John Wymer

John Wymer is the youthful personnel manager at Kelly and Lemmon Management Company who hires Billy Milligan for outdoor maintenance work in 1977. His role is modest in scope but consequential in the account of Milligan’s employment: Wymer first encounters an appealing and apparently capable applicant, then becomes one of the people Allen and Tommy consider targeting when Milligan fears losing his job. The contrast between the straightforward hiring process and the later attempt to gain leverage over Wymer gives their relationship its defining turn.

Hiring and First Impressions

On August 15, 1977, Milligan answered Wymer’s advertisement for help at the company. In the first interview, he presented himself as broadly handy, saying he could handle grounds-keeping, carpentry, electrical maintenance, and plumbing. He described himself as able to repair anything that worked electronically or by combustion, and added that if he did not know how, he could figure it out. The confidence was practical and specific: Milligan was offering the range of skills the maintenance position called for, rather than a vague claim to be a good worker.

Wymer was impressed. Among the men who applied, he considered Milligan the most qualified and personable. He did not hire him immediately, but said he would contact him after interviewing the remaining applicants. This first encounter establishes the favorable impression that carries through the selection process: at this point, Milligan appears to Wymer as a promising candidate, and the possibility of employment rests on an ordinary assessment of experience and manner.

References and Appointment

Wymer checked the most recent employer listed on Milligan’s application, Del Moore. Moore gave him a strong recommendation, describing Milligan as a fine worker and dependable young man. He explained that Milligan had left because meat-cutting was not really his line of work, and assured Wymer that he would make an excellent maintenance man. The recommendation gave Wymer an independent reason to trust the impression from the interview and supported his decision to move forward.

The other two personal references, Dr. Steinberg and Bob Reinert, could not be checked because Milligan had not supplied their addresses. Wymer let the omission go, reasoning that the position was limited to outdoor work and that Moore’s favorable report gave him enough information. He nevertheless instructed his secretary to conduct the standard police check required for new employees. The hiring therefore combines a practical threshold of verification with a significant gap in the references: Wymer proceeds on the strength of Milligan’s interview and former employer rather than a complete set of checks.

At the second interview, Wymer’s initial impression was confirmed, and he hired Milligan for outdoor maintenance at Williamsburg Square Apartments, next to Channingway Apartments. Both properties were managed by Kelly and Lemmon, and Milligan could begin immediately. Wymer handled the decision as an employer filling a position; Sharon Roth, not Wymer, would be Milligan’s supervisor. After Milligan left, Wymer passed his application and W-2 form to his secretary without noticing that the dates he had entered—“15-77” and “18-77”—gave the day and year but omitted the month of August. The overlooked paperwork detail sits beside the larger pattern of a quick, favorable hiring decision supported by a strong reference.

Workplace Tension and the Search for Leverage

As conflict developed around Milligan’s work, Allen told Tommy that Milligan needed something he could hold over Wymer and Roth to prevent them from firing him. The proposed response was not an appeal to Wymer’s earlier confidence in him or to Moore’s recommendation, but an attempt to find compromising leverage. Tommy’s first idea was to build a telephone blue box for Wymer’s car and bug it. Allen described the proposed device to Wymer as a way to have a car telephone without the phone company knowing about it. In this episode, Wymer is both the employer Milligan fears may dismiss him and the target of a scheme conceived to influence that employment relationship.

The contrast with the hiring scenes is sharp. Wymer had accepted Milligan’s claims about his abilities and relied on a former employer’s praise; now the prospect of dismissal prompts a plan to obtain control over information about Wymer. The evidence presents this as Allen’s instruction to Tommy and Tommy’s proposed means, not as proof that the device was built or that the plan succeeded. What it does establish is the changing character of the connection: a job secured through conventional interviews and references has become entangled with suspicion and attempted surveillance.

The Recorded Meeting

When Wymer arrived for a later meeting, he was told that Milligan had gone back to his apartment and would return shortly to speak with him and Tumock. Wymer asked what Milligan had said. Told that Milligan was making accusations and should be allowed to explain them himself, Wymer voiced unease and decided to tape the conversation. He put a fresh cassette into a small recorder in his desk drawer and left the drawer partly open.

Milligan entered in a three-piece suit and tie, a marked contrast to the work clothes in which Wymer had previously seen him. Wymer stared in astonishment as Milligan carried himself with authority, sat down, and hooked his thumbs through his vest. Milligan then told Wymer and Tumock that there were things they ought to know about in the company. Wymer’s decision to record the exchange captures the shift from personnel manager evaluating an applicant to employer anticipating a potentially serious confrontation. The evidence establishes the setup and opening of the meeting, but not its full outcome; Wymer’s significance lies in that transition, and in the way the original employment relationship becomes a channel for conflict rather than a simple account of successful hiring.