Dillon’s family members were shocked by his arrest. His mother-in-law, Anne Elsass, a retired high schoolteacher and guidance counselor, refused to believe that her son-in-law was capable of murder.  Dillon “is a witty, kind man who has always had a yen for guns,” she said.  Even though she refused to believe initial allegations against him, she told the Akron Beacon Journal, "If they're true, they're true.”  Elsass said her daughter Catherine worked as a nurse at Timken Mercy Medical Center in Canton and would rely on her faith in God  to get her through the ordeal.  "My stomach is churning," she confided.  "I have to keep my spirits up for Cathy. Maybe part of me wants to deny this.  Tom was always pleasant.  He was always joking.  He seemed like a son to me.  We're a very close-knit family," she said.

Dillon leaves the courthouse in handcuffs and shackles (The Beacon Journal)

On February 9, 1993, 100 spectators gathered outside the Noble County Courthouse as Dillon, handcuffed and in shackles, was escorted inside.  The proceeding was short, and Dillon pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of Gary Bradley and Claude Hawkins.

A third murder charge was filed against Dillon on May 22, 1993.  He was charged with aggravated murder in the death of Jamie Paxton.  “This is what we’ve been waiting for the last two and a half years,” said Jean Paxton, “It looks like the end’s in sight.”

Just four days after having been charged with Paxton’s murder, Dillon was sentenced to three years and ten months in prison, the maximum, on the unrelated federal firearm charges.

Before he could be tried for the three capital murders, Dillon placed a call from jail to a WTOV television reporter on July 3, 1993, and confessed to the murders.  A similar call had also been placed to an Akron Beacon Journal reporter.  “I have major problems.  I’m crazy.  I want to kill.  I want to kill,” he said.  The following day, Dillon’s attorneys put together a plea bargain, in which Dillon would confess to all three murders on the guarantee that he would not receive the death penalty, and that no further charges would be brought against him.