Serial Killer Arthur Shawcross aka The Genesee River Killer (Crime Documentary)
- 5 years ago
"Arthur John Shawcross, also known as the Genesee River Killer, was an American serial killer active in Rochester, New York.
His first known murders were in 1972 when he killed a young boy and a girl in his hometown of Watertown, New York. Under the terms of a plea bargain, Shawcross was allowed to plead guilty to one charge of manslaughter, for which he served 12 years of a 25-year sentence. He killed most of his victims in 1988 and 1989 after being paroled early which led to criticism of the justice system. A food service worker, Shawcross trawled the streets of Rochester in his girlfriend's 1984 sky blue Dodge Omni (later using her blue-grey 1987 Chevy Celebrity), looking for prostitutes to abduct. Shawcross was noted to have had the XYY syndrome.
He died in Albany, New York in 2008. Michael H. Stone, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, and an authority on violent behavior identified Shawcross as ""one of the most egregious examples of the unwarranted release of a prisoner"" in his book, The Anatomy of Evil.
Shawcross was born in Kittery, Maine, the first of four children. His family moved to Watertown in New York State when he was young. While several later tests showed Shawcross' intelligence to be sub-normal or even ""borderline retarded"", he received As and Bs in his first two years of grade school, but was later tested to have an I.Q. of 86, signifying below average intelligence. However, when tested in the army, Shawcross scored just above average in intelligence tests, scoring 105 upon entry and 108 at discharge. This was also the case with the intelligence tests he underwent while on trial in 1990, scoring 107.
Shawcross said throughout his childhood, he was a frequent bed-wetter. He later claimed his mother would insert foreign objects into his rectum, that his mother performed oral sex on him when he was 9, and that during junior high school he had sexual relations with his sister. Shawcross had a reputation at school as a bully and would frequently act out violently. He dropped out of high school in 1960.
In April 1967 he was drafted by the Army at age 21. At this time, Shawcross divorced his first wife and gave up the rights to their 18-month-old son, whom he never saw again. He served one tour of duty in Vietnam, where he boasted of grotesque combat exploits, such as ""beheading mama-sans and nailing their heads to trees as a warning to the Vietcong"" — though in fact he never saw combat. After Vietnam, he was stationed at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma as an armorer. His second wife Linda experienced several aspects of his disturbing behavior, especially his penchant for starting fires; an Army psychiatrist told her that Shawcross derived ""sexual enjoyment"" from fire starting.
After his discharge from the Army, Shawcross moved with his wife from Oklahoma to Clayton, New York. His wife would soon divorce him, and he began committing crimes such as arson and burglary. His offenses earned him a five-year sentence
His first known murders were in 1972 when he killed a young boy and a girl in his hometown of Watertown, New York. Under the terms of a plea bargain, Shawcross was allowed to plead guilty to one charge of manslaughter, for which he served 12 years of a 25-year sentence. He killed most of his victims in 1988 and 1989 after being paroled early which led to criticism of the justice system. A food service worker, Shawcross trawled the streets of Rochester in his girlfriend's 1984 sky blue Dodge Omni (later using her blue-grey 1987 Chevy Celebrity), looking for prostitutes to abduct. Shawcross was noted to have had the XYY syndrome.
He died in Albany, New York in 2008. Michael H. Stone, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, and an authority on violent behavior identified Shawcross as ""one of the most egregious examples of the unwarranted release of a prisoner"" in his book, The Anatomy of Evil.
Shawcross was born in Kittery, Maine, the first of four children. His family moved to Watertown in New York State when he was young. While several later tests showed Shawcross' intelligence to be sub-normal or even ""borderline retarded"", he received As and Bs in his first two years of grade school, but was later tested to have an I.Q. of 86, signifying below average intelligence. However, when tested in the army, Shawcross scored just above average in intelligence tests, scoring 105 upon entry and 108 at discharge. This was also the case with the intelligence tests he underwent while on trial in 1990, scoring 107.
Shawcross said throughout his childhood, he was a frequent bed-wetter. He later claimed his mother would insert foreign objects into his rectum, that his mother performed oral sex on him when he was 9, and that during junior high school he had sexual relations with his sister. Shawcross had a reputation at school as a bully and would frequently act out violently. He dropped out of high school in 1960.
In April 1967 he was drafted by the Army at age 21. At this time, Shawcross divorced his first wife and gave up the rights to their 18-month-old son, whom he never saw again. He served one tour of duty in Vietnam, where he boasted of grotesque combat exploits, such as ""beheading mama-sans and nailing their heads to trees as a warning to the Vietcong"" — though in fact he never saw combat. After Vietnam, he was stationed at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma as an armorer. His second wife Linda experienced several aspects of his disturbing behavior, especially his penchant for starting fires; an Army psychiatrist told her that Shawcross derived ""sexual enjoyment"" from fire starting.
After his discharge from the Army, Shawcross moved with his wife from Oklahoma to Clayton, New York. His wife would soon divorce him, and he began committing crimes such as arson and burglary. His offenses earned him a five-year sentence