Arthur Shawcross died in prison in 2008 – but his story did not die with him. A book released Tuesday provides chilling details of the rage behind the murder of 11 prostitutes.
“Why did I use my bare hands?” begins one of his letters. That serves as a warning that these details are not for everyone. But NBC has already purchased the rights for this book and like it or not, the writings are being made public.
Here’s the background. The book is called “The Serial Killer Whisperer” and it is the story of a 34-year-old man who became a pen pal to four serial killers, including Shawcross.
Tony Ciaglia, 34, says he was desperate when he first contacted 40 serial killers, writing to them in prison. At 15, he was struck by a jet ski while swimming. The severe injury first put him in a coma – then left him unable to control emotions, decision making and fits of rage.
Trying to learn more about his rage, while fearing it at the same time, fostered Ciaglia’s letter writing campaign. Since 2006 he’s amassed thousands of letters and more than 300 pieces of artwork from serial killers, including red palm prints of the hands of Arthur Shawcross.
Ciaglia’s book details an in-depth relationship with Shawcross and three others: Joseph Roy Metheny (AKA the “Cannibal Killer”), David Allen Gore (AKA the “Hill Street Killer), and Robert Christian Hanson (who murdered between 17 and 21 women.)
It is difficult reading which grows more graphic over time as the serial killers get more comfortable in their pen-pal relationship with Ciaglia. Details of some of the Shawcross letters can be found at www.serialkillerwhisperer.net
But the book is disturbing on another level. It wraps the ranting letters of serial killers with a story of how Ciaglia felt a “butterfly rush” as he picked up the letters from his P.O. Box (nicknamed the murder box) and how reading the return address to see which killer sent it made him feel “like a kid in a candy store.”
Wow. Here's a healthy dose of context.
I remember well the era when prostitutes began to show up missing, then dead. And the day Rochester police first declared the murders were the work of a serial killer. Before his identity was known he was called “The Genesee River Killer”, because of the locations along the river where many of the bodies were discovered.
I sat with many of the mothers and sisters of the women who were killed at the hands of Arthur Shawcross, and tried to help them tell their stories of loss.
After his imprisonment, Shawcross continued to invite controversy by trying to sell his artwork. There are laws to prevent killers from making a profit off their crime. Certainly his death prevents him from profiting from the publishing of this book, but someone is.
It also raises questions about viewer obsession with television shows “based on actual events.” (NBC reportedly purchased the rights to garner material for a Law and Order episode.).
And questions about the rights of the victim’s families to move on from the crimes that tear their lives apart.
Jane Flasch, Reporter
