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Serial Killer Documentary - This Serial Killer Kept Bodies In His Closet · The Evolution of Evil - True Crime Stories

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Homicide is the most serious of crimes. So why would
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: a man in police custody for abduction suddenly confess to
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: killing five women?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: She was right here.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: And all the blood flowed down.
• 0:19
  Speaker 4: It was just streaming right there.
• 0:23
  Speaker 5: The most shocking thing when you start watching that video
• 0:27
  Speaker 5: is how normal he looks, how average he looks.
• 0:30
  Speaker 6: How the conversation is so casual.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: How did a seemingly charming individual hide such a deadly secret?
• 0:40
  Speaker 7: He is so able to be trusted and so willing
• 0:44
  Speaker 7: to take women, you know, and have them believe him,
• 0:48
  Speaker 7: but then immediately turn on them and brutalize them and
• 0:52
  Speaker 7: rape them and murder them.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: We meet the people who came face-to-face with the killer within.
• 0:57
  Speaker 8: He would smile at times. He would gaze into my
• 1:00
  Speaker 8: eyes at times. Didn't seem to be bothered whatsoever by
• 1:04
  Speaker 8: admitting all.
• 1:04
  Speaker 9: Of his crimes.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: 911, what is the address to your emergency? North Street,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: laundry man.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: What's the problem?
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I don't know, Steve.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: On the 13th of September, 2016, a call to emergency
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: services in Ashland, Ohio, was the end of a reign
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: of terror for a serial killer who had got away
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: with murder for over a decade.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Who abducted you?
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: Sean.
• 1:40
  Speaker 8: Great.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: He had me tied up.
• 1:42
  Speaker 8: So you're tied up now?
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I kind of freed myself. Is he in
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: the same room with you?
• 1:48
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: Oh, shit.
• 1:52
  Speaker 7: Oh, shit. Oh, shit, they woke him up.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Over the previous 11 years, Sean Great had killed five
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: women and even lived with the bodies in his house.
• 2:07
  Speaker 8: Sean compartmentalized his crimes and how he would carry out
• 2:11
  Speaker 8: his everyday life very well. You would not have known
• 2:15
  Speaker 8: that this man had become a serial killer over the
• 2:18
  Speaker 8: past decade of his life.
• 2:20
  Speaker 9: You just wouldn't.
• 2:22
  Speaker 7: After every single kill he committed, he felt more empowered
• 2:26
  Speaker 7: to do it again because it reaffirmed his narcissism that
• 2:30
  Speaker 7: he was above the law, that he could do whatever
• 2:33
  Speaker 7: he wanted. Police weren't going to catch him. And by
• 2:36
  Speaker 7: the time he got to the fifth murder and was
• 2:38
  Speaker 7: never caught, he just truly felt like he was invincible.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Sean Great was born on the 8th of August 1976
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: in Mansfield, Ohio. He was the youngest of three children
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: and felt neglected by his mother.
• 3:05
  Speaker 10: Great, as one of the younger children, didn't appear to
• 3:10
  Speaker 10: have had the affections that he needed from his mother
• 3:15
  Speaker 10: and the attachment that was conducive for him.
• 3:20
  Speaker 7: Sean didn't start speaking until he was four years old.
• 3:23
  Speaker 7: And it could be that he knew his mother wanted that,
• 3:26
  Speaker 7: so he held out and didn't want to do it
• 3:28
  Speaker 7: because he knew that was something that she wanted out
• 3:30
  Speaker 7: of him. So even at a young age, Sean perhaps
• 3:34
  Speaker 7: was very manipulative.
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: There are lots and lots of children who don't speak
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: until quite late, especially boys. There are all sorts of
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: reasons why children don't speak. And it's quite often a
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: sign of something going on. And it could be that
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: not speaking got him attention that he wouldn't have got
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: had he spoken.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: Great himself was happy to admit that his family relationship
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: was dysfunctional.
• 4:08
  Speaker 7: No, I don't really.
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: Love my mom.
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there is a lot of hate.
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: And it's just been like a boyfriend and girlfriend hate.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: But it's a mom and son hate.
• 4:20
  Speaker 7: She withheld love and affection from him and was willing
• 4:23
  Speaker 7: to say things that were often brutally mean to him
• 4:27
  Speaker 7: because that was the way she felt about him. So
• 4:30
  Speaker 7: he felt that women felt that way about him in general.
• 4:33
  Speaker 7: And it actually led him to have these fantasies of
• 4:36
  Speaker 7: both killing his mother and then ultimately fantasize about killing
• 4:40
  Speaker 7: other women.
• 4:41
  Speaker 10: I think great early experiences of his relationship with his
• 4:47
  Speaker 10: mother during his formative years did have a significant effect
• 4:52
  Speaker 10: on his subsequent offending and his views of women.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Life outside the family home wasn't much better for Sean.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: In school, he had difficulties.
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: He was bullied and ostracised.
• 5:08
  Speaker 10: He went to a school for children with learning difficulties.
• 5:14
  Speaker 10: So what is also coming out quite early on is
• 5:18
  Speaker 10: early developmental issues. He was also diagnosed with ADHD.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: Many of Sean's early relationships were troubled. From the age
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: of 18, he was regularly reported to police for domestic violence.
