It started with a whisper. A woman, terrified and trapped, managed to dial 911 while her captor slept just feet away. "I’ve been abducted," she breathed into the phone. That call on September 13, 2016, didn't just save one life. It ripped the lid off a decade of horror. Police swarmed a seemingly abandoned house on Covert Court in Ashland, Ohio, and what they found inside turned Shawn Grate serial killer into a name that still makes locals shiver.
Grate wasn't some shadowy figure hiding in the woods. He was a drifter, sure, but people knew him. He was a "charmer." That’s the word you hear most. He’d hang out at the Salvation Army, talk about the Bible, and play tennis at the local park. He had this way of making people feel comfortable, right up until the moment he didn't.
The Night the Secret Unraveled
When the Ashland police kicked in the door of that house, they weren't just looking for one woman. They were walking into a graveyard. The survivor, known in court as Jane Doe, was rescued, but the search was only beginning. In a bedroom closet, hidden under a mountain of clothes and bedding, was the body of 29-year-old Elizabeth Griffith. She’d been missing for a month.
Then they went to the basement.
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Under a pile of trash, they found Stacey Stanley. She had disappeared just days earlier after getting a flat tire at a BP station. Her family had been frantically searching for her, unaware she was being held just blocks away. Grate didn't stop there. Once he was in custody, the "charmer" started talking. He led investigators to a third body in Richland County—Candice Cunningham—buried behind a house that had burned down.
A Trail of Victims Across Ohio
Grate’s confessions were chilling because they were so casual. He talked about these women like they were obstacles or "problems."
- Dana Lowrey (2006): His first known victim. For 13 years, she was an unidentified "Jane Doe" found in Marion County. Grate admitted to killing her because he was upset with her. She was a mother of two from Louisiana.
- Rebekah Leicy (2015): Her death was originally ruled a drug overdose. Grate later admitted he strangled her because she allegedly stole $4 from him.
- Candice Cunningham (2016): She had an on-and-off relationship with Grate for five years. He killed her in June, just months before his arrest.
Honestly, it’s the randomness that gets you. A woman with a flat tire. A neighbor he played Yahtzee with. He preyed on vulnerability. If you were in a tough spot, Shawn Grate was there with a smile and a Bible verse, waiting for the right moment to turn.
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Life on Death Row and the 2026 Appeals
By May 2018, the trial was in full swing. Grate actually pleaded guilty to 15 counts mid-trial, but the big ones—the aggravated murders—went to the jury. They didn't take long. He was sentenced to death.
Fast forward to today. It's 2026, and Grate is still sitting in the Ross Correctional Institution. If you think the legal battle ended with the sentence, you've clearly never followed a capital case in Ohio. Execution dates have come and gone. The most recent one, set for March 19, 2025, was pushed back.
Why? Because his lawyers are throwing everything at the wall. In a massive federal appeal filed recently, they claimed the original trial was a mess. They’re blaming "prejudicial pretrial publicity" and even claimed the judge was "sleepy" during the proceedings. It sounds like a stretch, but in the world of death penalty appeals, these details matter.
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The Investigation That Keeps Growing
Even now, there are questions. Detective Mickey Mager, who spent hours interviewing Grate, recently released a book titled A Hunger to Kill. She talks about the fear that there are more victims out there. Grate hinted at other cases in Delaware County. He even admitted he thought about killing his cellmates.
The reality is that we might never know the full body count. Grate provided enough detail to close five cases, but he was active for over a decade. He lived as a squatter, moving between abandoned properties in Ashland and Mansfield. These are the "hidden" places where people disappear, and for a long time, nobody was looking.
How the Case Changed Ohio
The legacy of the Shawn Grate serial killer investigation isn't just about the trauma. It changed how police in the region handle missing persons. There was a lot of heat on the department early on—Stacey Stanley’s family felt they weren't taken seriously when they first reported her missing.
- Cold Case DNA: The identification of Dana Lowrey only happened because of advancements in genetic genealogy. This case pushed Ohio to use these tools more aggressively.
- Squatter Awareness: The city of Ashland has become much more proactive about monitoring vacant properties. You can't just live in a "abandoned" house for months without someone noticing anymore.
- Victim Advocacy: The bravery of the survivor who called 911 has become a teaching tool for dispatchers and law enforcement on how to handle high-stakes kidnapping calls.
If you’re following this case, the next big thing to watch is the federal court's ruling on his latest appeal. It's likely to be denied, but it's the final hurdle before the state can actually carry out the sentence. Ohio is currently in a weird spot with executions anyway, as they haven't used lethal injection since 2020 and haven't officially cleared a new method.
To stay informed on the legal status, you should monitor the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s offender database or the Ashland County Prosecutor’s public updates. These sources provide the most accurate timeline for his eventual execution or any further changes in his sentence.