WEBVTT - The Genesee River Killer – Part Two [04]

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<v Speaker 1>The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely

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<v Speaker 1>those of the authors and participants and do not necessarily

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<v Speaker 1>represent those of I Heart Media, Stuff Media, or its employees.

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<v Speaker 1>Listener discretion is advised from my Heart Radio and Tenderfoot TV.

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<v Speaker 1>Monster Presents Insomniac. I don't know for sure, but I'm

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<v Speaker 1>gonna wager a guest that most of you have never

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<v Speaker 1>seen a barn fire in person before. It's something that

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<v Speaker 1>I've witnessed several times in the past, and strangely enough,

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<v Speaker 1>I had a dream about a barn fire last night.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't know if I would call it a nightmare,

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<v Speaker 1>but it was definitely a vivid, realistic dream that made

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<v Speaker 1>me think of being a young boy again in northern Indiana.

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<v Speaker 1>I was standing there on my footy pajamas watching a

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<v Speaker 1>structure fire that had no hope of being put out

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<v Speaker 1>before the entire building was consumed. It took me right

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<v Speaker 1>back to when I was five or six years old.

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<v Speaker 1>I remember driving miles and miles behind fire trucks and

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<v Speaker 1>then standing out in the cold air of a Midwestern night.

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<v Speaker 1>Barnes burned incredibly fast and incredibly hot. Usually by the

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<v Speaker 1>time the fire trucks arrived, it was too late to

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<v Speaker 1>save the building. They were just there to knock down

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<v Speaker 1>the flames and prevented them spread into the farmhouse or

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<v Speaker 1>other nearby buildings. Sometimes the farmers were lucky enough to

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<v Speaker 1>get the animals out. Sometimes they weren't so fortunate. But

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<v Speaker 1>with a loft full of hay fueling the fire, there

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<v Speaker 1>was usually no hope, and that always made it even

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<v Speaker 1>more tragic. Sometimes there was a lot of confusion on

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<v Speaker 1>the ground. Other times everything seemed eerily calm as the

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<v Speaker 1>fireman went about their business. It all played out right

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<v Speaker 1>in front of us. It was exciting and terrifying, beautiful

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<v Speaker 1>yet terrible all at once. I'm Scott Benjamin, and everything

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<v Speaker 1>I'm about to tell you is real. This is insomniac.

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<v Speaker 1>It was April and Arthur shaw Cross, now age, was

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<v Speaker 1>out of prison and on parole once again, and this

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<v Speaker 1>time his appearance was dramatically different. He was no longer

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<v Speaker 1>the relatively fit and trim six ft tall ex military

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<v Speaker 1>man that went into prison in nineteen He now weighed

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<v Speaker 1>three hundred pounds and it wasn't muscle. His third wife, Penny,

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<v Speaker 1>had divorced him in ninet, just three years into his

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<v Speaker 1>prison term, but he already had another girlfriend waiting for him.

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<v Speaker 1>Her name was Rose, and she had been Arthur's prison penpal.

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<v Speaker 1>Life on the outside was different for Arthur this time.

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<v Speaker 1>For one, he and Rose couldn't find a place to live.

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<v Speaker 1>It wasn't that there were no houses for rent or

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<v Speaker 1>apartments available. The problem was that no community wanted a

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<v Speaker 1>convicted child rapist and murderer moving in. Arthur couldn't return

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<v Speaker 1>to Watertown for obvious reasons, and since his post prison

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<v Speaker 1>relocations were well publicized in the first three communities he tried,

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<v Speaker 1>there was a strong objection to his arrival. First they

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<v Speaker 1>tried Bingham, to New York, then Delhi, then Fleishman's but

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<v Speaker 1>in every case he and Rose were run out of town.