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: This is a man who is a control freak.
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: He needs to control the women in his life to
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: every single thing they say and do. and he uses
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: multiple methods to control them, but he does find violence
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: a particularly effective tool that he's got in his box,
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: because he's quite happy to use violence. In fact, he
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: probably quite likes using violence.
• 6:01
  Speaker 7: In 1999, Sean Great was accused of threatening to kill
• 6:06
  Speaker 7: the girlfriend that he had been with at the time,
• 6:08
  Speaker 7: who was pregnant with his child. This is really significant
• 6:12
  Speaker 7: because it represents this escalation in violent behavior and actually
• 6:16
  Speaker 7: showing this attempt to act on it for the first time.
• 6:19
  Speaker 7: And it also shows this callousness where he was about
• 6:22
  Speaker 7: to have a child with this woman and he still
• 6:25
  Speaker 7: acted upon this internal impulse that he wanted to kill her.
• 6:29
  Speaker 7: And it really shows that nobody was too good or
• 6:32
  Speaker 7: too close to him to be spared of his wrath.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: Sean admitted attacking his former girlfriend and was put on
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: probation for five years. However, it still did not stop
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: his violence. In 2003, he was arrested again on two
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: counts of domestic violence.
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: We do know that there is a very strong association
• 6:58
  Speaker 5: between other offending and domestic abuse. If anything, domestic abuse
• 7:03
  Speaker 5: is where they test themselves out, what they... can get
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: away with, what they enjoy, how much control you can
• 7:12
  Speaker 5: actually exert over a person.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: One former girlfriend gave journalist Cassandra Nist an insight into
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: their relationship.
• 7:20
  Speaker 8: They dated, I believe, for seven months. And according to her,
• 7:25
  Speaker 8: she and Sean had a very violent relationship.
• 7:29
  Speaker 9: Sean would not let her go out.
• 7:30
  Speaker 8: Of the house without wondering where she was going and
• 7:32
  Speaker 8: he was adamant that she'd be back by a certain time.
• 7:35
  Speaker 9: They would get into these physical fights.
• 7:38
  Speaker 8: He would actually hide in the sofa of their apartment
• 7:42
  Speaker 8: and stalk her so he could gain a better perspective
• 7:45
  Speaker 8: of what she was doing all day. Literally would sleep
• 7:49
  Speaker 8: under the cushions in the sofa of their apartment. They
• 7:52
  Speaker 8: eventually had a domestic violence incident and she reported it
• 7:57
  Speaker 8: and that was the end of that relationship. She could
• 8:01
  Speaker 8: have very easily have been one of Sean's victims.
• 8:04
  Speaker 9: She's lucky to have gotten away.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: In 2006, when Sean met 23-year-old mother of two, Dana Lowry,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: it would be a turning point.
• 8:17
  Speaker 8: Sean told me that Lowry was selling magazines.
• 8:21
  Speaker 9: Door to door while he lived with his mother.
• 8:24
  Speaker 8: And he believed that his mother was not receiving her subscriptions.
• 8:29
  Speaker 8: When he confronted her one day, she offered to pay
• 8:32
  Speaker 8: half of the subscription fees if he'd pay the other half.
• 8:36
  Speaker 8: Sean thought, no, you're scheming me. This isn't gonna happen.
• 8:39
  Speaker 8: Sean did not like to feel like he was being
• 8:41
  Speaker 8: taken advantage of. So that day, Sean would bring her
• 8:44
  Speaker 8: inside of the family's home.
• 8:47
  Speaker 2: I turned her around.
• 8:49
  Speaker 8: She comes towards me.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: I knocked her hands around, knocked her whole body.
• 8:53
  Speaker 11: Around, and just grabbed her like she just meant.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: To be choked out.
• 8:59
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 9:00
  Speaker 8: I mean, it felt.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Right in my hands.
• 9:02
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: I set her back, laid down, and I actually laid
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: down and left her. We were laying down side by side.
• 9:16
  Speaker 8: Wow.
• 9:17
  Speaker 5: A strangulation is a particular type of assault. It's used
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: as a method of control.
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: I can let you look. I brought you back. No, see,
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: you do as you were told. You be compliant.
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: You do everything I tell you to do. And it's
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: probably one of the most effective methods of control that
• 9:39
  Speaker 5: there is. But this strangling, bringing back, it's more than
• 9:42
  Speaker 5: just control. It tells us he loves the control. This
• 9:46
  Speaker 5: is who he is.
• 9:47
  Speaker 6: She woke up. She woke up from the strangulation?
• 9:51
  Speaker 7: Downstairs.
• 9:53
  Speaker 8: Yeah, paintings. I didn't know what to do.
• 9:56
  Speaker 11: Grabbed a knife, kitchen.
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: You know, strangulation.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: For Sean Great it seemed like this was an escalating
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: pattern of behavior where he was getting.
• 9:57
  Speaker 7: Increasingly violent and willing to even act upon these violent impulses.
