Arthur Shawcross
Arthur Shawcross | |
---|---|
Second degree murder | |
Criminal penalty | Life in prison without parole (or a term amounting to 250 years) |
Details | |
Victims | 14 |
Span of crimes | May 7, 1972 – December 28, 1989 |
Country | United States |
State(s) | New York |
Date apprehended | January 5, 1990 |
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 manslaughter, for which he served 14 years of a 25-year sentence.
Shawcross killed most of his victims in 1988 and 1989 after being granted an early
Early life
Arthur John Shawcross was born in
Shawcross said throughout his childhood, he was a frequent bed-wetter (which is one part of the Macdonald triad). He later claimed his mother performed oral sex on him for several years starting when he was aged 7, and that during junior high school he had sexual relations with his sister. Shawcross had a reputation at school as a bully and would frequently act out violently. He dropped out of high school in 1960.
In April 1967, at age 21, Shawcross was drafted into
After the war, Shawcross was stationed at
Return to New York
After his discharge from the Army, Shawcross moved with Linda from Oklahoma to Clayton, New York. Linda would soon divorce him, after which he began committing crimes such as arson and burglary.[2] Shawcross's offenses earned him a five-year sentence at Attica Correctional Facility, and later Auburn Correctional Facility. 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.[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.[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. Blake's body was not found until authorities received a tip by telephone on September 5.[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. He was arrested the next day.[4]
A grand jury indicted Shawcross for murder in Hill's death. On October 17, 1972, he was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of first degree manslaughter for both deaths and was sentenced to an indeterminate term with a maximum of 25 years at Attica Correctional Facility.[5] In November he was transferred to Green Haven Correctional Facility.[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. 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.[5]
After Shawcross was in prison for fourteen years, inexperienced prison staff and social workers concluded that Shawcross was "no longer dangerous", disregarding the warnings of psychiatrists who had assessed Shawcross as a "
Shawcross had difficulty settling down, as neighbors would protest his presence and employers would refuse to hire him.
Second series of murders
In March 1988, Shawcross began murdering again, primarily targeting prostitutes in the Rochester area, before his capture less than two years later. He was convicted of eleven murders, with a twelfth not officially ascribed to him. The victims were:[7]
# | Name | Age | Disappeared | Discovered |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Dorothy "Dotsie" Blackburn | 27 | March 18, 1988 | March 24, 1988 |
2. | Anna Marie Steffen | 28 | July 9, 1988 | September 11, 1988 |
3. | Dorothy Keeler | 59 | July 29, 1989 | October 21, 1989 |
4. | Patricia "Patty" Ives | 25 | September 29, 1989 | October 27, 1989 |
5. | June Stott | 30 | October 23, 1989 | November 23, 1989 |
6. | Marie Welch | 22 | November 5, 1989 | January 5, 1990 |
7. | Frances "Franny" Brown | 22 | November 11, 1989 | November 15, 1989 |
8. | Kimberly Logan | 30 | November 15, 1989 | November 15, 1989 |
9. | Elizabeth "Liz" Gibson | 29 | November 25, 1989 | November 27, 1989 |
10. | Darlene Trippi | 32 | December 15, 1989 | January 5, 1990 |
11. | June Cicero | 33 | December 17, 1989 | January 3, 1990 |
12. | Felicia Stephens | 20 | December 28, 1989 | December 31, 1989 |
All the victims were murdered in
On January 5, 1990, two days after June Cicero's body was discovered by aerial surveillance, police arrested Shawcross. He had been spotted by an eyewitness and a police surveillance team standing near his car, apparently masturbating on a bridge over Salmon Creek near where Cicero's body had been dumped.[2]
Trial and conviction
In November 1990, Shawcross was tried by Monroe County First Assistant District Attorney
In response to the
Imprisonment
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Arthur_Shawcross_et_al.jpeg/220px-Arthur_Shawcross_et_al.jpeg)
Shawcross was incarcerated at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York, where he was held until his death.[12]
In 2003, Shawcross was interviewed by British reporter Katherine English for a documentary on cannibalism. He bragged about slicing out and eating the vulvae of three victims, but refused to discuss his earlier claim of eating the genitals of his first victim, Jack Blake.[2]
Death
Officials said 63-year old Shawcross complained of a pain in his leg on the afternoon of November 10, 2008. He was taken to Albany Medical Center where he went into cardiac arrest, and died shortly thereafter. He was pronounced dead at 9:50 p.m.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1591027263.
- ^ ISBN 978-0385299367.
- ^ "Boy's Body Found In Woods". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. September 8, 1972. Retrieved June 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. (subscription required)
- ^ "City Girl Strangled, Man Held". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York. September 4, 1972. Retrieved June 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. (subscription required)
- ^ a b Strom, Bob (October 18, 1972). "Shawcross Sent to Attica In Child's Death". The Post-Standard. Syracuse, New York. Retrieved June 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. (subscription required)
- ^ "Shawcross Transferred". The Post-Standard. Syracuse, New York. November 21, 1972. Retrieved June 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com. (subscription required)
- ^ "Serial killer profile: Arthur Shawcross". truelifecrimes.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2015.
- ^ Foderaro, Lisa W. (December 2, 1990). "A Serial-Murder Trial, On TV, Grips Rochester". The New York Times.
- ^ "He Should Suffer: Why Was Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross Paroled Before Murder Spree?". Oxygen. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
- ISBN 978-0312078836.
- Vanity Fair. November 20, 2020.
- ^ "Serial killer Arthur Shawcross dead at 63". NBC News. November 11, 2008.
Sources
- Ressler, Robert; Schactman, Tom (1992), Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Hunting Serial Killers for the FBI, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-95044-6
- "Paroled Killer Charged Again". The Spokesman-Review. January 6, 1990. Retrieved 6 January 2010.[permanent dead link]
- "Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross Dead". Rochester, NY: 13WHAM.com. 2008-11-08. Archived from the original on 2013-01-01.
- "Upstate New York Serial Killer Dies". Associated Press. 11 October 2008. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
- Keppel, Robert; Birnes, William J.(2011). Signature Killers. Random House.
- Norris, Joel. (1992) Arthur Shawcross: The Genesee River Killer, Pinnacle Books, ISBN 1-55817-578-4
- Crime Library article on Arthur Shawcross
- WGBH Educational Foundation (1992). Mind of a Serial Killer (TV-Series). PBS Nova.
- "Democrat and Chronicle PhotoGallery". Archived from the original on 2013-01-22. Retrieved 2008-11-18.