WEBVTT
1
00:00:03.310 --> 00:00:07.129
Homicide is the most serious of crimes. So why would
2
00:00:07.169 --> 00:00:11.359
a man in police custody for abduction suddenly confess to
3
00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:12.839
killing five women?
4
00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:14.740
She was right here.
5
00:00:16.260 --> 00:00:17.859
And all the blood flowed down.
6
00:00:19.079 --> 00:00:21.640
It was just streaming right there.
7
00:00:23.089 --> 00:00:26.969
The most shocking thing when you start watching that video
8
00:00:27.350 --> 00:00:30.309
is how normal he looks, how average he looks.
9
00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:33.770
How the conversation is so casual.
10
00:00:34.549 --> 00:00:39.579
How did a seemingly charming individual hide such a deadly secret?
11
00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:44.399
He is so able to be trusted and so willing
12
00:00:44.539 --> 00:00:47.460
to take women, you know, and have them believe him,
13
00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:52.390
but then immediately turn on them and brutalize them and
14
00:00:52.429 --> 00:00:53.590
rape them and murder them.
15
00:00:54.060 --> 00:00:57.920
We meet the people who came face-to-face with the killer within.
16
00:00:57.939 --> 00:01:00.700
He would smile at times. He would gaze into my
17
00:01:00.820 --> 00:01:03.979
eyes at times. Didn't seem to be bothered whatsoever by
18
00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:04.599
admitting all.
19
00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:05.019
Of his crimes.
20
00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:18.409
911, what is the address to your emergency? North Street,
21
00:01:18.450 --> 00:01:19.010
laundry man.
22
00:01:19.030 --> 00:01:20.890
What's the problem?
23
00:01:21.950 --> 00:01:22.829
I don't know, Steve.
24
00:01:24.939 --> 00:01:29.049
On the 13th of September, 2016, a call to emergency
25
00:01:29.090 --> 00:01:32.510
services in Ashland, Ohio, was the end of a reign
26
00:01:32.549 --> 00:01:35.430
of terror for a serial killer who had got away
27
00:01:35.469 --> 00:01:37.390
with murder for over a decade.
28
00:01:37.409 --> 00:01:38.750
Who abducted you?
29
00:01:39.689 --> 00:01:40.109
Sean.
30
00:01:40.359 --> 00:01:40.689
Great.
31
00:01:41.579 --> 00:01:42.560
He had me tied up.
32
00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:44.040
So you're tied up now?
33
00:01:44.060 --> 00:01:47.480
Yeah, but I kind of freed myself. Is he in
34
00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:48.459
the same room with you?
35
00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:49.280
Yes.
36
00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:51.299
Oh, shit.
37
00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:58.689
Oh, shit. Oh, shit, they woke him up.
38
00:01:58.769 --> 00:02:02.150
Over the previous 11 years, Sean Great had killed five
39
00:02:02.209 --> 00:02:05.170
women and even lived with the bodies in his house.
40
00:02:07.170 --> 00:02:11.360
Sean compartmentalized his crimes and how he would carry out
41
00:02:11.460 --> 00:02:15.039
his everyday life very well. You would not have known
42
00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:18.939
that this man had become a serial killer over the
43
00:02:18.979 --> 00:02:20.060
past decade of his life.
44
00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:21.099
You just wouldn't.
45
00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:26.780
After every single kill he committed, he felt more empowered
46
00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:29.949
to do it again because it reaffirmed his narcissism that
47
00:02:30.009 --> 00:02:33.129
he was above the law, that he could do whatever
48
00:02:33.189 --> 00:02:36.430
he wanted. Police weren't going to catch him. And by
49
00:02:36.449 --> 00:02:38.530
the time he got to the fifth murder and was
50
00:02:38.650 --> 00:02:42.099
never caught, he just truly felt like he was invincible.
51
00:02:54.590 --> 00:02:57.250
Sean Great was born on the 8th of August 1976
52
00:02:57.250 --> 00:03:02.259
in Mansfield, Ohio. He was the youngest of three children
53
00:03:02.659 --> 00:03:04.639
and felt neglected by his mother.
54
00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:10.449
Great, as one of the younger children, didn't appear to
55
00:03:10.490 --> 00:03:14.949
have had the affections that he needed from his mother
56
00:03:15.289 --> 00:03:19.240
and the attachment that was conducive for him.
57
00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:22.659
Sean didn't start speaking until he was four years old.
58
00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:25.620
And it could be that he knew his mother wanted that,
59
00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:27.939
so he held out and didn't want to do it
60
00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:30.680
because he knew that was something that she wanted out
61
00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:34.580
of him. So even at a young age, Sean perhaps
62
00:03:34.659 --> 00:03:35.919
was very manipulative.
63
00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:42.080
There are lots and lots of children who don't speak
64
00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:47.539
until quite late, especially boys. There are all sorts of
65
00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:51.699
reasons why children don't speak. And it's quite often a
66
00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:55.180
sign of something going on. And it could be that
67
00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:58.840
not speaking got him attention that he wouldn't have got
68
00:03:59.000 --> 00:03:59.759
had he spoken.
69
00:04:01.259 --> 00:04:04.819
Great himself was happy to admit that his family relationship
70
00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:05.939
was dysfunctional.
71
00:04:08.099 --> 00:04:09.080
No, I don't really.
72
00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:09.379
Love my mom.
73
00:04:09.419 --> 00:04:10.599
Yeah, there is a lot of hate.
74
00:04:11.219 --> 00:04:15.310
And it's just been like a boyfriend and girlfriend hate.
75
00:04:15.789 --> 00:04:18.310
But it's a mom and son hate.
76
00:04:20.220 --> 00:04:23.500
She withheld love and affection from him and was willing
77
00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:26.740
to say things that were often brutally mean to him
78
00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:29.740
because that was the way she felt about him. So
79
00:04:30.259 --> 00:04:33.220
he felt that women felt that way about him in general.
80
00:04:33.819 --> 00:04:36.740
And it actually led him to have these fantasies of
81
00:04:36.899 --> 00:04:40.790
both killing his mother and then ultimately fantasize about killing
82
00:04:40.850 --> 00:04:41.379
other women.
83
00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:47.689
I think great early experiences of his relationship with his
84
00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:52.269
mother during his formative years did have a significant effect
85
00:04:52.490 --> 00:04:55.870
on his subsequent offending and his views of women.
86
00:04:58.939 --> 00:05:02.540
Life outside the family home wasn't much better for Sean.
87
00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:04.759
In school, he had difficulties.
88
00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:08.100
He was bullied and ostracised.
89
00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:13.839
He went to a school for children with learning difficulties.
90
00:05:14.490 --> 00:05:18.310
So what is also coming out quite early on is
91
00:05:18.529 --> 00:05:23.889
early developmental issues. He was also diagnosed with ADHD.
92
00:05:25.089 --> 00:05:28.899
Many of Sean's early relationships were troubled. From the age
93
00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:33.100
of 18, he was regularly reported to police for domestic violence.
94
00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:37.220
This is a man who is a control freak.
95
00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:41.310
He needs to control the women in his life to
96
00:05:41.670 --> 00:05:46.149
every single thing they say and do. and he uses
97
00:05:46.470 --> 00:05:50.480
multiple methods to control them, but he does find violence
98
00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:54.639
a particularly effective tool that he's got in his box,
99
00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:56.860
because he's quite happy to use violence. In fact, he
100
00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:59.300
probably quite likes using violence.
101
00:06:01.579 --> 00:06:06.199
In 1999, Sean Great was accused of threatening to kill
102
00:06:06.379 --> 00:06:08.149
the girlfriend that he had been with at the time,
103
00:06:08.189 --> 00:06:12.319
who was pregnant with his child. This is really significant
104
00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:16.019
because it represents this escalation in violent behavior and actually
105
00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:19.439
showing this attempt to act on it for the first time.
106
00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:22.819
And it also shows this callousness where he was about
107
00:06:22.839 --> 00:06:25.079
to have a child with this woman and he still
108
00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:29.110
acted upon this internal impulse that he wanted to kill her.
109
00:06:29.430 --> 00:06:32.689
And it really shows that nobody was too good or
110
00:06:32.730 --> 00:06:34.689
too close to him to be spared of his wrath.
111
00:06:37.170 --> 00:06:40.529
Sean admitted attacking his former girlfriend and was put on
112
00:06:40.589 --> 00:06:44.790
probation for five years. However, it still did not stop
113
00:06:44.870 --> 00:06:49.149
his violence. In 2003, he was arrested again on two
114
00:06:49.250 --> 00:06:50.889
counts of domestic violence.
115
00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:57.759
We do know that there is a very strong association
116
00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:03.699
between other offending and domestic abuse. If anything, domestic abuse
117
00:07:03.740 --> 00:07:07.810
is where they test themselves out, what they... can get
118
00:07:07.889 --> 00:07:12.259
away with, what they enjoy, how much control you can
119
00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:14.120
actually exert over a person.
120
00:07:14.819 --> 00:07:19.040
One former girlfriend gave journalist Cassandra Nist an insight into
121
00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:20.139
their relationship.
122
00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:25.410
They dated, I believe, for seven months. And according to her,
123
00:07:25.790 --> 00:07:28.209
she and Sean had a very violent relationship.
124
00:07:29.139 --> 00:07:30.540
Sean would not let her go out.
125
00:07:30.459 --> 00:07:32.699
Of the house without wondering where she was going and
126
00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:34.899
he was adamant that she'd be back by a certain time.
127
00:07:35.550 --> 00:07:37.189
They would get into these physical fights.
128
00:07:38.149 --> 00:07:41.949
He would actually hide in the sofa of their apartment
129
00:07:42.069 --> 00:07:45.120
and stalk her so he could gain a better perspective
130
00:07:45.779 --> 00:07:48.660
of what she was doing all day. Literally would sleep
131
00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:52.699
under the cushions in the sofa of their apartment. They
132
00:07:52.750 --> 00:07:57.230
eventually had a domestic violence incident and she reported it
133
00:07:57.310 --> 00:08:01.029
and that was the end of that relationship. She could
134
00:08:01.050 --> 00:08:04.040
have very easily have been one of Sean's victims.
135
00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:05.959
She's lucky to have gotten away.
136
00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:13.610
In 2006, when Sean met 23-year-old mother of two, Dana Lowry,
137
00:08:14.029 --> 00:08:15.269
it would be a turning point.
138
00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:21.959
Sean told me that Lowry was selling magazines.
139
00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:23.639
Door to door while he lived with his mother.
140
00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:29.040
And he believed that his mother was not receiving her subscriptions.
141
00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:32.759
When he confronted her one day, she offered to pay
142
00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:35.590
half of the subscription fees if he'd pay the other half.
143
00:08:36.029 --> 00:08:39.049
Sean thought, no, you're scheming me. This isn't gonna happen.
144
00:08:39.549 --> 00:08:41.090
Sean did not like to feel like he was being
145
00:08:41.129 --> 00:08:44.149
taken advantage of. So that day, Sean would bring her
146
00:08:44.210 --> 00:08:45.750
inside of the family's home.
147
00:08:47.649 --> 00:08:49.409
I turned her around.
148
00:08:49.490 --> 00:08:50.809
She comes towards me.
149
00:08:50.830 --> 00:08:53.909
I knocked her hands around, knocked her whole body.
150
00:08:53.649 --> 00:08:56.649
Around, and just grabbed her like she just meant.
151
00:08:56.470 --> 00:08:58.610
To be choked out.
152
00:08:59.289 --> 00:08:59.669
Okay.
153
00:09:00.029 --> 00:09:01.909
I mean, it felt.
154
00:09:01.629 --> 00:09:02.429
Right in my hands.
155
00:09:02.450 --> 00:09:03.409
Okay.
156
00:09:03.690 --> 00:09:09.330
I set her back, laid down, and I actually laid
157
00:09:09.370 --> 00:09:14.529
down and left her. We were laying down side by side.
158
00:09:16.500 --> 00:09:16.899
Wow.
159
00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:23.210
A strangulation is a particular type of assault. It's used
160
00:09:23.389 --> 00:09:25.429
as a method of control.
161
00:09:25.450 --> 00:09:28.889
I can let you look. I brought you back. No, see,
162
00:09:29.149 --> 00:09:31.529
you do as you were told. You be compliant.
163
00:09:31.870 --> 00:09:34.730
You do everything I tell you to do. And it's
164
00:09:34.889 --> 00:09:39.149
probably one of the most effective methods of control that
165
00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:42.600
there is. But this strangling, bringing back, it's more than
166
00:09:42.659 --> 00:09:46.350
just control. It tells us he loves the control. This
167
00:09:46.529 --> 00:09:47.629
is who he is.
168
00:09:47.710 --> 00:09:51.799
She woke up. She woke up from the strangulation?
169
00:09:51.820 --> 00:09:52.240
Downstairs.
170
00:09:53.080 --> 00:09:55.159
Yeah, paintings. I didn't know what to do.
171
00:09:56.009 --> 00:09:57.129
Grabbed a knife, kitchen.
172
00:09:57.149 --> 00:09:59.789
You know, strangulation.
173
00:09:50.289 --> 00:09:52.230
For Sean Great it seemed like this was an escalating
174
00:09:53.070 --> 00:09:57.750
pattern of behavior where he was getting.