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<v Speaker 1>A senior parole board officer finally decided it was time

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<v Speaker 1>to try something different. They made the unfortunate decision to

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<v Speaker 1>seal Arthur shaw Crosses criminal records and then moved him

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<v Speaker 1>two d and fifty miles away into an apartment in

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<v Speaker 1>the city of Rochester, New York, without telling the members

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<v Speaker 1>of the community or the authorities. In other words, no

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<v Speaker 1>one knew who he was and his violent sex offender

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<v Speaker 1>past was now invisible. Arthur soon found a job to

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<v Speaker 1>pay the bills, work in the night shift, chopping and

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<v Speaker 1>packaging salads and boxes for a local food service company,

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<v Speaker 1>and he and Rose were married in the summer of

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<v Speaker 1>By Christmas of the same year, Arthur, now age forty two,

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<v Speaker 1>was already having an affair with an older woman named

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<v Speaker 1>Clara Neil. She was fifty six. By the spring of

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<v Speaker 1>shaw Crosses typical behavior was so erratic that neither of

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<v Speaker 1>the two women he was involved with noticed anything unusual

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<v Speaker 1>when he began staying out all night and using his

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<v Speaker 1>mistress's borrowed car, blue Dodge Omni two cruise for prostitutes

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<v Speaker 1>in the industrial area near the Genesee River. That's where

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<v Speaker 1>he found his first adult victim, a prostitute by the

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<v Speaker 1>name of Dorothy Blackburn. The agreement the two made was

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<v Speaker 1>for mutual oral sex for thirty dollars. Years later, shaw

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<v Speaker 1>Cross would claim that during the encounter, Dorothy bit his penis,

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<v Speaker 1>drawing blood and infuriating shaw Cross to the point of

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<v Speaker 1>violent retribution. In turn, he bit a chunk of flesh

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<v Speaker 1>out of her vagina and then choked her until she

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<v Speaker 1>was unconscious. He then drove her lifeless body out to

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<v Speaker 1>one of his favorite fishing spots, the bridge over the

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<v Speaker 1>Salmon River in Northampton Park, and dropped her into the

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<v Speaker 1>cold water below. Her remains would be found for nearly

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<v Speaker 1>a week. She was well preserved in the icy water,

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<v Speaker 1>but the river had also removed any evidence that her

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<v Speaker 1>killer might have left behind, aside from the deep bite

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<v Speaker 1>marks around her genitals. The community of Rochester, New York

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<v Speaker 1>didn't know it yet, but Dorothy Blackburn's murder was just

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<v Speaker 1>the first of what would be many, many more and

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<v Speaker 1>Arthur's second series of victims. It would be almost four

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<v Speaker 1>months before Arthur would strike again. It was early July,

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<v Speaker 1>and now that he was ready, he returned to his

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<v Speaker 1>favorite hunting ground, a stretch of road called Lyle Avenue

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<v Speaker 1>in downtown Rochester. It was there that he found another prostitute,

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<v Speaker 1>Anna Marie Stephen. A deal was made between the two

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<v Speaker 1>sex for cash, and they headed down to the banks

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<v Speaker 1>of the Genesee River and the dark privacy that location provided.

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<v Speaker 1>But when shaw Cross was unable to perform sexually, he

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<v Speaker 1>claims Anna Marie made fun of him, so he punched

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<v Speaker 1>her to the ground in the darkness. She crawled into

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<v Speaker 1>the river to escape, but he went in after her,

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<v Speaker 1>grabbed her by the throat, and held her underwater until

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<v Speaker 1>she drowned. This time, he simply let the body float

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<v Speaker 1>downstream instead of trying to hide it. She was discovered

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<v Speaker 1>two months later. Somehow, Arthur resisted the urge to kill

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<v Speaker 1>for a full year before taking his third victim in Rochester.

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<v Speaker 1>This time it was a homeless woman, Dorothy keeler Age.

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<v Speaker 1>Dorothy was working as a waitress in a diner shaw

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<v Speaker 1>Crossing asionally visited, and she and Arthur were having an affair.

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<v Speaker 1>It was July and the two had spent a lazy

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<v Speaker 1>afternoon together fishing and having sex on seth Green Island

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<v Speaker 1>in the middle of the Genesee River. At some point,

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<v Speaker 1>the conversation grew serious, and Dorothy threatened to reveal herself

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<v Speaker 1>to the other two women in shaw Across his life,

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<v Speaker 1>his wife Rose and his mistress Clara. Arthur and Dorothy argued.