• 10:16
  Speaker 7: So for him, this first kill, he may have been
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: thinking about or planning for a long time, and it
• 10:23
  Speaker 7: may have actually even taken him by surprise that he
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: was able to finally do it. But it seems like
• 10:28
  Speaker 7: when he did, it felt for him to be a
• 10:32
  Speaker 7: release or positive in some way, because it certainly encouraged
• 10:36
  Speaker 7: him to keep doing it more often in the future.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: The murder of Dana was just the start of things
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: to come. Sean Great had discovered the killer within.
• 10:47
  Speaker 8: When I asked him why he stabbed her in the throat,
• 10:49
  Speaker 8: he said, I had to do it quick.
• 10:52
  Speaker 9: We had company coming over. This would be.
• 10:54
  Speaker 8: The only victim that Sean did not choke to death.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: In 2005, Sean Great had dumped the body of 23-year-old
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Dana Lowry on Victory Road in Marion County, Ohio. When
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: she was found two years later, police had no clues
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: to her identity.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: So the unnamed victim in Marion, I personally started to
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: look at the list of missing people in Ohio to
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: try and figure out who this person was. I think
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: there were a lot of law enforcement officers in the
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: state that were doing the same thing.
• 11:38
  Speaker 7: Part of the rush of being a serial killer is
• 11:41
  Speaker 7: both in the act itself, as well as reliving it
• 11:44
  Speaker 7: in their minds, but also in the thrill that comes
• 11:47
  Speaker 7: with getting away with it. For the serial killer, like Sean,
• 11:51
  Speaker 7: each time they get away with it, It's just a
• 11:54
  Speaker 7: reaffirmation that this feels good, this is something that he
• 11:57
  Speaker 7: enjoys doing, and he's so narcissistic he thinks it's because
• 12:01
  Speaker 7: he's above the law and he'll never get caught.
• 12:04
  Speaker 8: This is a man who was able to compartmentalize his
• 12:08
  Speaker 8: anger and his rage and his heinous crimes in one
• 12:12
  Speaker 8: side of his mind and go about his normal life,
• 12:15
  Speaker 8: everyday life, on the other times.
• 12:19
  Speaker 9: This is a man.
• 12:20
  Speaker 8: Who would open the door for your kids and you
• 12:23
  Speaker 8: wouldn't think anything of it. He didn't look evil by
• 12:26
  Speaker 8: any means. He was charismatic and charming.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: For the next five years, Great, now a father of two,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: was involved in petty crime and violence in the home.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: In 2011, he married and started a business making wooden signs.
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: Sean Bright was somebody who wanted elements of stability in
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: his life. He would have been a very difficult person
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: to be in a relationship with. That doesn't mean to
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: say he didn't want to have those relationships, but he
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: got married and his wife was pregnant very quickly, had
• 13:04
  Speaker 5: a baby in that first year of marriage, and by
• 13:06
  Speaker 5: the end of that year, she left him. That would
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: have actually been a really dangerous point for her. She's
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: really lucky that she got out.
• 13:17
  Speaker 9: His life started falling apart.
• 13:19
  Speaker 8: His marriage was ending, and he didn't have a permanent
• 13:22
  Speaker 8: residence after his divorce, so he was kind of floating
• 13:25
  Speaker 8: around from county to county, city to city. Sean Great
• 13:30
  Speaker 8: had multiple run-ins with law enforcement. He had drug charges.
• 13:35
  Speaker 8: He had went through a divorce. He had child custody
• 13:38
  Speaker 8: issues going on. He had a domestic violence case. I
• 13:42
  Speaker 8: don't know what was happening in his world, but it
• 13:45
  Speaker 8: was all coming to a head.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Great had lost custody of his children and his business
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: had closed. He was beginning to spiral out of control.
• 14:00
  Speaker 8: Sean did have a job at a box chain store
• 14:04
  Speaker 8: in Ashland, and he had recently been let go. He
• 14:08
  Speaker 8: was also known at this local soup kitchen. He was
• 14:11
  Speaker 8: a religious person who was going to church, and he
• 14:15
  Speaker 8: would frequent an apartment complex to play badminton, which is
• 14:19
  Speaker 8: how he met two of his victims.
• 14:22
  Speaker 9: So people did know him from around the way.
• 14:25
  Speaker 8: You know, the man who's always kind of just walking
• 14:27
  Speaker 8: around town here and there.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: By 2015, he had befriended 31-year-old Rebecca Lacey, who would
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: pay the ultimate price for Great's frustrations.
• 14:39
  Speaker 8: She was reported missing in 2015. Sean said that he
• 14:43
  Speaker 8: had known her for a while. Many people knew her
• 14:45
  Speaker 8: as an around-the-way kind of girl, and the.
• 14:47
  Speaker 9: Two were cordial. They knew each other.
• 14:54
  Speaker 8: According to Sean, they were at a bar one evening
• 14:57
  Speaker 8: playing pool together, and he had told Rebecca, I'll be
• 15:01
  Speaker 8: right back, I need to use the restroom.
• 15:03
  Speaker 9: In that moment, according to Sean.
• 15:06
  Speaker 8: He heard his wallet clip zip and noticed that $ 4
• 15:10
  Speaker 8: was missing.
• 15:14
  Speaker 9: And he choked her out and killed her.
• 15:17
  Speaker 8: Over $ 4.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Rebecca became Great's second victim.
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: Rebecca Lacey was found in a woods, I believe, and
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: they initially thought that she had overdosed.
