Serial Killer’s Ex Thinks There Were More Victims

Serial killer Shawn Grate and his then-girlfriend Christina Hildreth shortly after they started dating.

Investigation Discovery Serial killer Shawn Grate and his then-girlfriend Christina Hildreth shortly after they started dating.

Between 2006 and 2016, Shawn Grate murdered five women in Ohio. He was not caught until a survivor managed to alert authorities. Ahead of the Investigation Discovery special on Grate called Evil Lives Here, here’s what you need to know about how one survivor led to his arrest and eventual death sentence by lethal injection, plus how his ex-girlfriend thinks there were actually more than five victims.


The Survivor Managed to Call 911 While Grate Slept

In September 2016, a woman identified only as “Jane Doe” called 911. According to the Ashland Times-Gazette, the woman was kidnapped and repeatedly raped by Grate. When he was sleeping, she managed to take his cellphone and call the police, who rescued her and arrested Grate.

“I’ve been abducted … I’m in the bedroom with him … Please hurry, he’s got a taser,” said Jane Doe on the 911 call, which played on the ID special. “I’m scared, I’m afraid of waking him … Hurry, hurry.”

During the trial, the Jane Doe testified that she was there for two nights and that she was repeatedly assaulted throughout the two nights. She also described how she managed to call 911, how she had to “reach over him to try to find the phone” and “crawled down the length of the bed” to sneak away and call the police.

When Grate was arrested, two bodies were found in his house — Stacey Stanley, 43, was found in the basement, and Elizabeth Griffith, 29, was found in an upstairs closet. He confessed to three other murders and is currently on death row appealing his execution sentence.


His Ex-Girlfriend Thinks There Were More

Grate’s ex-girlfriend Christina Hildreth said in the ID special that she had unknowingly helped Grate clean up after his first murder — and she doesn’t think he only killed five women.

“I didn’t know he had killed anybody, I had no clue. But I helped clean up his crime scene. The overall thought of helping clean it up, that really does bother me. A lot,” said Hildreth in the ID special. “Learning that I had helped clean up his first crime was an overall shock.”

She added, “My own personal opinion — I honestly believe that there’s more. I don’t believe it stopped at five. I could have been one of the women he killed. I could have very well been in that lineup.”

“We were together almost six years. I knew something was off. He wasn’t completely normal, but I never expected murder,” Hildreth said. “At times, I do really feel like I should have known more. I should have been able to recognize more. I know I’m lucky … I know I’m lucky to have survived. Knowing what I know of Shawn, I know even in hiding, I’m really not safe,” she added, “Shawn needs to be punished for what he’s done, for everything he’s done to everybody. Shawn needs to die.”

ID’s Serial Killer Week airs from Sunday, August 30 to Friday, September 4 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Investigation Discovery.

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