1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:04,800 Speaker 1: The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: those of the authors and participants and do not necessarily 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:11,480 Speaker 1: represent those of I Heart Media, Stuff Media, or its employees. 4 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:16,959 Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised from my Heart Radio and Tenderfoot TV. 5 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: Monster presents Insomniac. If you've never heard of Arthur shaw Cross, 6 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:29,320 Speaker 1: I think you're going to find him to be one 7 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: of the most revolting characters you've heard about in a long, 8 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: long time. His crimes spanned decades, his punishments along the 9 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,879 Speaker 1: way were far too late for the atrocities that he committed, 10 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,080 Speaker 1: and maybe the worst detail of all, there were children involved. 11 00:00:49,040 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: For me, the stories that involved kids always seem to 12 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 1: be the hardest ones to understand, and they're definitely among 13 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 1: the hardest to ever forget. After listening to this show, 14 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,000 Speaker 1: I think you'll find yourself wanting to forget Arthur shaw 15 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: Across too. I wish I could get him out of 16 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:15,040 Speaker 1: my head, but so far that's been impossible. I'm Scott 17 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 1: Benjamin and everything I'm about to tell you is real. 18 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:33,639 Speaker 1: This is Insomniac. The date was January three, and police 19 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: were searching Northampton Park, located sixteen miles east of Rochester, 20 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,960 Speaker 1: New York, after a missing woman's clothing an I D 21 00:01:41,120 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: Card had been found in the area. Just minutes into 22 00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:48,559 Speaker 1: a helicopter surveillance flight, New York State troopers had already 23 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: spotted something. They saw a woman's body, partially clothed, face 24 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: down on the surface of the ice underneath the bridge 25 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: that crossed over Salmon Creek. They didn't know it yet, 26 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: but they had just stumbled across the frozen, mutilated body. 27 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: I've yet another missing woman, not even the one they 28 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:14,639 Speaker 1: were initially searching for. It was a prostitute named June Cicero, 29 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:18,359 Speaker 1: age thirty four, and she had been missing for more 30 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:24,640 Speaker 1: than two weeks. Remarkably, at that very moment, a car 31 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 1: was parked in the same bridge and the driver had 32 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: his door open with his legs outside of the vehicle. 33 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: It was difficult for the troopers to determine exactly what 34 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,359 Speaker 1: he was up to from high above, but he appeared 35 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: to either be urinating on the bridge or possibly masturbating. 36 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: As soon as he noticed the helicopter, the man threw 37 00:02:45,120 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: something out onto the ice and drove away, but the 38 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: state troopers followed his every move from the air and 39 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: called in ground units to tail him into town. Within minutes, 40 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: he was picked up, taken to the nearby Brockport Police Barracks, 41 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: questions photographed, and then released overnight. Authorities kept the suspects 42 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:14,000 Speaker 1: home under surveillance. Well detectives dug up every bit of 43 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: information they could about the man they found just a 44 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,280 Speaker 1: few feet away from the frozen body on the ice. 45 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: What they would discover that evening and in the days 46 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: and months to follow would horrify every officer on the 47 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:34,480 Speaker 1: force and later infuriate the entire community of Rochester, New York. 48 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: We're going to take a closer look at the case 49 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: of the Rochester strangler, or as it's sometimes called, the 50 00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:51,640 Speaker 1: case of the Genesee River Killer. For this story to 51 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: have the full impact, you need to know that is 52 00:03:54,320 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: considered normal for a serial killer to experience a cooling 53 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: off period between their deadly attacks. In fact, that's one 54 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,280 Speaker 1: of the key behaviors that set serial killers apart from 55 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:09,720 Speaker 1: other types of killers. Spree and mass murderers claim all 56 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:12,920 Speaker 1: of their victims at once, all in the same day, 57 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:16,919 Speaker 1: and often all in the same location, with one violent outburst. 