• 15:38
  Speaker 5: Sean Gray is a narcissist, and what that means is
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: the whole world is as it applies to him. He
• 15:45
  Speaker 5: is the center of his universe, but he thinks that
• 15:50
  Speaker 5: he should be or is the center of everybody else's
• 15:53
  Speaker 5: universe as well. He sees women as something that he's
• 15:57
  Speaker 5: entitled to, but why aren't they responding to him in
• 16:02
  Speaker 5: the way that they should?
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: Why aren't they seeing him for the superior being that
• 16:09
  Speaker 6: he is.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: I think that he was able to get away with
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: things for so long because he is a charmer, because
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: he was a nice guy on the outside.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: Once again, Great had killed, and the police had no
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: idea there was a killer on the streets.
• 16:33
  Speaker 7: Having gotten away with murder for the second time, and
• 16:36
  Speaker 7: in this case, having the police actually rule it as
• 16:40
  Speaker 7: a non-murder death probably made Sean even more confident in
• 16:45
  Speaker 7: his own abilities, not just to commit murder and do
• 16:48
  Speaker 7: it with disregard for law enforcement, for the victims, but
• 16:53
  Speaker 7: also increase his own esteem over these abilities and make
• 16:57
  Speaker 7: him feel like he can do it again and again,
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: and that's ultimately what he ended up doing.
• 17:03
  Speaker 9: No one would have thought he would have been a murderer.
• 17:05
  Speaker 8: I can tell you point blank, he could have been
• 17:08
  Speaker 8: the person sitting next to you at lunch. He could
• 17:10
  Speaker 8: have been the man who opened the door for you
• 17:13
  Speaker 8: and your children going into a restaurant, and you would
• 17:15
  Speaker 8: have never suspected him hiding these crimes.
• 17:19
  Speaker 9: You just wouldn't have pegged him for that type of person.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: The following year, Sean Great started a new relationship with
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: 29-year-old Candice Cunningham. It followed the same pattern. Things started
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: off well, But yet again, it became fraught with domestic violence.
• 17:37
  Speaker 11: Candace, I tried.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: To keep her calm down a lot.
• 17:42
  Speaker 8: I didn't really mean to. June 2016. This is Candace
• 17:47
  Speaker 8: Marie Cunningham. This is a woman with whom he had
• 17:50
  Speaker 8: been dating for seven months. Sean had a very big
• 17:54
  Speaker 8: problem with her having suicidal thoughts and being a quote,
• 18:00
  Speaker 8: in his words, a pill popper. Leading up to the
• 18:03
  Speaker 8: day that he ended up murdering Candace, they had an
• 18:08
  Speaker 8: explosive argument.
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: I followed her for like three days.
• 18:13
  Speaker 6: And then I was like, oh, this.
• 18:16
  Speaker 7: Is.
• 18:17
  Speaker 5: I'm like, oh, okay.
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: So these past three days.
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: I mean, you just want me to finish you.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: You know, I grabbed her and that's when I choked her.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: She passed out.
• 18:28
  Speaker 3: I grabbed her from behind and passed out. I mean,
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: I was irritable. I had enough, I just finished her.
• 18:40
  Speaker 9: He ended up choking her out, setting the house on fire.
• 18:43
  Speaker 8: Then realizing he had to hide the body and he
• 18:47
  Speaker 8: went back in and dragged her out to the woods.
• 18:51
  Speaker 10: What seems to be a theme is that it feels
• 18:53
  Speaker 10: that these women are disposable. He can react in whichever
• 18:59
  Speaker 10: way he wants, but he has the ultimate power and control.
• 19:03
  Speaker 6: And no matter what that.
• 19:06
  Speaker 10: Argument would have been if Candice was equally sort of
• 19:09
  Speaker 10: trying to assert what she was trying to say, and
• 19:13
  Speaker 10: he was not having any of that. So again, possibly
• 19:17
  Speaker 10: to try and dominate that conversation, but also to try
• 19:21
  Speaker 10: and assert his authority.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: Sean Great had now taken the lives of three innocent women,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: but his killing spree was not over.
• 19:33
  Speaker 7: He only could kill more and more, and it never
• 19:35
  Speaker 7: really resolved this internal strife that Sean had inside him.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: It had been 16 months since Sean Great had murdered
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: his girlfriend Rebecca in Richland, Ohio, and dumped her boyfriend
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: in woodland. He skipped town and moved to the neighboring county, Ashland.
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: Shortly after he arrived, a local woman known to police
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: went missing.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: Elizabeth was kind of a regular. She wasn't a regular
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: in a bad way. She had just called us a
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: lot for neighbor issues and things like that. And we
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: were able to help her through some situations over the years.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: So many of us knew her pretty well.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: Sean had met 29-year-old Elizabeth Griffith when he arrived in
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: the town. They soon became close.
• 20:28
  Speaker 4: Elizabeth's relationship with Sean was just friends. They likely met
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: at the Kroc Center, the local community center, and I
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: think they just became friends.
• 20:43
  Speaker 7: The fact that Elizabeth was so trusting and almost childlike
• 20:47
  Speaker 7: in nature would make her a prime victim for him.
