While serving his five-year prison sentence for arson, Arthur Shawcross went against his violent instincts and saved the life of a prison Arthur Shawcross. On January 2, another air and ground search was organized and right before calling it off due to bad weather, the air team spotted what appeared to be the body of a half-nude femalelaying face down near the Salmon Creek. He preyed primarily upon prostitutes from Lyell Ave, raping and mutilating his victims before and after dumping their bodies in out of the way locations throughout the city.He had a penchant for securing their bodies by way of a . The F.B.I. 1. [5] In November he was transferred to Green Haven Correctional Facility. There are several different accounts of what his IQ actually wassome records show it as 86 or below average while other accounts report him testing slightly above average at 105 and 107. 2. William DeLong is a freelance wordsmith. For detectives, June Stott's murder sent the investigation into a tailspin. Its hard to corroborate his stories as later in life Shawcross frequently changed his stories from one moment to the next. She divorced him shortly afterward citing abuse and his propensity to being apyromaniacas her reasons. This was not the first time that he killed. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. [2] He served one tour of duty with the 4th Supply and Transport Company of the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam. Also, based on the lack of semen found on his victims, he was sexually dysfunctional and found gratification after his victims were dead. Meet Arthur Shawcross - a man responsible for at least 14 brutal murders. In 1972, he confessed to killing two children and went to prison. He dumped her body into the Salmon River, one of his favorite fishing spots. Post-traumatic stress disorder from his year in Vietnam was also anted up as a reason why he went insane and murdered women. The victims were:[7], All the victims were murdered in Monroe County except for Gibson, who was killed in neighboring Wayne County. He served a tour of duty in the .css-47aoac{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-thickness:0.0625rem;text-decoration-color:inherit;text-underline-offset:0.25rem;color:#A00000;-webkit-transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;transition:all 0.3s ease-in-out;}.css-47aoac:hover{color:#595959;text-decoration-color:border-link-body-hover;}Vietnam War in October 1967, and he later claimed that he murdered and cannibalized two young Vietnamese girls and several children while there. It was the second time that the man with the same physical description, named Mike or Mitch, had been mentioned in reference to the murders. Interviews with many of the Lyle prostitutes indicated that he was a regular and that he had the reputation of being violent. He was arrested on October 3, 1972, and finally confessed to both killings, although he was only charged with Karen Hill's killing, given the lack of evidence tying him to Jack Blake's death. The body, which was surrounded by fresh footprints in the snow, was that of June Cicero. Arthur Shawcross, 44, is expected to be charged with three additional killings, raising to 11 the number of murders he allegedly committed since March 1988 in and around Rochester. The serial killer strangled June Stott, who was 26 at the time of her death, before Shawcross cut her body open from the throat to the vagina like she was a wild animal. AP. Despite officials on the ground, Arthur Shawcross got away. He dropped out of high school in the ninth grade, and enlisted in the . 1 reference. Arthur Shawcross was blinking in . After his release from the Army, he and his wife returned to Clayton, New York. Sheriff's officials say six people including a 17-year-old mother and her 6-month-old baby were killed in a shooting early Monday at a home in central California, and authorities are searching for . Another Lyell Avenue prostitute, Patricia "Patty" Ives, 25, was found strangled to death and buried under a pile of debris on October 27, 1989. Shawcross did time in prison for these crimes, being released 1 year early and being settled in . Police were confident they had their killer, and further questioning revealed the earlier child deaths and a grandiose account of his Vietnam War service, which was later discounted. They had the bodies of four women, all who went missing and were murdered within seven months of each other; three had been murdered within a few weeks of each other; three of the victims were prostitutes from Lyell Avenue, and all the victims had bite marks and had been strangled to death. (2021, September 8). Under the terms of a plea bargain, he was allowed to plead guilty to one charge of manslaughter, for which he served 14 years of a 25-year sentence. He was a pathological liar and it was difficult to determine what was truth and what was not. I dreamt about her, about him. In exchange for leading authorities to one of the bodies, he was allowed to . Shawcross and his girlfriend Clara Neal were brought to the police station for questioning. Arthur Shawcross was born in Kittery, Maine on June 6, 1945. Stott was mentally ill and would occasionally vanish without telling anyone. Male interviewers often had to listen to his conquests in Vietnam. What's really fucked up is Shawcross had already been in prison for murdering other people. The Most Notorious Serial Killers in History. The discovery of the body of Elizabeth Gibson, on November 27, brought a breakthrough: suspect "Mitch" had