Shawn Grate and his house of horrors.
The Abduction.
On September 13 2016 a frantic and distressing 911 call was made to police by a woman claiming she had been abducted and was currently being held captive. Throughout the call this woman describes how she has been taken by her ‘friend’ and is currently locked in a bedroom with him sleeping beside her. The fear is apparent in her voice as she asks police to ‘please hurry’ and ‘please send enough.’ Eventually officers manage to locate the house and rescue the woman. She is found nude and in shock, however alive. Her abductor, a man named Shawn Grate, is arrested at the scene. Unfortunately this is not where the story begins as the police make some shocking discoveries inside the house of horrors.
The abducted woman’s name has been withheld to protect her identity so we will refer to her as Jane throughout the blog. Jane met Shawn through the local community center where they would play tennis and eat lunch together. It is later reported she considered him a friend at the time however her feelings were nothing more than that. She was a devoted christian and therefore did not pursue casual relationships and was following the bible by waiting for marriage. Clearly she didn’t want to marry Shawn or pursue anything physical with him however this was not enough for Shawn. This becomes apparent when he is interrogated by police.
During his police interview he claims that he felt the two were ‘getting really close’ and their relationship was much greater than just friends. He also goes on to state the two were talking about marriage but she got cold feet and so he ‘lost it.’ Jane herself has confirmed this to not be true given she did not want to have any kind of romantic relationship. Clearly this was not good enough for Shawn and so a few days before the 911 call was made Shawn lured Jane to the abandoned house he had been squatting in before overpowering her and then tying her up. Shawn then raped her claimed in interviews the sex was consensual and that ‘she enjoyed it.’ Important to note this is what Shawn has said and not the facts.
Shawn’s true narcissism is shown when he makes the bold comment ‘she still loves me though.’ It's clear Shawn either had a rather large ego or was trying to diminish his crimes against Jane. I think it may be a mix of both!
These crimes although horrible were not the worst that Shawn committed as we later find out below…
A Serial Killer uncovered.
Elizabeth Griffith August 2016.
Sadly Shawn was also suspected of numerous other crimes, the first of which to be revealed was the brutal killing of Elizabeth Griffith between August and September of 2016. Elizabeth suffered from mental health disorders and was admitted to hospital numerous times where she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Despite this, friends and family described her as a loving and caring person who was always smiling. Unfortunately she met Shawn Grate and the two became friends. Shawn eventually confessed to having strangled Elizabeth and placing her in the closet of his home.
The reason Shawn gave for murdering Elizabeth was that she wanted to die and that he was only helping her. ‘My compassion wanted to free her from this world’. However during the interview he also stated that she was ‘a screw up’ and highlighted a deep resentment he had for her. Making comments such as ‘she’s gonna be miserable all her life’ and she wanted people to ‘feel sorry for her.’
Shawn then becomes angry and states that Elizabeth should be in a mental institution going so far as to call her a 'retard.' This shows the sickening motivation behind his crimes.
Shawn took her body and placed it in his cupboard inside the same house he was arrested in. He left her there buried beneath clothes, however what he did next was extremely morbid. He placed a sock on a pole covered with condoms and attempted to use this to open her mouth. He did this ‘to be able to have more access for the flies to eat her.’ If this doesn’t show his lack of remorse or care for his victims I don’t know what does!
Stacey Stanley September 2016
Tragically another body was also found inside the house hidden under clothes in the basement. Stacey Stanley was reported missing on September 8th 2016 and was found decomposing in the basement on September 13th 2016. Stacey had been driving when she got a flat tire and had to pull over at a gas station. She phoned her son who had sent a family friend out to fix the tire for her. However when this friend arrived Shawn was already talking with Stacey and fixing her tire. Once the tire was fixed the friend left while Shawn followed Stacey inside the gas station. Somehow Shawn then convinced Stacey to come back to his house, Shawn could have used money as the incentive given Stacey was battling a heroin addiction. While there Shawn strangled her to death and left her body in the basement covered in trash.
Shawn gives his version of events in the interview stating that the two started kissing before ‘it just all went bad.’ Then Shawn states Stacey lied to him about wanting money and having ‘sugar daddies.’ Shawn then goes on to say she ‘straight up lied to me’, this seems to anger him while also giving him flashbacks to his mom (we will come back to this later).