58 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: A serial killer follows a different pattern, one that includes 59 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:27,600 Speaker 1: an active period when the homicide happens, followed by an 60 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 1: emotional cooling off period when the killer returns to his 61 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: or her normal life, followed by another active period, and 62 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: so on. If the result is a body count that 63 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: rises above three, you have a serial killer in your hands. Typically, 64 00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: that cooling off period is a matter of days, weeks, 65 00:04:50,720 --> 00:04:55,320 Speaker 1: or sometimes months. But in the story I'm going to 66 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:59,120 Speaker 1: share with you today, the killer deviates in these norms 67 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,240 Speaker 1: and take an unusually long cooling off period between his 68 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 1: first and second series of victims sixteen years. In fact, 69 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: he also completely changes the target of his crimes between 70 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:15,680 Speaker 1: his second and third victims. It's very rare for a 71 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: serial killer to change his method of operation, but he does, 72 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: and you'll find out why. We're going to start in 73 00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:31,440 Speaker 1: early nineteen in a small upstate New York city of Watertown, 74 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: where an unspeakable tragedy was about to strike the community. 75 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:45,000 Speaker 1: It was the spring of nineteen and Arthur John shaw 76 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:50,160 Speaker 1: Cross age was an employee with the Watertown Public Works Department. 77 00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: He had just married his third wife, Penny, in late April. 78 00:05:57,560 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: Shaw Cross had only recently been released from a state 79 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: prison after serving time for burglary and arson. He had 80 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: set fire to a paper mill in April of nineteen 81 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:09,839 Speaker 1: sixty and then to the cheese company that he worked 82 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 1: for in September of the same year. Well serving his 83 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,840 Speaker 1: prison sentence, shaw Cross had spent just a few months 84 00:06:17,839 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: at the Attica Correctional Facility before being transferred to Auburn 85 00:06:21,160 --> 00:06:26,360 Speaker 1: prison in the summer of nineteen seventy. Later that same year, 86 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: on November four, an inmate riot broke out in Aubera. 87 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:36,200 Speaker 1: Thirty guards were seized as hostages, and the inmates had 88 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: control of nearly the entire prison. The riot only lasted 89 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:43,720 Speaker 1: one day, but it took a combined total of more 90 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:47,919 Speaker 1: than six hundred state troopers, additional prison guards and sheriff's 91 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:52,040 Speaker 1: deputies to regain control. In the situation had cooled down, 92 00:06:52,640 --> 00:06:55,719 Speaker 1: it was revealed that inmate Arthur shaw Cross had save 93 00:06:55,760 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: the life of a prison official during the riot. For 94 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: the he was granted early parole and was released after 95 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,840 Speaker 1: serving just twenty two months of a five year sentence. 96 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: So in October of Arthur shaw Cross was a freeman, 97 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: and he returned to his daily life in Watertown, New 98 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: York at the parole board, knowing what was about to 99 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: happen in that small, charming city over the next year, 100 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:40,559 Speaker 1: they never would have let him out. Early shaw Cross 101 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: enjoyed fishing, and due to this hobby, he spent a 102 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: lot of his free time in and around the surrounding 103 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: creeks and rivers, mainly the Black River, the waterway that 104 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: runs right through the middle of town. As a result, 105 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:57,960 Speaker 1: he often shared the river banks with the children of Watertown. 106 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: One young boy, Jack Owen Blake, age ten, became one 107 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:12,679 Speaker 1: of Arthur's favorite fishing buddies. On May seven, just seven 108 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: months after shaw Cross was released from prison, Jack Blake 109 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: went missing. The Blake Boy's body wasn't initially found, but 110 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 1: suspicion immediately fell on Arthur shaw Cross. Arthur and Jack, 111 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: along with Jack's younger brother, had benefitshing together just days 112 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: before he disappeared. Shaw Cross repeatedly denied any knowledge of 113 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:41,439 Speaker 1: the boy's disappearance, and since there was no evidence against him, 114 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: including nobody, he remained a free man. Four months later, 115 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: on September two, two and while the search for Jack 116 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 1: Blake was still on, it happened again. Another child went 117 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:09,320 Speaker 1: missing in Watertown. Lots of us tell variety lies on 118 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 1: a daily basis. Most are small, but occasionally a few 119 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: whoppers too. We intentionally make false statements to others to 120 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: ease social interactions, protect someone's feelings with a small white lie, 121 