A photo taken of him during the initial questioning soon confirmed his identity as "Mitch," and official enquiries unearthed the reason for Shawcross' sealed record, which prevented the police from tracking him down sooner. The second child was Karen Ann Hill, age 8, who was visiting Watertown with her mother for the Labor Day weekend. The body, which was surrounded by fresh footprints in the snow, was that of June Cicero. Arthur Shawcross, also known as the Genesee River Killer, was in prison after . Five months later, his victim's body was finally located. "Profile of Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross." Despite the warnings of prison psychiatrists, after less than 15 years behind bars, social workers and prison staff members incorrectly determined Shawcross was no longer dangerous and granted him early parole in April of 1987. 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. He was probably a local man familiar with the area, and he probably had a criminal record. Shawcross was transparent, so much so that the interviewers,detectives, and doctors that listened to him,doubted much of what he said when he would describe his childhoodabuse and his enjoyment of cutting up women andeating body parts. But what interested me was a photos of Shawcross in a prison visit with his daughter and granddaughter. ", Idaho Murders: What Led Police to Bryan Kohberger, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads, Name: Arthur Shawcross, Birth Year: 1945, Birth date: June 6, 1945, Birth State: Maine, Birth City: Kittery, Birth Country: United States, Best Known For: Serial killer Arthur Shawcross murdered 11 women from 1988 to 1990 in upstate New York, earning the nickname "Genesee River Killer. Meet Arthur Shawcross - a man responsible for at least 14 brutal murders. The victims were:[7], All the victims were murdered in Monroe County except for Gibson, who was killed in neighboring Wayne County. languages spoken, written or signed. It turned out that he was a regular customer of many of the women on Lyell Avenue. He also admitted to his first homosexual encounter at the age of 11, which he says was followed by experimentation with bestiality. The big problem with this defense was that there was no one who backed up his stories. 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. [2] Shawcross returned to his hometown of Watertown, New York, eventually getting a job with the Watertown Public Works Department and marrying for the third time. Shawcross was born on June 6, 1945, and died on November 10, 2008, while serving a life sentence for the murder of 11 women. He had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. Jack Blake would be the first of many more victims. ", "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. Shawcross claims while in prison he was raped and after extracting revenge on his attackers, he was transferred to another prison to serve out his sentence. The first child was 10-year-old Jack Blake. In 1989, on the day before Ted . Then the body of 26-year-old June Stott, who was neither a prostitute nor drug user, was found on Thanksgiving Day. 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. Arthur Shawcross was blinking in Morse code during his 2008 interview shortly before his death from cardia. After hours of interrogation, Shawcross still maintained that he had nothing to do with any Rochester murders. And as if to toast in the New Year, the serial killer attacked one more time on December 28, plucking 20-year-old Felicia Stephens off the streets. 17. Updated on July 03, 2019. There was a small van nearby. After suffocating June, a family friend of his and Roses, Shawcross cut her open with his knife to remove her organs and speed up the decomposition process. 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. He had to be relocated to four different citiesbecause of community protests. Stott was not a drug addict or a prostitute, and her body had been left in an area far from the other victims. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. On the first episode of this two-part series, we explore the grim origins of brutal serial killer Arthur Shawcross, from his incestuous childhood to his time in 'Nam to his inexplicably numerous marriages. He set fires to a local paper mill and the factory where he worked before being arrested and sentenced to five years in prison. An aerial search commenced and her body was found on January 3rd. [5] In November he was transferred to Green Haven Correctional Facility. Then learn the horrifying story of Rodney Alcala, the serial killer who won The Dating Game during his murder spree. Arthur Shawcross believed that the spirit of a thirteenth-century cannibal called "Ariemes," possessed his body and drove him to rape, murder and cannibalism. His second marriage quickly ended in divorce, after which Shawcross became a frequent arsonist. Shawcross was brought in for questioning a second time. After serving less than 15 years of this sentence, he was released on parole in April 1987. At this time he divorced his first wife and gave up his rights to their 18-month-old son, whom he never saw again. 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. Shawcross' family members strongly denied that he was abused and described his childhood as normal. ", "Is this why Ted Bundy became a murderer? 