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<v Speaker 1>He flew into a rage, picked up a heavy log,

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<v Speaker 1>and he beat Dorothy to death. He then concealed her

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<v Speaker 1>body under a fallen tree before heading home for the evening. Later,

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<v Speaker 1>shaw Cross told police that he returned to Keiller's corpse

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<v Speaker 1>months afterward, to remove her skull, He threw it into

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<v Speaker 1>the river and it was never found. What was left

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<v Speaker 1>of her body was discovered by fisherman on October, nearly

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<v Speaker 1>three months after she went missing. Just six days after

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<v Speaker 1>Dorothy Keeler was found on October, the discarded body of

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<v Speaker 1>yet another local sex worker, Patricia Ives, would be uncovered

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<v Speaker 1>at a construction site. She had also been strangled. A

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<v Speaker 1>little more than two weeks later, the bodies of two

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<v Speaker 1>Rochester prostitutes were found on the same day, November, Francis Brown,

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<v Speaker 1>aged and Kimberly Logan, aged thirty. They had been taken

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<v Speaker 1>just days apart in early November. Kimberly Logan was found

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<v Speaker 1>to have leaves stuffed down her throat to silence her

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<v Speaker 1>during her attack. Similar to shaw Cross's second victim, a

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<v Speaker 1>year old Karen Hill. Arthur also used this tactic to

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<v Speaker 1>silence the animals he killed when he was much younger.

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<v Speaker 1>Just days later, on Thanksgiving Day, the body of another

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<v Speaker 1>local woman was found underneath the blanket and a pile

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<v Speaker 1>of brush. It was the body of June stott Age, thirty.

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<v Speaker 1>She had been missing for exactly one month. She was

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<v Speaker 1>not a prostitute or a drug user. In fact, Stott

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<v Speaker 1>was a friend of Rose and Arthur shaw Cross, even

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<v Speaker 1>an occasional guest at their home. Similar to the other

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<v Speaker 1>recent victims, June Stott had been strangled to death. Unlike

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<v Speaker 1>the other adult victims to date, however, her body had

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<v Speaker 1>been mutilated. She was sodomized after she was killed. She

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<v Speaker 1>had been gutted from her genitals to her throat, and

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<v Speaker 1>her vagina had been cut out and removed. Arthur would

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<v Speaker 1>later claim that he had eaten that part of her

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<v Speaker 1>on with some internal organs. The killer's violence, as well

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<v Speaker 1>as the frequency with which he was taking his victims,

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<v Speaker 1>had now escalated considerably. It was impossible for the police

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<v Speaker 1>and the press to ignore the similarities among the recent slangs,

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<v Speaker 1>and while the detectives continued to comb through the criminal

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<v Speaker 1>records of the violent offenders that might be living in

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<v Speaker 1>the area, Arthur shaw Crosses sealed criminal records meant that

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<v Speaker 1>he didn't show up on any police searches. He remained invisible.

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<v Speaker 1>As a result of interviews with the local prostitutes. The

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<v Speaker 1>authorities were now canvassing the street corners and bars looking

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<v Speaker 1>for a suspicious man that several of the ladies had

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<v Speaker 1>come to know Ah's Mitch. He was a regular customer

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<v Speaker 1>on Lysle Avenue, and some of them knew, both of

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<v Speaker 1>experience and word of mouth, that Mitch was not only

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<v Speaker 1>capable of violence, but he was also with several of

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<v Speaker 1>the now missing women. What the cops didn't realize at

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<v Speaker 1>the time was that they were closer than ever to

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<v Speaker 1>the mysterious Mitch, and they were unintentionally giving him inside

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<v Speaker 1>information that allowed him to continue his deadly attacks virtually unchallenged.

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<v Speaker 1>M Arthur and Rose shaw Cross lived at two one

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<v Speaker 1>Alexander Street in Rochester, New York. There was a dunkin

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<v Speaker 1>Donuts located just down the block from their home, on

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<v Speaker 1>the corner of Alexander Street and Monroe Avenue, about a

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<v Speaker 1>four minute walk from door to door. Arthur was a

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<v Speaker 1>regular customer there. I know it sounds cliche, but that

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<v Speaker 1>donut shop is where the police would often gather, the

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<v Speaker 1>place where they felt like it was safe to let

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<v Speaker 1>their guard down a bit, And of course the shop

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<v Speaker 1>talk often turned to what was happening in the Genesee

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<v Speaker 1>River killer case. Arthur was routinely present for these discussions.

