martin, an investigator for the El Paso County District Attorney's Office.
Office of the District Attorney
Fourth Judicial District
Investigative Report
Case # 1986DA029
Defendant/Suspect John Spicer
In September 1986, the El Paso County District Attorney's office received a laboratory report from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The report indicated that Agent Dennis Mooney had received one 11-inch by 5 3/8 inch cut piece of molding bearing a handwritten message in pencil. This piece of molding had been submitted to the CBI by Guy Gadberry who at the time was a news reporter for the Gazette Telegraph. Agent Mooney examined and partially deciphered the message. The written text found on the molding was deciphered as:
"To whoever may happen to find this confession, I, John W. Spicer of the City of Fountain, State of Colorado, being about to shuffle off this mortal act to make this my full confession in the hope that when I am gone it may be found and at last clear up the darkest mystery that ever embraced one in human murder.
On or about the (illegible) day of March, 1893, some four miles north of this city and two miles east of the food of Cheyenne Mountain, I did kill and willfully murder with a club one John J. Sebastian for his money and jewelry to the value of $5,000.00 and did drag the mutilated body into a deep ravine some 500 yds distance from the point already mentioned in my confession and then (illegible) its lonely last (illegible) bring about to die, and (illegible) find the retribution that awaits here in the world to come are spending my last moments in prayer for the partial salvation of my soul."
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