175
00:09:57.389 --> 00:10:16.379
Increasingly violent and willing to even act upon these violent impulses.
176
00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:19.740
So for him, this first kill, he may have been
177
00:10:20.139 --> 00:10:23.019
thinking about or planning for a long time, and it
178
00:10:23.059 --> 00:10:25.360
may have actually even taken him by surprise that he
179
00:10:25.419 --> 00:10:28.690
was able to finally do it. But it seems like
180
00:10:28.710 --> 00:10:31.470
when he did, it felt for him to be a
181
00:10:32.049 --> 00:10:35.990
release or positive in some way, because it certainly encouraged
182
00:10:36.009 --> 00:10:38.149
him to keep doing it more often in the future.
183
00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:42.639
The murder of Dana was just the start of things
184
00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:46.830
to come. Sean Great had discovered the killer within.
185
00:10:47.789 --> 00:10:49.750
When I asked him why he stabbed her in the throat,
186
00:10:49.830 --> 00:10:51.649
he said, I had to do it quick.
187
00:10:52.049 --> 00:10:55.070
We had company coming over. This would be.
188
00:10:54.950 --> 00:10:58.720
The only victim that Sean did not choke to death.
189
00:11:02.389 --> 00:11:07.169
In 2005, Sean Great had dumped the body of 23-year-old
190
00:11:07.230 --> 00:11:12.509
Dana Lowry on Victory Road in Marion County, Ohio. When
191
00:11:12.549 --> 00:11:16.279
she was found two years later, police had no clues
192
00:11:16.340 --> 00:11:17.360
to her identity.
193
00:11:17.980 --> 00:11:22.379
So the unnamed victim in Marion, I personally started to
194
00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:28.279
look at the list of missing people in Ohio to
195
00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:32.940
try and figure out who this person was. I think
196
00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:35.899
there were a lot of law enforcement officers in the
197
00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:37.720
state that were doing the same thing.
198
00:11:38.620 --> 00:11:41.279
Part of the rush of being a serial killer is
199
00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:44.610
both in the act itself, as well as reliving it
200
00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.590
in their minds, but also in the thrill that comes
201
00:11:47.629 --> 00:11:51.289
with getting away with it. For the serial killer, like Sean,
202
00:11:51.850 --> 00:11:54.309
each time they get away with it, It's just a
203
00:11:54.429 --> 00:11:57.529
reaffirmation that this feels good, this is something that he
204
00:11:57.610 --> 00:12:01.580
enjoys doing, and he's so narcissistic he thinks it's because
205
00:12:01.940 --> 00:12:04.100
he's above the law and he'll never get caught.
206
00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:08.399
This is a man who was able to compartmentalize his
207
00:12:08.620 --> 00:12:12.460
anger and his rage and his heinous crimes in one
208
00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:15.100
side of his mind and go about his normal life,
209
00:12:15.620 --> 00:12:17.590
everyday life, on the other times.
210
00:12:19.649 --> 00:12:20.750
This is a man.
211
00:12:20.730 --> 00:12:23.490
Who would open the door for your kids and you
212
00:12:23.509 --> 00:12:26.740
wouldn't think anything of it. He didn't look evil by
213
00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:29.440
any means. He was charismatic and charming.
214
00:12:30.340 --> 00:12:33.860
For the next five years, Great, now a father of two,
215
00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:37.570
was involved in petty crime and violence in the home.
216
00:12:38.529 --> 00:12:42.789
In 2011, he married and started a business making wooden signs.
217
00:12:43.870 --> 00:12:47.210
Sean Bright was somebody who wanted elements of stability in
218
00:12:47.289 --> 00:12:51.549
his life. He would have been a very difficult person
219
00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:53.940
to be in a relationship with. That doesn't mean to
220
00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:57.620
say he didn't want to have those relationships, but he
221
00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:04.120
got married and his wife was pregnant very quickly, had
222
00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:06.899
a baby in that first year of marriage, and by
223
00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:11.669
the end of that year, she left him. That would
224
00:13:11.690 --> 00:13:14.409
have actually been a really dangerous point for her. She's
225
00:13:14.470 --> 00:13:15.649
really lucky that she got out.
226
00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:18.799
His life started falling apart.
227
00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:22.500
His marriage was ending, and he didn't have a permanent
228
00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:25.080
residence after his divorce, so he was kind of floating
229
00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:30.379
around from county to county, city to city. Sean Great
230
00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:35.379
had multiple run-ins with law enforcement. He had drug charges.
231
00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:38.610
He had went through a divorce. He had child custody
232
00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:42.330
issues going on. He had a domestic violence case. I
233
00:13:42.370 --> 00:13:45.389
don't know what was happening in his world, but it
234
00:13:45.429 --> 00:13:46.470
was all coming to a head.
235
00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:57.080
Great had lost custody of his children and his business
236
00:13:57.100 --> 00:14:00.519
had closed. He was beginning to spiral out of control.
237
00:14:00.830 --> 00:14:03.990
Sean did have a job at a box chain store
238
00:14:04.730 --> 00:14:08.370
in Ashland, and he had recently been let go. He
239
00:14:08.509 --> 00:14:11.669
was also known at this local soup kitchen. He was
240
00:14:11.710 --> 00:14:15.409
a religious person who was going to church, and he
241
00:14:15.470 --> 00:14:19.100
would frequent an apartment complex to play badminton, which is
242
00:14:19.149 --> 00:14:21.220
how he met two of his victims.
243
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:24.720
So people did know him from around the way.
244
00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:27.399
You know, the man who's always kind of just walking
245
00:14:27.419 --> 00:14:29.559
around town here and there.
246
00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:35.529
By 2015, he had befriended 31-year-old Rebecca Lacey, who would
247
00:14:35.570 --> 00:14:38.549
pay the ultimate price for Great's frustrations.
248
00:14:39.710 --> 00:14:43.230
She was reported missing in 2015. Sean said that he
249
00:14:43.269 --> 00:14:45.110
had known her for a while. Many people knew her
250
00:14:45.169 --> 00:14:47.370
as an around-the-way kind of girl, and the.
251
00:14:47.289 --> 00:14:48.529
Two were cordial. They knew each other.
252
00:14:54.299 --> 00:14:57.659
According to Sean, they were at a bar one evening
253
00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:01.330
playing pool together, and he had told Rebecca, I'll be
254
00:15:01.370 --> 00:15:03.129
right back, I need to use the restroom.
255
00:15:03.690 --> 00:15:05.690
In that moment, according to Sean.
256
00:15:06.049 --> 00:15:10.429
He heard his wallet clip zip and noticed that $ 4
257
00:15:10.350 --> 00:15:10.970
was missing.
258
00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:16.600
And he choked her out and killed her.
259
00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:21.980
Over $ 4.
260
00:15:21.909 --> 00:15:24.750
Rebecca became Great's second victim.
261
00:15:25.570 --> 00:15:30.620
Rebecca Lacey was found in a woods, I believe, and
262
00:15:30.659 --> 00:15:32.929
they initially thought that she had overdosed.
263
00:15:38.570 --> 00:15:42.049
Sean Gray is a narcissist, and what that means is
264
00:15:42.470 --> 00:15:45.549
the whole world is as it applies to him. He
265
00:15:45.690 --> 00:15:50.309
is the center of his universe, but he thinks that
266
00:15:50.389 --> 00:15:53.389
he should be or is the center of everybody else's
267
00:15:53.490 --> 00:15:57.549
universe as well. He sees women as something that he's
268
00:15:57.629 --> 00:16:02.769
entitled to, but why aren't they responding to him in
269
00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:04.169
the way that they should?
270
00:16:04.250 --> 00:16:09.100
Why aren't they seeing him for the superior being that
271
00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:09.669
he is.
272
00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:14.389
I think that he was able to get away with
273
00:16:14.970 --> 00:16:18.970
things for so long because he is a charmer, because
274
00:16:19.070 --> 00:16:23.000
he was a nice guy on the outside.
275
00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:27.960
Once again, Great had killed, and the police had no
276
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:30.159
idea there was a killer on the streets.
277
00:16:33.990 --> 00:16:36.850
Having gotten away with murder for the second time, and
278
00:16:36.889 --> 00:16:40.519
in this case, having the police actually rule it as
279
00:16:40.580 --> 00:16:45.379
a non-murder death probably made Sean even more confident in
280
00:16:45.419 --> 00:16:48.879
his own abilities, not just to commit murder and do
281
00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:53.279
it with disregard for law enforcement, for the victims, but
282
00:16:53.419 --> 00:16:57.450
also increase his own esteem over these abilities and make
283
00:16:57.470 --> 00:16:59.470
him feel like he can do it again and again,
284
00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:01.710
and that's ultimately what he ended up doing.
285
00:17:03.730 --> 00:17:05.509
No one would have thought he would have been a murderer.
286
00:17:05.750 --> 00:17:08.059
I can tell you point blank, he could have been
287
00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:10.880
the person sitting next to you at lunch. He could
288
00:17:10.890 --> 00:17:13.099
have been the man who opened the door for you
289
00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.619
and your children going into a restaurant, and you would
290
00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:19.559
have never suspected him hiding these crimes.
291
00:17:19.619 --> 00:17:21.839
You just wouldn't have pegged him for that type of person.
292
00:17:23.019 --> 00:17:26.880
The following year, Sean Great started a new relationship with
293
00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:32.599
29-year-old Candice Cunningham. It followed the same pattern. Things started
294
00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:36.950
off well, But yet again, it became fraught with domestic violence.
295
00:17:37.210 --> 00:17:37.950
Candace, I tried.
296
00:17:39.710 --> 00:17:42.289
To keep her calm down a lot.
297
00:17:42.309 --> 00:17:47.509
I didn't really mean to. June 2016. This is Candace
298
00:17:47.549 --> 00:17:50.329
Marie Cunningham. This is a woman with whom he had
299
00:17:50.349 --> 00:17:54.700
been dating for seven months. Sean had a very big
300
00:17:54.789 --> 00:18:00.250
problem with her having suicidal thoughts and being a quote,
301
00:18:00.569 --> 00:18:03.710
in his words, a pill popper. Leading up to the
302
00:18:03.769 --> 00:18:08.009
day that he ended up murdering Candace, they had an
303
00:18:08.049 --> 00:18:09.009
explosive argument.
304
00:18:09.710 --> 00:18:11.170
I followed her for like three days.
305
00:18:13.490 --> 00:18:15.410
And then I was like, oh, this.
306
00:18:16.750 --> 00:18:16.890
Is.
307
00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:17.950
I'm like, oh, okay.
308
00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:19.509
So these past three days.
309
00:18:19.589 --> 00:18:21.710
I mean, you just want me to finish you.
310
00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:26.509
You know, I grabbed her and that's when I choked her.
311
00:18:27.630 --> 00:18:28.369
She passed out.
312
00:18:28.390 --> 00:18:30.930
I grabbed her from behind and passed out. I mean,
313
00:18:32.049 --> 00:18:40.279
I was irritable. I had enough, I just finished her.
314
00:18:40.660 --> 00:18:43.480
He ended up choking her out, setting the house on fire.
315
00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:47.569
Then realizing he had to hide the body and he
316
00:18:47.589 --> 00:18:49.210
went back in and dragged her out to the woods.
317
00:18:51.220 --> 00:18:53.359
What seems to be a theme is that it feels
318
00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:59.119
that these women are disposable. He can react in whichever
319
00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:03.089
way he wants, but he has the ultimate power and control.
320
00:19:03.910 --> 00:19:06.690
And no matter what that.
321
00:19:06.609 --> 00:19:09.789
Argument would have been if Candice was equally sort of
322
00:19:09.809 --> 00:19:13.369
trying to assert what she was trying to say, and
323
00:19:13.809 --> 00:19:17.349
he was not having any of that. So again, possibly
324
00:19:17.450 --> 00:19:21.539
to try and dominate that conversation, but also to try
325
00:19:21.579 --> 00:19:22.799
and assert his authority.
326
00:19:25.740 --> 00:19:29.619
Sean Great had now taken the lives of three innocent women,
327
00:19:30.140 --> 00:19:32.240
but his killing spree was not over.
328
00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:35.710
He only could kill more and more, and it never
329
00:19:35.789 --> 00:19:38.750
really resolved this internal strife that Sean had inside him.
330
00:19:42.690 --> 00:19:46.109
It had been 16 months since Sean Great had murdered
331
00:19:46.170 --> 00:19:49.970
his girlfriend Rebecca in Richland, Ohio, and dumped her boyfriend
332
00:19:50.420 --> 00:19:55.309
in woodland. He skipped town and moved to the neighboring county, Ashland.
333
00:19:56.269 --> 00:19:59.809
Shortly after he arrived, a local woman known to police
334
00:20:00.049 --> 00:20:00.730
went missing.
335
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:06.569
Elizabeth was kind of a regular. She wasn't a regular
336
00:20:06.589 --> 00:20:08.809
in a bad way. She had just called us a
337
00:20:08.869 --> 00:20:12.390
lot for neighbor issues and things like that. And we
338
00:20:12.490 --> 00:20:16.049
were able to help her through some situations over the years.
339
00:20:16.130 --> 00:20:19.759
So many of us knew her pretty well.
