Arthur John Shawcross was born to Corporal Arthur Roy and Bessie Shawcross two months early on June 6, 1945 in Maine. Bessie took her son Arthur back to her sister-in-laws in Watertown, New York until her husband finished his military service. The family settled in Watertown along with many relatives, and the area where they lived was renamed Shawcross Corner due to the number of relatives that had settled there. He was a troubled youth due to claims of sexual abuse by family members. In 1968 he entered into the army and was sent to Vietnam, and his troubles escalated to new levels. Upon returning from Vietnam to Watertown he became more and more agitated and his troubles would soon catch up with him. In 1988 he was released from prison after serving fifteen years for the sadistic murders of two children in Watertown. Out on parole he was sent to Rochester to live after residents in two other communities objected to his presence. His troubles continued further with the killing of 11 women in the Rochester area between 1988 and 1990, before being arrested and sentenced to 250 years in prison. .
He plead not guilty by reason of insanity claiming he was sexually abused as a child, and had post traumatic stress disorder from his tour in Vietnam. Upon further investigation by psychiatrists and being put under hypnosis he was deemed sane and competent to stand trial. .
Shawcross's personality factors were determined early in his childhood according to his testimony. He was sodomized with a broomstick by his mother, and was made to perform oral sex acts on relatives and neighbors. He was also brutally sodomized by a stranger on his way home from school one day and this is believed to have played a part in his oral fixation and extreme rage against his victims. He was married and had a son, but the marriage lasted only 4 years. He was then sent to Vietnam where his "animal" instincts really came out.