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: or use a lie to simply avoid the unpleasant consequences 122 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:32,839 Speaker 1: telling the truth. Pathological lying, on the other hand, is 123 00:09:32,880 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 1: when the behavior becomes compulsive or habitual. It's when a 124 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:42,079 Speaker 1: person lies consistently for absolutely no personal gain other than 125 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:46,120 Speaker 1: maybe to bolster their own character, regardless of how one 126 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: founded those claims. Maybe. Pathological liars typically try to present 127 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: themselves in a favorable light, whereas the hero not the 128 00:09:56,200 --> 00:10:00,640 Speaker 1: bad guy of the story. Pathologic a line was one 129 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:05,000 Speaker 1: of many issues Arthur Delwyth throughout his life. Well in prison, 130 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,120 Speaker 1: he self reported sexual abuse between himself at a young 131 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: age and his mother, his aunt, his sister, and a 132 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: couple of his cousins. Later, he would claim as an 133 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: adolescent he had sex with a variety of barnyard animals too. 134 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: Each of the accused family members has denied all of 135 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 1: Arthur's sexual abuse allegations, and not one instance was ever 136 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: proven to be true. What we do know of his 137 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:40,079 Speaker 1: past is somewhat troubling. Arthur was a bedwetter until the 138 00:10:40,120 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 1: age of nine, and his mother repeatedly shamed him for that. 139 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: We also know that he was sexually excited by lighting fires, 140 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:52,560 Speaker 1: and that he liked to torture and kill small animals, 141 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:59,440 Speaker 1: including fish, cats, squirrels, and birds. That's all three points 142 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: of the McDonald try. It a set of three factors 143 00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 1: that suggests future violent tendencies and serial offenses from an 144 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:10,760 Speaker 1: individual if three or any combination of two are present 145 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:18,320 Speaker 1: together bed wedding, fire setting, and cruelty to animals. Again, 146 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: Arthur exhibited all three traits. He also had at least 147 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: three known closed head brain injuries between the ages of 148 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:32,560 Speaker 1: sixteen and twenty two. At the age of sixteen, he 149 00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: was hit in the head with a discus and spent 150 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:40,199 Speaker 1: several hours unconscious. At age eighteen, he was struck in 151 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:44,000 Speaker 1: the head with a sledgehammer, again he was unconscious for 152 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:49,080 Speaker 1: several hours, and at age two, while he was in 153 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:52,880 Speaker 1: the army, he felt from a forty ft ladder striking 154 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:57,360 Speaker 1: his head and rendering him unconscious once again for several hours. 155 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:03,560 Speaker 1: Years later, an MRI scan of Arthur's brain would show 156 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:05,920 Speaker 1: that he had developed a cyst in one temporal lobe 157 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,960 Speaker 1: and residual scarring on both frontal lobes from the discus 158 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: and sledgehammer incidents. He dropped out of school after his 159 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,320 Speaker 1: second failed attempt at ninth grade, and eventually was drafted 160 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: in the army at age nineteen. During the Vietnam War, 161 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: Arthur also bragged about his tour of duty and his 162 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:30,440 Speaker 1: battlefield heroics in Vietnam, greatly exaggerating the role he played 163 00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:36,560 Speaker 1: and even admitting to several grotesque wartime atrocities. He bragged 164 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: about solo jungle missions where he killed women and young girls, 165 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:44,960 Speaker 1: torturing them, raping them, cutting their heads off and nailing 166 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: them to trees or sticking them on posts, and then 167 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:52,520 Speaker 1: cannibalizing parts of their bodies. There's no proof any of 168 00:12:52,559 --> 00:12:56,680 Speaker 1: this ever happened. He claimed to be an expert sniper 169 00:12:56,760 --> 00:12:59,520 Speaker 1: during the war, and then he could fashion a rifle 170 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 1: silence or out of a rubber nipple from a baby's bottle. 171 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,559 Speaker 1: He also claimed battlefield kill count of thirty nine enemy soldiers. 172 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 1: Yet according to Arthur's commanding officers, the truth is Arthur 173 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 1: was a supply clerk and never saw combat. In the 174 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 1: years to follow. Back at home in Upstate New York, 175 00:13:23,400 --> 00:13:26,960 Speaker 1: Arthur would eventually mutilate several of his victims, and while 176 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: occasionally there were body parts missing, it was impossible to 177 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 1: prove that he ever consumed any of the missing parts, 178 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: including Jack Blake's heart and genitals, and much later, the 179 00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:49,559 Speaker 1: vaginas of three of his female victims. The date was 180 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:54,959 Speaker 1: September two, just four months after the disappearance of Jack Blake, 181 00:13:55,679 --> 00:14:00,560 Speaker 1: and there was another child missing in Watertown. This time 182 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:05,560 Speaker 1: it was Karen Ann Hill, age eight, who was visiting 183 00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:10,200 Speaker 1: with her mother for the Labor Day weekend. The Watertown 184 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 1: police were now searching for two missing children. They found 185 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:20,240 Speaker 1: Karen Hill first. Her lifeless body was discovered under a bridge. 