Rochester, N.Y. - A scrap of the black seat carries the price tag of $110 dollars.
$1,100 for the metal “Celebrity” emblem.
The highest price item? A hubcap for $1,600 carrying the disclaimer, "only one will be sold."
All of the items are for sale at “Serial Killers Inc.,” an internet auction site filled with items tied to serial killers.
“Why would you want the car of someone who murdered people in that car,” asked Missy Adkins. She was an infant when her aunt Maria Welsh was killed by Arthur Shawcross.
“They were scared, Adkins said. "My grandmother had hopes that she was still alive.”
Arthur Shawcross was arrested and convicted for killing 14 women in the late 1980’s. He died in prison in 2008, but relatives said he continues to cause hurt from his grave.
Some of the victims were tortured and murdered in the car.
“All these girls, they had moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and families,” said retired investigator John McCaffrey. “No one should be able to profit from it.”
McCaffrey said the vehicle parts are authentic. According to a police report from January 3, 1990, Shawcross was sited and arrested driving the grey Chevy Celebrity near a murder scene.
McCaffrey was the first to spot the Chevy from a helicopter while searching the area of Salmon Creek, where the body of June Cicero was discovered.
“There was a grey celebrity on the bridge and the passenger door was open,” he said. “We followed it and identified Arthur Shawcross, who was on parole for murder.”
The car, a key piece of evidence, was sold to a scrap dealer after the trial and all appeals were exhausted. That dealer attempted to sell it on Craigslist last year, but said he didn’t get any real offers until this June.
The man who purchased it calls himself Paul Black. He told 13WHAM News he is a collector of all kinds of memorabilia including what he calls “Murderabilia.”
“I realize what happened to them was terrible,” he said of the victims. But he added, “It’s a part of history. The guns of Bonnie and Clyde were also sold at auction and they were used to kill cops.”
Asked who would buy these items, he said “Everyone has a dark side.”
Laws prevent killers from profiting from their crimes but these auctions are legal. Family members of the victims say that doesn’t make them right.
“Hearts were broken, children had their mothers taken from them,” said Missy Adkins. “It’s real bad memories and I don’t think people should be able to profit from it.”
