Shawn Grate Timeline Events relating to his murder/abduction victims are in red
November 1994: Arrested for assault charges in Marion
January 1996: Criminal damaging charge
January 1996: Disorderly conduct charge
1995: Shawn Grate graduated from River Valley High School in Marion, Ohio.
Between 1996 and 2005 in Marion County, Grate was charged repeatedly with misdemeanor charges involving aggression toward women: assault, criminal damage (he ripped a woman's shirt), aggravated menacing, phone harassment, violation of a protection order and domestic violence.
October 1996, Grate and a juvenile accomplice broke into a home by prying open a sliding glass door and stole jewelry and money, according to Marion Common Pleas Court records.
January 1997: Grate was convicted on a burglary charge in Marion County and sentenced to four years in prison, but he was granted judicial release after serving 180 days.
1997: Grate’s request for judicial release was granted and his sentence was commuted to five years of community control.
January 1, 1999: His facebook page claims he went to “Houston, Texes”. It’s unclear if he actually went there but he had to add that date and location himself (fb was not in existence in 1999).
February 1999: Drug abuse, unlawful restraint and assault charges
March 1999: Grate was found guilty of disorderly conduct, unlawful restraint and criminal trespassing. Two counts of aggravated menacing. Telephone harassment.
April 1999: violation of a protection order
Oct. 22, 1999: Marion County, Grate approached two women with a long butcher knife while they were in a bedroom, blocking the doorway and hitting the women several times. One of the woman tried to leave to call 911, and he physically restrained her while she was holding Grate’s minor child. This led to an indictment on two third-degree felony abduction counts and one first-degree misdemeanor child endangering count. He pleaded guilty to one abduction count and was sentenced to five years of probation. A second count of abduction and a child endangerment charge were dropped.
Sept 1999: Grate had a son with LB.
Dec. 22, 1999: Marion County, his judicial release in the 1996 case was revoked due to the abduction charge, and Grate was sentenced to the remainder of the four-year prison term.
2003: A woman who said she was the mother of his son reported she had been assaulted by Grate, according to a Marion County Sheriff's Office report. He told deputies they had argued and she scratched him.
Oct 2003: Two counts of domestic violence
Between 2003-2005: Grate lures a magazine saleswoman into his car, takes her to his house in Marion, Ohio and stabs her to death in his basement. He dumps her body on Victory Rd in Marion. A year later he becomes worried about DNA and returns to burn the body. He confessed to this murder after his arrest in Sept 2016 but could not remember the year it happened.
Dec 2005: Theft charge
Jan. 19, 2007: Crawford County, Grate was charged with misdemeanor counts of falsification, identity theft, obstruction, driving under suspension and false registration. For each of the five counts, he was sentenced to between 10 and 60 days in jail and required to pay fines ranging from $50 to $250.
March 10, 2007: A Jane Doe is found off Victory Rd. in Marion County. She has been stabbed to death and the body burned making her identification difficult.
2008: Richland County child custody case between Grate and LB.
July 7, 2009: Crawford County, Grate was charged with possession of marijuana and fined $50.
July 2009: Arrested by the Ohio Highway Patrol on a charge of failure to pay child support and failure to appear for review hearing.
May 8, 2010: Grate flipped his girlfriend over the foot of the bed and hit her in the face twice. Grate went on to grab her by the throat and sit on her, according to reports. Police said Grate allowed her to get up to wash her face, but then grabbed her again by the throat and told her not to leave the bathroom or he would "beat her face in." That's when police arrived and arrested Grate.
June 10, 2010: Crawford County, Grate was charged with first-degree misdemeanor domestic violence. After pleading guilty, Grate was fined $150 and was sentenced to 180 days in the Crawford County
Correction Center, but got 10 days off for good behavior.
Dec 2011: Grate Married ANB
Dec 2012: Grate divorced ANB
From 2012 to March 2016, Grate’s home address was listed as 165 Cliffbrook Dr., according to Richland County Sheriff and Mansfield Police Department records.
October 2012: Grate allegedly helped another suspect get away with shoplifting at a Dollar General on Lexington Avenue in Mansfield.
January 2013: Grate allegedly sent threatening texts to his ex-wife saying he was 'preparing for a grand finale.'
March 2013: Grate’s ex-wife, ANB, reported receiving threatening calls from him. Grate called his ex-wife at her place of work and told her, 'If I can't see my daughter then no one will,' a statement she took as a clear threat to both her and her little girl. The police report states Grate made the call because “she hasn’t given him any financial support since their divorce in December.” ANB had custody of the child and did not allow visitation, according to the police report.
April 2013: Grate’s ex-wife, ANB, was granted a domestic violence civil protection order preventing Grate from coming within 500 feet of her and their child.
August 13, 2013: Richland County, Grate pleaded guilty to charges of drug abuse, possession of drug paraphernalia and receiving stolen property. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail and fined $100 for each count.
