Spiro’s Bloody Prints Reported in Son’s Room

The bloody fingerprints of a purported British spy suspected of killing his wife and children were found in a bedroom of the family’s luxury rental home, according to a published report.

The fingerprints were found on a wall in 14-year-old Adam Spiro’s bedroom, according to the Blade-Citizen of Oceanside. The newspaper quoted law enforcement officials who requested anonymity. Investigators contacted Friday refused to confirm the report.

The unidentified sources said the only son of Ian Stuart Spiro was shot point-blank twice in the head and that blood from the second shot likely spattered the shooter.

Adam Spiro, along with his mother, 40-year-old Gail, and two sisters, 16-year-old Sara and 11-year-old Dina, were found fatally shot Nov. 5 in their separate beds wearing pajamas.

On Sunday, Ian Spiro, 46, was found dead, slumped over the steering wheel of his Ford Explorer in a remote desert park, three days after the rest of his family had been found slain.

Sodium cyanide was found next to the body of Ian Spiro, supporting the theory that he committed suicide after killing his wife and three children, investigators said. Cyanide is highly poisonous and ingesting a small amount can bring death quickly. There are restrictions on its sale.

The county medical examiner’s office is awaiting results of toxicology tests that would show whether cyanide killed him, officials said. That should take a week or more.

Because of published reports that Spiro was a former U.S. and British spy who worked during the 1980s to free hostages in Lebanon, friends and relatives have speculated that he and his family might have been victims of a terrorist hit squad.

But even before Spiro’s body was found, sheriff’s investigators had named him as the prime suspect in the slayings of his family.

The bodies of Gail Spiro and the children were scheduled to be turned over to a mortuary Friday for burial, Medical Examiner Brian Blackbourne said.