(pointer clicking) (tense unsettling music) (phone beeping) (phone ringing) - [Dispatcher] 9-1-1, what is the address to your emergency? - [Jane Doe] By the Fourth Street laundromat. - [Dispatcher] What is it? - [Jane Doe] Fourth, Fourth Street laundromat. - What's the problem? - I've been abducted. - [Dispatcher] What's your name? How do you spell your last name? Who abducted you? - Shawn Green. - Is it John Green? - [Jane Doe] Shawn Grate. (tense unsettling music) - [Narrator] "And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, 'Come and see,' and I saw and behold, a white horse." ♪ There's a man going around taking names ♪ ♪ And he decides who to free and who to blame ♪ ♪ Everybody won't be treated all the same ♪ ♪ They'll be a golden ladder reaching down ♪ ♪ When the man comes around ♪ - [Narrator] Are serial killers born or are they made? In a 1963 "American Journal of Psychiatry" article, Dr. John M McDonald published "The Threat to Kill". In this article, he proposed a hypothesis that came to be known as the triad of sociopathy, also known as the McDonald triad. The premise involves three childhood patterns that suggest an association with future violent tendencies, especially serial crimes, if any two patterns are present past the age of five. Arson, animal cruelty and enuresis, or bedwetting, are the three factors. Some early studies by psychiatrists and FBI agents claim considerable evidence for connecting these childhood patterns to later predatory behavior. However, later studies claim no statistically significant links between the triad and violent offenders. Although it remains an influential and widely taught hypothesis, subsequent research has generally not validated it. Additional studies have suggested a link between predatory behaviors and parental neglect or abuse. In turn, parental maltreatment can result in homicidal tendencies. Of course, not all serial killers have suffered child abuse, and not every abused child becomes a serial killer. However, the connection between the two cannot be ignored as just coincidence. Let's keep this in mind as we explore the background in crimes of Shawn Grate, who murdered five women from 2006 to September, 2016, in and around northern Ohio. Shawn Michael Grate was born on August 8, 1976 in Marion, Ohio to Terry Grate and Theresa McFarland. He had a reputation as a happy youth. Shawn often played softball and socialized well with other children. However, according to his half-sister Barbara, he had learning disabilities and would start fires as a child. In addition, he did not have a good relationship with his mother. In fact, Barbara characterized their relationship as a battle from a young age. Shawn had many challenges in school, which resulted in his repeating kindergarten and the first grade. Outside of his learning issues, he was said to be very charming and amicable. However, on August 6, 1982, just two days before his sixth birthday, Shawn's parents divorced. Five years later, his mother left the family for good. She went to live with a man in Kentucky, which disturbed Shawn greatly. He harbored murderous fantasies about his mother, and chose to live with his father instead. Shawn attended River Valley High School and excelled as a baseball player. Unfortunately for Shawn, he suffered a fractured arm and never played baseball again. According to a high school girlfriend, Grate became despondent and would lie on the couch for days at a time. A court psychiatrist described him as "kind of a depressed kid", and added that his condition hailed from childhood neglect and emotional detachment. He graduated high school in 1995, but according to his sister, he fell in with the wrong crowd. He used drugs, became a drifter and was unwilling to care for himself. There is no record of secondary education. On November 24th, 1994, Shawn was arrested for the first time after grabbing his girlfriend's throat. She was trying to leave the relationship due to physical abuse, he was 18 years old. In hindsight, this act was a dry run and would be the dawn of a long criminal career. On October 23, 1996, he broke into a house and stole jewelry and cash. He was apprehended, charged with felony burglary, and sentenced to four years in prison. However, he would serve less than 25% of his sentence, as he was released early. A year later, he broke into the home of his pregnant 17-year-old girlfriend. According to a report by the Marion Police Department, he strangled and threatened to kill her. Multiple charges were filed. On October 22, 1999, he again entered his girlfriend's home without permission, and hid all night under her couch. He then assaulted the woman and her sister while holding a butcher knife. After