For detectives, June Stott's murder sent the investigation into a tailspin. He had been sexually assaulted and suffocated, but police had no leads to the identity of the killer. Released and invisible. They also began checking criminal records for offenders who might be living in the immediate area. Shawcross was sentenced to five years in prison for arson in 1969. Interview with a Serial Killer is a powerful, no-frills documentary that consists largely of what the title advertises- a lengthy interview with Arthur Shawcross, also known as the Genesee River . Arthur Shawcross was sentenced to 25 years in prison but served less than 15 years. Being out of prison was challenging for Shawcross once word would getout about his criminal past. Arthur Shawcross (Arthur John Shawcross) an American serial killer known as the Genesee River Killer and the Genesee River Strangler. His apartment, 241 Alexander Street, is still there today. After his release on parole in April of 1987, Shawcross simply could not stop his murderous tendencies. She died of asphyxia, and her body had been dumped in a similar manner to Blackburn's corpse. The case studies selected were those of Carroll Edward Cole, Jeffery Lionel Dahmer, Edmund Emil Kemper III, Henry Lee Lucas, and Arthur Shawcross. [2] He served one tour of duty with the 4th Supply and Transport Company of the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam. Released on parole in March 1987. He was a pathological liar and it was difficult to determine what was truth and what was not. Shawcross was born on June 6, 1945, and died on November 10, 2008, while serving a life sentence for the murder of 11 women. 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. 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. Six days later her body was pulled from the Genesee River Gorge. In 1972, he raped and killed an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old in two separate incidents. According to Shawcross, Dotsie bit his genitals drawing blood and began to call him names, which enraged him. August 29, 2018, 12:00 AM. Arthur is what is called a serial killer/ murder. Between 1988 and 1989, Arthur Shawcross killed at least 10 women in Rochester, New York, and they were not his first victims. 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. Our newsletter keeps our core readers connected. OVERVIEW ARTWORKS AUCTION RESULTS BIOGRAPHY Lapland Longspur. The body was not Felicia Stephens but that of missing prostitute June Cicero. Early Life. The F.B.I. During the trial, Shawcross defense attorneys tried to say he was insane but the court didnt agree. Arthur Shawcross was an American Postwar & Contemporary artist who was born in 1945. 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. After working out a plea deal, Shawcross confessed to murdering Hill and Blake and agreed to divulge the location of Blake's body in exchange for a charge of manslaughter in the Hill case and no charges for murdering Blake. Shawcross is known to have killed at least 14 people, as well as being a known cannibal and mutilator. Post-traumatic stress disorder from his year in Vietnam was also anted up as a reason why he went insane and murdered women. 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. 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. Arthur John Shawcross (June 6, 1945 - November 10, 2008), also known as the Genesee River Killer, was an American serial killer. She had been raped and murdered. Shawcross again claimed that after engaging in mutual oral sex Elizabeth tried to steal his wallet. "Profile of Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross." 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. Under the terms of a plea bargain, Shawcross was allowed to plead guilty to one charge of manslaughter, for which he . 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. Moreover, he tricked the prostitutes thinking it was a safe date because he was a regular customer. In 1972 he confessed to the sexual assault and murders of two children. 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. 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 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. 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. An experienced and skilled writer, Olsen ( Predator ) proves himself equal to the formidable task of studying serial killer Arthur Shawcross. All were young women and all were prostitutes. He served two years in prison, was paroled to his respectable parents - and murdered a boy and a girl. Later, when Shawcross served in Vietnam, he claimed, although he had never served in combat, that he had . A portrait of the late Princess Diana was among 10 sketches and paintings by him that sold for as much as $540 a piece. John Paul Fay was a murderabilia dealer with a troubled past. It was also hindered by poor presentation on the part of the expert witnesses called to testify. But death did not end the killer's cruelty. Kimberly Logan, 30, another Lyell Avenue prostitute, was found dead on November 15, 1989. But what interested me was a photos of Shawcross in a prison visit with his daughter and granddaughter. [12], In 2003, Shawcross was interviewed by British reporter Katherine English for a documentary on cannibalism. Arthur Shawcross died in prison in 2008 at the age of 63. 