You can listen to episode nine of “Aren’t You the Girl?” podcast here:
Posted is the transcript for the episode for those who would like to read the story instead.
Sources used in this episode are listed at the end of this post.
Donald Blom was released back into society for the final time in the early 1990’s. A string of sexual assaults on young women occur in suburban parks. Holly Spangler was then found murdered after being assaulted in a park.
Could Donald be connected to this array of crime?
In this episode of, “Aren’t You the Girl?” I cover the homicide of Holly Spangler and the final years of Donald Blom’s criminal career and life.
March 14th, 1992:
He is discharged from state supervision. Registers as a sex offender but within a week it’s determined that he doesn’t need to register because he was released before 1991, when the law went into effect.
A marriage annulment petition filed in April of 1992, Grace Hutchinson stated that it wasn’t until January 1992 – months after marrying Blom – that she learned the extent of his criminal past.
She didn’t know then that Blom’s record included a 1983 conviction for kidnapping and sexual assault at knifepoint in Washington County; 1982 and 1981 convictions for criminal sexual conduct in Dakota County, a 1976 conviction for kidnapping and sexual assault in Dakota County; a 1975 conviction for aggravated assault in Dakota County.
All of the offenses were against teenage girls.
In March 1992, Grace learned that Blom’s sentences for the crimes overlapped and that he had spent some time at the St. Peter regional treatment center.
Grace said he told her that he had “been in prison for car theft and that he was on drugs at the time of the crime and that he didn’t remember what he had done.”
But he never told her of the kidnappings or sexual assaults.
Blom initially charmed and then controlled and manipulated all four wives. He tried to stay one step ahead of his record by taking his new wives names.
An ex wife said Blom beat her many times and said Blom held up their one year old daughter by her ankles and “threatened to kill the child with a broken pop bottle” if the wife didn’t come downstairs.
Donald soon marries Amy Blom.
His employment was spotty and he had difficulty holding a job until March of 1993 when he was able to get a job as a janitor at the Minneapolis Veterans home using the name Donald Hutchinson. He was able to hide his criminal past from his employer.
He was also able to hide it from his neighbors in Richfield where he now resided with wife Amy and four children.
Also in 1993, a psychologist warned that Blom should be supervised by a mental health professional or there may be consequences with “potentially devastating results.”
Without close monitoring, the psychologist said, Blom could lapse into substance abuse and/or “antisocial behavior” which was characterized by his long history of sex crimes, kidnapping, and assaults.
HOLLY SPANGLER
July 1993.
Holly Spangler was discovered in a wooden area in Bloomington after she had been missing for a week.
Police believe Holly was dragged off a walking path into the wooded area and stabbed.
Holly was fully clothed and had no evidence of sexual assault.
They didn’t want to reveal much in the early stages since they had no suspects.
Experts developed a profile of Holly’s killer and said appeared to have frequented the area and did not intend to kill her – only panicked when she resisted.
Holly moved from Antigo, Wisconsin to Bloomington last Summer to study architectural design at Northwest Technical Institute in Eden Prairie.
Law enforcement found no one who had a grudge against her or anyone who would want to hurt her.
Donald Blom could also be linked to a series of rapes over the past several of years in suburban parks.
A composite sketch was released. The man could be a witness or suspect, said Doug McComb.
McComb said drawing was similar to those of rape suspect in several parks in St. Paul area.
The method of attack in Holly’s case is similar to those.
In most cases the assailant used a knife, the attacks occurred in a park and the women were in their late teens or early twenties.
Three St. Paul cases involved girls 13 to 15 years old.
Suspect used a knife and sometimes tied the victims hands with the victim’s shoelaces.
None of the victims were able to describe the attacker.
Two cases from 1989 and 1990 were most similar.
First Maple Grove case occurred about 2pm Sep. 20th 1989 as a woman walked through Battle Creek Regional Park.
A man holding a knife came up behind her and grabbed her hair. The attacker took the woman to a secluded area in the park and raped her.
The man told the victims things about himself that might help Bloomington police with their investigation, though would not say what.
Second attack occurred almost exactly a year to the same time of day later.
Victim was rollerblading when a man came up from behind and held a knife up to her throat.
Took her to a secluded area and raped her. He used her shoestrings to tie her up.
Mendota Heights Police Chief Dennis Delmont said on Aug. 7th, 1990, a woman was grabbed and raped as she walked along the bike path at Rogers Lake Park in Mendota Heights.
Said suspect walked past this woman then grabbed her from behind, threw her into the bushes and raped her.
Another rape occurred that same day in Inver Grove Heights that police also looked into for similarities.
I keep a database of every case I come across while researching. I found Holly was murdered in between two other cases I covered in episode three.
The bone lake Jane Doe was discovered, Holly was murdered then a month afterwards Martha Bacon goes missing.
Just something that is interesting to me.
I have the database up on aren’t you the girl website for anyone that is interested.
There is an interesting pattern.
Donald Blom was living in Bloomington at the time in 1993 and was near the top of their list of suspects.
There has never been any physical evidence tying him to Holly’s murder either.
