VAN WERT, Ohio (WLIO) — A judge in Van Wert County has ordered DNA testing to proceed in a decades-old murder case involving a man convicted more than 40 years ago.
John Spirko, who is set to turn 80 in June, filed a motion requesting DNA analysis of evidence connected to the 1982 killing of Betty Jane Mottinger. After years of legal delays, a judge has approved testing of several items recovered from the crime scene.
The testing will be conducted by Bode Technology, a Virginia-based forensic laboratory. Evidence to be examined includes duct tape, a painter’s drop cloth and a hunting knife found near the scene.
Any DNA recovered will be compared to Spirko’s. He has been serving a life sentence since 1984 after being convicted of aggravated murder in the case.
Mottinger was working at the Elgin Post Office in 1982 when she was fatally stabbed during a robbery.
Spirko has long maintained his innocence, claiming another individual committed the crime. The court has ordered the lab to share its findings with both Spirko’s legal team and the Van Wert County Prosecutor’s Office.