been seen with her shortly before her disappearance, but they seemed no closer to establishing his identity. Judge Donald Wisner sentenced Mr. Shawcross to the . Arthur Shawcross leaves court in 1990 in Rochester, New York. Kimberly Logan, 30, another Lyell Avenue prostitute, was found dead on November 15, 1989. He lived in Watertown, New York (NY) in his youth, and was relocated to Rochester, NY later on in his life. He murdered two kids and never disclosed the reason. Arthur John Shawcross (June 6, 1945 - November 10, 2008), also known as the Genesee River Killer, was an American serial killer active in Rochester, New York from 1972 through 1989.. Shawcross's first known murders took place in his hometown of Watertown, New York, where he killed a young boy and a girl.Under the terms of a plea bargain, he was allowed to plead guilty to one charge of . Shawcross was born in Kittery, Maine in 1945, the oldest of four children. [8] Lewis also claimed that Shawcross moved into a separate internal personality named "Bessie" when he killed, arguing for him to be institutionalized rather than being returned to the prisons system. 11. [2], On May 7, 1972, he raped and killed his first known victim, 10-year-old Jack Owen Blake, after luring the boy into a wooded area in Watertown. Shawcross was 27 years old, divorced for the third time and would be locked away until the age of 52, but after serving just 14 1/2 years,he was released from prison. Released early on plea bargain, not long after which he murdered 11 women. John, who claims he had a "bond" with the late convicted serial killer Arthur Shawcross (also known as the Genesee River Killer) and wrote a book about his friendship with the deceased murderer, says he's curious as to whether Shawcross meant as much to his daughter, Maggie, as he meant to John. Shawcross was sentenced to 250 years in prison and received an additional life sentence after pleading guilty to the murder of Elizabeth Gibson in Wayne County. beheading mama-sans and nailing their heads to trees as a warning to the Vietcong., The High Falls of The Genesee River (Ken Gallagher/Wikipedia), A Woman Went To A Funeral To Berate A Grieving Mother, It Turns Out Her Daughter Might Be TheMurderer, Watch Chris Watts Give A Chilling Speech About Relationship Deterioration. A year later, on April 7, 1972, he claimed his first victim: 10-year-old neighbor Jack Blake. Six days later her body was pulled from the Genesee River Gorge. This was not the first time that he killed. Steffen's father saw the facial recreation and identified the victim as his daughter, Anna Marie. Shawcross also said that he had a homosexual relationship at age 11 and experimented with bestiality not long afterward. New York governor George Pataki called Shawcross works of art sickening because the gentle paintings didnt reveal the monster underneath. Frances "Franny" Brown, age 22, was last seen alive leaving Lyell Avenue on November 11, with a client known by some of the prostitutes as Mike or Mitch. He was transferred to a hospital where he died later that day of cardiac arrest. Agents sent to Rochester created a profile of the serial killer. The discovery of the body of another prostitute, Anna Steffen, on September 9, 1989, linked several of the victims. Both had been asphyxiated and the press started to show an interest as the cases were linked. Arthur John Shawcross. He eventually dropped out in 1960. He thanks you for reading his content. Known as the "Genesee River Killer," Arthur Shawcross of upstate Watertown first raped and killed two children in 1972. I suffered PTSD for many years. He returned to Watertown, and by the following April, he was married for the third time and working for the Public Works Department. The charges were pled down to one count of manslaughter and he was released on parole in 1987. Local authorities discovered patterns of behavior regarding the killer, which led them to ask FBI profilers for assistance. Arthur John Shawcross was also known as The Genesee River Killer and The Rochester Strangler all due to how he would carry out his murders and where he would frequently dump the bodies of his victims. In this study, five serial murderers were identified as having engaged in childhood animal cruelty. Sentenced to 250 years to life in prison, 1991. Both marriages saw patterns of spousal abuse and violence perpetrated by Shawcross. The cause of death was strangulation. He had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. They also believed that the killer would return to mutilate the bodies of his victims when possible. Dental records provided additional confirmation. Road patrols were also sent out, and on New Year's Eve, they found a pair of black jeans belonging to Felicia Stephens. There was a small van nearby. In 1972 he confessed to the sexual assault and murders of two children. [2] In late June 1987, Shawcross' parole officer moved him and Walley into a transient hotel in Rochester, but failed to notify local authorities of this action. This Hiking Photo Has A ChillingBackstory, She Met A Man Online And Ended Up Taking Down An Active SerialKiller. Between 1988 and 1989, Arthur Shawcross killed at least 10 women in Rochester, New York, and they were not his first victims. Shawcross killed most of his victims in 1988 and 1989 after being granted an early parole, which later led to controversy. Mr. Shawcross confessed in 1972 to strangling an 8-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy in his hometown, Watertown, N.Y., and served 15 years of a 