Arthur Shawcross

COMING SOON!

He rampaged through the jungle while serving in Vietnam, then continued his killing spree in Rochester, New York. The crimes of one of America's most prolific serial killers are explored.

Biography

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Arthur Shawcross
born: 06-06-1945
birth place: Kittery, Maine
died: 10-11-2008

On 21st October 1989, the body of a homeless woman, Dorothy Keeler, aged 59, was discovered, followed six days later by another prostitute, Patricia Ives, in the same area. Both had been asphyxiated and the press started to show an interest as the cases were linked, coining the term “The Genessee River Killer.” In all cases at least some attempt at concealment had been made, which police felt indicated previous criminal or military experience. They began to advise prostitutes working in the area to exercise caution, and sought as much information as possible about strangers operating in the area, as well as checking criminal records for offenders who might be living in the immediate area. Shawcross’ sealed criminal record meant that he escaped police attention at the time.

As prostitutes continued to disappear, it became apparent that the killer must be someone familiar to the women who worked in the area, and police were able to piece together a description of a regular punter called “Mitch” or “Mike”, who was prone to violence, from a number of women.

Then the body of 26-year old June Stott, who was neither a prostitute nor drug user, was found on Thanksgiving Day. She had been strangled, anally mutilated after death, had her labia removed and was gutted from throat to crotch like a wild animal.

With the body count mounting the police sought assistance from FBI profilers, who divided the 11 unsolved prostitute murders into sub-groups according to method and position. They developed a profile that described the killer as a white male in his 20’s to 30’s, strong, probably with a previous criminal record, familiar with the local area, and comfortable enough with the victims that they would enter his vehicle without question: to all outward appearances a “regular guy”. The lack of sexual interference indicated it might be someone with sexual dysfunction. The post-mortem injury inflicted on June Stott, and not on any other victim, indicated that the killer was becoming more comfortable around corpses, probably returning to the crime scene again later to relive the attack.

The discovery of the body of Elizabeth Gibson, on 27th November, brought a breakthrough: suspect “Mitch” had been seen with her shortly before her disappearance, but they seemed no closer to establishing his identity. Police tried various tactics, including canvassing all the local bars, to no avail.

When a pair of discarded jeans was discovered near the river on 31st December 1989, containing an ID card for a girl called Felicia Stephens, police began an aerial search of the surrounding area. On 2nd January 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. The body was not Felicia Stephens, but that of a missing prostitute, June Cicero, who had also been mutilated post-mortem, as well as sawn practically in half.

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