one of the women tried to escape to call 9-1-1 he physically restrained her, despite her holding onto his minor child. "Shawn told them to shut up because he was in control," an officer reported. Then he said, "If anyone comes to the door, there will not be anyone here to answer it, so you better hope that no one knocks at the door." This incident led to an indictment on serious charges of two counts of third degree felony abduction, and one count of first degree misdemeanor child endangerment. He pleaded guilty to one abduction count and received a sentence of five years probation. To the surprise of no one, he violated the terms of his probation and was imprisoned from 2000 to 2003. Shawn then launched an extensive criminal campaign between 2003 and his arrest in 2016. His rap sheet includes charges for drug and alcohol related offenses, financial crimes, traffic infractions, domestic violence, theft, breaking and entering, and numerous counts of felony child support. Yet despite his extensive criminal history, Shawn had only spent four years in prison. From 2003 to 2011, Shawn spent his time doing odd jobs and entering various romantic relationships. The "Mansfield News Journal" interviewed a friend who knew Shawn as a teen, and she said, "He was charming. He was always smiling, and he had those big blue eyes. All the girls like Shawn." Shawn was considered charismatic and good-looking and had no problem finding new partners, so he could always find a place to stay and someone to give him a lift. However, he was a charmer with a dark side. In an interview with the British tabloid the "Daily Mail", an ex-girlfriend who spoke on the condition of anonymity characterized him as abusive, degrading, and argumentative. She never witnessed him drinking or doing drugs, but said he was just plain mean. In 2011, great married Amber Bowman, and they had a daughter the following year. Just six days later, Shawn abandoned the family. He and Amber divorced by the year's end and worked out a visitation schedule. However without Amber's help, Shawn soon fell into tough times financially and became increasingly aggressive toward her. Weeks after the divorce became final, he sent a threatening text message to Amber stating he was, "preparing for a grand finale". She chose not to take the message seriously. Two months later he called her at work and said, "If I can't see my daughter, then no one will." He then demanded money from her, "To help me get back on my feet." When she said no, he texted, "If you do not help me, I'm gonna put your family's names in a hat and start taking care of it myself." Her office manager called the police, and she filed a police report and a request for a temporary order of protection. She was granted the protection order in April, 2013, just one month after she filed for it. Afterward he became a nomad, occasionally homeless and drifting from place to place, mainly within Ashland County, Ohio. He had been jailed at least once for criminal non-support of his children. In March, 2015, a gas company employee discovered a woman's remains in Mifflin, a village within Ashland County. She was identified through DNA, dental records, and tattoos as 31-year-old Rebekah Leicy, who had been missing for two months. Her death was ruled a drug overdose, but suspicious. On June 20th, 2016, a sheriff's deputy in Richland County stopped Shawn for suspicious behavior. Upon running his identification, the officer discovered he had an outstanding warrant for felony child support. As the officer relayed Shawn's social security number to a dispatcher, Shawn fled and refused to stop, despite multiple requests. The officer attempted to immobilize him with a stun gun, but failed to hit him. Shawn ran into a wooded area and could not be tracked by a police dog. In escaping, he lost his shoes, which the sheriff's department kept as evidence. Days later, Shawn left Richland County and settled in Ashland County. He spotted a secluded wooded area near Mifflin, where he built a fort and resided. Shawn was desperate, without food, extra clothing or financial resources. He broke into a nearby trailer and stole some electronics, a chainsaw, blankets, and food. He then carried the stolen items to a second trailer and remained there while the owners were gone. In mid-July, Shawn broke into the Mifflin Flea Market and stole food, money, tasers, and other items. He stayed there until July 22nd, when he came across a vacant home at 363 Covert Court. Shawn encountered a large vacant house at 363 Covert Court in Ashland, and decided to squat there. The house had electricity but no water. In a later interview he said, "A TV was there, and I went and bought a VCR and a DVD player, kind