He has continued to be a suspect in Holly’s case since then.
January 24, 1995:
Medical records indicate problems with alcohol and blackouts.
Donald started missing stretches of work after finding out he had throat cancer.
He was diagnosed on May 6th, 1995 and took more than three months medical leave from work.
After this, not much is known about what he was up to.
Until he missed days of his job and changed his appearance.
The surveillance footage of a man forcing Katie Poirier out of the gas station shook his co-workers to the core.
At least six of them identified him as the man taped by the store camera.
Two of his former co-workers recalled seeing him wearing a sports jersey-style shirt with the number 23 on the back. The man photographed appeared to be wearing a New York Yankees jersey with number 23 on the back.
Blom worked 7 am to 3 pm on the day Katie disappeared and didn’t go to work the following two days.
When he returned, he had changed his appearance and no longer was driving the black pick up. He told co-workers that he had cracked his truck.
When police seized the truck, no apparent damage was located.
Co-workers recognized the “distinctive slump” the man had in the video.
“I swear to God, I’d bet one of my children that that’s Don.”
- Said one former co-worker
For the full story of Katie’s disappearance and case – please listen to episode 7 where I dedicate a full episode to her.
I’ll be starting with the arrest of Blom in 1999 in this episode.
June 23rd:
Blom is charged with one count of kidnapping of Katie Poirier.
Later, federal authorities will charge Blom, a convicted felon, illegally possessing several firearms discovered during the searches.
September 8th:
Going against his attorneys, Blom confesses that he abducted and strangled Katie Poirier.
Donald often called the press to inform everyone of his next step:
Confess to Katie’s abduction.
Blom told KSTP he had heard that classmates ridiculed his children and it was time to end the suffering for his family and the Poiriers.
“My life is screwed… Really screwed. I’m never going to be able to go home again… That’s the hard part.”
- Donald said.
Blom said he choked Katie to death and then burned her body on his vacation property near Moose Lake.
He said he only used wood to burn her remains.
Forensic scientists confirm the presence of gasoline residue in the fire pit.
His confession was 56 pages. His account was vague and he often had problems remembering details.
His version sometimes contradicted key police evidence and at times the scenario he described seemed implausible.
Among contradictions, Blom insisted he was never at Subway sandwich shop near Katie’s workplace the night she disappeared.
The subway employee told police Blom tried to get her into her store just after it closed and gave police part of his license plate number.
The video security tape shows the kidnapper pushing Katie with his hands on her neck. But Blom described it differently.
“I grabbed her and made her run outside.”
But then at a later point, he explained,
“I think I had my hand on her arm and walked out with her or something.”
When police asked if he remembered where his hands were, he replied:
“Um, no – I think on her shoulder or something, on her arm or…”
September 15th:
A suspected arson fire destroys Blom’s Mouse Lake area mobile home.
The word “killer” was spray painted on the mailbox.
Authorities also released 1,500 pages of documents on the investigation that include Blom’s past criminal history and behavior.
September 16th:
When Donald returns to court, he refuses to plead guilty.
It’s noted he is upset by the fire and release of documents to the public.
September 24th:
Federal authorities back out of the plea agreement on the weapons charges.
Trial is set for Oct. 25.
Co-workers described him as a man who could be friendly but also manipulative, difficult and explosive when criticized by women.
One woman told authorities Blom became violently angry after she told him it was inappropriate to discuss staff matters in front of patients.
He said no one tells him to shut up – not even his mother and that she should not do that again.
Added he would get her later in the parking lot.
A few employees told authorities they were aware Blom avoided a criminal background check at the hospital by changing from a job that didn’t fall under the policy.
Agent Mazzon testified:
“At some point in a discussion with co-workers, he brought up the disposal of bodies.”
Other people, including Donald’s niece, told police they noticed him behaving strangely after Katie’s abduction.
The 11 year old daughter of Amy’s sister reported she saw a physical change come over Donald while they watched a news report about Katie’s abduction early June.
When the girl wondered out loud what happened to Katie, Donald squeezed the armrests of his chair and stuttered.
Neighbors of Blom’s vacation home told investigators that Blom was staying at the house without his wife and children during the entire week in which Katie was abducted.
They said he was driving his black pick up and stayed several days after the abduction.
A police booking photo of Blom with graying hair and beard, hardly resembles the drawing of a man portrayed as younger with blonde hair.
Once his driver’s license was obtained, which was taken well before the abduction, it’s noted his photo bears a closer resemblance to the man in the security footage.
He was growing a beard and he cut his hair. He was changing his appearance.
Authorities also received security footage of Blom while in Menards two days before Katie’s abduction. When compared to the security video of Katie’s abductor; marked similarities including hair length and style, facial features, posture and coloring of his athletic shoes.
Prosecutor Thomas Pertler said Donald Blom quit his job after Katie disappeared, had withdrawn his retirement funds and had a one way bus ticket when he was arrested.
A witness picked Blom out of a line up as the man she saw acting suspiciously in the parking lot of Dj’s Expressway on May 26th.