186 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 1: She had been raped, mutilated, and strangled. Mud leaves and 187 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: other debris had been forced down her throat and inside 188 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: her clothing. Once again, Arthur's shaw Cross, now aged, was 189 00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:44,440 Speaker 1: an immediate suspect. A police investigation revealed that he and 190 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:46,960 Speaker 1: Karen Hill had been seen together on the day of 191 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:51,560 Speaker 1: her disappearance. The neighbors reported that Arthur was seen eating 192 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:54,400 Speaker 1: ice cream on the bridge, right near where the body 193 00:14:54,440 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: was discovered. Arthur again denied any involved and the disappearance 194 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:05,000 Speaker 1: of the child, but after a full day of police interrogation, 195 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:12,520 Speaker 1: he finally cracked. With his defense attorney present, shaw Cross 196 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:15,520 Speaker 1: decided that he had had enough and asked police, what 197 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:20,880 Speaker 1: would happen to me if I told you something? In 198 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 1: the hours that followed, he admitted to killing Karen Hill, 199 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 1: but he also let them know that he had additional 200 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:31,560 Speaker 1: information to share. He could lead them to the body 201 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 1: of the still missing Blake boy if they were willing 202 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: to make a deal. Shaw Cross told them exactly what 203 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: they wanted to know. Four months earlier, it was he 204 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 1: who had lured ten year old Jack Blake into the woods, 205 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: stripped him naked, sexually assaulted him, and then strangled him 206 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 1: to death as part of a police bargain in exchange 207 00:15:58,000 --> 00:15:59,880 Speaker 1: for showing the police where the body of Jack Blake 208 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 1: be found. The authorities less in the charge against shack 209 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:06,880 Speaker 1: Cross and manslaughter for the rape and murder of Karen Hill, 210 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: and all of their charges were dropped entirely. He would 211 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: not be charged in the rape or murder of Jack Blake. 212 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 1: For his crimes, Arthur shaw Cross was sentenced to just 213 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 1: twenty five years in prison with the possibility of early parole, 214 00:16:26,400 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 1: and well, that already seems like a light sentence for 215 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:35,240 Speaker 1: murdering two children, it gets even worse. Despite the warnings 216 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:39,960 Speaker 1: of prison psychiatrists, after less than fifteen years behind bars, 217 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 1: social workers and prison staff members incorrectly determined that shaw 218 00:16:45,400 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: Cross was no longer dangerous and granted him early parole 219 00:16:50,840 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 1: in April. Why did the prison psychiatrists advise against his release, Well, 220 00:17:00,160 --> 00:17:03,680 Speaker 1: reason was that shaw Cross had revealed that he had 221 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: returned several times to the site where he dumped Jack 222 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:10,840 Speaker 1: Blake's body to have sex with the corpse. He also 223 00:17:10,880 --> 00:17:17,520 Speaker 1: confessed to removing the boy's heart and genitals and eating them. 224 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 1: His early release in prison, or even the fact that 225 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:22,879 Speaker 1: he was being released at all, it was a mistake 226 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,119 Speaker 1: that would only be amplified over the next three years. 227 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:42,800 Speaker 1: My nightmares, yeah, I'm still having them. I had another 228 00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:47,399 Speaker 1: pretty disturbing dream this weekend. The last one was just 229 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:53,040 Speaker 1: a few days ago, around three am. Um, it's another really, 230 00:17:53,800 --> 00:18:01,200 Speaker 1: really violent dream. I'm being chased. I was laying face down, 231 00:18:01,960 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: yelling and violently kicking the mattress as hard and fast 232 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:12,119 Speaker 1: as I could. My wife was startled, terrified, and rightfully so. 233 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,720 Speaker 1: It's clearly someone who's serious about catching me. Seriously, there's 234 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:20,679 Speaker 1: a reason they want me in our moonlit bedroom. It 235 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: looked like someone was attacking me on my side of 236 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:29,120 Speaker 1: the bed. Someone was By the next morning, the only 237 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,720 Speaker 1: lasting memory I had of that evening's nightmare but someone 238 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: