The case of Arthur Shawcross
Date: 1989
Place: Rochester, New York, U.S.
Facts of the case: Series of murders of prostitutes and homeless women. Had served a a previous fifteen-year jail term for the assault and murder of both a young boy and a young girl. Shawcross was a model prisoner; within months of his release, his inadequacy and rage had gotten the better of him and he starded killing prostitutes in Rochester, N.Y. At the time of the thesemurders, he was employed, married, and had a steady girlfriend.
The profile: Gregg McCrary (Investigative Support Unit, Quantico) predicted a man with some sort of sexual dysfunction, possibly an erectile insufficiency. A further escalation of behavior in later crimes led Gregg to suggest secretly surveilling a newly discovered body dump site to which he felt the killer would return. This strategy ultimately led to the capture of Arthur Shawcross. See also the statement of Det. John J. Baeza, NYPD (ret.): "Arguably, this may be one
of the only cases in which profiling actually assisted in the apprehension of an offender."
Outcome: Arthur Shawcross's (televised) trial in Rochester City Court lasted more than five weeks; the jury took less than a day to reach a verdict of guilty of murder in the second degree on all charges. The judge sentenced Shawcross to two hundred fifty years to life in the state penitentiary.
For more information, see J. Douglas/M. Olshaker, Mind Hunter, pp. 351 ff., and Journey into Darkness, p. 64.
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