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<v Speaker 1>Between his deadly attacks, Arthur would learn exactly what the

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<v Speaker 1>police were discussing the leads they were chasing down and

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<v Speaker 1>in general how close they were to capturing, well him,

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<v Speaker 1>the killer. The whole thing was a sort of cat

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<v Speaker 1>and mouse game, where the mouse, Arthur, had the inside

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<v Speaker 1>line and exactly what the cat the Rochester police were

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<v Speaker 1>up to. Years after his arrest, Arthur was asked about

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<v Speaker 1>his donut shopped conversations with the police. He attributed to

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<v Speaker 1>his ability to get away with being so close to

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<v Speaker 1>his pursuers without suspicion, to being well groomed and well dressed,

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<v Speaker 1>including wearing shiny shoes a trade. Arthur claimed the police

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<v Speaker 1>liked about him at the donut counter. He the role

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<v Speaker 1>of a concerned citizen instead of the sort of individually

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<v Speaker 1>he might suspect would be out on the streets killing

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<v Speaker 1>prostitutes at night. And because Arthur had gained their trust,

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<v Speaker 1>he was occasionally given some friendly inside information about the stakeouts,

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<v Speaker 1>where the decoy prostitutes were located, and the investigation in general,

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<v Speaker 1>straight from the police work in the case, Well, this

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<v Speaker 1>is a fairly rare situation. It's not the first time

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<v Speaker 1>we've heard a similar story. Edmund Kemper is an example

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<v Speaker 1>of another serial killer who befriended the local police to

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<v Speaker 1>gain inside information on the investigation of the murders he

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<v Speaker 1>was carrying out. He hung out with police in a

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<v Speaker 1>bar called the Jury Room, across the street from the

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<v Speaker 1>Santa Cruz County Courthouse in Santa Cruz, California. Similar to

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<v Speaker 1>shaw Cross, the police came to know Kemper as a friend.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the officers even once gave him a set

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<v Speaker 1>of real police handcuffs as a gift. He occasionally used

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<v Speaker 1>them in his killings. If the code he abducted was

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<v Speaker 1>putting up a struggle, it was late. Arthur shaw Cross

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<v Speaker 1>was forty four years old, and his body count continued

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<v Speaker 1>to steadily grow. Seven missing women had already turned up dead,

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<v Speaker 1>and there would be numerous more before it was all over.

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<v Speaker 1>Just four days after the Thanksgiving Day discovery of June

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<v Speaker 1>Stott's body, another shaw Cross victim was found. This time

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<v Speaker 1>it was Elizabeth Gibson, aged nine. She was a prostitute,

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<v Speaker 1>strangled to death just like the others. However, her body

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<v Speaker 1>was dumped in nearby Wayne County, New York, instead of Rochester,

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<v Speaker 1>as Arthur felt the police were getting a little too

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<v Speaker 1>close for his comfort level. Next, it was the body

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<v Speaker 1>of twenty year old Felicias Stevens found on New Year's Eve,

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<v Speaker 1>murdered just three days after Christmas. She was Arthur's final kill,

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<v Speaker 1>but she wouldn't be the last victim recovered. There were

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<v Speaker 1>still missing women to be found. Just three days later,

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<v Speaker 1>on January three, the body of June Cicero was recovered

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<v Speaker 1>as a result of the New York State Trooper helicopter

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<v Speaker 1>surveillance flight. Those on the scene would note that her

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<v Speaker 1>body had been mutilated in a manner similar to two

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<v Speaker 1>earlier victims. At some point after her death, the killer

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<v Speaker 1>had returned to June Cicero's frozen body to remove her

0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:53.800
<v Speaker 1>vagina with a small hand saw. This was the same

0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:58.120
<v Speaker 1>surveillance flight that also exposed Arthur shaw Cross parked on

0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:03.480
<v Speaker 1>the bridge directly above June Cicero's frozen corpse. When the

0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:06.240
<v Speaker 1>authorities finally caught up to and questioned him on that

0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:10.560
<v Speaker 1>first day, Arthur reluctantly told them he was previously found

0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:15.800
<v Speaker 1>guilty of manslaughter in Watertown in but he denied any

0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:20.400
<v Speaker 1>knowledge of the recent Rochester murders, and since he wasn't

0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:25.400
<v Speaker 1>under arrest, he was questioned a while longer photographed and released.

