Arthur Shawcross
Arthur Shawcross recieved a second chance at life after being
released back into the community for the murder of two small children. Moving
from place to place he ended up in Rochester, New York. He married Rose Walley
while in Rochester. He also met Clara Neal, who became his mistress. Working
nights as a food wholesaler, and living near the center of town, he didn't even
have a car. During the day he would be seen riding a brown Schwinn bicycle, a
womans model, riding to fishing spots along the Genesee River. Not many people
wanted Arthur for a neighbor.
In 1972 while in Watertown, New York, an upstate town Shawcross had murdered
little ten year old Jack Blake, and eight year old Karen Hill He served 15 years
of a 25 year sentence for these crimes. He was released on parole in April of
1987 for those murders. After moving from town to town, chased out by enraged
citizens, he found his home in Rochester. People there found him to be friendly,
and mild mannered. They didn't know of his dark past. In March of 1988 the body
of a 27 year old prostitute was found floating in Salmon Creek. In September
another body was found.
Over a year later in October of 1989, a third was found, and in early November,
a fourth. Later that month a fifth. Police believed the murders were too similar
to be the work of different people...a serial killer was loose in the community.
Arthur followed the news of the murders closely. He warned his wife and Clara to
be careful. He also hung out at the local Dunkin' Donuts to talk with the cops
about the case. In late November another body was found by a guy walking his
dog. Four days later another body was found. By the end of the year three more
bodys were added to the death list. About this time, the Rochester police
invited FBI serial killer specialists in to help. They made a profile of the
killer: White male, thirties, mobile, trusted by the women who fearlessly got
into his car.
On January 3, 1990 state troopers in a helicopter spotted a body in the icy
Salmon Creek waters. On a bridge overlooking the creek a man leaned out of his
car urinating into a pop bottle. The choper alerted some patrol cars and they
surrounded the area. Shawcross had just finished a salad when he saw the copter.
He climbed back into Clara Neal's Chevy and left toward the mursing home where
she worked. As soon as he pulled in, a police car pulled in behind him and he
was taken in for questioning. Shawcross didn't fit the profile to well, but when
the checked his history their interests changed. They impounded the Chevy, and
let Arthur go for lack of evidence. While inspecting the Chevy they found a pink
earring that matched on of the earrings found on one of the victims. Shawcross
was picked up the next morning. For hours he denied involvement in the crimes.
Eventually he confessed to the murders in detail. He had strangled one of his
victims for calling him "no better than a faggot"...and saying that he was the
Genesee River Killer. He smashed one's face into the car door for saying he was
"hopeless", and killed one for claiming to be a virgin. By the time his October
trial came he had refused to testify. His defence tried to get a insanity claim.
Under hypnosis he spoke as an eleven year old arttie, and even as a reincarnated
medieval English cannibal. A few of the prostitutes he killed had had their
vaginas cut out, which Arthur had ate a few of. He was sentenced to 10
consecutive terms of 25 years at the Sullivan Correctional Facility.
He was convicted of 10 murders, but later admitted to an eleventh. He is still
being held at Sullivan with no possibility of parole.
Curiously, in 1990, Art received ten write-in votes during New York's
gubernatorial race.