• 20:51
  Speaker 7: Something that he probably saw in her was her willingness
• 20:54
  Speaker 7: to trust others. I think that he saw that and
• 20:57
  Speaker 7: immediately used it against her.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: As was usual in Sean's relationships, it developed a violent
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: element where he would take control.
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: Elizabeth, right, when we were just joking, like, how she
• 21:10
  Speaker 3: wished she kind of would die, you know what I mean?
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: I was like, so, uh, hell yeah, I just feel
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: like this, you know.
• 21:15
  Speaker 7: What I mean? Like, I just.
• 21:20
  Speaker 8: Sean would get into situations with Elizabeth where he would
• 21:24
  Speaker 8: start choking her. And he would choke her to the
• 21:26
  Speaker 8: point where she said she wanted to live. And in
• 21:29
  Speaker 8: this instance, she just did not say she wanted to live.
• 21:33
  Speaker 8: So he choked her to death. I should have.
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: Forwarded it up to say that.
• 21:40
  Speaker 7: Right.
• 21:40
  Speaker 3: And she kind of just, like, wagged my hands and, like,
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: started flipping out and stuff like that to the point
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: where I had to just, like, grab her.
• 21:49
  Speaker 7: And I just.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: The most.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: Shocking thing when you start watching that video is how.
• 22:04
  Speaker 11: Normal he looks, how average he looks.
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: How the conversation is so casual.
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: You would think we were talking about the weather rather
• 22:24
  Speaker 5: than a horrific murder.
• 22:27
  Speaker 9: He stripped her of her clothes.
• 22:29
  Speaker 8: He hogtied her and buried her in the bottom of
• 22:32
  Speaker 8: a closet on the second floor of the home he
• 22:34
  Speaker 8: was squatting in. Even went to the great length of
• 22:37
  Speaker 8: duct taping the door frame sealed off all the way
• 22:39
  Speaker 8: around the door so the smell would not get out.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth had last been seen on the 16th of August.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Police and her family were anxious to find her.
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: When she went missing, we were actively looking for her.
• 22:57
  Speaker 4: We were interviewing city transit drivers and just doing anything
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: we could to help try and locate her because we
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: knew that her missing, there was something off.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Griffith's body was in a closet in the rundown
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: house on Covert Court where Sean Great was living. He
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: didn't run. He stayed in the house. 23 days after
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth's disappearance, police were still searching for her when another
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: local woman, Stacey Stanley, was reported missing.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Stacey, I'm still thinking about this. What went wrong exactly
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: with Stacey and I?
• 23:44
  Speaker 4: I had heard rumblings that she was last seen at
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: RBP in Ashland. We were actively looking. I didn't know
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: anything about her. I just knew that she had come
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: to Ashland and her family last heard from her at
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: that BP station. And after that, she went missing.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: It was a chance encounter that gave Great the opportunity
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: to kill again.
• 24:13
  Speaker 8: Stacy had pulled into a gas station for a flat tire,
• 24:18
  Speaker 8: and Sean Great happened to be walking in the area.
• 24:21
  Speaker 9: And this was a crime of coincidence, really.
• 24:26
  Speaker 8: He didn't know Stacy very well. It was a crime of, oh,
• 24:30
  Speaker 8: here's a victim. I can make this happen. So he
• 24:32
  Speaker 8: helps her change the tire. They drive off, and she
• 24:36
  Speaker 8: is choked out, murdered, and left in the basement of
• 24:40
  Speaker 8: the home Sean was squatting in. There was no personal
• 24:43
  Speaker 8: connection with Stacey, period.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Stacey entered the house in covert court. She didn't come
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: out alive.
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: But I do remember when she grabbed her mace and
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: she was.
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: Missing me the first time.
• 25:02
  Speaker 7: And then.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: I turned her around, put her on the bed.
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: She did do this backhand and kind of got me.
• 25:14
  Speaker 10: I'll spray again.
• 25:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, she sprayed me again.
• 25:16
  Speaker 4: It was a good shot, you know what I mean?
• 25:20
  Speaker 10: But just, dang.
• 25:23
  Speaker 9: I just lost it. And then I just turned her around, right?
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: Did pretty much the same thing.
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: I just clenched on.
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: Did not let go.
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: The same hold, up, back, and then pushing her head down.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: Like, same thing.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: The way that he described killing Stacy was just so mechanical.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: He kept holding on to her neck so she couldn't
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: breathe because he wanted.
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: To make sure she was dead.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: The remains of two missing women were now at the
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: house Sean Great was using. He had murdered five women.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Once again, Sean continued with his life, charming acquaintances. He
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: made another new friend, also a friend of Elizabeth Griffith.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: The three had previously played badminton together. It seemed she
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: found Sean's wholesome, trustworthy appearance charming.
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: He told me that they had met at one of
• 26:42
  Speaker 4: our local community centers, and he told me that they
• 26:47
  Speaker 4: had talked about marriage, that they were friends for a
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: few weeks, and they would get into discussions about God
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: and how he has the philosophy that God created sin
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: because God created everything. So yeah, he said overall they
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: get along pretty well.
• 27:09
  Speaker 9: Sean said I wanted to marry this girl. This girl
• 27:12
  Speaker 9: was very religious.