0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:33.679
<v Speaker 1>Kept under constant surveillance, of course, but released overnight. The

0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:37.520
<v Speaker 1>detectives did their homework right away. They found his sealed

0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:41.240
<v Speaker 1>criminal file and a link to some critical physical evidence

0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:47.280
<v Speaker 1>in the case. They investigated Arthur's place of employment, a

0:17:47.320 --> 0:17:51.000
<v Speaker 1>food service company called G and G Cheese, and found

0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.280
<v Speaker 1>that the company used a brand of handy wipes that

0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.560
<v Speaker 1>matched those founded two of the crime scenes, and they

0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:58.960
<v Speaker 1>were the same wipes found in shaw Crosses home too.

0:18:00.520 --> 0:18:03.560
<v Speaker 1>And from there the rest of the missing pieces started

0:18:03.600 --> 0:18:09.440
<v Speaker 1>coming together. One point that really grabbed the investigator's attention

0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.000
<v Speaker 1>was when Arthur started telling them about his favorite fishing spots.

0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.159
<v Speaker 1>All the places he preferred along the river coincided with

0:18:17.200 --> 0:18:22.240
<v Speaker 1>where the bodies of the missing prostitutes were found. Just

0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:25.720
<v Speaker 1>two days after their initial contact with shaw Cross, and

0:18:25.760 --> 0:18:29.000
<v Speaker 1>with around the clock investigation into his background and activities,

0:18:29.560 --> 0:18:33.879
<v Speaker 1>including several hours of conversation with him personally, the police

0:18:33.920 --> 0:18:36.520
<v Speaker 1>had enough evidence to arrest him and charge him with

0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:45.000
<v Speaker 1>the murders. The date was January five, Arthur knew was over.

0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:48.000
<v Speaker 1>He asked to be allowed to speak with his wife, Rose,

0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:50.639
<v Speaker 1>and said that if he could just speak to her first,

0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:55.200
<v Speaker 1>he'd tell them everything they wanted to know, and that's

0:18:55.200 --> 0:18:59.879
<v Speaker 1>what he did. Throughout his lengthy confession to the authorities,

0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:04.240
<v Speaker 1>Arthur showed no sign of emotion, no remorse at all.

0:19:05.520 --> 0:19:08.399
<v Speaker 1>When asked why he did it, he coldly stated that

0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:12.320
<v Speaker 1>he was just taking care of business. With the sign

0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.520
<v Speaker 1>confession in hand, the authorities allowed Arthur to lead them

0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:18.920
<v Speaker 1>to the bodies of two missing women they hadn't yet recovered,

0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:25.160
<v Speaker 1>Maria welch Ago, who had been missing since early November,

0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:31.960
<v Speaker 1>and Darlene Trippy, age two, who had been missing since December.

0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.480
<v Speaker 1>It wasn't a surprise that both women had been strangled

0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:41.600
<v Speaker 1>to death. When it was all over, the number of

0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:43.560
<v Speaker 1>women who lost their lives at the hands of Arthur

0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:49.000
<v Speaker 1>shaw Cross in Rochester alone was twelve, and when you

0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:51.480
<v Speaker 1>add the two children he killed in Watertown in nineteen

0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:56.440
<v Speaker 1>seventy two, Jack Blake and Karen Hill, the grim total

0:19:56.480 --> 0:20:00.840
<v Speaker 1>grows to fourteen. Since all of victims were killed in

0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:04.520
<v Speaker 1>Monroe County, New York, with the exception of Elizabeth Gibson,

0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:08.919
<v Speaker 1>who was killed in nearby Wayne County, the Monroe County

0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:14.959
<v Speaker 1>trial was held first. The poor proceedings lasted nearly three months,

0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:34.200
<v Speaker 1>with all of Rochester keeping watch. It wasn't until years

0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:37.080
<v Speaker 1>later that I realized this siren chasing was a common

0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:41.000
<v Speaker 1>behavior in my family. We always watched from a safe

0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:45.360
<v Speaker 1>distance away, maybe a few hundred yards or so. Usually

0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:47.680
<v Speaker 1>we were close enough to smell the smoke and even

0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:52.160
<v Speaker 1>feel the heat. Sometimes I would see the whole structure

0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:55.840
<v Speaker 1>collapse onto itself. That always produced what seemed like a

0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:59.840
<v Speaker 1>million glory numbers shooting upwards, along with the blinding red

0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:03.280
<v Speaker 1>orange flames and a tower of the thickest black smoke

0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.920
<v Speaker 1>you can imagine, billowing into the sky. I remember it

0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:09.639
<v Speaker 1>was a thrill to be so near the action, but

0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:13.800
<v Speaker 1>it was also scary. My dad was always a siren chaser.

