Investigation Discovery Serial killer Phillip Jablonski's mugshot
The ID Channel has been taking an in-depth look at serial killers and their victims throughout their Serial Killer Week, and tonight’s episode, The Serial Killer Among Us: Phillip Jablonski, will continue that trend.
According to the episode synopsis, “Investigators realize they’re dealing with a depraved serial killer when butchered bodies show up across California. With a kill list in hand, he’s hunting for victims, keeping a macabre audio diary as he goes. No one knows where he is or if he’ll stop.“
Jablonski was convicted of killing five women in California in Utah. The serial killer was active between 1978 and 1991, and two of the victims were his wives.
Read on to learn more about the time Jablonski spent on Death Row.
Jablonski Was Convicted of Murder and Sentenced to Death in 1994
Episode 107! Part 2 of the twisted tale of Phillip Carl Jablonski & his trail of murder. This one is as graphic as part 1, so be warned!
Jablonski was arrested multiple times prior to being sentenced to death on murder charges. In 1972, Jablonski was arrested and convicted for rape after raping a female acquaintance at knifepoint in her home. The woman escaped him and ran to a neighbor’s house and called the police.
In 1977, after Jablonski got out of prison for the rape, he met Melinda Kimball, got married, and had a child with her. The next year, Kimball was found dead inside their shared apartment having been beaten, stabbed and strangled.
Jablonski served 12 years in prison for her murder, and he was released on parole for good behavior in 1990 despite having tried to strangle his mother with a shoelace during a visit in 1985.
During his prison sentence for the death of Kimball, Jablonski married his second wife, Carol Spadoni. He also had a long history of violence in dating, including trying to kill his first wife in the 1960s.
In 1994, Jablonski was sentenced to death for two first-degree murders; he murdered his mother-in-law Eva Petersen as well as his second wife Carol Spadoni. Spadoni had been shot, suffocated with duct tape and stabbed.
Jablonski pleaded not guilty of the murders by reason of insanity, but a jury found he was sane at the time and sentenced him to death. He has also been linked to the deaths of two women that year; Fathyma Vann of California and Margie Rogers of Utah.
Jablonski Died in Prison in December 2019 & Had Been on Death Row for 15 Years
Fathyma Vann, Carol Spadoni & Eva Petersen were murdered within days of each other with no apparent motive. When a recent convict is linked to the women, police realize they have a prime suspect. The Serial Killer Among Us: Phillip Jablonski starts @ 9/8c. #6NightsOfSerialKillers
On December 27, 2019, Jablonski was found unresponsive in his cell in San Quentin State Prison. He was pronounced dead within minutes of being found. He had been on death row since 1994 when the jury convicted him of murder. He was 73 years old at the time of his death.
His cause of death was not immediately apparent, but reports state that he had been assigned a single cell, and they were planning on doing an autopsy on the body.
According to the California Department of Corrections, there are over 700 offenders currently on death row. Since 1978 when California reinstated capital punishment, 82 people have died from natural causes, 27 have died by suicide and 13 were executed in California, one condemned inmate was executed in Missouri and one was executed in Virginia. Fourteen have died from other causes.
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