• 27:13
  Speaker 8: She loved helping people, and I think that she was
• 27:16
  Speaker 8: helping Sean. He never had a bad thing to say
• 27:19
  Speaker 8: about her, and he certainly did not intend on hurting her.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: On the 11th of September 2016, Grape took his new
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: friend back to his home and kept her there against
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: her will.
• 27:37
  Speaker 5: She was kind of put in a position where he
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: was being really nice and he was being very manipulative
• 27:45
  Speaker 5: and she probably felt at some level, my gut is
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: telling me that there's something wrong with this guy.
• 27:52
  Speaker 6: She was right.
• 27:53
  Speaker 5: There was something wrong, although she couldn't actually put her
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: finger on it.
• 27:57
  Speaker 6: By the time it became very, very clear what.
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: Was happening, the door was shut and she was in
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: there and she knew there was no escape.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: Detective Kurt Dorsey was dispatched to the scene.
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: We got a call that there was a female that
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: was abducted and she was in a house near a laundromat.
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: I didn't think it was real at first because we
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: just don't have that sort of call typically in Ashland, so...
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: It just seemed like it was just unreal.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: How is she sleeping at?
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: In the bedroom.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: But you're at the laundromat?
• 28:49
  Speaker 7: No, I'm in the bedroom with him.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Sean Great was asleep beside her. She was desperate not
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: to wake him for fear of what he might do.
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: It's almost like watching a horror film, that sense of
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: anxiety as you're listening. And if you times that by 100,
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: that's what she was feeling when she's making this call.
• 29:12
  Speaker 5: And she's probably thinking, don't ask me another question. I've
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: already pushed this as far as I can. He's still asleep,
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: but that could change in an instant.
• 29:24
  Speaker 10: Oh, shit.
• 29:25
  Speaker 6: Oh, shit, I woke him up.
• 29:27
  Speaker 8: The 13th of September, 2016.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Police officers in Ashland, Ohio, had received a call from
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: a woman claiming to have been abducted. They didn't know
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: it yet, but her abductor had already killed five women.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Officers were racing to find the caller, but there was
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: a problem. They didn't know her exact location.
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: I couldn't find her, and I knew I needed to
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: find her. I came around the corner of the wrong house,
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: and looked towards the other house and I saw her
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: hand outstretched in the glass, a sight that I'll never forget.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: We all just ran to the door and I think
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: I would have went through a wall if I.
• 30:14
  Speaker 9: Had to to get to her.
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: I will never forget her face when she came to
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: the door. That's burned in my mind forever.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: The kidnapped victim was safe. Relieved, officers then went in
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: search of the man who had abducted her.
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: What is it?
• 30:44
  Speaker 7: I don't see it.
• 30:45
  Speaker 3: I don't see it.
• 30:47
  Speaker 10: Right.
• 30:47
  Speaker 11: You need to go over there.
• 31:00
  Speaker 4: We found great. He was in a bedroom. It was deplorable,
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: the conditions. I mean, it was dirty and disgusting. His
• 31:09
  Speaker 4: reaction when we first came in was somewhat groggy. And
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: once he came to and realized what was going on,
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: he was super nice and cordial. I mean, there was
• 31:23
  Speaker 4: no resistance whatsoever.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: Officers took Sean Great out to the patrol car, thinking
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: they were dealing with an abduction.
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: He was nice. I mean, it's crazy. He was very
• 31:37
  Speaker 4: cordial and nice. I was interviewing him for breaking into
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: a house and potentially sexually assaulting the victim that called.
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: His demeanor in the back of the police car was
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: very relaxed. At one point, he was actually cuffed behind
• 32:00
  Speaker 4: the back, and I had to walk away for a second.
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: And when I came back, he flipped his cuffs to
• 32:07
  Speaker 4: the front by slipping his legs through his arms, basically.
• 32:11
  Speaker 4: So he was very relaxed back there. Normally that would
• 32:15
  Speaker 4: be an issue, but with him, I felt comfortable in
• 32:19
  Speaker 4: just letting him continue to sit that way. I knew
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: that something bad had happened and this guy needed to
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: be treated well to build rapport for interview purposes and such.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Great was taken to Ashland Police Station and held in
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: custody for the abduction of the 37-year-old woman known as
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: Jane Doe.
• 32:42
  Speaker 4: I actually took Sean to the station, and he was
• 32:46
  Speaker 4: interviewed by one of our detectives, and I listened to
• 32:51
  Speaker 4: that interview from another room.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: During his interview with police, Sean Great revealed that if
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: they searched the house, they would find two missing women
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: they had been looking for.
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: How many before a lethal injection.
• 33:13
  Speaker 11: Who else?
• 33:15
  Speaker 10: Who else are we going to go find?
• 33:18
  Speaker 4: So I didn't find out that there were two dead
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: bodies in the house right away. And as information started
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: to come out, I was able to actually call the
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: on-scene detective and let him know that there was a
• 33:34
  Speaker 4: body upstairs in a closet. Then shortly after, as he
• 33:45
  Speaker 4: was continuing to talk, I was able to call that
• 33:48
  Speaker 4: same detective again and let him know that there would
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: be a body in the basement as well.