of made a home." Shawn found work at a local supermarket and had meals at the local Salvation Army Kroc Center. That's where he first met Jane Doe, and she introduced him to her friend, 29-year-old Elizabeth Griffith. Elizabeth was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia with mania. She was unemployed and lived alone. According to a counselor who often spoke to Elizabeth, she noticed a change in her attitude of late. It seemed as if Elizabeth was pretty excited about something. The counselor was under the impression she had met someone. Then on August 16, Elizabeth went out to run some errands in Ashland in the afternoon. She was never seen or heard from again. Elizabeth Griffith was reported missing by relatives on September 8. On the same day that Elizabeth was reported missing, 43-year-old Stacey Stanley drove from her home in Greenwich to the city of Ashland. She was there to do some shopping. Around 8:30 PM, Stacey noticed a flat tire and pulled into a nearby gas station. She called her son who arranged for her acquaintance, Wayne Bright, to assist. As she waited for Bright, a stranger appeared and offered to help, it was Shawn Grate. Bright arrived soon after, and he and Shawn completed the tire change at around 10:00 PM. Bright left as soon as the work was done, while Shawn remained. Moments later, Stacey's son called to check on her status. She told him she would be home right after she stopped for a coffee. Unfortunately, Stacey never made it home. She was last seen at a Walmart store in Ashland. Her family reported her missing and began searching for her. A gas station employee, Nathaniel Keck, was interviewed by police and stated he observed Stacey purchase Shawn a cup of coffee. Keck said Stacey appeared to be, "just chipper, in a good mood," as he watched them leave the store together. Three days later, relatives were notified that her vehicle had been located in a residential area in Ashland. In the car were her cell phone and driver's license. The driver's seat had been moved all the way back, even though Stacey was short. Authorities would continue their search for Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith. During the summer of 2016, Shawn and Jane Doe began to spend more time together. They took long walks, sometimes for a full day, discussing the Bible and life in general. Shawn wanted a romantic relationship with Jane, but she was not interested in being more than friends. She considered him her goofy older brother. She made it clear as she refused to give him her phone number, or allow him into her apartment. She set boundaries and in general was against premarital sex. On September 11, after a walk with Shawn, he invited her over to the house on Covert Court to give her a bag of clothing. Jane agreed to go as long as she could show him some Bible passages, he agreed. They went to the house and he showed her the clothing. Jane sat on the bed and started to read Bible passages aloud. Suddenly, Shawn pulled the Bible out of her hands and said, "You're not going anywhere." (tense uneasy music) As Shawn Grate approached Jane Doe she tried to push him away, but he punched her about the head and face and started to strangle her. According to her testimony, Jane stated that she was sexually assaulted in every way imaginable. Shawn tied her up several times in weird positions, sometimes together, sometimes to the bed. He put sedatives in her mouth, and told her they were muscle relaxants. Next, he shaved a heart shape into her pubic hair. Then he sexually assaulted her and recorded the acts on a cell phone. Shawn tied her hands and legs together on her second night of captivity, and slept beside her. Around 6:00 AM On September 13, Jane Doe woke up and noticed Shawn was asleep. This was her opportunity. She managed to loosen her bindings and carefully slid off the bed. She reached for a cell phone, and then called 9-1-1. (phone beeping) (phone ringing) - [Dispatcher] 9-1-1, what is the address to your emergency? - [Jane Doe] By the Fourth Street laundromat. - [Dispatcher] What is it? - [Jane Doe] Fourth, Fourth Street laundromat. - What's the problem? - I've been assaulted. - Who abducted you? - Shawn Grate. - You said John Green? - Shawn Grate. - Where's he at now? - Asleep. - Where's he sleeping at? - In the bedroom. - [Dispatcher] In what bedroom? - [Jane Doe] There's two houses right by the laundry street and it's in one of those houses. - [Dispatcher] But you're at the laundromat? - [Jane Doe] No, I'm in the bedroom with him. - What color is the house? (Jane Doe's voice drowned out by dispatcher) If I'm looking at the laundromat, which way is it? - [Jane Doe] If you're looking in the laundromat, it's the one