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. Arthur John Shawcross (Kittery, Maine, 06 de junho de 1945 - Albany, Nova Iorque, 10 de novembro de 2008) foi um assassino em srie que matou ao menos 11 mulheres, quase todas prostitutas, em Rochester, Condado de Monroe, Nova Iorque, entre 1988 e 1990.Ele tambm conhecido como Genesee River Killer (Assassino do Rio Genesee) ou Rochester Strangler (Estrangulador de Rochester). 27. Eventually, he found his way to bestiality. He appeared to be urinating, but when he spotted the aircrew, he immediately fled the scene in his van.The ground team was alerted and went in pursuit of the man in the van. [2] In mid-October, Shawcross and Walley found more permanent lodgings at 241 Alexander Street in Rochester. Now that youve read about Arthur Shawcross, the Genesee River Killer, read about serial killer Edmund Kemper, whose story is almost too gross to be real. While serving his five-year prison sentence for arson, Arthur Shawcross went against his violent instincts and saved the life of a prison The family relocated to Watertown, New York, a few years later. His withdrawn behavior earned him the nickname "oddie" from his peers. He died in hospital in Albany, New York on the 10 November 2008, aged 63.. At the time he was incarcerated at Sullivan Correction Facility in the Hudson Valley and had been transferred for medical treatment. 1 reference. 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. He says he also exhibited behavioral problems at an early age, including bed-wetting and bullying. He didnt waste all of his time there. Arthur Shawcross Photo: Getty Images Serial killer Arthur Shawcross murdered 11 women in upstate New York in less than a two-year . Blake's body was not found until authorities received a tip by telephone on September 5. The first child was 10-year-old Jack Blake. It was not until the detectives threatened to bring his wife and his girlfriend Clara in together for questioningand that they couldbe implicated in the murders, did he begin to waver. After his involvement in protecting a guard during a prison riot, he was granted an early release in October of 1971. He explained to the detectives that the reason he mutilated her body after killing her was a kind favor he extended to her so that she would decompose faster. We strive for accuracy and fairness.If you see something that doesn't look right,contact us! Biography and associated logos are trademarks of A+E Networksprotected in the US and other countries around the globe. In 1989, on the day before Ted . "Shawcross Sent to Attica In Child's Death", "Serial killer profile: Arthur Shawcross", "A Serial-Murder Trial, On TV, Grips Rochester", "He Should Suffer: Why Was Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross Paroled Before Murder Spree? Montaldo, Charles. 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. Despite officials on the ground, Arthur Shawcross got away. He has two sisters, Donna and Jeannie, and one brother, James. 11. They also believed that the killer would return to mutilate the bodies of his victims when possible. Good Guy Arthur and his daughter and granddaughter . 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. The serial killer recounts Stotts murder as if hes reciting instructions on how to bake a cake. Following his release, he killed 12 women . Arthur Shawcross, known as the Genessee River Killer, killed at least 14 people in the 1980s. It did not take long for himto become bored with his new menial life. Neighbors remembered that Shawcross had been seen with Karen in the vicinity of the bridge before her disappearance, and he had a history of minor run-ins with local children. He was born on June 6, 1945 in Kittery, Maine. 0 references. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Idaho Murders: What Led Police to Bryan Kohberger, Adnan Syed: A Complete Timeline of His Trial, Appeal and Killing of Hae Min Lee. 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. As part of the divorce, Shawcross gave up all paternal rights to his son and never saw the child again. After being arrested for the both childrens murder, Shawcross confessed and agreed to reveal the location of Jacks body which was still missing in order to have his charges dropped from homicide to manslaughter. The detectives gave Shawcross a list of 16 women missing or murdered, and he immediately denied having anything to do with five of them. 9. Interview with a Serial Killer: Directed by Christopher Martin. Then his violent tendencies got worse and the arsonist became a cold-blooded murderer. 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. 14. 