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 Art 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.
Around 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 nursing 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.