0:21:15.000 --> 0:21:17.360
<v Speaker 1>He couldn't resist getting close to the scene of an accident,

0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:23.159
<v Speaker 1>the fire, and arrest in progress, anything. Really, it was

0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:27.159
<v Speaker 1>a behavior he learned from his mother, my grandmother, and

0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:30.480
<v Speaker 1>lately I began to wonder if it was a behavior

0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:33.639
<v Speaker 1>that she had learned from her father, my great grandfather.

0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:37.480
<v Speaker 1>They lived in a small town, so whenever the sirens began,

0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:40.680
<v Speaker 1>my grandmother would load up to kids and go see

0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.560
<v Speaker 1>what she could. My dad was the same way when

0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:48.800
<v Speaker 1>I was growing up, and today I find it difficult

0:21:48.800 --> 0:21:50.880
<v Speaker 1>to resist turning the car around and see what's happening

0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:54.760
<v Speaker 1>if I see emergency lights. I can't believe that it

0:21:54.760 --> 0:21:56.679
<v Speaker 1>took me so long to realize that I'm the product

0:21:56.720 --> 0:22:01.240
<v Speaker 1>of at least three, possibly four generals of siren chaser's.

0:22:02.640 --> 0:22:14.399
<v Speaker 1>That explains a lot. In the United States, broadcasting and

0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:17.200
<v Speaker 1>photography of the court proceedings is allowed in some court

0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:22.080
<v Speaker 1>rooms but not others. In ninety nine, the eyes and

0:22:22.119 --> 0:22:24.520
<v Speaker 1>ears of the public were focused on the nationally televised

0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:30.879
<v Speaker 1>trial of serial killer Ted Bundy. In it was Jeffrey Dahmer,

0:22:31.760 --> 0:22:37.760
<v Speaker 1>in the Menendez Brothers, in he was the O. J.

0:22:37.840 --> 0:22:43.160
<v Speaker 1>Simpson trial. It's clear that television viewers enjoy watching high

0:22:43.200 --> 0:22:46.560
<v Speaker 1>profile criminal court cases play out in front of them

0:22:46.560 --> 0:22:50.879
<v Speaker 1>on live television, and while the nineteen ninety trial of

0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:54.360
<v Speaker 1>Arthur shaw Cross might have had a somewhat limited audience

0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:58.720
<v Speaker 1>due to its local coverage rather than national coverage, the

0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:03.320
<v Speaker 1>citizens of Rochester were more than willing to watch. The

0:23:03.359 --> 0:23:05.920
<v Speaker 1>New York Times ran an article about the televised shaw

0:23:06.000 --> 0:23:12.320
<v Speaker 1>Cross trial on December two nine, and it's said, like

0:23:12.400 --> 0:23:16.080
<v Speaker 1>a moth drawn to a flame, Rochester, a city of

0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:19.520
<v Speaker 1>two hundred and forty one thousand people has been both

0:23:19.560 --> 0:23:23.080
<v Speaker 1>repulsed and riveted by the proceedings in the teak paneled

0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:27.280
<v Speaker 1>second floor Core Room of the Monroe County Public Safety Building.

0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:34.000
<v Speaker 1>For more than ten weeks, the residents of Rochester and

0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:36.800
<v Speaker 1>the surrounding areas tuned in to witness the Core room

0:23:36.880 --> 0:23:42.520
<v Speaker 1>drama and theatrics of the show cross Case. It was

0:23:42.600 --> 0:23:45.760
<v Speaker 1>television that was difficult to watch at times because it

0:23:45.800 --> 0:23:50.520
<v Speaker 1>was a lured tale that included details of child sexual abuse, beastiality,

0:23:51.359 --> 0:24:00.560
<v Speaker 1>wartime atrocities, murder, reincarnation, corpse mutilation, and claims of cannibalism.