340
00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:25.440
Sean had met 29-year-old Elizabeth Griffith when he arrived in
341
00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:27.700
the town. They soon became close.
342
00:20:28.230 --> 00:20:33.700
Elizabeth's relationship with Sean was just friends. They likely met
343
00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:38.119
at the Kroc Center, the local community center, and I
344
00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:39.640
think they just became friends.
345
00:20:43.299 --> 00:20:47.869
The fact that Elizabeth was so trusting and almost childlike
346
00:20:47.940 --> 00:20:50.859
in nature would make her a prime victim for him.
347
00:20:51.019 --> 00:20:54.440
Something that he probably saw in her was her willingness
348
00:20:54.460 --> 00:20:57.329
to trust others. I think that he saw that and
349
00:20:57.509 --> 00:20:59.710
immediately used it against her.
350
00:21:00.289 --> 00:21:03.869
As was usual in Sean's relationships, it developed a violent
351
00:21:03.970 --> 00:21:06.029
element where he would take control.
352
00:21:06.049 --> 00:21:10.369
Elizabeth, right, when we were just joking, like, how she
353
00:21:10.410 --> 00:21:12.930
wished she kind of would die, you know what I mean?
354
00:21:12.950 --> 00:21:15.109
I was like, so, uh, hell yeah, I just feel
355
00:21:15.130 --> 00:21:16.069
like this, you know.
356
00:21:15.829 --> 00:21:17.490
What I mean? Like, I just.
357
00:21:20.660 --> 00:21:24.099
Sean would get into situations with Elizabeth where he would
358
00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:26.900
start choking her. And he would choke her to the
359
00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:29.640
point where she said she wanted to live. And in
360
00:21:29.700 --> 00:21:32.890
this instance, she just did not say she wanted to live.
361
00:21:33.109 --> 00:21:38.450
So he choked her to death. I should have.
362
00:21:38.410 --> 00:21:40.230
Forwarded it up to say that.
363
00:21:40.329 --> 00:21:40.690
Right.
364
00:21:40.890 --> 00:21:43.990
And she kind of just, like, wagged my hands and, like,
365
00:21:44.009 --> 00:21:46.390
started flipping out and stuff like that to the point
366
00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:49.019
where I had to just, like, grab her.
367
00:21:49.539 --> 00:21:49.900
And I just.
368
00:21:50.890 --> 00:21:52.890
The most.
369
00:21:52.380 --> 00:22:01.400
Shocking thing when you start watching that video is how.
370
00:22:04.059 --> 00:22:05.740
Normal he looks, how average he looks.
371
00:22:18.730 --> 00:22:21.769
How the conversation is so casual.
372
00:22:22.579 --> 00:22:24.700
You would think we were talking about the weather rather
373
00:22:24.740 --> 00:22:26.400
than a horrific murder.
374
00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:29.119
He stripped her of her clothes.
375
00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:32.299
He hogtied her and buried her in the bottom of
376
00:22:32.359 --> 00:22:34.299
a closet on the second floor of the home he
377
00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:36.980
was squatting in. Even went to the great length of
378
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.460
duct taping the door frame sealed off all the way
379
00:22:39.500 --> 00:22:41.779
around the door so the smell would not get out.
380
00:22:45.470 --> 00:22:48.839
Elizabeth had last been seen on the 16th of August.
381
00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:52.079
Police and her family were anxious to find her.
382
00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:56.839
When she went missing, we were actively looking for her.
383
00:22:57.559 --> 00:23:02.759
We were interviewing city transit drivers and just doing anything
384
00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:06.039
we could to help try and locate her because we
385
00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:09.680
knew that her missing, there was something off.
386
00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:15.009
Elizabeth Griffith's body was in a closet in the rundown
387
00:23:15.069 --> 00:23:19.069
house on Covert Court where Sean Great was living. He
388
00:23:19.130 --> 00:23:23.869
didn't run. He stayed in the house. 23 days after
389
00:23:23.930 --> 00:23:28.339
Elizabeth's disappearance, police were still searching for her when another
390
00:23:28.420 --> 00:23:31.559
local woman, Stacey Stanley, was reported missing.
391
00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:39.220
Stacey, I'm still thinking about this. What went wrong exactly
392
00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:40.230
with Stacey and I?
393
00:23:44.740 --> 00:23:48.119
I had heard rumblings that she was last seen at
394
00:23:48.289 --> 00:23:52.910
RBP in Ashland. We were actively looking. I didn't know
395
00:23:52.970 --> 00:23:55.569
anything about her. I just knew that she had come
396
00:23:55.609 --> 00:24:00.549
to Ashland and her family last heard from her at
397
00:24:00.609 --> 00:24:04.829
that BP station. And after that, she went missing.
398
00:24:05.829 --> 00:24:09.859
It was a chance encounter that gave Great the opportunity
399
00:24:09.930 --> 00:24:10.740
to kill again.
400
00:24:13.349 --> 00:24:17.309
Stacy had pulled into a gas station for a flat tire,
401
00:24:18.190 --> 00:24:21.500
and Sean Great happened to be walking in the area.
402
00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:25.720
And this was a crime of coincidence, really.
403
00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:30.559
He didn't know Stacy very well. It was a crime of, oh,
404
00:24:30.619 --> 00:24:32.789
here's a victim. I can make this happen. So he
405
00:24:32.829 --> 00:24:36.630
helps her change the tire. They drive off, and she
406
00:24:36.710 --> 00:24:40.490
is choked out, murdered, and left in the basement of
407
00:24:40.509 --> 00:24:43.869
the home Sean was squatting in. There was no personal
408
00:24:43.910 --> 00:24:46.250
connection with Stacey, period.
409
00:24:47.170 --> 00:24:51.049
Stacey entered the house in covert court. She didn't come
410
00:24:51.130 --> 00:24:51.789
out alive.
411
00:24:51.809 --> 00:24:57.720
But I do remember when she grabbed her mace and
412
00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:58.259
she was.
413
00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:02.059
Missing me the first time.
414
00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:03.500
And then.
415
00:25:04.819 --> 00:25:08.119
I turned her around, put her on the bed.
416
00:25:10.990 --> 00:25:13.430
She did do this backhand and kind of got me.
417
00:25:14.490 --> 00:25:15.410
I'll spray again.
418
00:25:15.470 --> 00:25:16.710
Yeah, she sprayed me again.
419
00:25:16.730 --> 00:25:20.690
It was a good shot, you know what I mean?
420
00:25:20.710 --> 00:25:22.650
But just, dang.
421
00:25:23.509 --> 00:25:27.779
I just lost it. And then I just turned her around, right?
422
00:25:28.359 --> 00:25:29.740
Did pretty much the same thing.
423
00:25:29.819 --> 00:25:31.700
I just clenched on.
424
00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:33.940
Did not let go.
425
00:25:35.099 --> 00:25:37.880
The same hold, up, back, and then pushing her head down.
426
00:25:38.900 --> 00:25:40.259
Like, same thing.
427
00:25:40.849 --> 00:25:46.049
The way that he described killing Stacy was just so mechanical.
428
00:25:46.069 --> 00:25:48.990
He kept holding on to her neck so she couldn't
429
00:25:50.349 --> 00:25:53.130
breathe because he wanted.
430
00:25:52.789 --> 00:25:55.269
To make sure she was dead.
431
00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:15.140
The remains of two missing women were now at the
432
00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:19.490
house Sean Great was using. He had murdered five women.
433
00:26:20.789 --> 00:26:25.509
Once again, Sean continued with his life, charming acquaintances. He
434
00:26:25.569 --> 00:26:29.029
made another new friend, also a friend of Elizabeth Griffith.
435
00:26:29.990 --> 00:26:33.970
The three had previously played badminton together. It seemed she
436
00:26:34.029 --> 00:26:37.740
found Sean's wholesome, trustworthy appearance charming.
437
00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:42.500
He told me that they had met at one of
438
00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:47.259
our local community centers, and he told me that they
439
00:26:47.380 --> 00:26:51.019
had talked about marriage, that they were friends for a
440
00:26:51.059 --> 00:26:56.079
few weeks, and they would get into discussions about God
441
00:26:56.200 --> 00:27:01.339
and how he has the philosophy that God created sin
442
00:27:02.359 --> 00:27:07.549
because God created everything. So yeah, he said overall they
443
00:27:07.589 --> 00:27:08.509
get along pretty well.
444
00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:12.339
Sean said I wanted to marry this girl. This girl
445
00:27:12.380 --> 00:27:13.420
was very religious.
446
00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:16.240
She loved helping people, and I think that she was
447
00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:19.279
helping Sean. He never had a bad thing to say
448
00:27:19.339 --> 00:27:22.450
about her, and he certainly did not intend on hurting her.
449
00:27:29.509 --> 00:27:33.190
On the 11th of September 2016, Grape took his new
450
00:27:33.250 --> 00:27:36.319
friend back to his home and kept her there against
451
00:27:36.359 --> 00:27:36.779
her will.
452
00:27:37.829 --> 00:27:41.190
She was kind of put in a position where he
453
00:27:41.230 --> 00:27:44.859
was being really nice and he was being very manipulative
454
00:27:45.099 --> 00:27:48.940
and she probably felt at some level, my gut is
455
00:27:48.980 --> 00:27:51.579
telling me that there's something wrong with this guy.
456
00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:53.000
She was right.
457
00:27:53.380 --> 00:27:56.400
There was something wrong, although she couldn't actually put her
458
00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:57.089
finger on it.
459
00:27:57.630 --> 00:28:00.369
By the time it became very, very clear what.
460
00:28:00.250 --> 00:28:03.410
Was happening, the door was shut and she was in
461
00:28:03.490 --> 00:28:06.230
there and she knew there was no escape.
462
00:28:18.660 --> 00:28:21.819
Detective Kurt Dorsey was dispatched to the scene.
463
00:28:23.700 --> 00:28:26.230
We got a call that there was a female that
464
00:28:26.269 --> 00:28:29.910
was abducted and she was in a house near a laundromat.
465
00:28:31.410 --> 00:28:33.750
I didn't think it was real at first because we
466
00:28:33.769 --> 00:28:38.259
just don't have that sort of call typically in Ashland, so...
467
00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:40.829
It just seemed like it was just unreal.
468
00:28:40.849 --> 00:28:43.910
How is she sleeping at?
469
00:28:43.930 --> 00:28:45.730
In the bedroom.
470
00:28:47.250 --> 00:28:48.369
But you're at the laundromat?
471
00:28:49.230 --> 00:28:51.230
No, I'm in the bedroom with him.
472
00:28:53.549 --> 00:28:57.259
Sean Great was asleep beside her. She was desperate not
473
00:28:57.319 --> 00:29:00.000
to wake him for fear of what he might do.
474
00:29:00.019 --> 00:29:03.799
It's almost like watching a horror film, that sense of
475
00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:08.150
anxiety as you're listening. And if you times that by 100,
476
00:29:08.150 --> 00:29:11.730
that's what she was feeling when she's making this call.
477
00:29:12.069 --> 00:29:16.119
And she's probably thinking, don't ask me another question. I've
478
00:29:16.359 --> 00:29:20.980
already pushed this as far as I can. He's still asleep,
479
00:29:21.079 --> 00:29:23.160
but that could change in an instant.
480
00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:25.059
Oh, shit.
481
00:29:25.079 --> 00:29:27.259
Oh, shit, I woke him up.
482
00:29:27.539 --> 00:29:31.079
The 13th of September, 2016.
483
00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:37.829
Police officers in Ashland, Ohio, had received a call from
484
00:29:37.890 --> 00:29:41.630
a woman claiming to have been abducted. They didn't know
485
00:29:41.670 --> 00:29:45.660
it yet, but her abductor had already killed five women.
486
00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.440
Officers were racing to find the caller, but there was
487
00:29:49.480 --> 00:29:52.740
a problem. They didn't know her exact location.
488
00:29:53.500 --> 00:29:56.099
I couldn't find her, and I knew I needed to
489
00:29:56.160 --> 00:30:00.089
find her. I came around the corner of the wrong house,
490
00:30:01.049 --> 00:30:03.910
and looked towards the other house and I saw her
491
00:30:03.970 --> 00:30:08.730
hand outstretched in the glass, a sight that I'll never forget.
492
00:30:08.750 --> 00:30:13.059
We all just ran to the door and I think
493
00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:14.839
I would have went through a wall if I.
494
00:30:14.819 --> 00:30:15.730
Had to to get to her.
495
00:30:25.309 --> 00:30:28.190
I will never forget her face when she came to
496
00:30:28.210 --> 00:30:31.910
the door. That's burned in my mind forever.
497
00:30:35.130 --> 00:30:39.630
The kidnapped victim was safe. Relieved, officers then went in
498
00:30:39.690 --> 00:30:41.880
search of the man who had abducted her.
499
00:30:43.940 --> 00:30:44.900
What is it?
500
00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:45.660
I don't see it.
501
00:30:45.700 --> 00:30:46.900
I don't see it.
502
00:30:47.019 --> 00:30:47.180
Right.
503
00:30:47.220 --> 00:30:50.500
You need to go over there.