on the left of the two. - [Dispatcher] You don't know what color the house is? - [Jane Doe] No, please hurry. - [Dispatcher] Does he have a car? - [Jane Doe] No, well he's down the street. - [Dispatcher] What's your phone number you're calling me from? - I don't know. - [Dispatcher] And you think it's a yellow house? - [Jane Doe] I think so, but it's on the left. - Is it an apartment? - No, it's a house. - [Dispatcher] Okay, does he own the house? - [Jane Doe] No, he broke into it. - [Dispatcher] Does anybody actually live there? - [Jane Doe] I think it's been abandoned. - And his name is Shawn Grate? - Yes. - Like G-R-A-T-E? - Yes. - Does he have a weapon? - He's got a taser. - [Dispatcher] What does he look like? Is he a white male or a Black male? - [Jane Doe] White. - [Dispatcher] Is he like six foot, or is he shorter than that? - [Jane Doe] He's like 6'1", 6'2". - [Dispatcher] Do you know how much he weighs? - [Jane Doe] Probably 175. - Are you injured? - A little. - What color is his hair? - Brown. - [Dispatcher] Do you know what color his eyes are? - [Jane Doe] No. - What's he wearing? - Nothing right now. (recording hissing) - [Dispatcher] Okay, stay on the phone with me. Stay on the line with me, okay? - [Jane Doe] Okay. - Is he still sleeping? - Yes. - [Dispatcher] Where did he take you from? - [Jane Doe] My, my apartment. I mean, I was walking with him. - You were walking with him? - Mm-hmm. - [Dispatcher] Where were you walking to? - His place, I've known him for like a month and a half. - [Dispatcher] Is there any way you can get out of the building? - [Jane Doe] I don't know without waking him, and I'm scared. - [Dispatcher] Is there a bathroom in the house? - [Jane Doe] Well his bedroom is closed, and he made it so it would make noise. - [Dispatcher] But if you told him you had to go to the bathroom, he would do something to you? - [Jane Doe] Yeah, 'cause he had me tied up. - [Dispatcher] Are you tied up now? - Well I, yeah, but I kind of freed myself. (recording hissing) - [Dispatcher] Is he in the same room with you? - Yes. - Is it his phone you have? - Yes. Are they on the way? - [Dispatcher] We have officers we're sending. - Okay, please send enough. - [Dispatcher] Okay, if you're worried, you don't have to talk, you can just set the phone down, okay? I just need to hear if the officers find you or not. - [Jane Doe] Okay. - [Dispatcher] Are you upstairs or are you downstairs? - We're downstairs, there's a door. There's a side door on the right of the left house, and that's where we enter. Then immediately there's a kitchen right there, and then the bedroom is right, right off from the kitchen. (recording hissing) - [Dispatcher] Okay. Do you need an ambulance? Are you bleeding from anywhere? - [Jane Doe] Not anymore. - [Dispatcher] Where were you bleeding from? You don't have to talk if you don't need to, okay? (Jane Doe crying) - [Dispatcher] Do you know where he lives? - [Jane Doe] No. (bystanders muttering) (taser buzzing) Oh shit, oh shit. (tape whirring) (taser buzzing) Oh shit. Oh shit, I woke him up. - [Dispatcher] Just set the phone down. (recording hissing) (recording beeping) - Car 28. (recording hissing) - [Dispatcher] Are you still there? - How much longer? - What? - [Jane Doe] How much longer? - [Dispatcher] Do you hear any officers outside? - No. - Okay, they're in the area. - [Jane Doe] I'm out of the bedroom. - You're out? - Yes. - [Dispatcher] Okay, can you get to the door where you can see out? - No. - No? - No. - [Dispatcher] Can you get out of the house? - It's locked. - It's locked. Are you at the door? - Yeah, I am. - [Dispatcher] She's at the door. You're on the door to the right hand side of the house? - [Jane Doe] Yes. - [Dispatcher] She's at the door on the right side. - I got outta the bedroom. - She got outta the bedroom. Is there a window there? - [Jane Doe] Yeah, I'm looking out of it, tell them to come back. - She said- - Hurry, hurry. - [Dispatcher] She said to hurry up and come back. Okay. - [Jane Doe] Yeah, they can see me if they come through it. - [Dispatcher] The door's locked. No, the bedroom door I know is open. This one is locked, she can't get out. Can you unlock the door at all? - [Officer] Come out, come on out. Hurry up, hurry up, we got her. Where is he? - In the bedroom sleeping. - Still sleeping? - Yeah. - Okay, they have her. - He's not armed. - He's unarmed? - Yeah. - [Officer] All right, you need to go. (officers chattering) - [Officer] Show me your hands. Show me your fucking hands right now, okay do it. Don't move, roll over onto your belly. Put your hands behind your back. - [Narrator] Following his arrest, Shawn was taken to the local police station where he was booked and read his