25-year sentence for manslaughter, officials said. Officials said 63-year old Shawcross complained of a pain in his leg on the afternoon of November 10, 2008, his date of death. When police threatened to implicate her in the killings, Shawcross capitulated and admitted to most of the murders, giving detailed excuses about why he had been "forced" to kill each one. She had been beaten and strangled to death. After listening to hours of his self-serving saga, investigators still were unable to get him to admit to any of the Rochester murders. While several later tests showed his intelligence to be sub-normal or even "borderline disabled,"[citation needed] Shawcross received As and Bs in his first two years of grade school but was later tested to have an IQ of 86, signifying below-average intelligence. The cases selected were chosen largely because of the amount of information available on the subjects. He claims he was molested by an aunt at age nine, but his family disputes that claim. On October 21, 1989, the body of homeless woman Dorothy Keeler, aged 59, was discovered followed six days later by another prostitute, Patricia Ives, in the same area. Her boyfriend waited 3 weeks to report her missing. Our newsletter keeps our core readers connected. In the Spring of 1972, 10-year-old Jack Owen Blake disappeared after going out to play near the Cloverdale apartments where Shawcross lived. He could overpower people with this strength which pretty much sums up his murder methods. Shawcross' defense team tried to build a case based on an insanity plea, citing various mitigating factors, such as his upbringing, post-traumatic stress as a result of military service, a cyst on the brain and a rare genetic defect. In June 1987, Shawcross and his new girlfriend, Rose Marie Walley, were relocated to Rochester, New York. When Jacks body was eventually found (after Shawcrosss arrest months later) he had been suffocated, mutilated, and molested. Serial killer Arthur Shawcross, better known as the Genesee River Killer, tormented upstate New York for decades until he was caught in 1990.Born in 1946 into a middle-class family, Shawcross claims he was severely bullied at school and sexually assaulted by his aunt as he was growing up, although his parents always denied any abuse and claimed Arthur was prone to fabrication (per Biography). Aileen Wuornos killed seven men and was executed by lethal injection in 2002. [2], After his discharge from the Army, Shawcross moved with Linda from Oklahoma to Clayton, New York. She was also a Lyell Avenue prostitute and was last seen by Jo Ann Van Nostrand with the "Mitch" client who she had reported to the police in October. An aerial search commenced and her body was found on January 3rd. Shawcross started his life of crime at a very young age and ended up being a big fat liar about many things he claimed to have done. However, Lewis's theories have attracted greater attention . People with a desire to murder have a pretty big Venn diagram circle with people who have a craving for human flesh. According to autopsy reports, she had been raped and murdered, and dirt and leaves were found jammed down her throat. Her body, nude except for her boots,was discovered three days later dumped in the Genesee River Gorge. Arthur Shawcross was born on June 6, 1945, in Kittery, Maine. Shawcross came under immediate suspicion. Like the other women found, June Stott suffered a vicious beating before dying. He was sentenced to 250 years to life in prison, where he remained until he died of a cardiac arrest in 2008, aged 63. He would often miss classes, and when he was there, he regularlymisbehaved and had the reputation of being a bully and picking fights with other students. This grave mistake led to the murders of 12 more people, all of them in Rochester. On March 18, 1998, Blackburn was reported missing by her sister. When approached, Shawcross agreed to assist the police with their enquiries. Allegedly, the youngster then began experimenting with this sexuality in many ways, including homosexuality and bestiality, by age 11. She was the only victim where he went to Wayne County to dispose of the body because he could sense that police were catching up to him and wanted to throw them off the trail. She too was never seen alive again. I 1972 tilstod han seksuelle overgreb og mord p to brn. Years later, while serving in Vietnam, Arthur John Shawcross wrote bloodcurdling letters about his battlefield ordeals, then returned to Watertown to commit a string of arsons and burglaries. New York. The psychiatrist, who is the subject of HBO's new documentary Crazy Not Insane, tells us what she saw during her decades interviewing and assessing serial murders. Twenty-seven year old victim of the "Genesee River Killer" known as Arthur Shawcross. Future news of events, Zoom movie marathons, books, and streaming updates will be delivered first to our newsletter readers. . He received a 25-year jail sentence, and third wife Penny divorced him shortly thereafter. 