April 2014: Grate was then charged with criminal mischief in when he allegedly wrote “cheese” on a woman's window.
July 15, 2014: Richland County, Grate pleaded not guilty to possession of drug paraphernalia, but the case was dismissed.
July 2014 to February 2015: Grate violated probation 4 times according to police records.
Nov 2014: Possession of drug paraphernalia charge.
2015: Grate started working at Mansfield’s Holiday Inn as “a maintenance man” according to his facebook page.
Feb 6, 2015: Rebekah Leicy is reported missing. She had last been seen Jan. 22, 2015 on 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] Street in Mansfield.
February 2015: Grate allegedly stole jewelry items from a woman. The police report listed her as Grate’s girlfriend at the time. When Richland Source News called the woman she denied knowing Grate.
March 16, 2015: The body of Rebekah Leicy is discovered in Ashland County behind a large tree on County Road 1908. Official cause of death is a drug overdose but manner of death is undetermined. There is evidence her body was dumped after death.
June 2016: Grate was kicked out of his 132 W. Second St. apartment in Mansfield for failure to pay rent. His girlfriend who lived with him at the time, Candice Cunningham, was also evicted.
June 2016: Grate allegedly murdered a woman and left her body in the woods behind 1027 Park Avenue East in Madison Twp, a burned out house in Richland County. He confessed to this when arrested Sept 13[SUP]th[/SUP], 2016. On Sept 19[SUP]th[/SUP], 2016, officials positively ID her as his girlfriend Candice Cunningham. She had not been reported missing.
June 20, 2016: The landlord who kicked Grate out of the Second St apartment had his truck torched. There were no suspects in the arson investigation.
June 20, 2016: Richland County, a sheriff's deputy stopped Grate for suspicious behavior. He was wanted on a felony child support warrant. As the officer was relaying Grate's social security number to a dispatcher, Grate began to run and would not stop despite multiple requests. The officer attempted to stun Grate, but did not hit him. Grate escaped, but in the process lost his shoes, which the sheriff's department kept as evidence.
June 2016: Charge of obstructing official business
June 20-21, 2016: House fire at 1027 Park Avenue East in Madison Township
August 16, 2016: Elizabeth Griffith disappeared from a Walmart/ALDI parking lot in Ashland
Sept. 8, 2016: Stacey Stanley had a flat tire at the BP station and subsequently disappeared. She was last seen with a man fitting Grate’s description helping her with the tire.
Sept. 11, 2016: Grate allegedly took a woman against her will and held her in a bedroom at 363 Covert Court in Ashland, across from the Fourth Street Laundromat.
Sept. 13, 2016: The woman held at 363 Covert Court in Ashland got free from her restraints and called 911. She was rescued and in the process of processing the scene, LE found 2 dead bodies. One of those bodies was confirmed to be Stacey Stanley.
Sept. 15, 2016: Grate was charged with 2 counts of Murder and 1 count of kidnapping in Ashland County. He is accused of murdering Elizabeth Griffith (AKA “Mary Doe” in court records) sometime between August 16[SUP]th[/SUP] and Sept 13[SUP]th[/SUP] and murdering Stacey Stanley Between Sept 8[SUP]th[/SUP] and Sept 13. He is accused of kidnapping Jane Doe Sept 11[SUP]th[/SUP] and holding her against her will for the purpose of sex until Sept 13[SUP]th[/SUP] when he was arrested.
Sept. 19, 2016: Grate pleads “not guilty” to 2 counts of murder and 1 count of kidnapping in Ashland County Common Pleas Court. He waives his right to a speedy trial.
Sept. 19, 2016: Officials positively ID the body found behind 1027 Park Avenue East in Madison Twp as Candice Cunningham. She was from Canton and had not been reported missing.
Sept. 19, 2016: Officials confirm they have re-opened Rebekah Leicy’s case as a murder investigation and that her death may be related to Shawn Grate.
Sept. 19,2016: The FBI confirms they are assisting in the investigation of Shawn Grate.
Other items of note without a date:
Court records indicate Grate has moved around a lot, with addresses on Woodbine Street in Bucyrus, on Curren Drive and East Fairground Street in Marion and West Second Street in Mansfield.
According to a case worker at Harmony House in Mansfield, Grate was a client there at some point in time. The case worker did not provide records to confirm.
According to Mansfield Baptist Temple Pastor Rob Kurtz, Grate attended the church on Stewart Road a number of years ago.
The house on Covert court in Ashland is owned by Pumphouse Ministries and was previously used with the house next door for men coming out of shelters, but had been vacant since March 2016.
Grate worked at Save-a-lot in Ashland at some point recently but lost the job. It was the last job he mentioned having at his bond hearing on Sept 15.
Grate owned a red car that was repossessed sometime around 2010.
Grate often borrowed his landlord's truck and car in 2015/2016 (the truck was the one torched in an unsolved arson June 20 2016).
anic:
