VAN WERT, OH (WLIO) - The Ohio Innocence Project is trying to get evidence from an over-40-year-old murder case tested to potentially free a man who has been in prison since 1984.
77-year-old John Spirko is serving a life sentence for the murder of Betty Jane Mottinger. In August of 1982, the Elgin Post Office where she was working was robbed, and she was killed. The Innocence Project has filed a motion in Van Wert County on behalf of Spirko, asking that the evidence collected be tested for DNA.
Court documents say that modern DNA testing is more advanced than it was back in the early 1980s, and there were blood samples that were collected but never tested. The Innocence Project says there is strong evidence that points to four other individuals: John Willier, Dale Dingus, Gregory Seek, and Leonard Burlile, and they believe that the testing will prove that Spirko is innocent. The judge has not ruled on the motion; a hearing in the case has been set for March 19, 2024.Â
