Arthur John Shawcross (June 6, 1945 – November 10, 2008), also known as the Genesee River Killer, was an American serial killer. He claimed most of his victims after being paroled early following a conviction for murdering [sexual partner] and two children in 1972.
Shawcross was born on June 6, 1945 in Kittery, Maine to an English immigrant father and a New York-born mother who had been sexually abused as a child and grew up amid chronic physical violence between her parents. Her parents divorced when she was six years old; soon after, her older sister reportedly encouraged their mother’s boyfriends to sexually abuse her. She developed a drinking problem at age eleven and ran away from home during her
Early Life
After his father abandoned the family when Arthur was 10 years old, he moved with his mother and younger sister to Watertown in Upstate New York .
By all accounts a poor student who suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia , he dropped out of school after completing the eighth grade [1] and became a vagrant .
In 1972, at the age of 27, Shawcross married Clara Neal. His behavior reportedly improved under the influence of Clara’s devout Catholicism , but they separated after 18 months of marriage. In 1974 he fathered an illegitimate son, whom he initially refused to support because he felt that the boy was not his own . Later, he sent regular support payments.
What Did Arthur Shawcross Do In Watertown?
On 21 September 1972, Shawcross strangled to death two eight-year-old girls, Karen Ann Hill and Michelle Marie Flynn, in a wooded area off New York State Route 12 in Waukesha , just east of the village of East Waukesha. He was sitting on a curb eating candy when police found him at the scene shortly afterwards.
He later claimed that God made him do it . [1] A psychiatric evaluation diagnosed Shawcross as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and legally insane at the time he committed the murders. On December 5, 1972 he pleaded guilty by reason of insanity to both murders. He was subsequently confined for 15 years to the secure unit at Watertown’s St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center
, where staff described him as a model patient. He was released on parole in April 1987 after the New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division ruled that he had been illegally confined due to improper sentencing procedures and inadequate counsel .
Release
from several experienced psychiatrists who warned authorities that Shawcross would almost certainly kill again if set free.
Although two motions were filed with a higher court to challenge his release, they were rejected on technicalities and could not be pursued further since there is no provision for an appeal against such a decision.
Shawcross was paroled on June 14, 1987 and moved to Rochester , New York . Within a few months he had found employment as a night stock clerk at a Wegmans grocery store. His parole supervision ended in January 1988.
A neighbor reported him for suspicious behavior, for allegedly bringing women into his home late at night against their will.
When police investigated, they were able to verify his claims that the women were “of age” and consensually involved in sexual acts with Shawcross—an alibi which left them unable to pursue prosecution.
The incident apparently did not affect Shawcross’s relationship with his neighbors; when questioned about it later by reporters, some of them expressed surprise or even disbelief
Last Trial
In November 1990, Shawcross went on trial for the 10 murders he was declared legally sane and guilty of.
The judge sentenced him to 25 years per count – totaling 250 years imprisonment! A few months later in Wayne County , Shawcross pleaded guilty and received a further life sentence for Elizabeth Gibson’s murder .
In 2008 when he complained of pain in his leg, he died shortly after at the age 63 from cardiac arrest.
Interview
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