Last year Ashland saw one of the biggest news stories in its history: the tale of Shawn Grate. 

Within a day the city of Ashland had gone from a small town in north central Ohio, to a location talked about on various national news outlets. 

The story of Shawn Grate had been in the makings for years, and was made public on Sept. 13, 2016, when a woman abducted called saying she had been kidnapped and Grate was asleep. 

Soon after, police showed arrived, arreted Grate and found the two bodies of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith. Later on, Grate led them to the body of Candice Cunningham in Richland County, and confessed to killing two others, Rebekah Leicy, and an unidentified victim in Marion County, who Grate believes to be named Dana.

Grate was said to have always been a charmer. He was known in high school for his big blue eyes and his smile. He was a popular man with the ladies, but behind closed doors, even in his earlier years, Grate was controlling and sometimes violent. His personality continued to grow with him through the years, he continued to be a charming man, but his want for control and his jealousy grew.

Grate had had multiple run ins with the law and spent time in and out of jail for things from burglary to domestic violence. Sadly, Grate would continue to add to his list of crimes until being stopped in September with a body count of five.

On Sept. 22 less than a week and a half after his arrest, Grate was charged. The list of 23 felony charges included things from multiple counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape, and burglary, among other crimes. Following the charges, Grate wrote a letter in jail and sent in on Sept. 28 to WEWS (News 5) in Cleveland stating why he killed his victims. 

“They were already dead, just their bodies were flopping wherever it can flop but their minds were already dead! The state took their minds. Once they started receiving their monthly checks,” Grate wrote in the letter. 

In an interview with Grate by Channel 19 in Cleveland, when Grate was asked if he was remorseful he said it was “about 50/50”.  

Exactly three months later, Grate’s attorneys filed a motion claiming insanity. In less than two weeks, on Jan 6. the verdict came back that Shawn Grate was found competent to stand trial. 

Grate is expected to stand trial on Nov. 6, 2017.