• 33:55
  Speaker 8: September 13th, we learned the identity of one of the women,
• 33:57
  Speaker 8: and it is Stacy Stanley. The Stanley family arrived to
• 34:04
  Speaker 8: the police department and were able to identify their mother's remains.
• 34:08
  Speaker 9: By tattoo and jewelry.
• 34:11
  Speaker 8: It's not till the next day that we learn the
• 34:13
  Speaker 8: identity of Elizabeth Griffith.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: The two local missing persons cases had been resolved with
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: the worst possible outcome. Finding Elizabeth in particular was difficult
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: for detectives.
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: Many of us knew her pretty well. A lot of
• 34:31
  Speaker 4: us at the police department took it hard that she
• 34:35
  Speaker 4: was killed in that way.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Once Great started talking, he didn't stop. In the interviews
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: with Detective Kim Major of the Ashland County Police, he
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: had more disturbing revelations.
• 34:54
  Speaker 8: Sean now is confessing not only to the crimes at
• 34:57
  Speaker 8: hand in front of everyone, Sean admits to three other murders.
• 35:04
  Speaker 7: Now he was telling officers that he was responsible for
• 35:06
  Speaker 7: the deaths of Rebecca, Dana, and Candace. He likely was
• 35:13
  Speaker 7: admitting to these other women's deaths in part because he
• 35:17
  Speaker 7: knew he was already going to prison for the first
• 35:20
  Speaker 7: two women that he admitted to killing. But he also
• 35:23
  Speaker 7: probably felt some sense of gratification, not just from feeling
• 35:27
  Speaker 7: like he could get this off his chest, that he'd
• 35:29
  Speaker 7: been carrying it around, but in a way, rubbing it
• 35:32
  Speaker 7: in the police's face that he had done this and
• 35:35
  Speaker 7: some of these women, they didn't even know that he
• 35:37
  Speaker 7: had killed.
• 35:39
  Speaker 11: Great was arrested after a woman he allegedly abducted called 911,
• 35:43
  Speaker 11: leading police to rescue her at an abandoned home. They
• 35:47
  Speaker 11: discovered two bodies at that scene and a third elsewhere.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: News of the arrest spread. Local TV producer Cassandra Nist
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: made her way to the Ashland County Jail to see
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: if she could speak with a serial killer face to face.
• 36:05
  Speaker 9: Sean decided to speak with the media.
• 36:07
  Speaker 8: I arrived to the jail armed with about 50 questions
• 36:12
  Speaker 8: that I wanted.
• 36:13
  Speaker 9: To have answered.
• 36:15
  Speaker 8: We had an idea of the number of people that
• 36:19
  Speaker 8: he had murdered, but that hadn't been confirmed, at least publicly.
• 36:24
  Speaker 8: We did not have names confirmed for some of those people.
• 36:28
  Speaker 8: We certainly did not know how he had murdered those people.
• 36:32
  Speaker 8: My main goal was to get him to confirm the identities.
• 36:37
  Speaker 9: Of these women.
• 36:38
  Speaker 8: But you want to believe that this man's gonna be
• 36:43
  Speaker 8: your type A villain, scary looking, creepy, kind of the
• 36:48
  Speaker 8: type of person that'll send.
• 36:49
  Speaker 9: Chills up your spine. That was not the case whatsoever.
• 36:54
  Speaker 8: I look up and Sean's standing there staring at me.
• 36:58
  Speaker 8: He had his glasses on, looked like he had just
• 37:01
  Speaker 8: woken up and gotten out of bed, but he was smiling.
• 37:04
  Speaker 9: He was in a good mood.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: The women murdered by Sean Great had one thing in common.
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: They were in vulnerable situations and they didn't suspect there
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: was anything sinister about him.
• 37:19
  Speaker 5: Sean Great would profile his victim first he would find
• 37:25
  Speaker 5: out what their vulnerable spot was. And that doesn't necessarily
• 37:29
  Speaker 5: mean a fragility. For example, with one of his victims,
• 37:34
  Speaker 5: he knew that she was incredibly religious. So he knew
• 37:38
  Speaker 5: if he engaged her in religious conversation, if he presented
• 37:42
  Speaker 5: himself as very religious as well, he was in.
• 37:45
  Speaker 6: He was in. That was his manipulation.
• 37:51
  Speaker 7: The common feature that we see across these women is
• 37:55
  Speaker 7: that they were very trusting and loving and it's in
• 37:59
  Speaker 7: a way exactly what Sean needed he didn't feel like
• 38:01
  Speaker 7: he had that earlier in life so you can understand
• 38:04
  Speaker 7: why he was searching it out but at the same
• 38:07
  Speaker 7: time turning that against them and using that trust that
• 38:11
  Speaker 7: they gave to him against them and using it to
• 38:14
  Speaker 7: kill them is just so important.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Great was reveling in the attention his crimes were receiving.
• 38:24
  Speaker 8: Often you'd see Sean sitting on his cot reading the Bible,
• 38:29
  Speaker 8: but when the 4, 5 and 6 o'clock news came on,
• 38:32
  Speaker 8: he would stand up and just stare.
• 38:33
  Speaker 9: At the television. He was watching his crimes be announced
• 38:38
  Speaker 9: to the world.
• 38:38
  Speaker 8: He was watching his reign of terror play out in
• 38:42
  Speaker 8: the media.