504
00:31:00.509 --> 00:31:05.490
We found great. He was in a bedroom. It was deplorable,
505
00:31:05.670 --> 00:31:09.470
the conditions. I mean, it was dirty and disgusting. His
506
00:31:09.529 --> 00:31:14.549
reaction when we first came in was somewhat groggy. And
507
00:31:15.170 --> 00:31:18.390
once he came to and realized what was going on,
508
00:31:19.150 --> 00:31:23.029
he was super nice and cordial. I mean, there was
509
00:31:23.109 --> 00:31:24.809
no resistance whatsoever.
510
00:31:26.940 --> 00:31:30.480
Officers took Sean Great out to the patrol car, thinking
511
00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:32.200
they were dealing with an abduction.
512
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:37.200
He was nice. I mean, it's crazy. He was very
513
00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:41.769
cordial and nice. I was interviewing him for breaking into
514
00:31:41.829 --> 00:31:47.809
a house and potentially sexually assaulting the victim that called.
515
00:31:53.650 --> 00:31:55.670
His demeanor in the back of the police car was
516
00:31:56.170 --> 00:32:00.890
very relaxed. At one point, he was actually cuffed behind
517
00:32:00.930 --> 00:32:03.630
the back, and I had to walk away for a second.
518
00:32:04.009 --> 00:32:07.250
And when I came back, he flipped his cuffs to
519
00:32:07.289 --> 00:32:11.029
the front by slipping his legs through his arms, basically.
520
00:32:11.769 --> 00:32:15.430
So he was very relaxed back there. Normally that would
521
00:32:15.470 --> 00:32:18.990
be an issue, but with him, I felt comfortable in
522
00:32:19.029 --> 00:32:22.630
just letting him continue to sit that way. I knew
523
00:32:22.670 --> 00:32:26.690
that something bad had happened and this guy needed to
524
00:32:26.750 --> 00:32:32.700
be treated well to build rapport for interview purposes and such.
525
00:32:33.720 --> 00:32:37.000
Great was taken to Ashland Police Station and held in
526
00:32:37.079 --> 00:32:40.869
custody for the abduction of the 37-year-old woman known as
527
00:32:40.970 --> 00:32:41.650
Jane Doe.
528
00:32:42.380 --> 00:32:46.569
I actually took Sean to the station, and he was
529
00:32:46.650 --> 00:32:51.009
interviewed by one of our detectives, and I listened to
530
00:32:51.049 --> 00:32:52.750
that interview from another room.
531
00:32:57.910 --> 00:33:01.730
During his interview with police, Sean Great revealed that if
532
00:33:01.789 --> 00:33:05.109
they searched the house, they would find two missing women
533
00:33:05.170 --> 00:33:06.490
they had been looking for.
534
00:33:06.519 --> 00:33:12.279
How many before a lethal injection.
535
00:33:13.779 --> 00:33:14.190
Who else?
536
00:33:15.259 --> 00:33:16.339
Who else are we going to go find?
537
00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:20.579
So I didn't find out that there were two dead
538
00:33:20.619 --> 00:33:26.109
bodies in the house right away. And as information started
539
00:33:26.119 --> 00:33:29.849
to come out, I was able to actually call the
540
00:33:29.869 --> 00:33:33.990
on-scene detective and let him know that there was a
541
00:33:34.430 --> 00:33:44.680
body upstairs in a closet. Then shortly after, as he
542
00:33:45.019 --> 00:33:48.240
was continuing to talk, I was able to call that
543
00:33:48.279 --> 00:33:51.119
same detective again and let him know that there would
544
00:33:51.160 --> 00:33:52.829
be a body in the basement as well.
545
00:33:55.009 --> 00:33:57.690
September 13th, we learned the identity of one of the women,
546
00:33:57.730 --> 00:34:04.349
and it is Stacy Stanley. The Stanley family arrived to
547
00:34:04.769 --> 00:34:08.809
the police department and were able to identify their mother's remains.
548
00:34:08.989 --> 00:34:10.369
By tattoo and jewelry.
549
00:34:11.769 --> 00:34:13.809
It's not till the next day that we learn the
550
00:34:13.869 --> 00:34:16.079
identity of Elizabeth Griffith.
551
00:34:17.139 --> 00:34:21.139
The two local missing persons cases had been resolved with
552
00:34:21.179 --> 00:34:26.500
the worst possible outcome. Finding Elizabeth in particular was difficult
553
00:34:26.550 --> 00:34:27.389
for detectives.
554
00:34:28.030 --> 00:34:31.809
Many of us knew her pretty well. A lot of
555
00:34:31.929 --> 00:34:35.929
us at the police department took it hard that she
556
00:34:35.969 --> 00:34:37.690
was killed in that way.
557
00:34:41.099 --> 00:34:45.300
Once Great started talking, he didn't stop. In the interviews
558
00:34:45.340 --> 00:34:48.820
with Detective Kim Major of the Ashland County Police, he
559
00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:51.360
had more disturbing revelations.
560
00:34:54.030 --> 00:34:57.670
Sean now is confessing not only to the crimes at
561
00:34:57.710 --> 00:35:01.550
hand in front of everyone, Sean admits to three other murders.
562
00:35:04.639 --> 00:35:06.820
Now he was telling officers that he was responsible for
563
00:35:06.860 --> 00:35:13.570
the deaths of Rebecca, Dana, and Candace. He likely was
564
00:35:13.650 --> 00:35:17.690
admitting to these other women's deaths in part because he
565
00:35:17.829 --> 00:35:20.449
knew he was already going to prison for the first
566
00:35:20.590 --> 00:35:23.449
two women that he admitted to killing. But he also
567
00:35:23.510 --> 00:35:27.510
probably felt some sense of gratification, not just from feeling
568
00:35:27.550 --> 00:35:29.489
like he could get this off his chest, that he'd
569
00:35:29.510 --> 00:35:32.630
been carrying it around, but in a way, rubbing it
570
00:35:32.650 --> 00:35:35.050
in the police's face that he had done this and
571
00:35:35.130 --> 00:35:37.179
some of these women, they didn't even know that he
572
00:35:37.219 --> 00:35:37.639
had killed.
573
00:35:39.309 --> 00:35:43.679
Great was arrested after a woman he allegedly abducted called 911,
574
00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:46.980
leading police to rescue her at an abandoned home. They
575
00:35:47.019 --> 00:35:50.639
discovered two bodies at that scene and a third elsewhere.
576
00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:56.690
News of the arrest spread. Local TV producer Cassandra Nist
577
00:35:56.989 --> 00:35:59.650
made her way to the Ashland County Jail to see
578
00:35:59.710 --> 00:36:02.969
if she could speak with a serial killer face to face.
579
00:36:05.159 --> 00:36:07.219
Sean decided to speak with the media.
580
00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:12.320
I arrived to the jail armed with about 50 questions
581
00:36:12.949 --> 00:36:13.760
that I wanted.
582
00:36:13.530 --> 00:36:14.329
To have answered.
583
00:36:15.789 --> 00:36:19.630
We had an idea of the number of people that
584
00:36:19.730 --> 00:36:23.619
he had murdered, but that hadn't been confirmed, at least publicly.
585
00:36:24.440 --> 00:36:27.860
We did not have names confirmed for some of those people.
586
00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:31.360
We certainly did not know how he had murdered those people.
587
00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:37.699
My main goal was to get him to confirm the identities.
588
00:36:37.199 --> 00:36:37.800
Of these women.
589
00:36:38.170 --> 00:36:42.329
But you want to believe that this man's gonna be
590
00:36:43.369 --> 00:36:48.349
your type A villain, scary looking, creepy, kind of the
591
00:36:48.389 --> 00:36:49.650
type of person that'll send.
592
00:36:49.489 --> 00:36:52.699
Chills up your spine. That was not the case whatsoever.
593
00:36:54.389 --> 00:36:57.469
I look up and Sean's standing there staring at me.
594
00:36:58.849 --> 00:37:01.389
He had his glasses on, looked like he had just
595
00:37:01.460 --> 00:37:04.380
woken up and gotten out of bed, but he was smiling.
596
00:37:04.940 --> 00:37:05.980
He was in a good mood.
597
00:37:08.780 --> 00:37:12.619
The women murdered by Sean Great had one thing in common.
598
00:37:13.239 --> 00:37:16.909
They were in vulnerable situations and they didn't suspect there
599
00:37:16.929 --> 00:37:18.889
was anything sinister about him.
600
00:37:19.650 --> 00:37:25.280
Sean Great would profile his victim first he would find
601
00:37:25.619 --> 00:37:29.579
out what their vulnerable spot was. And that doesn't necessarily
602
00:37:29.619 --> 00:37:34.480
mean a fragility. For example, with one of his victims,
603
00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:38.420
he knew that she was incredibly religious. So he knew
604
00:37:38.440 --> 00:37:42.840
if he engaged her in religious conversation, if he presented
605
00:37:42.889 --> 00:37:45.429
himself as very religious as well, he was in.
606
00:37:45.909 --> 00:37:48.590
He was in. That was his manipulation.
607
00:37:51.869 --> 00:37:55.530
The common feature that we see across these women is
608
00:37:55.550 --> 00:37:58.969
that they were very trusting and loving and it's in
609
00:37:59.010 --> 00:38:01.809
a way exactly what Sean needed he didn't feel like
610
00:38:01.829 --> 00:38:04.389
he had that earlier in life so you can understand
611
00:38:04.469 --> 00:38:07.070
why he was searching it out but at the same
612
00:38:07.190 --> 00:38:11.429
time turning that against them and using that trust that
613
00:38:11.469 --> 00:38:14.519
they gave to him against them and using it to
614
00:38:14.599 --> 00:38:16.280
kill them is just so important.
615
00:38:20.199 --> 00:38:23.960
Great was reveling in the attention his crimes were receiving.
616
00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:28.829
Often you'd see Sean sitting on his cot reading the Bible,
617
00:38:29.230 --> 00:38:31.969
but when the 4, 5 and 6 o'clock news came on,
618
00:38:32.409 --> 00:38:34.269
he would stand up and just stare.
619
00:38:33.989 --> 00:38:38.079
At the television. He was watching his crimes be announced
620
00:38:38.099 --> 00:38:38.579
to the world.
621
00:38:38.619 --> 00:38:42.320
He was watching his reign of terror play out in
622
00:38:42.340 --> 00:38:42.800
the media.
623
00:38:43.449 --> 00:38:45.389
All channels just surfing all day.
624
00:38:45.969 --> 00:38:50.510
I think that he truly enjoyed watching himself on television
625
00:38:51.030 --> 00:38:55.010
and just the terror he has unleashed on this quiet
626
00:38:55.210 --> 00:38:58.309
Ashland community. Now I'm starting to wonder if this is
627
00:38:58.329 --> 00:39:01.829
all for self-gratification. And he's proud of what he's done.
628
00:39:03.809 --> 00:39:07.510
His enjoyment would soon come to an end. On the
629
00:39:07.650 --> 00:39:11.719
23rd of April, 2018, Sean Great faced trial in Ashland
630
00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:16.170
County Courthouse for the murders of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith.
631
00:39:17.170 --> 00:39:20.139
I will tell you, Sean is afraid of the death penalty.
632
00:39:20.260 --> 00:39:22.860
The one thing he said to me in jail, I said,
633
00:39:22.920 --> 00:39:24.380
are you afraid of what happens now?
634
00:39:24.440 --> 00:39:25.739
And he said that he didn't want to be put
635
00:39:25.780 --> 00:39:27.349
to death. He wanted to.
636
00:39:27.289 --> 00:39:29.869
Do his time and spend the rest of his life
637
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:32.380
thinking about what he had done. He was very afraid
638
00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:34.440
of the death penalty. He didn't want anybody injecting him
639
00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:34.960
with anything.
640
00:39:36.079 --> 00:39:39.969
On the 1st of June, 2018, Sean Great was sentenced
641
00:39:39.989 --> 00:39:43.889
to death for the murders of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith.
642
00:39:45.789 --> 00:39:49.030
But his time in court wasn't over. he had to
643
00:39:49.150 --> 00:39:53.300
answer for the deaths of three other women, Candace Cunningham,
644
00:39:54.300 --> 00:40:00.119
Rebecca Lacey, and Dana Lowry. It was showtime once more.
645
00:40:00.619 --> 00:40:02.119
Great pleaded guilty.
646
00:40:05.099 --> 00:40:08.719
Why be an average serial killer? Let's tell them about
647
00:40:08.739 --> 00:40:12.699
a few more. Let's raise my status. Let's make myself
648
00:40:12.860 --> 00:40:15.280
even more important. Let's try and get some kind of
649
00:40:15.380 --> 00:40:18.780
title of worst serial killer ever. And the higher the
650
00:40:18.820 --> 00:40:21.570
body count, the more important he becomes.
651
00:40:22.590 --> 00:40:25.610
On top of his death sentence, Great was sentenced to
652
00:40:25.690 --> 00:40:29.110
life without parole for the murders of the three other women.
653
00:40:29.130 --> 00:40:34.730
I asked Sean.
654
00:40:35.469 --> 00:40:39.909
Did you have any influences that may have triggered this
655
00:40:39.969 --> 00:40:47.110
type of behavior? Had you watched violent news stories, violent
656
00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:52.159
television shows that may have produced these violent tendencies within yourself?
657
00:40:56.619 --> 00:40:57.400
Sean said no.