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. No matter how you look at it, Arthur Shawcross was a troubled person. When Jacks body was eventually found (after Shawcrosss arrest months later) he had been suffocated, mutilated, and molested. There is no definitive answer as to why Shawcross seemed to embellish the stories of what he did to his victims and what had been done to him throughout his childhood. 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. Shawcross did time in prison for these crimes, being released 1 year early and being settled in . Prosecution psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz testified that Shawcross had antisocial personality disorder. Arthur Shawcross, known as the Genessee River Killer, killed at least 14 people in the 1980s. [2] He served one tour of duty with the 4th Supply and Transport Company of the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam. 11. Jo Ann Van Nostrand along with other prostitutes identified the police picture of Shawcross as the same man they called Mike/Mitch. 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. With each victim that he confessed to the killing, he includedwhat the victim had done to deserve what they got. Shawcrossdropped out of schoolafter failing to pass the ninth grade. Died in prison on November 10, 2008. 8. His mother has denied that there was any sort of abuse in their family. 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. 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. 9. New York governor George Pataki called Shawcross works of art sickening because the gentle paintings didnt reveal the monster underneath. He eventually dropped out in 1960. [citation needed]. The F.B.I agents strongly suggested that when the next body was found, that investigators wait and watch to see if thekiller returned to the body. Some people speculated that Seattles Green River killer had merely moved locations and was now terrorizing Rochester. The discovery of the body of another prostitute, Anna Steffen, on September 9, 1989, linked several of the victims. 14. He was 16 years old. Early Life. He didnt waste all of his time there. (33.02 x 25.4 cm) Frame Size: 14.75 x 11.25 inches . Stott was mentally ill and would occasionally vanish without telling anyone. As to his aunt sexually abusing him, It was later determined,that if he had been abused, he somehow blocked out his aunt's name because the name that he gave did not belong to any of his real aunts. [9], In response to the defense's claim that Shawcross's actions were the product of post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from his war service, FBI criminal profiler Robert K. Ressler reviewed the claim on behalf of the prosecution before the trial. All were young women and all were prostitutes. The artist died in 2008. He was 63 years old. William DeLong is a freelance wordsmith. [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. natural causes. She died from having her neck broken. This one piece ofevidence could have led the authorities right to Shawcross, had they known that he was living in Rochester. Arthur John Shawcross was also known as "The Genesee River Killer" and "The Rochester Strangler" all due to how he . Once his involvement was established, the details began to flow. 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. On March 18, 1998, Blackburn was reported missing by her sister. 25. He and his team did not try to plea insanity and received an eleventh life sentence. Personal Life. . He was arrested the next day. Hunters discovered his next victim, 27-year-old prostitute Dorothy Blackburn, on March 24, 1988. Interview with a Serial Killer: Directed by Christopher Martin. 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. In November 1990, Shawcross went to trial for the 10 murders that had occurred in Monroe County. Male interviewers often had to listen to his conquests in Vietnam. He received a 25-year jail sentence, and third wife Penny divorced him shortly thereafter. He Wanted Her To Stop Yelling. Shawcross' sealed criminal record meant that he shielded him from police scrutiny. His formal confession was nearly 80 pages long. 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. 15. Shawcross had served 12 years, roughly half of his sentence when inexperienced staff and social workers made the call to grant him parole stating he was no longer dangerous despite numerous psychiatrists warning that he was a schizoid psychopath. Shawcross pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was caught in 1990 and died in prison in 2008. . [3] On September 2, just prior to the body's discovery, Shawcross raped and killed eight-year-old Karen Ann Hill, who had been visiting Watertown with her mother for the Labor Day weekend. It seemed as if each week another woman went missing and those found murdered were not close to being solved. Sentenced to 250 years to life in prison, 1991. Getty ImagesArthur Shawcross leaves court in 1990 in Rochester, New York. There were also human bite marks found all around her vagina. The body of Elizabeth "Liz" Gibson, 29, was found strangled to death on November 27, in another county. He was taken to Albany Medical Center where he went into cardiac arrest, and died shortly thereafter. Hunting Down Shawcross' Car. He was identified as Arthur John Shawcross. Partly told through the letters of Arthur Shawcross, The Shawcross Letters is the tale of one of America's most notorious serial killers and his relationship with his would-be biographer, John Paul Fay. 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 serial killer recounts Stotts murder as if hes reciting instructions on how to bake a cake. imported from Wikimedia project. After serving 22 months, he was granted an early release in October 1971, in part due to his role in the rescue of a correctional officer during a prison riot. 