endlessly chasing me. As we raised up a very steep 239 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:40,800 Speaker 1: set of stairs, almost as steep as a ladder. He 240 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: reached out to grab my ankles, and that's when I 241 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,879 Speaker 1: turned and began kicking him in the heads. That terrifying 242 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:53,199 Speaker 1: moment when the pursuer catches me like this is it. 243 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: I've got a fight otherwise I'm dead. It's it's gonna 244 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: be a battle to death. This or anything about this 245 00:19:01,040 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: is like I boy, I didn't stop, over and over again, 246 00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 1: as hard as I could, I didn't stop. I just 247 00:19:11,840 --> 00:19:15,560 Speaker 1: kept going and going and going until the person is 248 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:22,679 Speaker 1: practically unrecognizable. Was it Arthur chasing me? I don't know. 249 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: I can't say for sure it was him, but I 250 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: can't tell you. There was no more sleep for me 251 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:32,080 Speaker 1: that night. I guess you can kind of understand why 252 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: I didn't want to record that when my family around 253 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:40,679 Speaker 1: me or near me. So I'm kind of confessing to this, 254 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:43,720 Speaker 1: even though it's something that never really happened. And Uh, 255 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:48,119 Speaker 1: I got a deal with that. Um. That's about it 256 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 1: for now. I hope he doesn't haunt your dreams the 257 00:19:56,119 --> 00:20:04,240 Speaker 1: way he has mine. A common trait among captured serial 258 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,919 Speaker 1: killers is that even though they're locked behind bars, they 259 00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:11,800 Speaker 1: want to believe that there's still somehow in control of 260 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:16,159 Speaker 1: what's happening outside of the prison walls. Arthur shaw Cross 261 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:21,359 Speaker 1: was no different. We've established his tendency to lie about 262 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: nearly all aspects of his life, a pattern that he 263 00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,679 Speaker 1: continued in prison, but he did so in a somewhat 264 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 1: puzzling way. He attempted to manipulate all of his interviewers, detectives, doctors, 265 00:20:37,359 --> 00:20:40,320 Speaker 1: anybody that would listen to him by changing his story. 266 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,240 Speaker 1: The way he answered questions would very greatly based on 267 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:50,520 Speaker 1: who he was talking to. If it was a male interviewer, 268 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,840 Speaker 1: Arthur would play up his heroic but completely fictional actions 269 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,960 Speaker 1: on the battlefield in Vietnam. If it was a female interviewer, 270 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: are they are going to long detailed descriptions of his 271 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: mutilation killings and described to them how much he enjoyed 272 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:10,399 Speaker 1: removing parts of his victims, and then how much he 273 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 1: enjoyed eating those parts, And if he detected a tiny 274 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:19,159 Speaker 1: bit of sympathy from his interviewer, his narrative voice switched 275 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:23,240 Speaker 1: over to his alleged but never proven claims of sexual 276 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:26,720 Speaker 1: abuse at the hands of his mother and aunt. He 277 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:29,720 Speaker 1: would add graphic details to his stories of abuse to 278 00:21:29,760 --> 00:21:32,520 Speaker 1: see if he could elicit an even greater sympathetic response 279 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:39,000 Speaker 1: from across the table. Again, manipulative behavior isn't necessarily surprising 280 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,040 Speaker 1: from a serial killer, and it was always fairly easy 281 00:21:42,119 --> 00:21:45,160 Speaker 1: for those Arthur spoke to see right through his made 282 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:49,439 Speaker 1: up stories. They knew he was a liar and he 283 00:21:49,520 --> 00:22:01,480 Speaker 1: was never going to change. How Arthur shaw Cross dealt 284 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:04,400 Speaker 1: with his early release from prison and how we chose 285 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: to fill his free time doesn't even begin to tell 286 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:11,840 Speaker 1: the story. You would undergo an extraordinary physical transformation as 287 00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:15,840 Speaker 1: he struggled to find a new home and unfortunately and 288 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:25,959 Speaker 1: all new group of victims Next time on Insomniac. Insomniac 289 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,680 Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio and Tenderfoot TV, 290 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,560 Speaker 1: written and hosted by Scott Benjamin and produced by Miranda Hawkins, 291 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:38,680 Speaker 1: Alex Williams, Matt Frederick, and Josh Thain. Music composed by 292 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:42,760 Speaker 1: Makeup and Vanity, set and cover by Trevor Eisler. Follow 293 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 1: on Twitter and Facebook at insomniac Pod, on Instagram at 294 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 1: insomniac podcast, and at our website insomniac podcast dot com. 295 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,680 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from My Heart Radio, visit the I 296 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 297 00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:03,600 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.