• 38:43
  Speaker 9: All channels just surfing all day.
• 38:45
  Speaker 8: I think that he truly enjoyed watching himself on television
• 38:51
  Speaker 8: and just the terror he has unleashed on this quiet
• 38:55
  Speaker 8: Ashland community. Now I'm starting to wonder if this is
• 38:58
  Speaker 8: all for self-gratification. And he's proud of what he's done.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: His enjoyment would soon come to an end. On the
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: 23rd of April, 2018, Sean Great faced trial in Ashland
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: County Courthouse for the murders of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith.
• 39:17
  Speaker 8: I will tell you, Sean is afraid of the death penalty.
• 39:20
  Speaker 8: The one thing he said to me in jail, I said,
• 39:22
  Speaker 8: are you afraid of what happens now?
• 39:24
  Speaker 9: And he said that he didn't want to be put
• 39:25
  Speaker 9: to death. He wanted to.
• 39:27
  Speaker 8: Do his time and spend the rest of his life
• 39:30
  Speaker 8: thinking about what he had done. He was very afraid
• 39:32
  Speaker 8: of the death penalty. He didn't want anybody injecting him
• 39:34
  Speaker 8: with anything.
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: On the 1st of June, 2018, Sean Great was sentenced
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: to death for the murders of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: But his time in court wasn't over. he had to
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: answer for the deaths of three other women, Candace Cunningham,
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: Rebecca Lacey, and Dana Lowry. It was showtime once more.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Great pleaded guilty.
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: Why be an average serial killer? Let's tell them about
• 40:08
  Speaker 5: a few more. Let's raise my status. Let's make myself
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: even more important. Let's try and get some kind of
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: title of worst serial killer ever. And the higher the
• 40:18
  Speaker 5: body count, the more important he becomes.
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: On top of his death sentence, Great was sentenced to
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: life without parole for the murders of the three other women.
• 40:29
  Speaker 9: I asked Sean.
• 40:35
  Speaker 8: Did you have any influences that may have triggered this
• 40:39
  Speaker 8: type of behavior? Had you watched violent news stories, violent
• 40:47
  Speaker 8: television shows that may have produced these violent tendencies within yourself?
• 40:56
  Speaker 9: Sean said no.
• 40:57
  Speaker 8: Sean flat out said, this is an out of character
• 41:00
  Speaker 8: behavior for me.
• 41:04
  Speaker 7: They often say that the people that you are interested
• 41:07
  Speaker 7: in later in your life are a reflection of your
• 41:09
  Speaker 7: relationships with your parents, and it does seem like there
• 41:13
  Speaker 7: was this replication of the relationship he had with his mother.
• 41:17
  Speaker 9: With these other women.
• 41:18
  Speaker 7: However, he was not able, either through his own willpower
• 41:22
  Speaker 7: or his own desires, to kill his mother, but he
• 41:25
  Speaker 7: certainly did take that out on the women that he
• 41:27
  Speaker 7: dated or just had an interest in.
• 41:30
  Speaker 5: People kill for different reasons. So Sean Great, why was
• 41:35
  Speaker 5: he killing women? I don't think the killing of them
• 41:40
  Speaker 5: was the moment of joy for him.
• 41:43
  Speaker 6: It was the control. It was the lead up.
• 41:45
  Speaker 5: It was the continued pressure to the neck and the
• 41:48
  Speaker 5: fear and the terror and the feeling of power that
• 41:51
  Speaker 5: it gave him.
• 41:53
  Speaker 8: So I asked Sean if he was remorseful about any
• 41:55
  Speaker 8: of his crimes, and he said he was about 50-50.
• 41:58
  Speaker 8: because some women he felt deserved it, some women he
• 42:02
  Speaker 8: felt he was helping.
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: Sean Great had got away with murder for years. Once
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: he was caught, it seemed he was happy to reveal
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: the killer within that he had been hiding for so long.
• 42:15
  Speaker 6: He's a narcissist. He loves the attention.
• 42:20
  Speaker 5: He's got his true place in life up on this
• 42:22
  Speaker 5: pedestal with everybody wanting information from him, wanting to know
• 42:26
  Speaker 5: why he did things, you know, wanting to get inside
• 42:28
  Speaker 5: his head. This is, all his Christmases come up once
• 42:31
  Speaker 5: really for him.
• 42:34
  Speaker 7: Sean always had these impulses that made him know he
• 42:39
  Speaker 7: could use his charm to get what he wanted. And
• 42:41
  Speaker 7: he was very aggressive from a very young age. But
• 42:44
  Speaker 7: once he realized and put this all together, that he
• 42:47
  Speaker 7: could charm people to give him initially what he wanted,
• 42:50
  Speaker 7: And when they no longer did it, he could use
• 42:52
  Speaker 7: violence and aggression to force them to do what he
• 42:55
  Speaker 7: wanted or to end their lives as punishment. It really
• 42:58
  Speaker 7: just combined to bring out this killer within him.
• 43:03
  Speaker 4: The only thing that I still wonder about this case is,
• 43:07
  Speaker 4: are there more victims? We hear from so many FBI
• 43:12
  Speaker 4: profilers that there are probably more victims out there.
• 43:19
  Speaker 7: So so