2010 The Thought & Expression Company, LLC. He was released in October 1971, after serving just 22 months of his sentence. From earlyon,Shawcross was socially challenged and spent much of his time alone. He was taken to the Albany Medical Center where he went into cardiac arrest and died that night. Once his involvement was established, the details began to flow. Arthur Shawcross, ogs kendt som "The Genesee River Killer," var ansvarlig for mordene p 12 kvinder i upstate New York fra 1988 til 1990. The first child was 10-year-old Jack Blake. The family moved to Watertown, NY shortly after Arthur's birth and he would be raised there. He died in prison. His defense team attempted to plead not guilty by reason of insanity citing his turbulent upbringing, PTSD from Vietnam, as well as claiming he had a genetic disorder and a cyst on his brain. Just three weeks later, Shawcross married his third wife who was pregnant with his child. June 16, 2012. Charles Montaldo. They nicknamed the offender "Genesee River Killer.". Shawcross served two years of a five-year jail term. He was born Arthur John Shawcross in Kittery, Maine on June 6, 1945, and grew up an unhappy kid. The family relocated to Watertown, New York, a few years later. The judicial system then thought it was wise to seal Shawcross records to prevent panic wherever he lived. 3. One victim tried to steal his wallet, another wouldn't be quiet, another made fun of him, and yet another had nearly bitten off his penis. Blackburn's lifestyle opened up a broad range of possible suspects for case detectives to investigate, but with too few clues the case eventually went cold. [10] It was later determined that Shawcross had a cyst pressing on the temporal lobe of his brain, as well as scarring on his frontal lobes areas that are responsible for decision-making and self-control. The day of her death, October 21, 1989, Dorothy and Shawcross had spent the day fishing and having sex before getting into an argument about Shawcrosss various affairs and how hed been stealing money. Arthur Shawcross, convicted of killing 10 Rochester-area women from 1988 to 1990, was sentenced today to a minimum of 250 years in prison. The second child was Karen Ann Hill, age 8, who was visiting Watertown with her mother for the Labor Day weekend. All of these murders were unsolved. Edit: Since it came up in comments. YouTubeA mugshot of a young Arthur Shawcross. She had also been mutilated post-mortem, as well as sawn practically in half. 15. 'It Was A Flooring Moment,' Says Woman On Learning Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross Was Her Dad. Shawcrossdropped out of schoolafter failing to pass the ninth grade. His family moved to Watertown, New York, when he was young. (20081011). She had been raped and murdered. Dorothy "Dotsie" Blackburn, 27, was a cocaine addict and prostitute who often worked on Lyell Avenue, a section in Rochester that was known for prostitution. He received his first probationary sentence in December 1963 for smashing a shop window. Murder Inc. There was an immense criticism of Shawcross being allowed to participatehed previously served 9 months of a 2-year solitary sentence for giving art to outside individuals to sell on eBay, which is not allowed. He had been spotted by an eyewitness and a police surveillance team standing near his car, apparently urinating on a bridge over Salmon Creek near where Cicero's body had been dumped. He had been sexually assaulted and suffocated, but police had no leads to the identity of the killer. There is no corroborating evidence to support this, however. However, Shawcross was born with XYY syndrome. Arthur John Shawcross (June 6, 1945 - November 10, 2008), also known as the Genesee River Killer, was an American serial killer active in Rochester, New York from 1972 through 1989. The big problem with this defense was that there was no one who backed up his stories. Arthur is what is called a serial killer/ murder. Shawcross, however, was a very troubled child and would often bully other children and act violently at school, even developing a habit of bringing an iron bar with him to classes. [1], Arthur John Shawcross was born in Kittery, Maine, the first of four children of Arthur Roy Shawcross and Elizabeth "Bessie" ("Betty") Yerakes Shawcross. Arthur Shawcross murdered a boy and girl in Watertown, N.Y., in 1972, but he was only convicted of manslaughter and released from prison after 12 years. In 1972, he raped and killed an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old in two separate incidents. She died from having her neck broken. During the aerial search for Felicia Stephens body, the helicopter made out the shape of a corpse under the ice as well as a car cruising the area. In September 1972, the body of 8-year-old Karen Ann Hill was found under a bridge. 9. Every Friday, we send out an email with the scariest horror movies and TV shows streaming that weekend along with creepy news, updates from the horror movie pipeline, and links to the best scary content on the web. John, who claims he had a "bond" with the late . When Delhi residents became aware of Shawcross' presence, the couple moved to nearby Fleischmanns, only to be met with hostility there as well. Shawcross married his longtime sweetheart Clara in 1997 while behind bars. Felicia went missing December 26, 1989, and a few days later on the 31st, a pair of hikers found some jeans with her ID in the pocket. Personal Life. His family completely denied his accusations of abuse. https://www.thoughtco.com/profile-of-serial-killer-arthur-shawcross-973145 (accessed March 4, 2023). Eventually, Shawcrosss parole officer settled them in Rochester without properly notifying authorities. In this jailhouse interview, Arthur Shawcross, the Genesee River Killer, shares candid details of his crimes and his surprising family bonds. Good Guy Arthur and his daughter and granddaughter . In 1989, on the day before Ted . Nostrand went to the police and gave them the information along with a description of the man's vehicle. Patrol teams on the ground were alerted to the vehicle, which had sped away. While living in Watertown, in May of 1972, Shawcross murdered 10-year-old Jake Blake. He was released on parole in April 1987. People like Arthur Shawcross, the Rochester, NY based killer who killed 12 women . Call Her Christine: The Story Of The Original American Transgender Celebrity, Christine Jorgensen, The Shocking Crimes Of Velma Barfield, The "Death Row Granny", What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. 