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. English. Also, based on the lack of semen found on his victims, he was sexually dysfunctional and found gratification after his victims were dead. Shawcross claims that his adolescence was turbulent, and cites a difficult relationship with both parents, particularly his domineering mother, for his later troubles. The judicial system then thought it was wise to seal Shawcross records to prevent panic wherever he lived. Shawcross was arrested on October 3, 1972, Shawcross stalled for two weeks before confessing both murders. Shawcross died on 10 November 2008, while serving a prison sentence of 250 years for his crimes, at the age of 63. The trial was a national media event, extensively televised and widely viewed. "Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross Dead". 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. He was convicted of eleven murders, with a twelfth not officially ascribed to him. When he was unable to get an erection, Anna began to make fun of him. They moved Shawcross and Whalley to Rochester, New York, where she became his fourth wife. [2], After his discharge from the Army, Shawcross moved with Linda from Oklahoma to Clayton, New York. 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. He had to be relocated to four different citiesbecause of community protests. 5. He served two years in prison, was paroled to his respectable parents - and murdered a boy and a girl. Arthur John Shawcross, a serial killer who terrorized the Rochester, N.Y., area from 1988 to 1990, died on Nov. 10 of a heart attack.He was 63. A background check on the vans plates led to the killers arrest on January 4. Cause of Death: Asphyxiation. ", "Is this why Ted Bundy became a murderer? Shawcross' sealed criminal record meant that he shielded him from police scrutiny. Shawcross and his girlfriend Clara Neal were brought to the police station for questioning. Road patrols were also sent out, and on New Year's Eve, they found a pair of black jeans belonging to Felicia Stephens. One particular murder stood out to investigators who gave interviews after Shawcross went to jail. Steffen's father saw the facial recreation and identified the victim as his daughter, Anna Marie. With nothing to hold him onthe police had to let him go, but not before taking his picture. They got married, and Shawcross worked various low-skilled jobs. 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. He was taken to Albany Medical Center where he went into cardiac arrest, and died shortly thereafter. Stott was mentally ill and would occasionally vanish without telling anyone. 'It Was A Flooring Moment,' Says Woman On Learning Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross Was Her Dad. [11], Shawcross was held at the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York, where he was held until his death. Allegedly, the youngster then began experimenting with this sexuality in many ways, including homosexuality and bestiality, by age 11. He claims he was molested by an aunt at age nine, but his family disputes that claim. He was taken to the Albany Medical Center where he went into cardiac arrest and died that night. (2021, September 8). After listening to hours of his self-serving saga, investigators still were unable to get him to admit to any of the Rochester murders. 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. After several hours of interrogation, he still denied having anything to do with the murdered women. 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. Police investigators arrested Shawcross in October 1972 after he was identified as the man who was with Hill on the bridge right before she disappeared. 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. Investigators were unable to identify the victim whose bones were found, so they hired an anthropologist to reconstruct the victim's facial features based on a skull that found on the scene. A cyst found on Shawcross' right temporal lobe was said to have caused him to have behavioral seizures where he would display animalistic behavior, such as eating the body parts of his victims. She had been missing for nearly a month. 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. 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. 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. This was the first real lead the investigators received. Unfortunately, over the next two-year,many of the prostitutes that he got to know would end up dead. 1. On January 2, 1990, a helicopter spotted what appeared to be a naked female body lying on the ice surface of the river by a bridge in the forest. He was released in October 1971, after serving just 22 months of his sentence. Arthur Shawcross, also known as the Genesee River Killer, was in prison after . Police were able to piece together a description of a regular client called "Mitch" or "Mike." When Lewis first invoked dissociative identity disorder as an insanity defense in the 1980s, particularly in the widely covered trial of Arthur Shawcross, who terrorized the Rochester, New York . 