658
00:40:57.960 --> 00:41:00.900
Sean flat out said, this is an out of character
659
00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:01.949
behavior for me.
660
00:41:04.070 --> 00:41:07.630
They often say that the people that you are interested
661
00:41:07.670 --> 00:41:09.610
in later in your life are a reflection of your
662
00:41:09.760 --> 00:41:13.079
relationships with your parents, and it does seem like there
663
00:41:13.099 --> 00:41:16.960
was this replication of the relationship he had with his mother.
664
00:41:17.199 --> 00:41:18.300
With these other women.
665
00:41:18.820 --> 00:41:21.920
However, he was not able, either through his own willpower
666
00:41:22.119 --> 00:41:25.059
or his own desires, to kill his mother, but he
667
00:41:25.119 --> 00:41:27.179
certainly did take that out on the women that he
668
00:41:27.219 --> 00:41:29.010
dated or just had an interest in.
669
00:41:30.489 --> 00:41:35.659
People kill for different reasons. So Sean Great, why was
670
00:41:35.860 --> 00:41:40.719
he killing women? I don't think the killing of them
671
00:41:40.960 --> 00:41:43.039
was the moment of joy for him.
672
00:41:43.480 --> 00:41:45.489
It was the control. It was the lead up.
673
00:41:45.590 --> 00:41:48.610
It was the continued pressure to the neck and the
674
00:41:48.690 --> 00:41:51.150
fear and the terror and the feeling of power that
675
00:41:51.170 --> 00:41:52.050
it gave him.
676
00:41:53.489 --> 00:41:55.860
So I asked Sean if he was remorseful about any
677
00:41:55.880 --> 00:41:57.449
of his crimes, and he said he was about 50-50.
678
00:41:58.909 --> 00:42:02.360
because some women he felt deserved it, some women he
679
00:42:02.460 --> 00:42:03.599
felt he was helping.
680
00:42:03.619 --> 00:42:09.679
Sean Great had got away with murder for years. Once
681
00:42:09.739 --> 00:42:12.340
he was caught, it seemed he was happy to reveal
682
00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:15.670
the killer within that he had been hiding for so long.
683
00:42:15.690 --> 00:42:20.070
He's a narcissist. He loves the attention.
684
00:42:20.110 --> 00:42:22.760
He's got his true place in life up on this
685
00:42:22.860 --> 00:42:26.469
pedestal with everybody wanting information from him, wanting to know
686
00:42:26.510 --> 00:42:28.949
why he did things, you know, wanting to get inside
687
00:42:28.989 --> 00:42:31.849
his head. This is, all his Christmases come up once
688
00:42:31.989 --> 00:42:32.820
really for him.
689
00:42:34.690 --> 00:42:39.250
Sean always had these impulses that made him know he
690
00:42:39.269 --> 00:42:41.429
could use his charm to get what he wanted. And
691
00:42:41.769 --> 00:42:44.369
he was very aggressive from a very young age. But
692
00:42:44.769 --> 00:42:47.489
once he realized and put this all together, that he
693
00:42:47.530 --> 00:42:50.170
could charm people to give him initially what he wanted,
694
00:42:50.699 --> 00:42:52.949
And when they no longer did it, he could use
695
00:42:52.989 --> 00:42:55.110
violence and aggression to force them to do what he
696
00:42:55.150 --> 00:42:58.409
wanted or to end their lives as punishment. It really
697
00:42:58.469 --> 00:43:00.769
just combined to bring out this killer within him.
698
00:43:03.690 --> 00:43:07.320
The only thing that I still wonder about this case is,
699
00:43:07.340 --> 00:43:12.019
are there more victims? We hear from so many FBI
700
00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:16.079
profilers that there are probably more victims out there.
701
00:43:19.550 --> 00:43:20.349
So so
1
00:00:03.310 --> 00:00:07.129
Homicide is the most serious of crimes. So why would
2
00:00:07.169 --> 00:00:11.359
a man in police custody for abduction suddenly confess to
3
00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:12.839
killing five women?
4
00:00:13.199 --> 00:00:14.740
She was right here.
5
00:00:16.260 --> 00:00:17.859
And all the blood flowed down.
6
00:00:19.079 --> 00:00:21.640
It was just streaming right there.
7
00:00:23.089 --> 00:00:26.969
The most shocking thing when you start watching that video
8
00:00:27.350 --> 00:00:30.309
is how normal he looks, how average he looks.
9
00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:33.770
How the conversation is so casual.
10
00:00:34.549 --> 00:00:39.579
How did a seemingly charming individual hide such a deadly secret?
11
00:00:40.759 --> 00:00:44.399
He is so able to be trusted and so willing
12
00:00:44.539 --> 00:00:47.460
to take women, you know, and have them believe him,
13
00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:52.390
but then immediately turn on them and brutalize them and
14
00:00:52.429 --> 00:00:53.590
rape them and murder them.
15
00:00:54.060 --> 00:00:57.920
We meet the people who came face-to-face with the killer within.
16
00:00:57.939 --> 00:01:00.700
He would smile at times. He would gaze into my
17
00:01:00.820 --> 00:01:03.979
eyes at times. Didn't seem to be bothered whatsoever by
18
00:01:04.040 --> 00:01:04.599
admitting all.
19
00:01:04.519 --> 00:01:05.019
Of his crimes.
20
00:01:05.019 --> 00:01:18.409
911, what is the address to your emergency? North Street,
21
00:01:18.450 --> 00:01:19.010
laundry man.
22
00:01:19.030 --> 00:01:20.890
What's the problem?
23
00:01:21.950 --> 00:01:22.829
I don't know, Steve.
24
00:01:24.939 --> 00:01:29.049
On the 13th of September, 2016, a call to emergency
25
00:01:29.090 --> 00:01:32.510
services in Ashland, Ohio, was the end of a reign
26
00:01:32.549 --> 00:01:35.430
of terror for a serial killer who had got away
27
00:01:35.469 --> 00:01:37.390
with murder for over a decade.
28
00:01:37.409 --> 00:01:38.750
Who abducted you?
29
00:01:39.689 --> 00:01:40.109
Sean.
30
00:01:40.359 --> 00:01:40.689
Great.
31
00:01:41.579 --> 00:01:42.560
He had me tied up.
32
00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:44.040
So you're tied up now?
33
00:01:44.060 --> 00:01:47.480
Yeah, but I kind of freed myself. Is he in
34
00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:48.459
the same room with you?
35
00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:49.280
Yes.
36
00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:51.299
Oh, shit.
37
00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:58.689
Oh, shit. Oh, shit, they woke him up.
38
00:01:58.769 --> 00:02:02.150
Over the previous 11 years, Sean Great had killed five
39
00:02:02.209 --> 00:02:05.170
women and even lived with the bodies in his house.
40
00:02:07.170 --> 00:02:11.360
Sean compartmentalized his crimes and how he would carry out
41
00:02:11.460 --> 00:02:15.039
his everyday life very well. You would not have known
42
00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:18.939
that this man had become a serial killer over the
43
00:02:18.979 --> 00:02:20.060
past decade of his life.
44
00:02:20.560 --> 00:02:21.099
You just wouldn't.
45
00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:26.780
After every single kill he committed, he felt more empowered
46
00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:29.949
to do it again because it reaffirmed his narcissism that
47
00:02:30.009 --> 00:02:33.129
he was above the law, that he could do whatever
48
00:02:33.189 --> 00:02:36.430
he wanted. Police weren't going to catch him. And by
49
00:02:36.449 --> 00:02:38.530
the time he got to the fifth murder and was
50
00:02:38.650 --> 00:02:42.099
never caught, he just truly felt like he was invincible.
51
00:02:54.590 --> 00:02:57.250
Sean Great was born on the 8th of August 1976
52
00:02:57.250 --> 00:03:02.259
in Mansfield, Ohio. He was the youngest of three children
53
00:03:02.659 --> 00:03:04.639
and felt neglected by his mother.
54
00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:10.449
Great, as one of the younger children, didn't appear to
55
00:03:10.490 --> 00:03:14.949
have had the affections that he needed from his mother
56
00:03:15.289 --> 00:03:19.240
and the attachment that was conducive for him.
57
00:03:20.039 --> 00:03:22.659
Sean didn't start speaking until he was four years old.
58
00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:25.620
And it could be that he knew his mother wanted that,
59
00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:27.939
so he held out and didn't want to do it
60
00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:30.680
because he knew that was something that she wanted out
61
00:03:30.719 --> 00:03:34.580
of him. So even at a young age, Sean perhaps
62
00:03:34.659 --> 00:03:35.919
was very manipulative.
63
00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:42.080
There are lots and lots of children who don't speak
64
00:03:42.620 --> 00:03:47.539
until quite late, especially boys. There are all sorts of
65
00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:51.699
reasons why children don't speak. And it's quite often a
66
00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:55.180
sign of something going on. And it could be that
67
00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:58.840
not speaking got him attention that he wouldn't have got
68
00:03:59.000 --> 00:03:59.759
had he spoken.
69
00:04:01.259 --> 00:04:04.819
Great himself was happy to admit that his family relationship
70
00:04:04.919 --> 00:04:05.939
was dysfunctional.
71
00:04:08.099 --> 00:04:09.080
No, I don't really.
72
00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:09.379
Love my mom.
73
00:04:09.419 --> 00:04:10.599
Yeah, there is a lot of hate.
74
00:04:11.219 --> 00:04:15.310
And it's just been like a boyfriend and girlfriend hate.
75
00:04:15.789 --> 00:04:18.310
But it's a mom and son hate.
76
00:04:20.220 --> 00:04:23.500
She withheld love and affection from him and was willing
77
00:04:23.560 --> 00:04:26.740
to say things that were often brutally mean to him
78
00:04:27.240 --> 00:04:29.740
because that was the way she felt about him. So
79
00:04:30.259 --> 00:04:33.220
he felt that women felt that way about him in general.
80
00:04:33.819 --> 00:04:36.740
And it actually led him to have these fantasies of
81
00:04:36.899 --> 00:04:40.790
both killing his mother and then ultimately fantasize about killing
82
00:04:40.850 --> 00:04:41.379
other women.
83
00:04:41.399 --> 00:04:47.689
I think great early experiences of his relationship with his
84
00:04:47.750 --> 00:04:52.269
mother during his formative years did have a significant effect
85
00:04:52.490 --> 00:04:55.870
on his subsequent offending and his views of women.
86
00:04:58.939 --> 00:05:02.540
Life outside the family home wasn't much better for Sean.
87
00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:04.759
In school, he had difficulties.
88
00:05:05.959 --> 00:05:08.100
He was bullied and ostracised.
89
00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:13.839
He went to a school for children with learning difficulties.
90
00:05:14.490 --> 00:05:18.310
So what is also coming out quite early on is
91
00:05:18.529 --> 00:05:23.889
early developmental issues. He was also diagnosed with ADHD.
92
00:05:25.089 --> 00:05:28.899
Many of Sean's early relationships were troubled. From the age
93
00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:33.100
of 18, he was regularly reported to police for domestic violence.
94
00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:37.220
This is a man who is a control freak.
95
00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:41.310
He needs to control the women in his life to
96
00:05:41.670 --> 00:05:46.149
every single thing they say and do. and he uses
97
00:05:46.470 --> 00:05:50.480
multiple methods to control them, but he does find violence
98
00:05:50.540 --> 00:05:54.639
a particularly effective tool that he's got in his box,
99
00:05:54.660 --> 00:05:56.860
because he's quite happy to use violence. In fact, he
100
00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:59.300
probably quite likes using violence.
101
00:06:01.579 --> 00:06:06.199
In 1999, Sean Great was accused of threatening to kill
102
00:06:06.379 --> 00:06:08.149
the girlfriend that he had been with at the time,
103
00:06:08.189 --> 00:06:12.319
who was pregnant with his child. This is really significant
104
00:06:12.360 --> 00:06:16.019
because it represents this escalation in violent behavior and actually
105
00:06:16.139 --> 00:06:19.439
showing this attempt to act on it for the first time.
106
00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:22.819
And it also shows this callousness where he was about
107
00:06:22.839 --> 00:06:25.079
to have a child with this woman and he still
108
00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:29.110
acted upon this internal impulse that he wanted to kill her.
109
00:06:29.430 --> 00:06:32.689
And it really shows that nobody was too good or
110
00:06:32.730 --> 00:06:34.689
too close to him to be spared of his wrath.
111
00:06:37.170 --> 00:06:40.529
Sean admitted attacking his former girlfriend and was put on
112
00:06:40.589 --> 00:06:44.790
probation for five years. However, it still did not stop
113
00:06:44.870 --> 00:06:49.149
his violence. In 2003, he was arrested again on two
114
00:06:49.250 --> 00:06:50.889
counts of domestic violence.
115
00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:57.759
We do know that there is a very strong association
116
00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:03.699
between other offending and domestic abuse. If anything, domestic abuse
117
00:07:03.740 --> 00:07:07.810
is where they test themselves out, what they... can get
118
00:07:07.889 --> 00:07:12.259
away with, what they enjoy, how much control you can
119
00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:14.120
actually exert over a person.
120
00:07:14.819 --> 00:07:19.040
One former girlfriend gave journalist Cassandra Nist an insight into
121
00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:20.139
their relationship.