0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:03.680
<v Speaker 1>Adding to the public's outrage was the now widely known

0:24:03.760 --> 0:24:07.560
<v Speaker 1>fact that shaw Cross's criminal record had been sealed and

0:24:07.600 --> 0:24:11.280
<v Speaker 1>that a convicted child rapist and killer had been moved

0:24:11.280 --> 0:24:15.080
<v Speaker 1>into Rochester without alerting members of the community or the authorities.

0:24:17.040 --> 0:24:19.840
<v Speaker 1>They also saw him plead not guilty by reason of insanity,

0:24:20.640 --> 0:24:23.520
<v Speaker 1>well as defense attorney showed the Core room videotapes of

0:24:23.560 --> 0:24:26.879
<v Speaker 1>a supposedly hypnotized shaw Cross as he claimed to be

0:24:26.920 --> 0:24:31.280
<v Speaker 1>taken on one of his many multiple personalities, Ara Mas,

0:24:31.520 --> 0:24:35.840
<v Speaker 1>a reincarnated thirteenth century cannibal from England who Arthur claimed

0:24:36.359 --> 0:24:40.919
<v Speaker 1>taught him to eat human flesh. While the tapes were shown,

0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:45.600
<v Speaker 1>and throughout the entire trial, shaw Cross sat perfectly still

0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:50.880
<v Speaker 1>in the courtroom, head down, shoulders slumped, showing no emotion

0:24:50.960 --> 0:24:56.040
<v Speaker 1>at all. In the end, the jury didn't believe Arthur

0:24:56.080 --> 0:25:00.320
<v Speaker 1>was possessed, and much to everyone's relief, he is found

0:25:00.320 --> 0:25:04.560
<v Speaker 1>guilty of ten counts of second degree murder, with the

0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:08.240
<v Speaker 1>sentence of twenty five years for each count. Arthur shaw Cross,

0:25:08.800 --> 0:25:12.440
<v Speaker 1>now age, would be behind bars for the next two

0:25:12.640 --> 0:25:15.960
<v Speaker 1>d and fifty years with no chance of her role.

0:25:18.000 --> 0:25:21.040
<v Speaker 1>The following year, when the Wayne County trial was held,

0:25:22.080 --> 0:25:24.680
<v Speaker 1>shaw Cross simply played guilty to the second degree murder

0:25:24.720 --> 0:25:36.040
<v Speaker 1>of Elizabeth Gibson and received yet another life sentence. Arthur

0:25:36.080 --> 0:25:40.360
<v Speaker 1>was incarcerated at the Sullivan Correctional Facility, a maximum security

0:25:40.400 --> 0:25:45.160
<v Speaker 1>prison from male prisoners in Fallsburg, New York. In prison,

0:25:45.760 --> 0:25:50.800
<v Speaker 1>Arthur was an outsider, a pariah with very few exceptions.

0:25:51.040 --> 0:25:54.920
<v Speaker 1>He was avoided, ignored, and often threatened by nearly every

0:25:54.960 --> 0:25:58.159
<v Speaker 1>other inmate in Sullivan. They deemed him the lowest of

0:25:58.200 --> 0:26:02.600
<v Speaker 1>the low, a pedophile, a rapist, and a serial killer

0:26:02.640 --> 0:26:08.199
<v Speaker 1>of women and children. Soon after his conviction, Arthur was

0:26:08.200 --> 0:26:11.320
<v Speaker 1>divorced from his fourth wife, Rose. She served him with

0:26:11.320 --> 0:26:17.600
<v Speaker 1>papers on his forty nine birthday in June. Of Rose

0:26:17.600 --> 0:26:20.040
<v Speaker 1>shaw Cross would pass away less than three years later.

0:26:20.160 --> 0:26:25.240
<v Speaker 1>In the spring of Arthur was now legally free to

0:26:25.280 --> 0:26:28.440
<v Speaker 1>marry his former mistress Clara, and did so in a

0:26:28.520 --> 0:26:34.000
<v Speaker 1>ceremony held in the prison's visiting room on July. She

0:26:34.160 --> 0:26:38.000
<v Speaker 1>was his fifth wife, but his time in prison for

0:26:38.040 --> 0:26:41.840
<v Speaker 1>this his second series of murders, would be only slightly

0:26:41.880 --> 0:26:44.000
<v Speaker 1>longer than his sentence for the child killings back in

0:26:44.080 --> 0:26:49.919
<v Speaker 1>nineteen seventy two. On November tenth, eight just shy of

