MANSFIELD, Ohio -- Apartment is too kind a word to describe the single room where Shawn Grate lived.
The tiny room at 132 W. Second St. was once just the sitting room of a two-story Victorian home. But for the suspected serial killer, it was a bedroom, living room, bathroom and woodworking shop for two years before Grate's landlord kicked him out earlier this year for refusing to pay rent.
According to landlord Jim Cristman, Grate was living with Candice Cunningham in the room no bigger than 8 feet by 15 feet. Cunningham is suspected to be one of Grate's victims; she has not been seen since late June.
There was no bathroom or running water; Cristman said Grate used a bucket as his toilet. The only electricity was from an extension cord run from the upstairs apartment. It appeared Grate used a space heater to heat his tiny quarters. The room has exposed red brick and a tall ceiling with curling, peeling white paint.
Cristman allowed the News Journal to see what he called the "deplorable mess" Grate left in the apartment this summer when Cristman kicked him out.
Last week, Mansfield police and Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Investigation removed most of Grate's belongings from the apartment as evidence, including three containers that held unknown property, the landlord said earlier. But even the few items investigators left behind paint a bizarre picture.
There's a hand-drawn symbol on a notepad of two fish pointing at each other, one with the word "Will" and the other the word "Way." Woodworking equipment, which Cristman said he bought for Grate, dominated the living area. Grate made wooden signs.
A clean, ceramic dinner plate with "Home Sweet Home," written on it sat on a table saw.
The room's only artwork was a photo of a woman in a red, white and blue, flag-like hat that had the words "vintage patriotic advertisement."
A stenographer's note pad dated "2/2015" listed "A Place to:" and "5year goal" at the top of a neatly printed, handwritten note, and at the top of the list said, "To make hand crafted signs."
There was a well-used, miniature countertop grill and an unwashed slow cooker on site, and the room smelled like cigarettes, with butts filling a brown glass ashtray.
"The last guy had it fixed up really nice," Cristman said of the room, which had several plastic bottles of acrylic paint on a workstation and several other spray paint cans.
The large, front windows to the Victorian two-story house were partially boarded up with plywood in Grate's apartment because of vandalism, and a large blanket covered the only other window in the hallway of the large residence, which at some point was divided into four apartment units.
Sawdust littered the room and its furnishings, yet there was evidence someone collected stuffed animals as a couple tattered stuffed toys sat atop a curio cabinet. Next to the cabinet sat a small grandfather clock. There was a pair of eyeglasses, and a prescription box for an inhaler dated 2/7/2015 from Rite Aid for Cunningham was in plain view.
Grate was indicted last week in Ashland County on 23 felony charges, including aggravated murder in the deaths of Elizabeth Griffith, of Ashland, and Stacey Stanley, of Greenwich, whose bodies were found Sept. 13 in a house on Covert Court in Ashland. He also faces kidnapping charges tied to a third woman who called 911 from the house, saying she had been abducted.
Since his arrest, Grate has been linked to the deaths of three other women in Richland and Marion counties. One of those women is suspected to be Cunningham.
Cristman said he saw Grate's attitude change.
"One day, he'd be fine and the next day he was like: 'Everybody's screwing me,'" Cristman said.
The landlord, who is still in shock over the situation, said he never saw Grate hit any women.
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Source: Mansfield News Journal