122
00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:25.410
They dated, I believe, for seven months. And according to her,
123
00:07:25.790 --> 00:07:28.209
she and Sean had a very violent relationship.
124
00:07:29.139 --> 00:07:30.540
Sean would not let her go out.
125
00:07:30.459 --> 00:07:32.699
Of the house without wondering where she was going and
126
00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:34.899
he was adamant that she'd be back by a certain time.
127
00:07:35.550 --> 00:07:37.189
They would get into these physical fights.
128
00:07:38.149 --> 00:07:41.949
He would actually hide in the sofa of their apartment
129
00:07:42.069 --> 00:07:45.120
and stalk her so he could gain a better perspective
130
00:07:45.779 --> 00:07:48.660
of what she was doing all day. Literally would sleep
131
00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:52.699
under the cushions in the sofa of their apartment. They
132
00:07:52.750 --> 00:07:57.230
eventually had a domestic violence incident and she reported it
133
00:07:57.310 --> 00:08:01.029
and that was the end of that relationship. She could
134
00:08:01.050 --> 00:08:04.040
have very easily have been one of Sean's victims.
135
00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:05.959
She's lucky to have gotten away.
136
00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:13.610
In 2006, when Sean met 23-year-old mother of two, Dana Lowry,
137
00:08:14.029 --> 00:08:15.269
it would be a turning point.
138
00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:21.959
Sean told me that Lowry was selling magazines.
139
00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:23.639
Door to door while he lived with his mother.
140
00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:29.040
And he believed that his mother was not receiving her subscriptions.
141
00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:32.759
When he confronted her one day, she offered to pay
142
00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:35.590
half of the subscription fees if he'd pay the other half.
143
00:08:36.029 --> 00:08:39.049
Sean thought, no, you're scheming me. This isn't gonna happen.
144
00:08:39.549 --> 00:08:41.090
Sean did not like to feel like he was being
145
00:08:41.129 --> 00:08:44.149
taken advantage of. So that day, Sean would bring her
146
00:08:44.210 --> 00:08:45.750
inside of the family's home.
147
00:08:47.649 --> 00:08:49.409
I turned her around.
148
00:08:49.490 --> 00:08:50.809
She comes towards me.
149
00:08:50.830 --> 00:08:53.909
I knocked her hands around, knocked her whole body.
150
00:08:53.649 --> 00:08:56.649
Around, and just grabbed her like she just meant.
151
00:08:56.470 --> 00:08:58.610
To be choked out.
152
00:08:59.289 --> 00:08:59.669
Okay.
153
00:09:00.029 --> 00:09:01.909
I mean, it felt.
154
00:09:01.629 --> 00:09:02.429
Right in my hands.
155
00:09:02.450 --> 00:09:03.409
Okay.
156
00:09:03.690 --> 00:09:09.330
I set her back, laid down, and I actually laid
157
00:09:09.370 --> 00:09:14.529
down and left her. We were laying down side by side.
158
00:09:16.500 --> 00:09:16.899
Wow.
159
00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:23.210
A strangulation is a particular type of assault. It's used
160
00:09:23.389 --> 00:09:25.429
as a method of control.
161
00:09:25.450 --> 00:09:28.889
I can let you look. I brought you back. No, see,
162
00:09:29.149 --> 00:09:31.529
you do as you were told. You be compliant.
163
00:09:31.870 --> 00:09:34.730
You do everything I tell you to do. And it's
164
00:09:34.889 --> 00:09:39.149
probably one of the most effective methods of control that
165
00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:42.600
there is. But this strangling, bringing back, it's more than
166
00:09:42.659 --> 00:09:46.350
just control. It tells us he loves the control. This
167
00:09:46.529 --> 00:09:47.629
is who he is.
168
00:09:47.710 --> 00:09:51.799
She woke up. She woke up from the strangulation?
169
00:09:51.820 --> 00:09:52.240
Downstairs.
170
00:09:53.080 --> 00:09:55.159
Yeah, paintings. I didn't know what to do.
171
00:09:56.009 --> 00:09:57.129
Grabbed a knife, kitchen.
172
00:09:57.149 --> 00:09:59.789
You know, strangulation.
173
00:09:50.289 --> 00:09:52.230
For Sean Great it seemed like this was an escalating
174
00:09:53.070 --> 00:09:57.750
pattern of behavior where he was getting.
175
00:09:57.389 --> 00:10:16.379
Increasingly violent and willing to even act upon these violent impulses.
176
00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:19.740
So for him, this first kill, he may have been
177
00:10:20.139 --> 00:10:23.019
thinking about or planning for a long time, and it
178
00:10:23.059 --> 00:10:25.360
may have actually even taken him by surprise that he
179
00:10:25.419 --> 00:10:28.690
was able to finally do it. But it seems like
180
00:10:28.710 --> 00:10:31.470
when he did, it felt for him to be a
181
00:10:32.049 --> 00:10:35.990
release or positive in some way, because it certainly encouraged
182
00:10:36.009 --> 00:10:38.149
him to keep doing it more often in the future.
183
00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:42.639
The murder of Dana was just the start of things
184
00:10:42.679 --> 00:10:46.830
to come. Sean Great had discovered the killer within.
185
00:10:47.789 --> 00:10:49.750
When I asked him why he stabbed her in the throat,
186
00:10:49.830 --> 00:10:51.649
he said, I had to do it quick.
187
00:10:52.049 --> 00:10:55.070
We had company coming over. This would be.
188
00:10:54.950 --> 00:10:58.720
The only victim that Sean did not choke to death.
189
00:11:02.389 --> 00:11:07.169
In 2005, Sean Great had dumped the body of 23-year-old
190
00:11:07.230 --> 00:11:12.509
Dana Lowry on Victory Road in Marion County, Ohio. When
191
00:11:12.549 --> 00:11:16.279
she was found two years later, police had no clues
192
00:11:16.340 --> 00:11:17.360
to her identity.
193
00:11:17.980 --> 00:11:22.379
So the unnamed victim in Marion, I personally started to
194
00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:28.279
look at the list of missing people in Ohio to
195
00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:32.940
try and figure out who this person was. I think
196
00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:35.899
there were a lot of law enforcement officers in the
197
00:11:36.200 --> 00:11:37.720
state that were doing the same thing.
198
00:11:38.620 --> 00:11:41.279
Part of the rush of being a serial killer is
199
00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:44.610
both in the act itself, as well as reliving it
200
00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.590
in their minds, but also in the thrill that comes
201
00:11:47.629 --> 00:11:51.289
with getting away with it. For the serial killer, like Sean,
202
00:11:51.850 --> 00:11:54.309
each time they get away with it, It's just a
203
00:11:54.429 --> 00:11:57.529
reaffirmation that this feels good, this is something that he
204
00:11:57.610 --> 00:12:01.580
enjoys doing, and he's so narcissistic he thinks it's because
205
00:12:01.940 --> 00:12:04.100
he's above the law and he'll never get caught.
206
00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:08.399
This is a man who was able to compartmentalize his
207
00:12:08.620 --> 00:12:12.460
anger and his rage and his heinous crimes in one
208
00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:15.100
side of his mind and go about his normal life,
209
00:12:15.620 --> 00:12:17.590
everyday life, on the other times.
210
00:12:19.649 --> 00:12:20.750
This is a man.
211
00:12:20.730 --> 00:12:23.490
Who would open the door for your kids and you
212
00:12:23.509 --> 00:12:26.740
wouldn't think anything of it. He didn't look evil by
213
00:12:26.820 --> 00:12:29.440
any means. He was charismatic and charming.
214
00:12:30.340 --> 00:12:33.860
For the next five years, Great, now a father of two,
215
00:12:34.220 --> 00:12:37.570
was involved in petty crime and violence in the home.
216
00:12:38.529 --> 00:12:42.789
In 2011, he married and started a business making wooden signs.
217
00:12:43.870 --> 00:12:47.210
Sean Bright was somebody who wanted elements of stability in
218
00:12:47.289 --> 00:12:51.549
his life. He would have been a very difficult person
219
00:12:51.600 --> 00:12:53.940
to be in a relationship with. That doesn't mean to
220
00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:57.620
say he didn't want to have those relationships, but he
221
00:12:57.639 --> 00:13:04.120
got married and his wife was pregnant very quickly, had
222
00:13:04.159 --> 00:13:06.899
a baby in that first year of marriage, and by
223
00:13:06.919 --> 00:13:11.669
the end of that year, she left him. That would
224
00:13:11.690 --> 00:13:14.409
have actually been a really dangerous point for her. She's
225
00:13:14.470 --> 00:13:15.649
really lucky that she got out.
226
00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:18.799
His life started falling apart.
227
00:13:19.220 --> 00:13:22.500
His marriage was ending, and he didn't have a permanent
228
00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:25.080
residence after his divorce, so he was kind of floating
229
00:13:25.120 --> 00:13:30.379
around from county to county, city to city. Sean Great
230
00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:35.379
had multiple run-ins with law enforcement. He had drug charges.
231
00:13:35.399 --> 00:13:38.610
He had went through a divorce. He had child custody
232
00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:42.330
issues going on. He had a domestic violence case. I
233
00:13:42.370 --> 00:13:45.389
don't know what was happening in his world, but it
234
00:13:45.429 --> 00:13:46.470
was all coming to a head.
235
00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:57.080
Great had lost custody of his children and his business
236
00:13:57.100 --> 00:14:00.519
had closed. He was beginning to spiral out of control.
237
00:14:00.830 --> 00:14:03.990
Sean did have a job at a box chain store
238
00:14:04.730 --> 00:14:08.370
in Ashland, and he had recently been let go. He
239
00:14:08.509 --> 00:14:11.669
was also known at this local soup kitchen. He was
240
00:14:11.710 --> 00:14:15.409
a religious person who was going to church, and he
241
00:14:15.470 --> 00:14:19.100
would frequent an apartment complex to play badminton, which is
242
00:14:19.149 --> 00:14:21.220
how he met two of his victims.
243
00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:24.720
So people did know him from around the way.
244
00:14:25.240 --> 00:14:27.399
You know, the man who's always kind of just walking
245
00:14:27.419 --> 00:14:29.559
around town here and there.
246
00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:35.529
By 2015, he had befriended 31-year-old Rebecca Lacey, who would
247
00:14:35.570 --> 00:14:38.549
pay the ultimate price for Great's frustrations.
248
00:14:39.710 --> 00:14:43.230
She was reported missing in 2015. Sean said that he
249
00:14:43.269 --> 00:14:45.110
had known her for a while. Many people knew her
250
00:14:45.169 --> 00:14:47.370
as an around-the-way kind of girl, and the.
251
00:14:47.289 --> 00:14:48.529
Two were cordial. They knew each other.
252
00:14:54.299 --> 00:14:57.659
According to Sean, they were at a bar one evening
253
00:14:57.740 --> 00:15:01.330
playing pool together, and he had told Rebecca, I'll be
254
00:15:01.370 --> 00:15:03.129
right back, I need to use the restroom.
255
00:15:03.690 --> 00:15:05.690
In that moment, according to Sean.
256
00:15:06.049 --> 00:15:10.429
He heard his wallet clip zip and noticed that $ 4
257
00:15:10.350 --> 00:15:10.970
was missing.
258
00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:16.600
And he choked her out and killed her.
259
00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:21.980
Over $ 4.
260
00:15:21.909 --> 00:15:24.750
Rebecca became Great's second victim.
261
00:15:25.570 --> 00:15:30.620
Rebecca Lacey was found in a woods, I believe, and
262
00:15:30.659 --> 00:15:32.929
they initially thought that she had overdosed.
263
00:15:38.570 --> 00:15:42.049
Sean Gray is a narcissist, and what that means is
264
00:15:42.470 --> 00:15:45.549
the whole world is as it applies to him. He
265
00:15:45.690 --> 00:15:50.309
is the center of his universe, but he thinks that
266
00:15:50.389 --> 00:15:53.389
he should be or is the center of everybody else's
267
00:15:53.490 --> 00:15:57.549
universe as well. He sees women as something that he's
268
00:15:57.629 --> 00:16:02.769
entitled to, but why aren't they responding to him in
269
00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:04.169
the way that they should?
270
00:16:04.250 --> 00:16:09.100
Why aren't they seeing him for the superior being that
271
00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:09.669
he is.
272
00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:14.389
I think that he was able to get away with
273
00:16:14.970 --> 00:16:18.970
things for so long because he is a charmer, because
274
00:16:19.070 --> 00:16:23.000
he was a nice guy on the outside.
275
00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:27.960
Once again, Great had killed, and the police had no
276
00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:30.159
idea there was a killer on the streets.
277
00:16:33.990 --> 00:16:36.850
Having gotten away with murder for the second time, and
278
00:16:36.889 --> 00:16:40.519
in this case, having the police actually rule it as
279
00:16:40.580 --> 00:16:45.379
a non-murder death probably made Sean even more confident in
280
00:16:45.419 --> 00:16:48.879
his own abilities, not just to commit murder and do
281
00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:53.279
it with disregard for law enforcement, for the victims, but
282
00:16:53.419 --> 00:16:57.450
also increase his own esteem over these abilities and make
283
00:16:57.470 --> 00:16:59.470
him feel like he can do it again and again,
284
00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:01.710
and that's ultimately what he ended up doing.