12. Color Pencil on Paper . English. The one aspect of Shawcross's life that was He had to be relocated to four different citiesbecause of community protests. Shawcrosss third victim of the 20-month spree was 59-year-old former waitress, Dorothy Keeler, with whom Shawcross had struck up a friendship. He was born on June 6, 1945 in Kittery, Maine. ", "Serial killer Arthur Shawcross dead at 63", Crime Library article on Arthur Shawcross, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arthur_Shawcross&oldid=1133486829, American people convicted of manslaughter, American people who died in prison custody, Crimes against sex workers in the United States, People convicted of murder by New York (state), People with antisocial personality disorder, People with schizoid personality disorder, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by New York (state), Prisoners who died in New York (state) detention, Serial killers who died in prison custody, United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War, Violence against women in the United States, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2022, Articles with dead external links from August 2018, Articles with permanently dead external links, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Life in prison without parole (or a term amounting to 250 years), This page was last edited on 14 January 2023, at 01:31. When a pair of discarded jeans was discovered near the river on December 31, 1989, containing an ID card for a girl named Felicia Stephens, police began an aerial search of the surrounding area. Arthur Shawcross: Vile cannibal who loved to eat women. natural causes. He was caught in 1990 and died in prison in 2008. . The subject of Interview with a Serial Killer streaming on Netflix nowspeaks out in his own chilling words. Arthur John Shawcross, handwritten account, 1990. He was arrested in 1972 for the rape and murder of two children. 24. Arthur Shawcross, also known as the Genesee River Killer, was in prison after . ", "Is this why Ted Bundy became a murderer? [11], Shawcross was held at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York, where he was held until his death. As part of the divorce, Shawcross gave up all paternal rights to his son and never saw the child again. In April 1967 Shawcross was drafted into the Army. Police found mud, leaves and other debris had been forced down her throat and inside her clothing. A food service worker, Shawcross trawled the streets of Rochester in his girlfriend's 1984 Dodge Omni (later using her 1987 Chevrolet Celebrity), looking for sex workers to kill. Montaldo, Charles. Died in prison on November 10, 2008. During his trial, his lawyer tried to prove that Shawcross was a victim of multiple personality disorder stemming from his years of being abused as a child. Shawcross killed again in March of 1988, less than a year after getting out of jail. His daughter was apparently instrumental in Shawcross's conversion to Catholicism while in . Born in Kittery, Maine, and raised in Watertown, N.Y., Shawcross was an awkward child who frequently fought with other children, a practice that earned him a reputation as a bully. There were also human bite marks found all around her vagina. His early release from prison or even the fact he was even being . But while they might intuitively sound plausible . Police questioning elicited a confession to the murder of Karen Ann Hill and secured enough information to lead to the recovery of the remains of Jack Blake. This time there were no protests because Shawcross' parole officer failed to report to the local police department that a child rapist and murderer had just moved into town. He claimed his aunt sexually molested him when he was 9, and that he had sexual relations with his younger sister. Shawcross is known to have killed at least 14 people, as well as being a known cannibal and mutilator. In 1972 he confessed to the sexual assault and murders of two children. Arthur Shawcross confessed to killing and mutilating 11 women in Rochester, N.Y., and is suspected of killing at least 19 more women. Albany. From rape to mutilation, he terrified the Rochester area for over 17 years. Profile of Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross. In April 1967, at age 21, Shawcross was drafted into United States Army. With nothing to hold him onthe police had to let him go, but not before taking his picture. The couple produced a son in October 1965. He could have remained silent, yet it seemed he wanted to shock his interrogators, knowing that they could do nothing to him, regardless of how he described his crimes. Arthur Shawcross was an American Postwar & Contemporary artist who was born in 1945. He confessed and agreed to a plea-bargain in which he revealed the location of one of the boys . They developed a profile that described the killer as a white male in his 20s or 30s, who was strong, probably with a previous criminal record, familiar with the area, and comfortable enough with the victims that they would enter his vehicle without question.