Later, when Shawcross served in Vietnam, he claimed, although he had never served in combat, that he had . The couple produced a son in October 1965. Dorothy was Shawcross's first murder after he was released from prison in 1987. 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. In all the previous cases at least some attempt at concealment had been made, which police felt indicated previous criminal or military experience. From rape to mutilation, he terrified the Rochester area for over 17 years. Shawcross also said that he had a homosexual relationship at age 11 and experimented with bestiality not long afterward. Shawcross began developing a habit of looking for prostitutes and would use his girlfriend (who he was having an affair with) Claras car to go to Lake Avenue near the Genesee River which was an industrial area well known for cheap prostitutes and drug dealers. 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. After relocating due to the publics outcry of his release, he moved to Rochester with his fourth wife. 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. His criminal career began with crimes like burglary and arson, but the craziest thing about his past is that he had already been imprisoned once for murder. He returned to Watertown, and by the following April, he was married for the third time and working for the Public Works Department. With Augustine Capone, Maggie Deming, Paul Dierdorf, Lynde Johnston. What's really fucked up is Shawcross had already been in prison for murdering other people. 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. A background check on the vans plates led to the killers arrest on January 4. It did not take long for Shawcross to return to his murderous ways. While living in Watertown, in May of 1972, Shawcross murdered 10-year-old Jake Blake. 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. They finally tracked down Shawcross via the car's registration, which was in the name of his girlfriend Clara Neal. She divorced him shortly afterward citing abuse and his propensity to being apyromaniacas her reasons. The serial killer, also known as the Monster of the Rivers, the Genesee River Strangler, and the Genesee River Killer, was not a small man. The body was not Felicia Stephens but that of missing prostitute June Cicero. 'It Was A Flooring Moment,' Says Woman On Learning Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross Was Her Dad. [1], Arthur John Shawcross was born in Kittery, Maine, the first of four children of Arthur Roy Shawcross and Elizabeth "Bessie" ("Betty") Yerakes Shawcross. Thats why we started Creepy Catalog in 2015 as a place for creepy content and creepy people to congregate. Both had been asphyxiated and the press started to show an interest as the cases were linked. John Paul Fay was a murderabilia dealer with a troubled past. Arthur Shawcross leaves court in 1990 in Rochester, New York. for help. Arthur Shawcross, convicted of killing 10 Rochester-area women from 1988 to 1990, was sentenced today to a minimum of 250 years in prison. [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. After reports surfaced detailing that Shawcross had been seen with Karen before she disappeared and he later was seen eating ice cream cones on the bridge where the body was found, Shawcross was brought in for questioning. Shawcross would find his first victim, 27-year-old Dorothy Dotsie Blackburn around this area. Image via murderpedia.org. He dropped out of high school in the ninth grade, and enlisted in the . 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 was arrested in 1972 for the rape and murder of two children. One particular murder stood out to investigators who gave interviews after Shawcross went to jail. She had been raped and murdered. Jack Blake would be the first of many more victims. After listening to hours of his self-serving saga, investigators still were unable to get him to admit to any of the Rochester murders. Murder Inc. Arthur Shawcross The Genesee Rive Killer Dr. Mike Aamodt Radford University maamodt@radford.edu Birth Born on June 6, 1945 at the U.S. After hours of interrogation, Shawcross still maintained that he had nothing to do with any Rochester murders. He received a 25-year jail sentence, and third wife Penny divorced him shortly thereafter. 24. [12], In 2003, Shawcross was interviewed by British reporter Katherine English for a documentary on cannibalism. Arthur John Shawcross, handwritten account, 1990. An aerial search commenced and her body was found on January 3rd. 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. Marie Welch, age 22 was a Lyell Avenue prostitute who was reported missing on November 5, 1989. Her boyfriend waited 3 weeks to report her missing. Shawcross killed most of his victims from 1988 to . 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. After Frances Browns body was found the media began to catch wind of the killing happening in the area. It was noted that the labia had been cut off and that the killer likely hadit in his possession. They saidthat the killer showed characteristics of a manin his 30s, white, and who knew his victims. Elizabeth Gibson was merely waiting in Shawcrosss car to keep warm while Shawcross was getting a cup of coffee at a nearby diner. He agreed to be interviewed for a 2003 documentary about cannibalism where he bragged about slicing out and eating the genitalia of three victims but refused to discuss the eating the genitals of his first victim, Jack Blake in 1972. Angry that she was going to reveal his affairs to both Clara and Rose, Shawcross grabbed a log and beat her on the side of the head. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/profile-of-serial-killer-arthur-shawcross-973145. All were young women and all were prostitutes. Arthur Shawcross's work has been offered at auction multiple times. languages spoken, written or signed. At the beginning of November, Jo Ann Van Nostrand told police about a client named Mitch who paid her to play dead and then he would try to strangle her, which she did not allow. 