285
00:17:03.730 --> 00:17:05.509
No one would have thought he would have been a murderer.
286
00:17:05.750 --> 00:17:08.059
I can tell you point blank, he could have been
287
00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:10.880
the person sitting next to you at lunch. He could
288
00:17:10.890 --> 00:17:13.099
have been the man who opened the door for you
289
00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:15.619
and your children going into a restaurant, and you would
290
00:17:15.660 --> 00:17:19.559
have never suspected him hiding these crimes.
291
00:17:19.619 --> 00:17:21.839
You just wouldn't have pegged him for that type of person.
292
00:17:23.019 --> 00:17:26.880
The following year, Sean Great started a new relationship with
293
00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:32.599
29-year-old Candice Cunningham. It followed the same pattern. Things started
294
00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:36.950
off well, But yet again, it became fraught with domestic violence.
295
00:17:37.210 --> 00:17:37.950
Candace, I tried.
296
00:17:39.710 --> 00:17:42.289
To keep her calm down a lot.
297
00:17:42.309 --> 00:17:47.509
I didn't really mean to. June 2016. This is Candace
298
00:17:47.549 --> 00:17:50.329
Marie Cunningham. This is a woman with whom he had
299
00:17:50.349 --> 00:17:54.700
been dating for seven months. Sean had a very big
300
00:17:54.789 --> 00:18:00.250
problem with her having suicidal thoughts and being a quote,
301
00:18:00.569 --> 00:18:03.710
in his words, a pill popper. Leading up to the
302
00:18:03.769 --> 00:18:08.009
day that he ended up murdering Candace, they had an
303
00:18:08.049 --> 00:18:09.009
explosive argument.
304
00:18:09.710 --> 00:18:11.170
I followed her for like three days.
305
00:18:13.490 --> 00:18:15.410
And then I was like, oh, this.
306
00:18:16.750 --> 00:18:16.890
Is.
307
00:18:17.470 --> 00:18:17.950
I'm like, oh, okay.
308
00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:19.509
So these past three days.
309
00:18:19.589 --> 00:18:21.710
I mean, you just want me to finish you.
310
00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:26.509
You know, I grabbed her and that's when I choked her.
311
00:18:27.630 --> 00:18:28.369
She passed out.
312
00:18:28.390 --> 00:18:30.930
I grabbed her from behind and passed out. I mean,
313
00:18:32.049 --> 00:18:40.279
I was irritable. I had enough, I just finished her.
314
00:18:40.660 --> 00:18:43.480
He ended up choking her out, setting the house on fire.
315
00:18:43.500 --> 00:18:47.569
Then realizing he had to hide the body and he
316
00:18:47.589 --> 00:18:49.210
went back in and dragged her out to the woods.
317
00:18:51.220 --> 00:18:53.359
What seems to be a theme is that it feels
318
00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:59.119
that these women are disposable. He can react in whichever
319
00:18:59.180 --> 00:19:03.089
way he wants, but he has the ultimate power and control.
320
00:19:03.910 --> 00:19:06.690
And no matter what that.
321
00:19:06.609 --> 00:19:09.789
Argument would have been if Candice was equally sort of
322
00:19:09.809 --> 00:19:13.369
trying to assert what she was trying to say, and
323
00:19:13.809 --> 00:19:17.349
he was not having any of that. So again, possibly
324
00:19:17.450 --> 00:19:21.539
to try and dominate that conversation, but also to try
325
00:19:21.579 --> 00:19:22.799
and assert his authority.
326
00:19:25.740 --> 00:19:29.619
Sean Great had now taken the lives of three innocent women,
327
00:19:30.140 --> 00:19:32.240
but his killing spree was not over.
328
00:19:33.220 --> 00:19:35.710
He only could kill more and more, and it never
329
00:19:35.789 --> 00:19:38.750
really resolved this internal strife that Sean had inside him.
330
00:19:42.690 --> 00:19:46.109
It had been 16 months since Sean Great had murdered
331
00:19:46.170 --> 00:19:49.970
his girlfriend Rebecca in Richland, Ohio, and dumped her boyfriend
332
00:19:50.420 --> 00:19:55.309
in woodland. He skipped town and moved to the neighboring county, Ashland.
333
00:19:56.269 --> 00:19:59.809
Shortly after he arrived, a local woman known to police
334
00:20:00.049 --> 00:20:00.730
went missing.
335
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:06.569
Elizabeth was kind of a regular. She wasn't a regular
336
00:20:06.589 --> 00:20:08.809
in a bad way. She had just called us a
337
00:20:08.869 --> 00:20:12.390
lot for neighbor issues and things like that. And we
338
00:20:12.490 --> 00:20:16.049
were able to help her through some situations over the years.
339
00:20:16.130 --> 00:20:19.759
So many of us knew her pretty well.
340
00:20:21.400 --> 00:20:25.440
Sean had met 29-year-old Elizabeth Griffith when he arrived in
341
00:20:25.480 --> 00:20:27.700
the town. They soon became close.
342
00:20:28.230 --> 00:20:33.700
Elizabeth's relationship with Sean was just friends. They likely met
343
00:20:34.000 --> 00:20:38.119
at the Kroc Center, the local community center, and I
344
00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:39.640
think they just became friends.
345
00:20:43.299 --> 00:20:47.869
The fact that Elizabeth was so trusting and almost childlike
346
00:20:47.940 --> 00:20:50.859
in nature would make her a prime victim for him.
347
00:20:51.019 --> 00:20:54.440
Something that he probably saw in her was her willingness
348
00:20:54.460 --> 00:20:57.329
to trust others. I think that he saw that and
349
00:20:57.509 --> 00:20:59.710
immediately used it against her.
350
00:21:00.289 --> 00:21:03.869
As was usual in Sean's relationships, it developed a violent
351
00:21:03.970 --> 00:21:06.029
element where he would take control.
352
00:21:06.049 --> 00:21:10.369
Elizabeth, right, when we were just joking, like, how she
353
00:21:10.410 --> 00:21:12.930
wished she kind of would die, you know what I mean?
354
00:21:12.950 --> 00:21:15.109
I was like, so, uh, hell yeah, I just feel
355
00:21:15.130 --> 00:21:16.069
like this, you know.
356
00:21:15.829 --> 00:21:17.490
What I mean? Like, I just.
357
00:21:20.660 --> 00:21:24.099
Sean would get into situations with Elizabeth where he would
358
00:21:24.339 --> 00:21:26.900
start choking her. And he would choke her to the
359
00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:29.640
point where she said she wanted to live. And in
360
00:21:29.700 --> 00:21:32.890
this instance, she just did not say she wanted to live.
361
00:21:33.109 --> 00:21:38.450
So he choked her to death. I should have.
362
00:21:38.410 --> 00:21:40.230
Forwarded it up to say that.
363
00:21:40.329 --> 00:21:40.690
Right.
364
00:21:40.890 --> 00:21:43.990
And she kind of just, like, wagged my hands and, like,
365
00:21:44.009 --> 00:21:46.390
started flipping out and stuff like that to the point
366
00:21:47.119 --> 00:21:49.019
where I had to just, like, grab her.
367
00:21:49.539 --> 00:21:49.900
And I just.
368
00:21:50.890 --> 00:21:52.890
The most.
369
00:21:52.380 --> 00:22:01.400
Shocking thing when you start watching that video is how.
370
00:22:04.059 --> 00:22:05.740
Normal he looks, how average he looks.
371
00:22:18.730 --> 00:22:21.769
How the conversation is so casual.
372
00:22:22.579 --> 00:22:24.700
You would think we were talking about the weather rather
373
00:22:24.740 --> 00:22:26.400
than a horrific murder.
374
00:22:27.799 --> 00:22:29.119
He stripped her of her clothes.
375
00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:32.299
He hogtied her and buried her in the bottom of
376
00:22:32.359 --> 00:22:34.299
a closet on the second floor of the home he
377
00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:36.980
was squatting in. Even went to the great length of
378
00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:39.460
duct taping the door frame sealed off all the way
379
00:22:39.500 --> 00:22:41.779
around the door so the smell would not get out.
380
00:22:45.470 --> 00:22:48.839
Elizabeth had last been seen on the 16th of August.
381
00:22:49.359 --> 00:22:52.079
Police and her family were anxious to find her.
382
00:22:53.420 --> 00:22:56.839
When she went missing, we were actively looking for her.
383
00:22:57.559 --> 00:23:02.759
We were interviewing city transit drivers and just doing anything
384
00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:06.039
we could to help try and locate her because we
385
00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:09.680
knew that her missing, there was something off.
386
00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:15.009
Elizabeth Griffith's body was in a closet in the rundown
387
00:23:15.069 --> 00:23:19.069
house on Covert Court where Sean Great was living. He
388
00:23:19.130 --> 00:23:23.869
didn't run. He stayed in the house. 23 days after
389
00:23:23.930 --> 00:23:28.339
Elizabeth's disappearance, police were still searching for her when another
390
00:23:28.420 --> 00:23:31.559
local woman, Stacey Stanley, was reported missing.
391
00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:39.220
Stacey, I'm still thinking about this. What went wrong exactly
392
00:23:39.279 --> 00:23:40.230
with Stacey and I?
393
00:23:44.740 --> 00:23:48.119
I had heard rumblings that she was last seen at
394
00:23:48.289 --> 00:23:52.910
RBP in Ashland. We were actively looking. I didn't know
395
00:23:52.970 --> 00:23:55.569
anything about her. I just knew that she had come
396
00:23:55.609 --> 00:24:00.549
to Ashland and her family last heard from her at
397
00:24:00.609 --> 00:24:04.829
that BP station. And after that, she went missing.
398
00:24:05.829 --> 00:24:09.859
It was a chance encounter that gave Great the opportunity
399
00:24:09.930 --> 00:24:10.740
to kill again.
400
00:24:13.349 --> 00:24:17.309
Stacy had pulled into a gas station for a flat tire,
401
00:24:18.190 --> 00:24:21.500
and Sean Great happened to be walking in the area.
402
00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:25.720
And this was a crime of coincidence, really.
403
00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:30.559
He didn't know Stacy very well. It was a crime of, oh,
404
00:24:30.619 --> 00:24:32.789
here's a victim. I can make this happen. So he
405
00:24:32.829 --> 00:24:36.630
helps her change the tire. They drive off, and she
406
00:24:36.710 --> 00:24:40.490
is choked out, murdered, and left in the basement of
407
00:24:40.509 --> 00:24:43.869
the home Sean was squatting in. There was no personal
408
00:24:43.910 --> 00:24:46.250
connection with Stacey, period.
409
00:24:47.170 --> 00:24:51.049
Stacey entered the house in covert court. She didn't come
410
00:24:51.130 --> 00:24:51.789
out alive.
411
00:24:51.809 --> 00:24:57.720
But I do remember when she grabbed her mace and
412
00:24:57.759 --> 00:24:58.259
she was.
413
00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:02.059
Missing me the first time.
414
00:25:02.079 --> 00:25:03.500
And then.
415
00:25:04.819 --> 00:25:08.119
I turned her around, put her on the bed.
416
00:25:10.990 --> 00:25:13.430
She did do this backhand and kind of got me.
417
00:25:14.490 --> 00:25:15.410
I'll spray again.
418
00:25:15.470 --> 00:25:16.710
Yeah, she sprayed me again.
419
00:25:16.730 --> 00:25:20.690
It was a good shot, you know what I mean?
420
00:25:20.710 --> 00:25:22.650
But just, dang.
421
00:25:23.509 --> 00:25:27.779
I just lost it. And then I just turned her around, right?
422
00:25:28.359 --> 00:25:29.740
Did pretty much the same thing.
423
00:25:29.819 --> 00:25:31.700
I just clenched on.
424
00:25:33.079 --> 00:25:33.940
Did not let go.
425
00:25:35.099 --> 00:25:37.880
The same hold, up, back, and then pushing her head down.
426
00:25:38.900 --> 00:25:40.259
Like, same thing.
427
00:25:40.849 --> 00:25:46.049
The way that he described killing Stacy was just so mechanical.
428
00:25:46.069 --> 00:25:48.990
He kept holding on to her neck so she couldn't
429
00:25:50.349 --> 00:25:53.130
breathe because he wanted.
430
00:25:52.789 --> 00:25:55.269
To make sure she was dead.
431
00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:15.140
The remains of two missing women were now at the
432
00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:19.490
house Sean Great was using. He had murdered five women.
433
00:26:20.789 --> 00:26:25.509
Once again, Sean continued with his life, charming acquaintances. He
434
00:26:25.569 --> 00:26:29.029
made another new friend, also a friend of Elizabeth Griffith.
435
00:26:29.990 --> 00:26:33.970
The three had previously played badminton together. It seemed she
436
00:26:34.029 --> 00:26:37.740
found Sean's wholesome, trustworthy appearance charming.
437
00:26:39.759 --> 00:26:42.500
He told me that they had met at one of
438
00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:47.259
our local community centers, and he told me that they
439
00:26:47.380 --> 00:26:51.019
had talked about marriage, that they were friends for a
440
00:26:51.059 --> 00:26:56.079
few weeks, and they would get into discussions about God
441
00:26:56.200 --> 00:27:01.339
and how he has the philosophy that God created sin
442
00:27:02.359 --> 00:27:07.549
because God created everything. So yeah, he said overall they
443
00:27:07.589 --> 00:27:08.509
get along pretty well.
