MANSFIELD — Authorities say Shawn Michael Grate has confessed to multiple murders in multiple jurisdictions, but criminologist Michelle Kowalski wonders if there could be more deaths in this story.
Grate was indicted in Ashland in September on 23 counts including aggravated murder, rape, abuse of a corpse and burglary. The charges came 10 days after he was arrested when police were guided to a house on Covert Court where he was staying.
Upon arrival, authorities found two dead female bodies.
The victims were identified as 43-year-old Stacey Stanley, of Greenwich, and 29-year old Elizabeth Griffith, of Ashland. Police say Grate then admitted to killing Candice Cunningham in Richland County and dumping her body on the property in the woods. She was identified Tuesday.
According to authorities, Grate later admitted to killing a woman in Marion County in 2004.
As a result, the Mansfield Police Department reopened the case of Rebekah Leicy, a woman who went missing in February 2015 and whose body was found a month later propped up against a tree in Ashland County. The Cuyahoga County Coroner originally ruled her death as a drug overdose.
Kowalski wonders if there are more victims to be found.
“No one knows … yet,” Kowalski said.
The OSU-M sociology and criminology lecturer received her master’s degree in clinical counseling and social work at Heidelberg University. She then went on to earn her PhD in sociology from Bowling Green University in 2003. She was hired to teach criminology, the science behind crime, at Bowling Green University after she received her PhD.
She began teaching at OSU-M in 2011.
Kowalski said from what she’s read, this case fits the thrill-killer profile, a theory conceived by Jack Levin, a Northeastern University professor who studies serial killers and other mass murders.
“The thrill killer strives for either sexual sadism or dominance,” she summarized. “He’s really a thrill killer I think. He just does it kind of randomly, that we know of.”
Other serial killers that fit into the thrill-killer profile are Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, she said.
“It’s interesting because this guy is actually handsome. Most people think serial killers are creepy looking, or they think of that as criminals in general. But they look just like everyone else. Ted Bundy did, Jeffrey Dahmer did. John Wayne Gacey, maybe a little. But they don’t look like a heinous monster,” Kowalski said. “If you clean him up a bit, he would actually look kind of handsome.
“I hate to say it. But, you know, he’s been married. So you’d have to have charm.”
But she is hesitant to compare Grate with Bundy, Dahmer and Gacey. She said she sees more similarities to recent serial killer Israel Keyes, who killed three people and possibly eight others. Keyes committed suicide in 2012 while at prison in Anchorage, Alaska.
“But he was a rapist, arsonist and burglar. And it seems like (Grate) has a pattern of theft and setting fires,” Kowalski noted.
Kowalski is not the only person acquainted with the study of criminals who wonders if there are more bodies than have been reported so far.
Dawna Kaufmann, of Los Angeles, has spent the last 22 years freelance writing on crime for The National Enquirer, Star, Globe and Cosmopolitan magazines. She said she’s covered all the prominent trials of our time, including O.J. Simpson, Scott Peterson and Phil Spector.
She’s also written three books on true crime and another is in the works. All are co-authored with Dr. Cyril H. Wecht, a forensic pathologist and lawyer who has personally performed more than 20,000 autopsies and has consulted on 40,000-plus other death cases. Their most recent collection of cases is “Final Exams.”
“I don’t want to glorify this guy. This guy is nothing compared to the artful serial killers of our time that operated for a long time. This guy’s just unorganized,” Kaufmann said. “He’s a lazy loafer who probably has drug issues.
“The woman who was in his bed while using his phone to call 911 and she wasn’t yelling. But you would think he would have awakened. Unless he was in a drug stupor. Drugs are a major component here. It makes him unorganized, sloppy,” she said.
“Any self respecting serial killer would not find him in the same caliber,” Kaufmann said.
But lives were taken and that impact is overwhelming, she said.
“I feel bad for them and their families,” she said.
Kaufmann said she hopes the media coverage on the case will spur transparent talks on what contributes to “making a serial killer.” The two primary topics of discussion that should occur, she said, are on supporting women in abusive relationships and bullying in schools.
“We have to support people who are in those situations better than we have been,” Kaufmann said, adding the reason may lie in society’s bend on gender inequality.
Kaufmann also wonders if Grate was bullied or if he was the bully in his early school years.
“My guess is that this guy was the bully. Almost every one of them (infamous serial killers) was bullied. It’s very interesting. Luckily though, we’re more aware of bullies and bullying and more is being done there. It’s a big component,” she said.
Questions linger
Although both Kaufmann and Kowalski were able to theorize on the case, they still are left with questions.
“It’s still so early in the case, there are just some details that are still missing,” Kowalski said. “Was he abused growing up? Was he sexually abused? What was his birth like? Were there complications? Was his mom neglectful? Was he attached to anyone?”
Kaufmann wondered about Grate’s life when he was married, specifically his sex life.
“I know that’s a sensitive subject, but if we can find these details out, it would help other women speak out when they see some of the same behavior with their men,” she said.