2010 The Thought & Expression Company, LLC. Dennis Rader, known as the BTK Killer (standing for "Bind, Torture, Kill") murdered 10 people between 1974 and 1991. The man from the bridge was apprehended at a nearby nursing home. Shawcross died on 10 November 2008, while serving a prison sentence of 250 years for his crimes, at the age of 63. retrieved. On November 10, 2008, Shawcross died of cardiac arrest after being transferred from the Sullivan Correction Facility to an Albany, New York hospital. Dorothy was Shawcross's first murder after he was released from prison in 1987. Arthur Shawcross was a 300-pound serial killer who ruthlessly murdered 14 people. Serial killer Arthur Shawcross, whose drive to murder was analyzed by Dr. Dorothy Lewis, had been convicted in the deaths of two children in New York before ultimately securing parole and killing more. He had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. Her body was found in the Genesee River, dumped there following a vicious attack, which included bite marks in the groin area and strangulation. 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. Judge Donald Wisner sentenced Mr. Shawcross to the . He frequently lied about what he did. Was Chris Benoit The Guy We Thought He Was, Or A Violent FamilyMurderer? The cases selected were chosen largely because of the amount of information available on the subjects. He did, however, offer up more details about his childhood, his past murders and his experiences in Vietnam. Twenty-seven year old victim of the "Genesee River Killer" known as Arthur Shawcross. The second child was Karen Ann Hill, age 8, who was visiting Watertown with her mother for the Labor Day weekend. 15. In 1967 he was drafted by the US Army at age 21. New York governor George Pataki called Shawcross works of art sickening because the gentle paintings didnt reveal the monster underneath. Shawcrossdropped out of schoolafter failing to pass the ninth grade. His sister was equally vehement about never having had a sexual relationship with her brother. Right after receiving his draft papers he married for the second time. Interview with a Serial Killer: Directed by Christopher Martin. The Corrections on Canvas show had been staged for 35 years where inmates bought their own art supplies but were allowed to keep half the proceeds from their sales, with the other half going to the state Crime Victims Board. After serving less than 15 years of this sentence, he was released on parole in April 1987. Since they had no solid evidence to convict him in the Blake case,prosecutors agreed, and he was found guilty and given a 25-year-sentence. Shawcross paintings in prison bring new meaning to the phrase still waters run deep. If Arthur Shawcross developed a love of art earlier on instead of killing, perhaps his paintings of rivers and lakes would have been a healthier outlet for his emotions. 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. He also said that while strangling her she struggled so hard she broke a gearshift in his car. AP. The arrest marked an end to a 21-month killing spree that turned up 12 bodies. Shawcross was born in Kittery, Maine in 1945, the oldest of four children. Jack was never heard from again. All of these murders were unsolved. Arthur Shawcross was blinking in . Several weeks later on April 22, 1972, he married his third wife, Penny Sherbino, who was pregnant with his child. When it came time to discuss June Stott, Shawcross appeared to become melancholy. He claimed his aunt sexually molested him when he was 9, and that he had sexual relations with his younger sister. 9. He was released in October 1971, after serving just 22 months of his sentence. In September 1972, the body of 8-year-old Karen Ann Hill was found under a bridge. Five months later, his victim's body was finally located. [6], Jefferson County District Attorney William McClusky explained the plea bargain by stating that other than Shawcross's confession to police, there was no direct evidence linking him to the Blake killing. He was 16 years old. But another probationary charge for unlawful entry in November 1965, proved the last straw for his marriage and he was divorced soon after. Sentenced to 250 years to life in prison, 1991. He was sent to Vietnam from October 1967 until September 1968 and wasthen stationed at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma. He wouldnt kill again for several months, but after being laid off from his job went into a rage and picked up Anna Steffen. [2] In mid-October, Shawcross and Walley found more permanent lodgings at 241 Alexander Street in Rochester. Shawcross began to beat her and as she tried to get away through the Genesee River, he drowned her and let her body float downstream. Arthur Shawcross was an American serial killer born in April 1945. Another serial killer, Arthur Shawcross did a prison stint for a few minor offences and was granted parole in 1971. 26. The artist died in 2008. 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. 6 of 22. Once his involvement was established, the details began to flow. 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. She died of asphyxia, and her body had been dumped in a similar manner to Blackburn's corpse. Creepy Catalog is owned by the Thought and Expression Company, a small, independent media company. She had brutally kickedand beaten, and dirt and leaves were crammed down her throat, much like Shawcross did to 8-year-old, Karen Ann Hill. Shawcross killed again in March of 1988, less than a year after getting out of jail. Local authorities discovered patterns of behavior regarding the killer, which led them to ask FBI profilers for assistance. 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. 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. On April 7, 1972, he took a 10-year-old boy named Jack Blake, a neighbor at the time, fishing. A bargain was struck: in return for a guilty plea to Karen Hills slaying, no charges would be filed in the death of Jack . Women said this particular john was prone to violence. 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. In this study, five serial murderers were identified as having engaged in childhood animal cruelty. Police tried various tactics, including canvassing all the local bars, to no avail. [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. Also, based on the lack of semen found on his victims, he was sexually dysfunctional and found gratification after his victims were dead. Shawcross again claimed that after engaging in mutual oral sex Elizabeth tried to steal his wallet. 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.