ASHLAND – “This is not a ‘who done it?’ case. This is a ‘he did it’ case,” Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell told jurors in his opening arguments against accused serial killer Shawn Grate.
“The evidence will show beyond a reasonable doubt that this defendant was found asleep and naked in bed, in a house that a terrified naked woman escaped from after being repeatedly assaulted and raped by this defendant,” Tunnell said.
The prosecutor went on to tell the jury that the two decomposing bodies found inside the house were those of victims Grate kidnapped and murdered by strangulation.
“This defendant subsequently, over the course of multiple interviews with law enforcement, confessed to every element of every crime with which he was charged,” Tunnell said.
After a 12-member jury of five women and seven men was seated and five alternate jurors were selected in Ashland County Common Pleas Court Judge Ron Forsthoefel’s courtroom Monday morning, Tunnell spent about 90 minutes on his opening arguments.
Defense attorney Robert Whitney waived the defendant’s right to offer his own opening arguments.
When Grate first came to Ashland, Tunnell said, he was living in the abandoned Hess and Clark building on East Seventh Street.
Finding that other people were coming into the building and desiring more privacy, Tunnell said, Grate moved to 363 Covert Court, a vacant house owned by Pump House Ministries.
It was in that house where Grate was found Sept. 13, 2016, along with a female victim being referred to as Jane Doe and the bodies of both Elizabeth Griffith and Stacey Hicks, also known as Stacey Stanley.
Tunnell described Griffith, 29, as “nice and innocent” and “almost childlike.” A resident of Stoney Creek Apartments, Griffith received treatment from Appleseed Community Mental Health Center and “had her share of problems.”
Tunnell said Griffith’s counselor, who first reported her missing Sept. 7, 2016, said that Griffith had been excited in the days leading up to her disappearance because she had met somebody.
Less than a week later, Grate confessed to killing Griffith. Tunnell said the defendant told detectives she was “in a better place,” and he said that before officers found her body.
Tunnell said on the day of Stanley’s disappearance, Sept. 8, 2016, Grate helped her with a flat tire at the BP gas station on East Main Street.
“She was nice enough to repay what she thought was the kindness of a stranger by buying him a cup of coffee and giving him a ride home, and what she got in return was she was kidnapped, forcibly raped, robbed, strangled and thrown out with the trash in the basement,” Tunnell said.
Tunnell described how, on Sept. 13, officers found Grate asleep in a first floor bedroom. The bed had clothing tied to the mattress as if to restrain a victim.
Stanley’s body was found in a locked basement, underneath a large pile of trash. Beside her was a pink container of mace, which Tunnell said she had used on Grate.
Griffith’s body was found in a second floor bedroom closet that was obstructed by a pile of stuffed animals and clothing and was taped shut. The bedroom contained a sofa bed with cloth restraints similar to the one found on Grate’s bed.
Also in the room was what Tunnell referred to as one of Grate’s “signature sexual devices” — a pole with a sock around it, covered in a layer of condoms.
Tunnell explained that Grate had two types of signature items. One was the homemade sexual devices, and the other was small roses in glass tubes called “love roses.”
Prior to his time in the Hess and Clark building and the Covert Court House, Tunnell said, Grate burglarized two campers at Charles Mill Lake campground. One of Grate’s sex objects was found in one of the campers, along with clothing containing Grate’s DNA, Tunnell said.
Tunnell said Grate also robbed the Mifflin Flea Market, taking items to stock his “fort” in a nearby woods.
Grate met Jane Doe in June 2016 at the Salvation Army Kroc Center, where they had lunch together a couple times a week, Tunnell said.
The pair went for walks together, and once he took her to the fort.
Tunnell said Jane Doe admits she went willingly to the house on Covert Court, where he said he had a bag of clothes for her. She was reading Bible verses to Grate when he began to assault her, Tunnell said.
Grate repeatedly raped and assaulted Jane Doe from Sept. 11 through Sept. 13, according to Tunnell.
“She will tell you that she was ready to die, but her lack of struggle made him stop,” Tunnell said. “The evidence will show that Elizabeth screamed and died. Stacey maced him and died. (Jane Doe) accepted her fate, made no struggle, and was allowed to live,” Tunnell said.
Tunnell said Grate robbed the apartments of both Griffith and Jane Doe, and that he took Stanley’s car.
He characterized the crimes as planned and premeditated.
Following opening arguments Monday morning, the prosecution called four of its witnesses Monday afternoon.
Witnesses that testified Monday included Wooster-Ashland Regional Council of Governments (WARCOG) dispatcher Sara Miller, Ashland Police Sgt. James Cox and two agents from The Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Special Agent Larry Hootman and Special Agent George (Ed) Staley Jr.
With Miller on the stand, Tunnell played the approximately 19 minute, 9-1-1 call from Jane Doe.
Cox, who was one of three officers to arrive first at the scene, along with Lt. Tim Shreffler and officer Curt Dorsey, described how the officers saw Jane Doe inside the house, forced open a screen door at the back of the house, entered with guns drawn and awoke and arrested Grate.
Cox said Jane Doe was completely nude when officers arrived.
“She was absolutely terrified — kind of like almost frozen in fear, blank look on her face,” Cox said. “She even had kind of a little bit of a hard time talking to us.”
Jane Doe is expected to testify during the trial.
As they questioned the witnesses, Tunnell and assistant prosecutor Michael McNamara showed photos from outside and inside the house as well as three-dimensional scans of each room of the house. The house appeared to have been set up to be a duplex, with kitchens, bedrooms and living rooms on both floors. Grate’s possessions were mainly kept in the first floor bedroom.
The pictures showed two bodies that were not visibly identifiable and showed restraints on both beds. In one of the photos was a basket of glass tubes that were identified by Staley as the love roses. Another photo showed a footprint on the staircase leading to the second floor that appeared to have been made by a bare foot. Staley testified that no one at the scene was barefoot.
The defense asked just one question of the first witness and did not cross examine the others.
Staley will take the stand again when the trial resumes at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Grate faces 23 felony charges, including four counts of aggravated murder, four counts of kidnapping, two counts of gross abuse of a corpse, four counts of burglary, tampering with evidence, four counts of rape, aggravated robbery, unauthorized use of a vehicle and tampering with evidence.
Grate has reportedly told authorities he murdered two other women in Richland County and a fifth in Marion County, but only the alleged murders in Ashland County are part of this case.