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. manner of death. Profilers also determined that the killer returned to the scene of his crimes to either conceal the body or to derive pleasure from the attack while viewing the fresh kill. 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. Then we detail the first few grisly deaths Arthur committed, which would prove only to be a warmup to unbelievable mayhem. YouTubeArthur Shawcross with his daughter (left) and granddaughter at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in 2002. [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. Despite officials on the ground, Arthur Shawcross got away. Twenty-seven year old victim of the "Genesee River Killer" known as Arthur Shawcross. Police tried various tactics, including canvassing all the local bars, to no avail. Montaldo, Charles. 18. Dr. Michael H. Stone, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and an authority on violent behavior, identified Shawcross as "one of the most egregious examples of the unwarranted release of a prisoner" in his book The Anatomy of Evil. Six days later her body was pulled from the Genesee River Gorge. In November 1990, Shawcross went on trial for the 10 murders that had occurred in Monroe County. Also, based on the lack of semen found on his victims, he was sexually dysfunctional and found gratification after his victims were dead. He served two years in prison, was paroled to his respectable parents - and murdered a boy and a girl. His next three victims, 25-year-old Patricia Ives, 32-year-old Frances Brown, and 22-year-old Maria Welch, were all prostitutes Shawcross picked up and murdered while having sex with them. He also claimed a "combat kill" total of 39 which, when investigated later, was also discounted as fabrication; authorities claim he killed no one on his tour of duty. He was transferred to a hospital where he died later that day of cardiac arrest. Initially, upon his release, Shawcross moved to Binghamton, New York, then relocated to Delhi, New York to be with a woman named Rose who would eventually become his third wife. 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. In 1964 Shawcross married and the next year he and his wife had a son. He then confessed to murdering the others. On October 23, June Stott, 30, was reported missing by her boyfriend. The prosecution was quick to dispute the claims about his childhood and military service, casting doubts on Shawcross' testimony. 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. On his return from military duty in 1968, he landed in trouble yet again when he was caught and convicted for an arson attack. The interrogation tactics Shawcross employed with his Vietnamese captive are very similar to those used in the Phoenix Program, which was a . Born in 1945 in upstate New York, Shawcross was perceived as different even in childhood (his classmates dubbed him ``Oddie,'' and elementary school officials called for mental health evaluations). Later, when Shawcross served in Vietnam, he claimed, although he had never served in combat, that he had . Arthur Shawcross. 6 of 22. With little evidence, and no public impetus to solve the murder of a prostitute, her case languished for over a year. Abstract. Shawcross says he snapped her neck before cutting her open. It did not take long for himto become bored with his new menial life. Dietz told the producers of "Crazy, Not Insane" that he believes multiple personality disorder, generally speaking, is "a hoax." 6. Arthur Shawcross, also known as "The Genesee River Killer," was responsible for the murders of 12 women in upstate New York from 1988 to 1990. The cause of death was strangulation. The physiological evidence about brain science and genetic factors was, at best, spurious and beyond the understanding of the jury. They also believed that the killer would return to mutilate the bodies of his victims when possible. 3. But from 1988 to 1990, Shawcross killed 11 women in upstate New York, earning the nickname "Genesee River Killer." On January 2, 1990, there was finally a breakthrough in the case. In this study, five serial murderers were identified as having engaged in childhood animal cruelty. Cause of Death: Asphyxiation. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Arthur Shawcross: Vile cannibal who loved to eat women. [2], Shawcross had difficulty settling down, as neighbors would protest his presence and employers would refuse to hire him. Even more importantly, the helicopter spotted a man standing on the bridge next to a small van. Authorities ran criminal background checks on possible suspects, but sealing Shawcross previous records meant they didnt show up in any checks. Shawcross took him fishing just a few days before he disappeared, but denied any knowledge of the disappearance. I 1972 tilstod han seksuelle overgreb og mord p to brn. After relocating due to the publics outcry of his release, he moved to Rochester with his fourth wife. Murder Inc. Arthur is what is called a serial killer/ murder. (2021, September 8). When you opt in, not only do you get our curated list of the best horror streaming and stories, you support our work and help us keep the lights on. Her boyfriend waited 3 weeks to report her missing. Still, police were unable to get Shawcross to admit to the murders until they confirmed that a piece of jewelery he had given to Clara Neal previously belonged to victim June Cicero. He was the first of four children born to Arthur Roy Shawcross and Bessie 'Betty' Yerakes Shawcross. They nicknamed the offender "Genesee River Killer.". 