rights. Once in custody he sang like a bird, giving away secrets to anyone willing to listen. He told detectives that two dead women were in the house where he'd been apprehended, and he could take them to a third body in Mansfield. The police searched the house at Covert Court. They found two decomposing bodies, one in a closet and the other in the basement. They also found articles of clothing tied to a mattress and a chair in the first floor bedroom, seemingly to serve as bindings. In addition, they discovered three devices that police suspected he had used for sexual purposes. Finally, the police found Stacey's debit cards and car keys in the bedroom. During his interrogation, Shawn gave the following accounts of his crimes. According to Shawn, he visited Jane Doe's apartment on August 16, 2016, but no one answered. Then on his way out of the apartment complex, he ran into Elizabeth and she invited him to her place. They chatted, played the dice game Yahtzee, and went to the house on Covert Court to have dinner. Afterward, Elizabeth returned to her apartment. Around 11:00 PM Elizabeth called Shawn and asked if he wanted to meet. They met at the local YMCA and walked to the house at Covert Court. After a brief chat, Shawn said Elizabeth wanted to look around the house. They went to an upstairs bedroom where Shawn suddenly strangled her. After killing her, he removed all her clothing and hogtied her just in case she woke up. Shawn hid her body in an upstairs closet. He then covered the body in the closet doorway with stuffed animals and clothing. Finally, he sealed the doorframe with duct tape. Shawn provided inconsistent versions of the circumstances surrounding the murder. During one interview, he stated that Elizabeth had talked about killing herself. He wanted to put her statement to the test, so he started strangling her. That's when he claims, "She got all serious. When I went to calm her down, she just lost it and I panicked." Shawn further stated that Elizabeth took her top off at one point and, "She just kind of like, you know, tried to put moves on me." However Shawn later stated that Elizabeth's top and undergarments were accidentally removed while he was strangling her. During another interview, Shawn stated, "With Elizabeth, it should have never happened." He stated that while strangling he, she said, "Forgive him Lord, for he don't know what he does." Shawn responded, "You do want to live," and tried to hug her. Elizabeth replied, "Get off me, you tried to hurt me." According to Shawn, "She just kept going on and on, and it's like, 'Jesus save me', and it's like, 'You're not saved.'" One week after the murder, he entered Elizabeth's apartment to destroy evidence and steal some items. An autopsy concluded that Elizabeth Griffith was strangled to death. Shawn confessed to raping and murdering Stacey Stanley. He said he offered to change her flat tire, but she didn't have the right tools. According to Shawn, he asked her if she wanted to hang out sometime. He said she agreed and asked what he was doing that evening. They eventually went to the Covert Court house where they ended up kissing. Shawn stated, "She wanted to play that innocent thing, so I then, I kind of just snapped on her." He forced her to perform a sex act and recorded it on his cell phone. In a police interview, he elaborated on his murder of Stacey. - [Officer] How about with Stacey? - Stacey, a lot of it we were sitting side by side. Mean time, I hear her like, I'd stand up, go across the room, she'd just still stay sitting. You know what I mean? 'Cause she didn't feel threatened or nothing. We were getting along still. - Okay. - So somewhere along the line she felt, she felt threatened. I'm still thinking about this, of what went wrong exactly with Stacey and I, 'cause I didn't have no thoughts, but I do remember when she grabbed her mace, and she missed me the first time, and then I turned her around, and I put her on the bed, right? And she did this backhand and kind of got me. And he sprayed me again, and I told her, "That's a good shot," you know what I mean? But it just, dang, I just lost it, and then I just turned her around, right? Did pretty much the same thing. I just clenched on, did not let go. She struggled, she did turn around, and then this time I, I just squeezed her neck, put all my weight and knee on her, for a moment like that. Yeah, and I couldn't really see her, 'cause my eyes were maced. I turned her around, just clenched my fist. And I just clenched, leaned back, hold her. And she went like this, and then I didn't stop even after that, for probably two or three minutes. I kept her air off. - [Officer] Just to make sure she was dead? - Yes. - Okay. - [Narrator] After