He then stated that she maced him and that was the final straw. He then strangled Stacey to death. Below is Shawn giving a visual demonstration of how he strangled Stacey.
Personally I think Shawn enjoyed the feeling of control and when this was lost he snapped and strangled Stacey.
Candice Cunnigham June 2016
The next murder Shawn confessed to was that of Candice Cunnigham, a girl he had been seeing for 7 months prior to her murder. They had been having a pretty violent argument over the space of 3 days. Shawn claims he snapped one morning when she woke him up by slapping him in the face with a tobacco packet, stating this was her asking for it. He then chocked her until she was dead. Below is Shawn himself describing the argument. He also claims that Candice’s murder was ‘more of an anger.’
However despite these ‘reasons’ Shawn gave, he later talks about how she ‘shouldn’t be out in society’ and she was ‘just wishing she was dead.’ Again we have a similar motive to that of the above murders; his resentment towards women that didn’t work or had suicidal thoughts.
It is quite interesting as minutes later Shawns facade of killing out of pure mercy slips when he states ‘you finally got what you wanted stupid bitch.’ This is one of the only times we see Shawn become angry in the interview and here we see his true colors, a killer unmasked.
Dana Nicole Lowrey 2005
The murder of Dana was the next murder Shawn confessed to however this murder was different to the others given it happened in 2005 over 11 years before he was eventually arrested. Dana had sold magazines to his mother but his mother, who paid $40 for them, never received them. Shawn felt he had to take revenge upon this young girl and tracked her down. Once he had tracked her down he took her to his grandparents house under the pretense of getting some money. It was then that Shawn confronted Dana about scamming his mother out of her money. The resulting argument led to Shawn chocking her until she passed out.
He then dragged Dana into the basement where he stabbed her in the neck. Below is a video of Shawn demonstrating how he killed Dana.
Shawn then took her to a wooded area where she would be found two years later. Dana wasn’t identified until 2019 when technology was advanced enough to find a match. The case was also left cold until Shawn confessed in 2016.
Rebekah Leicy February 2015
The final murder which Shawn confessed to happened 10 years after his first murder with no confessions in between. This led police to speculate that there were more victims as it was very unlikely that a serial killer would ever take such a long break from killing. Rebekah Leicy was a prostitute and struggled with drug addictions throughout her life. Rebekah’s death was actually considered a drug overdose however the confession from Shawn changed the previous view point.
Shawn stated that Rebekah robbed him of $4 dollars and that ‘it was pretty much self defense on that one.’ The fact that Shawn felt this was justified over $4 and highlights the little value he places on these women's lives. Shawn goes on victim blaming stating ‘she kept pushing me.’ However while describing the murder he becomes excited and seems almost proud of what he did. The sound effects he puts into his description are a key indicator of this.
Interestingly, Rebekah’s father later came out stating he didn’t believe Shawn had killed his daughter even going as far to say ‘I thought he was an okay guy.’ Her father believed she was killed due to a drug related dispute however given Shawn’s crimes this is highly unlikely. Again it looks like Shawn became angry when a woman tried to pull one over on him or lie to him, feeling the need to exert his control. We will now discuss some potential seeds, which were planted early on, that led to this man becoming a serial killer.
Childhood and Potential reasons for the killings
Shawn’s relationship with his mother seems to be key to this case as there was a dysfunctional dynamic between them. In the house the two tried to one up each other during vicious arguments. That was when his mother was actually around and not out working or with other men. His mother was married at 14 years old to a 21 year old. She eventually met Shawn's father while working as a dancer. The relationship didn’t last which led his father to leave and his single mother was left to provide for the family. This led to his step sister acting as the mother figure in the household. Shawn spoke about his mother bringing men home; ‘she used to bring guys home all the time… I’d kick them in the jaw, I’m four years old.’ How true this statement is we don’t know but if even part of it is true we can see how a hatred for women may have developed. Shawn also described his mom as ‘almost mentally retarded.’ This is interesting as it is how he described some of his victims, hinting at the fact he may have been projecting the anger towards his mom onto these women.
To conclude Shawn was a clearly disturbed man who had a need to control women. It is unknown whether he had any more victims, however the 5 murders he confessed to were enough to sentence him to death. This sentence is set to be carried out in 2025.
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