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. Dorothy was Shawcross's first murder after he was released from prison in 1987. Montaldo, Charles. When approached, Shawcross agreed to assist the police with their enquiries. 7. He dumped her body into the Salmon River, one of his favorite fishing spots. In September, six months after Blackburn's body was found, the bones from another missing Lyell Avenue prostitute, Anna Marie Steffen, was found by a man who was collecting bottles to sell for cash. The next strangulation murder happened in September of 1989. Five months later, his victim's body was finally located. She died from having her neck broken. A Thirteenth Century Cannibal. 2010 The Thought & Expression Company, LLC. In 1972 he confessed to the sexual assault and murders of two children. 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. Died in prison on November 10, 2008. 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. A monster, whose release is still considered one of the most egregious examples of the unwarranted release of a prisoner. 5 of 22. His formal confession was nearly 80 pages long. His past meant that he would be unwelcome almost anywhere, and the authorities made the decision to seal his criminal record in order to prevent a recurrence of the public alarm in Binghamton. The big problem with this defense was that there was no one who backed up his stories. Shawcross had gone fishing with the boy a few days earlier but denied knowing where he was. When Jacks body was eventually found (after Shawcrosss arrest months later) he had been suffocated, mutilated, and molested. He hid the body and left but told police that he later returned and threw her skull into the river. 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. He murdered two kids and never disclosed the reason. Search Reddit posts and comments - see average sentiment, top terms, activity per day and more Shawcross would find his first victim, 27-year-old Dorothy Dotsie Blackburn around this area. Arthur Shawcross' parents dispute his claims that he was molested as a child, but it's clear that he was troubled. Hunters discovered his next victim, 27-year-old prostitute Dorothy Blackburn, on March 24, 1988. Without facts to support, he alleges that he was sexually abused by his mother until he decided to run away in the ninth grade. 2. Over the next few years, his violent behavior intensified, and he was suspected of arson and burglary. Edit: Since it came up in comments. Investigators went from looking for individual killersto looking for a serial killer and the window of time between his kills was getting shorter. AP. However, Lewis's theories have attracted greater attention . Her body, nude except for her boots,was discovered three days later dumped in the Genesee River Gorge. Arthur John Shawcross was an American serial killer who killed between 1972 and 1990 around Rochester, New York. The interrogation tactics Shawcross employed with his Vietnamese captive are very similar to those used in the Phoenix Program, which was a . Her body was found under a bridge. He hid Patricias body under scraps of construction material, Francess down a nearby embankment and dumped Maria into roadside bushes. 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. One of Rochester's most notorious serial killers, Arthur Shawcross killed 13 people in a span of two decades, including 11 Rochester-area women many of them prostitutes . 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. 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. Jack Blake would be the first of many more victims. 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. This, along with the fact that she was not a prostitute or drug user, kept her disappearance separated from the serial killer investigation. Twenty-seven year old victim of the "Genesee River Killer" known as Arthur Shawcross. Personal Life. He claimed most of his victims after being paroled early following a conviction for murdering [sexual partner] and two children in 1972. His family completely denied his accusations of abuse. When it came time to discuss June Stott, Shawcross appeared to become melancholy. 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. 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. 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. Shawcross served two years of a five-year jail term. Inside The Mind Of Arthur Shawcross, The 300-Pound Genesee River Killer. Shawcross also said that he had a homosexual relationship at age 11 and experimented with bestiality not long afterward. His second marriage quickly ended in divorce, after which Shawcross became a frequent arsonist. "The Genesee River Killer" or "The Rochester Strangler", was an American serial rapist, and pedophilic serial arsonist and robber-turned-serial killer, and even an alleged cannibal infamous for claiming the lives of several prostitutes in 1989 after being paroled early for the murders of two children in 1972. The discovery of the body of another prostitute, Anna Steffen, on September 9, 1989, linked several of the victims. 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.