Criminal Stories: Who Was Arthur Shawcross, The So-Called “River Genesse Killer”? | the Chronicle

The “blacklist” serial killers in United States It is broad regardless of the time or the types of offenses, and this element could not be absent, Arthur John Shawcross, who received at least 12 female deaths between 1988 and 1990 in upstate New York (plus 2 children), for which he earned the nickname “The Genesse River Killer”.

As is often the case in most cases, where a subject is ultimately turned into a criminal, the childhood of Shawcross (born June 1945 in the town of Maine) was marked by physical and psychological violence from his father, also from his mother who constantly dominated him, in fact, he was said to wet the bed because of the constant harassment suffered.

Of course, this fell on his school performance, added to his low IQ, made him act like a withdrawn and friendless subject. Moreover, at this stage of his life, his passion for fire, and hitting animals and children.

Arthur Shawcross: beginning of illegal

At the age of 18, he committed his first crime, after breaking a window in a chain store but could not be imprisoned. The following year he married a young woman named Sarah chatterton and had a daughter, but his wife filed for divorce soon after to be abusive, legal status he obtained in addition to the guardianship of the child that Shawcross resigned.

In 1967 and with the start of the Vietnam War, Shawcross enlisted in the military to fight and this further heightened his desire for blood, and he maintained that in the conflict killed nearly 40 enemy soldiers, This situation was refuted by the American military authorities, who after a year of service made him return to their country.

Return from war

His return to the United States was not as planned, as in 1968 he staged a fire and was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison for wrongdoing, but he did not serve until two years later. to have been released by “good behavior”. In addition, he divorced a second time from another woman, named Linda, because she considered him a inveterate arsonist and for the murder of a puppy.

Again on his way back to the town of Waterton, he married for the third time a young woman named Penny sherbin and committed his first crime, in April 1972 he took Jack blake (10 years old), killed him (violence and suffocation) and disposed of the body, which was found five months later by local police.

Arthur Shawcross: another victim of the criminal

In September of the same year, the body of Karen hill (8) was found under a bridge, with traces of to have been raped and strangled, and although there is no evidence against him, the police detained him as a suspect because many neighbors saw how they interacted with the children in the neighborhood.

After a series of investigations and raids, all police roads led to the home of Shawcross who, far from denying what had happened, He took charge of the crime of the two children and was taken to jail. In the trial that took place, he was sentenced to 25 years from prison and his third wife divorced.

Despite the heavy sentence against him, he only served 15 years in prison and was subsequently released on condition, a situation which was the worst that the American justice system has done, because it was like free a wolf in a chicken coop so it came later.

In April 1987 and with a new girlfriend, Rose gold, this subject began life in the city of Rochester, although it did not take long for him to return to his “old adventures”, from a 27-year-old prostitute (called Dorothy Blackburn) went missing in that town and his body was found in March 1988 in the waters of the Genesse River, with traces of an attack with a blunt object and bite marks in the vagina area, although the cause of his death was strangulation.

Six months later, police found the remains of Anna steffen (28), who had been missing for two months and whose cause of death was also strangulation. In October 1988, a third organization (Dorothy Keeler 59 years old) also suffered the same misfortune.

With this death toll, the press echoed the situation and called the criminal “The murderer of Genesse”, with which public opinion returned to realize that it had happened in the wooded area.

As all of the deceased were prostitutes, the police asked the “street workers” that they were being handled with caution in the area, in fact, investigators suspected that the the murderer had a connection with them, in addition to some knowledge with knives for cuts.

However, the worst came in 1989, the year Shawcross killed nine women in three months (Patricia Ives, June Stotts, Marie Welch, Frances Brown, Kimberly Logan, Elizabeth Gibson, Darlene Trippi, June Cicero and Felicia stephens), most of them died in Monroe County, minus Gibson who was in Wayne County.

Meanwhile, Shawcross’ modus operandi was similar in all of the murders: while some women were Savagely beating others, strangling or stabbing others, then dumped the bodies in areas near the Genesse River.

The police situation was so pressing that he relied on FBI investigators, who developed a profile that described him as a White man, between 20 and 30 years old, with a criminal record and familiar with the victims. Since they did not have semen samples, the killer was believed to be suffering from sexual dysfunction.

In early 1990, Arthur Shawcross was arrested, which took place as police searched for a body on a bridge near the River Genesse, and they saw the remains of June Cicero, which had been post-mortem mutilated and sawn in half. Near her, a man was seen urinating near a truck. When he noticed the police presence, he quickly escaped but the traffic check managed to find him and he was arrested.

For several hours, the criminal did not acknowledge their deaths, he did so only with those of the two children in 1972, yet, as the current wife (Clara neal) also made a statement, investigators realized that the woman owned a piece of jewelry from one of the victims, June Cicero. This is where the police threatened to implicate him in the series of murders, and Shawcross confessed to at least 11 deaths.

In November 1990, Shawcross was tried by County Monroe for 10 of the 11 crimes he was accused of, in which the killer pleaded not guilty to the charges, based on his children’s problems, post-war stress, a genetic defect and other issues. However, the courts did not approve his request and he was found guilty of 10 counts of second degree murder, sentenced to 250 years of life imprisonment for what happened in County Monroe. Meanwhile in Wayne County he was also found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Shawcross was taken to Sullivan Correctional Center in the town of Fallsburg, New York, where despite continued defense requests to release him, the criminal never saw the sunlight again and passed away on November 10, 2008 at Albany Medical Center following cardiac arrest.

BY AG