0:26:49.960 --> 0:26:53.800
<v Speaker 1>eighteen years after his trial and conviction, Arthur shaw Cross,

0:26:54.400 --> 0:27:00.080
<v Speaker 1>now age sixty three, died of a pulmonary embolism. He

0:27:00.080 --> 0:27:02.679
<v Speaker 1>had complained of leg pain earlier in the day, and

0:27:02.680 --> 0:27:04.800
<v Speaker 1>by the time he was transferred to the Albany Medical

0:27:04.840 --> 0:27:08.960
<v Speaker 1>Center later that evening, it was too late. Arthur shaw

0:27:09.000 --> 0:27:13.240
<v Speaker 1>Cross was dead, and the citizens of upstate New York

0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:19.280
<v Speaker 1>breathed a collective sigh of relief. Well, the best case

0:27:19.320 --> 0:27:22.720
<v Speaker 1>scenario would have been devoid even a single murder that

0:27:22.840 --> 0:27:25.200
<v Speaker 1>might not even have been entirely possible in this case.

0:27:26.520 --> 0:27:30.480
<v Speaker 1>Throughout his entire life, whenever he wasn't in prison. Arthur

0:27:30.520 --> 0:27:34.399
<v Speaker 1>shaw Cross was killing, whether as when he was a

0:27:34.480 --> 0:27:38.280
<v Speaker 1>kid torturing and killing small animals, as a young adult

0:27:38.920 --> 0:27:43.720
<v Speaker 1>torturing and killing children, whereas a middle aged man strangling

0:27:43.720 --> 0:27:48.159
<v Speaker 1>and killing sex workers. And if Arthur shaw Cross had

0:27:48.160 --> 0:27:51.360
<v Speaker 1>not been granted the plea bargain deal in nWo after

0:27:51.400 --> 0:27:54.479
<v Speaker 1>the Watertown child killings, he would have been locked up

0:27:54.520 --> 0:27:57.359
<v Speaker 1>for life. The body count would have stopped at just

0:27:57.440 --> 0:28:02.480
<v Speaker 1>two instead of reaching fourteen. Two dead children are bad enough,

0:28:03.480 --> 0:28:06.560
<v Speaker 1>but in this case, a series of poor decisions led

0:28:06.600 --> 0:28:16.199
<v Speaker 1>to the deaths of twelve additional women. In Rochester, New York.

0:28:17.200 --> 0:28:20.720
<v Speaker 1>In two thousand eleven, in a South Georgia college town,

0:28:21.800 --> 0:28:27.880
<v Speaker 1>a bad neighbor was lurking near campus. People found him creepy, antisocial,

0:28:28.560 --> 0:28:30.560
<v Speaker 1>but he turned out to be far worse than anyone

0:28:30.640 --> 0:28:35.080
<v Speaker 1>ever expected, a predator who selected the woman next door

0:28:35.119 --> 0:28:39.120
<v Speaker 1>as his prey. I'll prove that you never know who

0:28:39.160 --> 0:28:42.640
<v Speaker 1>might move into your neighborhood, and you certainly have no

0:28:42.760 --> 0:28:47.280
<v Speaker 1>idea what they're up to or capable of behind closed doors.

0:28:49.760 --> 0:28:59.400
<v Speaker 1>Next time on Insomniac. Insomniac is a production of I

0:28:59.520 --> 0:29:03.560
<v Speaker 1>Heart Rate and Tenderfoot TV, written and hosted by Scott

0:29:03.600 --> 0:29:08.280
<v Speaker 1>Benjamin and produced by Miranda Hawkins, Alex Williams, Matt Frederick,

0:29:08.360 --> 0:29:12.440
<v Speaker 1>and Josh Thain. Music composed by Makeup and Vanity Said,

0:29:12.600 --> 0:29:15.920
<v Speaker 1>and cover art by Trevor Eisler. Follow on Twitter and

0:29:15.920 --> 0:29:20.560
<v Speaker 1>Facebook at Insomniac Pod, on Instagram at Insomniac podcast, and

0:29:20.640 --> 0:29:25.480
<v Speaker 1>at our website insomniac podcast dot com. For more podcasts

0:29:25.480 --> 0:29:28.320
<v Speaker 1>from my Heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,

0:29:28.600 --> 0:29:32.120
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows