The sun had not yet risen when a desperate call came into Ashland County’s 911 dispatch center in northeast Ohio.
After a long silence, there was a whisper: ‘I’ve been abducted.’
In a voice so quiet it was barely audible, a woman said she was lying in bed next to her kidnapper.
‘He’s got a Taser,’ she breathed. ‘Please hurry!’
He had fallen asleep, and she had swiped his cell phone off a nightstand.
The terrified victim knew she was being held in one of two yellow houses across from a downtown laundromat.
Inside the house, face down in the ground floor bedroom was her rapist. ‘Get up! Put your hands behind your back!’ shouted the officer taking Grate into custody. Pictured (right): Shawn Grate.
The terrified victim knew she was being held in one of two yellow houses across from a downtown laundromat.
‘Who abducted you?’ the 911 operator asked.
Straining to hear, the dispatcher was able to make out a name: Shawn Grate.
Three officers were dispatched. They quietly circled the buildings, peering in windows. There was no sign of anyone.
As they were ready to head back to their cruisers, one of the cops retried a rear door.
Reaching for the doorknob, his heart skipped a beat.
A woman’s outstretched hand pressed flat against the windowpane.
They’d found her – the victim that investigators would identify as Jane Doe.
The slender brunette in her mid-to-late thirties was completely nude. There was extensive bruising on her legs. A restraint hung from her arm.
Inside the house, face down in the ground floor bedroom was her rapist.
‘Get up! Put your hands behind your back!’ shouted the officer taking Grate into custody.
No one could have known at the time – that what appeared to be an isolated kidnapping and rape would soon unfold to reveal the most heinous serial killings that Ashland had ever seen.
Grate was sitting shackled in an interrogation room when I first saw him.
Unremarkable beyond being unshaven and unclean, his light brown hair was a tousled mess.
He was bare-chested, barefoot, and muscular. His most outstanding feature was his piercing blue eyes.
As a detective, I’d dealt with individuals like him in the past. It was my job to get him to admit what he had done by convincing him that this was a chance to explain himself.
In 33 hours of interrogation over a period of eight days, Kim Mager (pictured) secured Grate’s confession to five murders, kidnappings, and multiple sexual assaults of women across Ohio.
I suspected Grate(pictured center) might be involved in the disappearance of two other women – Elizabeth Griffith and Stacey Stanley Hicks.
Grate was sitting shackled in an interrogation room when I first saw him. Unremarkable beyond being unshaven and unclean, his light brown hair was a tousled mess.
First, I had to gain his trust.
‘We’re going to get these cuffs off you,’ I said.
He had the potential to be dangerous. I was taking a calculated risk. But rarely had I ever secured a confession from a handcuffed suspect.
‘Are you doing OK?’ I asked.
‘It’s hard,’ Grate replied.
‘Can we get you something to drink?’
‘I’d like some coffee, whenever.’
As Grate recited his order (cream and sugar), I thought I saw tears welling in his eyes.
‘All right, bud, all right,’ I said in a soft voice, eager to forge a connection. ‘We’re going through a lot, OK. A whole lot.’
He started to talk.
Grate claimed his troubles began when his mother abandoned him and his older brother when they were 11 and 13.
Within hours, Grate admitted to kidnapping Elizabeth Griffith. He told me that she was in a closet in an upstairs bedroom of the house where Jane Doe had been rescued.
‘I come home from school, and she’s gone,’ he said. ‘But I don’t blame her, I don’t. I used to, but… ‘
‘I’m sorry,’ I told him.
As my interrogation moved into its second hour, he opened up more about his dysfunctional childhood, abandonment by his mother and later his father.
Eventually, he confessed to the abduction and rape Jane Doe. But my job wasn’t over.
I suspected Grate might be involved in the disappearance of two other women – Elizabeth Griffith and Stacey Stanley Hicks.
Time was of the essence.
We could only speculate what their conditions may be.
If we were lucky, we’d find them alive.
‘I want to talk a little bit about some other stuff,’ I told Grate.
It was my way of setting the stage for a change of topic, as our conversation moved into the second hour.
‘Shawn, you want to be a stand-up guy. You try to be one. So, right now, I want to talk about some other things we are digging into.
‘We can’t find Elizabeth,’ I said.
The mention of her name provoked an immediate response and Grate refused to look at me.
‘Hey, look at me,’ I appealed. ‘I need your help. I’m not here to judge you. I’m going to ask for your help here.
‘Can you help me?’
At that moment, he locked eyes with me, I had him.
Several of these strange apparatuses were later found in other rooms of the house. As our investigation widened, more would turn up in trailers and campsites around the area.
A strange array of clothing hung from nails and stretched from floor to ceiling in a corner of the room. Beneath the strange mosaic was a pile of dozens of stuffed animals.
Within hours, Grate admitted to kidnapping Elizabeth Griffith. He told me that she was in a closet in an upstairs bedroom of the house where Jane Doe had been rescued.
‘[But] there is no closet in the upstairs bedroom,’ said an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s agent, who had joined the investigation.
We’d have to go back.
When police and BCI agents re-entered the house, the air inside was stale.
All the windows were shut tight and shaded by bed linens and odd lengths of fabric.
In the center of the upstairs bedroom, there was an open green fabric sofa bed.
The mattress was bare – no sheets, blankets or pillows. Articles of clothing were tied to the metal bedframe – possibly as makeshift restraints.
A putrid odor pervaded the space.
Against a wall, officers observed an odd-looking wooden pole with condoms attached to its tip. It was slender and long, measuring several feet in length.
Pictured: A forensic facial reconstruction of the victim Shawn Grate called ‘Dana.’
Pictured: A sketch drawn by Shawn Grate while being held at the Ashland County jail. Throughout his sentence, Grate sent various sketches to both fellow inmates and contacts in the outside world. In this sketch of a hand, he named five of his victims, with each person’s name extending from the fingertips.
Several of these strange apparatuses were later found in other rooms of the house. As our investigation widened, more would turn up in trailers and campsites around the area.
Grate later told me that he’d been using them on himself.
A strange array of clothing hung from nails and stretched from floor to ceiling in a corner of the room. Beneath the strange mosaic was a pile of dozens of stuffed animals.
If there was a hidden closet, it was here.
BCI agents, working quickly and methodically, removed the heap of toys and hanging clothes.
They discovered a can of air freshener, fly pupae on the floorboards and a dark, wooden door sealed shut with thick, black tape. Even the keyhole was covered.
When the door was opened, the fetid smell that poured out was overwhelming.
They had found Elizabeth.
The top of her head was pressed against the back wall of the closet, strands of her blond hair still visible.
Her legs were bent slightly upward, and her hands were behind her back as if they had been tied.
My heart sank. I felt helpless.
There was nothing I could do to save her.
My purpose would now be to give her – and all of Grate’s victim – justice.
In 33 hours of interrogation over a period of eight days, Kim Mager secured Grate’s confession to five murders, kidnappings, and multiple sexual assaults of women across Ohio.
He was given the death sentence in 2019 and is scheduled to be executed on March 19, 2025.
Extracted from ‘A Hunger to Kill: A Serial Killer, a Determined Detective, and the Quest for a Confession That Changed a Small Town Forever’ by Kim Mager with Lisa Pulitzer. Copyright © 2024 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
