John Fulkerson
Victim: Angie Fulkerson
Case Summary
John Fulkerson Jr. burned down his ex-girlfriend’s home and then shot his three-year-old daughter, Angie, in the chest at point blank range to prevent his ex-wife from getting custody of the young girl. Police found notes at both Fulkerson’s parents’ house and in his car, which stated his intent to kill Angie. After his arrest, Fulkerson grinned, giggled and chuckled when asked about the case. Fulkerson claimed he was insane. However, a jury took two hours to convict him of aggravated murder and he received a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.
Angie Fulkerson's Story
The article below appeared in the Wheeling Intelligencer. We would like thank the Intelligencer for printing this story. We would also like to thank reporter Fred Conners for all his hard work.
Barnesville Man Who Killed Child Up For Parole
By FRED CONNORS Senior Staff Writer , The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
July 12, 2015
ST. CLAIRSVILLE – In October 1981, John Fulkerson Jr. picked up his 3-year daughter Angie from his parents’ home in Badgersville, near Bethesda.
He placed her in the back seat of his car and traveled toward St. Clairsville. Along the way, he stopped the car, pulled out a .22 caliber pistol and delivered a fatal shot to her chest.
Fulkerson, a then-25-year-old Barnesville resident, continued his journey to St. Clairsville where he took Angie’s body into a room at the Knight’s Inn motel. He wrapped her in a blanket and left her on a bed for a cleaning woman to find.
At Fulkerson’s trial, Angie’s mother told the jury- which ultimately convicted him of aggravated murder – that she and Fulkerson were divorced, and he had custody of the child. She said she had threatened Fulkerson about seeking custody.
Her testimony spurred Assistant Prosecutor Frank Pierce’s contention that Fulkerson killed Angie to prevent his ex-wife from carrying out her threat.
In a letter to his parents found on the floor of his abandoned car, Fulkerson wrote that he could not handle going to prison for a separate offense of burning down his former girlfriend’s home in Barnesville.
The letter read, in part, “I didn’t want to hurt Angie. I love her very much. It is better this way for all. … Angie was my life, like I said, it was hard, so is life. Dress her pretty.”
Fulkerson is scheduled for a parole hearing Wednesday. The board has three options: Deny parole, grant parole or delay a decision pending further consideration.
Bret Vinocur is determined to make sure parole is denied – now and forever.
“Fulkerson is a brutal, premeditated child killer who shows no remorse,” he said, “He’s not insane. It was absolutely premeditated. There is no redemption for that child.”
Vinocur, 48, is the creator and main force behind blockparole.com, a website designed to keep murderers locked up.
By day, he works as a buyout specialist for an automotive window replacement company. By night, he spends countless hours as a volunteer advocate for crime victims.
He pores over autopsy photographs, prowls through court records, interviews police officers and compiles notebooks detailing horrific crimes. He takes a vacation day from work to fight the Ohio Parole Board or lobby the General Assembly.
Vinocur successfully lobbied the Ohio Legislature to pass two laws he wrote that completely revamped the state’s parole system.
His 2004 Laura’s Law compelled the parole board to create an Internet database to make it easy for people to determine what offenders are coming up for parole.
Roberta’s Law, passed in 2013 and named after a Columbus teenager who was murdered on her way home from school, requires the board to notify all victims of violent crimes and their families when the person who committed the crime is to be released from prison. It also requires the board to grant hearings to all families fighting a parole. Depending on the crime, such hearings are currently at the board’s discretion.
In the past 13 years, Vinocur has assisted in blocking the release of more than 100 rapists and murderers. He works free of charge on behalf of grieving families who are at a loss to fight the system.
Now he is focused on Fulkerson’s parole hearing.
“Guys like him are the reason I started my work,” he said. “There is a dead child that I do not know if anyone is speaking for. If there is a family member of the victim out there, I would greatly appreciate them contacting me to make sure he never gets out of prison.”
Vinocur said he will submit a personal opposition to the parole board, as will Belmont County Prosecutor Dan Fry.
“I cannot express the importance of family members or members of the public going to our website and signing a petition that will be presented to the board,” he said. “Those petition could be the difference of Fulkerson getting set free or staying in prison.
UPDATE: Parole was denied for child murderer John Fulkerson Jr. Fulkerson will not have another hearing until May 2020. Thank you to everyone who submitted a petition to block this parole.
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