the murder, he claims he wrapped her up, moved her body into the basement and covered it with trash. Shawn mentioned that he was annoyed by how Stacey and Bright communicated at the gas station. He referred to Bright as one of her sugar daddies. Shawn said to the police, "I'd just seen how she just played this dude about changing her tire and you know, 'Call me some time,' and all this, you know what I mean? Because she was waiting on this guy to come change the tire, which I wanted to change the tire with his tools and stuff when she was talking to him, you know what I mean? It's like whatever, you know what I mean? I'm used to that type of lie." He added that Stacey's fate was sealed after he perceived that she lied to him. On the day he was arrested, Shawn guided police to an abandoned home on Park Avenue East in Mansfield about 11 miles away that had previously burned down. Behind the house was the body of an unidentified woman who he claimed was Candice Cunningham. He said they had dated for a while before he strangled her to death in June, 2016. She was never reported missing, as family believed she didn't have a cell phone and had moved to North Carolina in April. On November 1st, 2016, the Richland County Sheriff's Office announced that the remains were those of Candice Cunningham. According to Cleveland 19 News, he also told them about Rebekah Leicy. As you recall, this is the woman whose remains were found by a gas company employee in Mifflin in March, 2015. Her death was initially ruled an overdose, but Shawn confessed to authorities that he strangled her too. Based on the information he provided, authorities reopened the case. Shawn claimed to have murdered a fifth woman in Marion County, Ohio in 2006. Her remains had been unidentified for 13 years. Shawn was able to point on a map exactly where he dumped the body, and it matched where the body was found years earlier. He stated the woman, whom he believed was named Diane or Dana, was trying to sell magazines door to door. One day she offered to pay half the cost if he would agree to subscribe, and he felt it was a scheme. He said, "So I took her in the basement and took a knife and stabbed her in the throat. I had company coming over soon." He explained that stabbing was not his preferred method. The victim was identified in June, 2019, by the DNA Doe Project as 23-year-old Dana Nicole Lowrey of Menden, Louisiana. She left behind two daughters, ages one and five. On September 22, 2016, an Ashland County Grand jury returned an indictment against Shawn Grate on 23 counts, including two charges of murder. He was held on a bond of $1 million. Shawn entered a plea of not guilty on all charges. His attorneys later filed a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. Ashland County prosecutor Christopher R Tunnell said that given the depraved actions and the gruesome evidence, he would seek the death penalty. On May 7, 2018 in Ashland County, Shawn Grate was convicted on two counts of aggravated murder. He subsequently pleaded guilty to two additional murders on March 1st, 2019, and an additional murder on September 11th, 2019. Ultimately, Shawn was sentenced to death and is scheduled to be executed in 2025. Shawn Grate's mother, Theresa McFarland, lives in rural Ashland County, where she has granted just one interview over the years. She told the "Daily Mail" that drugs and prison changed her son, whom she described as estranged from the family. She added, "Yes, he's good-looking, but the devil's good-looking too. He ain't no red horns and all that stuff. You find out he's charming, and of course that charm can charm the pants off anybody." However, according to an article in the "Mansfield News Journal", several people who've met Shawn recently described him as lazy and unwilling to work. Their impression was of a man who preferred to take advantage of either vulnerable women or kind people, especially if they had money. In a remarkably judgmental tone, Shawn told a news reporter that although he had killed five women, "They were already dead. Just their bodies were flopping wherever it can flop, but their minds were already dead. The state took their minds, once they started receiving their monthly checks," referring to public assistance. He added that he confessed to the murders because he was, "Just trying to free myself of what I've done." But he made one last confession stating, "I'm afraid of the death penalty. I'd like to die on my own and not by the state." Shawn Grate now spends his days in prison reading the Bible and working on oil canvas paintings. A man who has spent a lifetime judging others now sits on death row awaiting his final judgment. (tense dramatic music)