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. One particular murder stood out to investigators who gave interviews after Shawcross went to jail. Kevin MacLeod . Months after Jacks murder, 8-year-old Karen Ann Hill disappeared while on a Labor Day vacation with her mother. In March 1988, Shawcross began cheating on his wife with a new girlfriend. He served one tour in Vietnam, but despite never actually serving in combat loved to brag about violent, gruesome atrocities like such as raping and cannibalizing children and beheading mama-sans and nailing their heads to trees as a warning to the Vietcong. All of these stories would later be proven to be fabricated. The next strangulation murder happened in September of 1989. He admitted to 11 murders (he was not officially charged with a 12th), and his confession was an astounding 80 pages long. When discussing the murders of the two children in 1972, he told the detectives that Jack Blake had been bothering him, so he hit him, killing him by mistake. After his release on parole in April of 1987, Shawcross simply could not stop his murderous tendencies. Shawcross also said that he had a homosexual relationship at age 11 and experimented with bestiality not long afterward. Nicknames like The Genesee River Killer, The Monster of the Rivers, and The Rochester Strangler began popping up. [2] In mid-October, Shawcross and Walley found more permanent lodgings at 241 Alexander Street in Rochester. [12], In 2003, Shawcross was interviewed by British reporter Katherine English for a documentary on cannibalism. Shawcross said throughout his childhood, he was a frequent bed-wetter (which is one part of the Macdonald triad). Shawcross killed most of his victims from 1988 to . His family moved to Watertown, New York, when he was young. What's really fucked up is Shawcross had already been in prison for murdering other people. [2], In March 1988, Shawcross began murdering again, primarily targeting sex workers in the Rochester area, before his capture less than two years later. In April 1967 Shawcross was drafted into the Army. After listening to hours of his self-serving saga, investigators still were unable to get him to admit to any of the Rochester murders. Women said this particular john was prone to violence. He murdered Darlene after she made fun of him for failing to get an erection and hid her body in the woods. Arthur Shawcross certainly fit Greg McCrary's criteria of being "extraordinarily ordinary." He was a forty-four-year-old white male, a Vietnam veteran, a blue-collar factory worker, and a regular customer of Lyell Avenue. June Cicero, 34, was a seasoned prostitute known for her good instincts and for always staying alert, yet on December 17 she also vanished. He confessed and agreed to a plea-bargain in which he revealed the location of one of the boys . They moved Shawcross and Whalley to Rochester, New York, where she became his fourth wife. He was released on parole in April 1987. Officials said 63-year old Shawcross complained of a pain in his leg on the afternoon of November 10, 2008, his date of death. Shawcross later claimed that he killed 39 enemy soldiersduring combat. 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. Darlene Trippi, 32, was known for pairing up for safety with veteran Jo Ann Van Nostrand, yet on December 15, she like others before her, disappeared off Lyell Avenue. Was Chris Benoit The Guy We Thought He Was, Or A Violent FamilyMurderer? 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). According to Shawcross, Dotsie bit his genitals drawing blood and began to call him names, which enraged him. Investigators went from looking for individual killersto looking for a serial killer and the window of time between his kills was getting shorter. It was at this point that the Rochester police decided to contact the F.B.I. McClusky also suggested Shawcross could have argued at trial that he was under "extreme emotional disturbance," and a jury would have been likely to arrive at a verdict of manslaughter. They finally tracked down Shawcross via the car's registration, which was in the name of his girlfriend Clara Neal. The press also grew interested in the murders and dubbed the killer as the "Genesee River Killer," and the "Rochester Strangler.". He also claimed that an aunt sexually molested him when he was 9 years old and that he acted out by sexually molesting his younger sister. Arthur Shawcross Photo: Getty Images Serial killer Arthur Shawcross murdered 11 women in upstate New York in less than a two-year . In this television interview, Shawcross said that murder was out of anger because allegedly Stott was going to go to the police and rat him out. From school records it can be independently verified that he was an inveterate truant, with a particularly low IQ, a tendency to bullying and violence and that he came under suspicion for a series of juvenile arson attacks as well as burglaries. When Delhi residents became aware of Shawcross' presence, the couple moved to nearby Fleischmanns, only to be met with hostility there as well. She had been missing for nearly a month. Shawcross's medical records show that he had a cyst and scarring on his temporal lobe, which can dramatically alter . Arthur John Shawcross, also known as the Genesee River Killer, is responsible for a brutal wave of slayings discovered between 1988 and 1990 in our downtown area.