Defense attorney Brodin told jurors that if they forget the hype they will see flaws in the state evidence that will lead them to find reasonable doubt and acquit Blom.
Unfortunately for the defense, the evidence and witnesses were just too damning.
Holmstrom, Blom’s attorney, at that point in his career had argued more than 125 jury cases and said the Blom case was,
“As tough a case as I’ve ever tried, considering the facts stacked against you.”
He desperately wanted the case to not be tried in Minnesota due to the publicity.
“Donald Blom is the most hated man in Minnesota right now.”
Reports characterized Donald and Amy’s marriage as rocky with excessive drinking by both of them, arguments about sex and controlling, and suspicious behavior by Donald.
On the night authorities first questioned Donald about Katie while he camped with his family in Alexandria, Amy admitted that he had given her a black eye investigators noticed but she evaded the questions that mattered to them most to them.
As evidence from witnesses mounted, Amy gave conflicting statements about his whereabouts the night of Katie’s abduction, in the end saying he was in bed with her, even when confronted with receipts that showed he made purchases in Moose Lake.
Soon into his investigation, Donald couldn’t afford legal counsel because his wife’s family was no longer willing to help him. His kidnapping case was moved to a public defender after he lost support.
The family was unaware of his record of kidnappings, sexual assaults and prison terms.
Several of his blood relatives want to help him but lack the money to do so.
Amy Blom was fearful that Donald was going to win this case and hurt her for testifying against him.
No longer frightened of what he might do to her, Amy sent an email to two Minnesota legislators, stating that Donald Blom had abused her for years and that she believed he had murdered Katie Poirier.
She said that due to her state of mind at the time of his trial, she had been unable to tell the truth. She had falsely stated that he’d been at home with her that night, but now she was ready to recant that testimony.
Now she could tell the truth:
He had not been home that night.
Amy stated Donald Blom beat her by punching and kicking her. She felt guilty that she had allowed it, and ashamed.
She admitted that after the authorities discovered human bone fragments, she had asked Donald about them and he replied,
“You’re not f-ing stupid, are you?”
She took that as admission of guilt.
Donald took the last name Blom when he married Amy.
His mother in law, Jane, made it known in the media,
“He is not a Blom.”
Now in prison, Donald began manipulating the media and reporters. They kept printing stories and entertaining Donald’s countless hours of meaningless talking.
Eventually Terry Smith, a special agent from the Minnesota BCA, made a plea in newspapers that Donald Blom won’t stop until the media can tune him out.
Donald loved the attention he was getting from reporters.
In 2006, Blom wrote to a Bloomington police officer and insinuated that he was ready to talk about other homicides.
When investigators visited Blom in Pennsylvania he only rambled and made more demands.
After three days, they were done with him. Investigators are still looking for evidence connecting Blom with several unsolved murders.
Dennis Fier investigator with the Minnesota BCA,
“We feel strongly that Donald Blom has been involved in a number of (killings).”
Investigators were interested in reviewing the cases of Wilma Johnson and Holly Spangler.
Donald Blom also said he may have killed a man near a bridge in St. Paul though nobody was ever recovered.
Terry Smith said,
“The way I see it, Donald Blom has received far more attention than he deserves.
It’s time for all of us to forget there is a Donald Blom. Let him ride into the sunset, protesting his innocence.”
Smith calls Blom a master manipulator and a control freak, who probably has taken satisfaction in being the focus of Minnesota news for so long.
“He’s been in control of a lot of people, even from his cell. He’s going to feel like he has some control until people stop listening.”
Donald Blom died January 10th, 2023 in a prison cell.
He never gave anyone any more information on any of the crimes he was suspected of.
Donald Blom and Timothy Crosby are perfect examples of predatory men targeting vulnerable young women in Minnesota.
They both kept reoffending and were in and out of prisons and hospitals throughout the 1980’s. They were both released in the early 1990’s and stayed underneath the radar for years until their next offence kept them away for good.
What was going on in the 1990’s for predators to roam the streets to prey on women while also staying away from law enforcement presence as they do it?
Two Wright County victims are central identities in several infamous serial predators and killers histories and represent the perfect victim to these men.
I’ve connected with a friend of Martha Bacon and the children of Victoria Morris – the forgotten victims in our community. The two victims who didn’t quite fit the narrative of “perfect victim” ever in society.
The women who don’t fall in line with media standards, whose photos never get published, stories never get told…
Until now.
The next several episodes will feature Martha Bacon and Victoria Morris as the central victims weaved throughout multiple serial killers stories.
Their cases are so difficult to solve because as sex workers – they came across many predators paths and both fit the mold of the perfect victim.
Please come back for episode 10 where I’ll be doing a deeper dive into the cases of Martha Bacon and Victoria Morris and a look into sex work in the Twin Cities in the 1990’s.
Rest in Peace to Holly Spangler.
Thank you for listening. Stay safe, everyone.
Sources:
- St. Cloud Times, Winona Daily News and Star Tribune.
- Murderpedia Crime Library
- Crime Library: A Repeat Offender Sex Offender Finally Caught by Katherine Ramsland
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