444
00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:12.339
Sean said I wanted to marry this girl. This girl
445
00:27:12.380 --> 00:27:13.420
was very religious.
446
00:27:13.960 --> 00:27:16.240
She loved helping people, and I think that she was
447
00:27:16.279 --> 00:27:19.279
helping Sean. He never had a bad thing to say
448
00:27:19.339 --> 00:27:22.450
about her, and he certainly did not intend on hurting her.
449
00:27:29.509 --> 00:27:33.190
On the 11th of September 2016, Grape took his new
450
00:27:33.250 --> 00:27:36.319
friend back to his home and kept her there against
451
00:27:36.359 --> 00:27:36.779
her will.
452
00:27:37.829 --> 00:27:41.190
She was kind of put in a position where he
453
00:27:41.230 --> 00:27:44.859
was being really nice and he was being very manipulative
454
00:27:45.099 --> 00:27:48.940
and she probably felt at some level, my gut is
455
00:27:48.980 --> 00:27:51.579
telling me that there's something wrong with this guy.
456
00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:53.000
She was right.
457
00:27:53.380 --> 00:27:56.400
There was something wrong, although she couldn't actually put her
458
00:27:56.480 --> 00:27:57.089
finger on it.
459
00:27:57.630 --> 00:28:00.369
By the time it became very, very clear what.
460
00:28:00.250 --> 00:28:03.410
Was happening, the door was shut and she was in
461
00:28:03.490 --> 00:28:06.230
there and she knew there was no escape.
462
00:28:18.660 --> 00:28:21.819
Detective Kurt Dorsey was dispatched to the scene.
463
00:28:23.700 --> 00:28:26.230
We got a call that there was a female that
464
00:28:26.269 --> 00:28:29.910
was abducted and she was in a house near a laundromat.
465
00:28:31.410 --> 00:28:33.750
I didn't think it was real at first because we
466
00:28:33.769 --> 00:28:38.259
just don't have that sort of call typically in Ashland, so...
467
00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:40.829
It just seemed like it was just unreal.
468
00:28:40.849 --> 00:28:43.910
How is she sleeping at?
469
00:28:43.930 --> 00:28:45.730
In the bedroom.
470
00:28:47.250 --> 00:28:48.369
But you're at the laundromat?
471
00:28:49.230 --> 00:28:51.230
No, I'm in the bedroom with him.
472
00:28:53.549 --> 00:28:57.259
Sean Great was asleep beside her. She was desperate not
473
00:28:57.319 --> 00:29:00.000
to wake him for fear of what he might do.
474
00:29:00.019 --> 00:29:03.799
It's almost like watching a horror film, that sense of
475
00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:08.150
anxiety as you're listening. And if you times that by 100,
476
00:29:08.150 --> 00:29:11.730
that's what she was feeling when she's making this call.
477
00:29:12.069 --> 00:29:16.119
And she's probably thinking, don't ask me another question. I've
478
00:29:16.359 --> 00:29:20.980
already pushed this as far as I can. He's still asleep,
479
00:29:21.079 --> 00:29:23.160
but that could change in an instant.
480
00:29:24.640 --> 00:29:25.059
Oh, shit.
481
00:29:25.079 --> 00:29:27.259
Oh, shit, I woke him up.
482
00:29:27.539 --> 00:29:31.079
The 13th of September, 2016.
483
00:29:34.319 --> 00:29:37.829
Police officers in Ashland, Ohio, had received a call from
484
00:29:37.890 --> 00:29:41.630
a woman claiming to have been abducted. They didn't know
485
00:29:41.670 --> 00:29:45.660
it yet, but her abductor had already killed five women.
486
00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:49.440
Officers were racing to find the caller, but there was
487
00:29:49.480 --> 00:29:52.740
a problem. They didn't know her exact location.
488
00:29:53.500 --> 00:29:56.099
I couldn't find her, and I knew I needed to
489
00:29:56.160 --> 00:30:00.089
find her. I came around the corner of the wrong house,
490
00:30:01.049 --> 00:30:03.910
and looked towards the other house and I saw her
491
00:30:03.970 --> 00:30:08.730
hand outstretched in the glass, a sight that I'll never forget.
492
00:30:08.750 --> 00:30:13.059
We all just ran to the door and I think
493
00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:14.839
I would have went through a wall if I.
494
00:30:14.819 --> 00:30:15.730
Had to to get to her.
495
00:30:25.309 --> 00:30:28.190
I will never forget her face when she came to
496
00:30:28.210 --> 00:30:31.910
the door. That's burned in my mind forever.
497
00:30:35.130 --> 00:30:39.630
The kidnapped victim was safe. Relieved, officers then went in
498
00:30:39.690 --> 00:30:41.880
search of the man who had abducted her.
499
00:30:43.940 --> 00:30:44.900
What is it?
500
00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:45.660
I don't see it.
501
00:30:45.700 --> 00:30:46.900
I don't see it.
502
00:30:47.019 --> 00:30:47.180
Right.
503
00:30:47.220 --> 00:30:50.500
You need to go over there.
504
00:31:00.509 --> 00:31:05.490
We found great. He was in a bedroom. It was deplorable,
505
00:31:05.670 --> 00:31:09.470
the conditions. I mean, it was dirty and disgusting. His
506
00:31:09.529 --> 00:31:14.549
reaction when we first came in was somewhat groggy. And
507
00:31:15.170 --> 00:31:18.390
once he came to and realized what was going on,
508
00:31:19.150 --> 00:31:23.029
he was super nice and cordial. I mean, there was
509
00:31:23.109 --> 00:31:24.809
no resistance whatsoever.
510
00:31:26.940 --> 00:31:30.480
Officers took Sean Great out to the patrol car, thinking
511
00:31:30.519 --> 00:31:32.200
they were dealing with an abduction.
512
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:37.200
He was nice. I mean, it's crazy. He was very
513
00:31:37.279 --> 00:31:41.769
cordial and nice. I was interviewing him for breaking into
514
00:31:41.829 --> 00:31:47.809
a house and potentially sexually assaulting the victim that called.
515
00:31:53.650 --> 00:31:55.670
His demeanor in the back of the police car was
516
00:31:56.170 --> 00:32:00.890
very relaxed. At one point, he was actually cuffed behind
517
00:32:00.930 --> 00:32:03.630
the back, and I had to walk away for a second.
518
00:32:04.009 --> 00:32:07.250
And when I came back, he flipped his cuffs to
519
00:32:07.289 --> 00:32:11.029
the front by slipping his legs through his arms, basically.
520
00:32:11.769 --> 00:32:15.430
So he was very relaxed back there. Normally that would
521
00:32:15.470 --> 00:32:18.990
be an issue, but with him, I felt comfortable in
522
00:32:19.029 --> 00:32:22.630
just letting him continue to sit that way. I knew
523
00:32:22.670 --> 00:32:26.690
that something bad had happened and this guy needed to
524
00:32:26.750 --> 00:32:32.700
be treated well to build rapport for interview purposes and such.
525
00:32:33.720 --> 00:32:37.000
Great was taken to Ashland Police Station and held in
526
00:32:37.079 --> 00:32:40.869
custody for the abduction of the 37-year-old woman known as
527
00:32:40.970 --> 00:32:41.650
Jane Doe.
528
00:32:42.380 --> 00:32:46.569
I actually took Sean to the station, and he was
529
00:32:46.650 --> 00:32:51.009
interviewed by one of our detectives, and I listened to
530
00:32:51.049 --> 00:32:52.750
that interview from another room.
531
00:32:57.910 --> 00:33:01.730
During his interview with police, Sean Great revealed that if
532
00:33:01.789 --> 00:33:05.109
they searched the house, they would find two missing women
533
00:33:05.170 --> 00:33:06.490
they had been looking for.
534
00:33:06.519 --> 00:33:12.279
How many before a lethal injection.
535
00:33:13.779 --> 00:33:14.190
Who else?
536
00:33:15.259 --> 00:33:16.339
Who else are we going to go find?
537
00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:20.579
So I didn't find out that there were two dead
538
00:33:20.619 --> 00:33:26.109
bodies in the house right away. And as information started
539
00:33:26.119 --> 00:33:29.849
to come out, I was able to actually call the
540
00:33:29.869 --> 00:33:33.990
on-scene detective and let him know that there was a
541
00:33:34.430 --> 00:33:44.680
body upstairs in a closet. Then shortly after, as he
542
00:33:45.019 --> 00:33:48.240
was continuing to talk, I was able to call that
543
00:33:48.279 --> 00:33:51.119
same detective again and let him know that there would
544
00:33:51.160 --> 00:33:52.829
be a body in the basement as well.
545
00:33:55.009 --> 00:33:57.690
September 13th, we learned the identity of one of the women,
546
00:33:57.730 --> 00:34:04.349
and it is Stacy Stanley. The Stanley family arrived to
547
00:34:04.769 --> 00:34:08.809
the police department and were able to identify their mother's remains.
548
00:34:08.989 --> 00:34:10.369
By tattoo and jewelry.
549
00:34:11.769 --> 00:34:13.809
It's not till the next day that we learn the
550
00:34:13.869 --> 00:34:16.079
identity of Elizabeth Griffith.
551
00:34:17.139 --> 00:34:21.139
The two local missing persons cases had been resolved with
552
00:34:21.179 --> 00:34:26.500
the worst possible outcome. Finding Elizabeth in particular was difficult
553
00:34:26.550 --> 00:34:27.389
for detectives.
554
00:34:28.030 --> 00:34:31.809
Many of us knew her pretty well. A lot of
555
00:34:31.929 --> 00:34:35.929
us at the police department took it hard that she
556
00:34:35.969 --> 00:34:37.690
was killed in that way.
557
00:34:41.099 --> 00:34:45.300
Once Great started talking, he didn't stop. In the interviews
558
00:34:45.340 --> 00:34:48.820
with Detective Kim Major of the Ashland County Police, he
559
00:34:48.880 --> 00:34:51.360
had more disturbing revelations.
560
00:34:54.030 --> 00:34:57.670
Sean now is confessing not only to the crimes at
561
00:34:57.710 --> 00:35:01.550
hand in front of everyone, Sean admits to three other murders.
562
00:35:04.639 --> 00:35:06.820
Now he was telling officers that he was responsible for
563
00:35:06.860 --> 00:35:13.570
the deaths of Rebecca, Dana, and Candace. He likely was
564
00:35:13.650 --> 00:35:17.690
admitting to these other women's deaths in part because he
565
00:35:17.829 --> 00:35:20.449
knew he was already going to prison for the first
566
00:35:20.590 --> 00:35:23.449
two women that he admitted to killing. But he also
567
00:35:23.510 --> 00:35:27.510
probably felt some sense of gratification, not just from feeling
568
00:35:27.550 --> 00:35:29.489
like he could get this off his chest, that he'd
569
00:35:29.510 --> 00:35:32.630
been carrying it around, but in a way, rubbing it
570
00:35:32.650 --> 00:35:35.050
in the police's face that he had done this and
571
00:35:35.130 --> 00:35:37.179
some of these women, they didn't even know that he
572
00:35:37.219 --> 00:35:37.639
had killed.
573
00:35:39.309 --> 00:35:43.679
Great was arrested after a woman he allegedly abducted called 911,
574
00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:46.980
leading police to rescue her at an abandoned home. They
575
00:35:47.019 --> 00:35:50.639
discovered two bodies at that scene and a third elsewhere.
576
00:35:51.559 --> 00:35:56.690
News of the arrest spread. Local TV producer Cassandra Nist
577
00:35:56.989 --> 00:35:59.650
made her way to the Ashland County Jail to see
578
00:35:59.710 --> 00:36:02.969
if she could speak with a serial killer face to face.
579
00:36:05.159 --> 00:36:07.219
Sean decided to speak with the media.
580
00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:12.320
I arrived to the jail armed with about 50 questions
581
00:36:12.949 --> 00:36:13.760
that I wanted.
582
00:36:13.530 --> 00:36:14.329
To have answered.
583
00:36:15.789 --> 00:36:19.630
We had an idea of the number of people that
584
00:36:19.730 --> 00:36:23.619
he had murdered, but that hadn't been confirmed, at least publicly.
585
00:36:24.440 --> 00:36:27.860
We did not have names confirmed for some of those people.
586
00:36:28.280 --> 00:36:31.360
We certainly did not know how he had murdered those people.
587
00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:37.699
My main goal was to get him to confirm the identities.
588
00:36:37.199 --> 00:36:37.800
Of these women.
589
00:36:38.170 --> 00:36:42.329
But you want to believe that this man's gonna be
590
00:36:43.369 --> 00:36:48.349
your type A villain, scary looking, creepy, kind of the
591
00:36:48.389 --> 00:36:49.650
type of person that'll send.
592
00:36:49.489 --> 00:36:52.699
Chills up your spine. That was not the case whatsoever.
593
00:36:54.389 --> 00:36:57.469
I look up and Sean's standing there staring at me.
594
00:36:58.849 --> 00:37:01.389
He had his glasses on, looked like he had just
595
00:37:01.460 --> 00:37:04.380
woken up and gotten out of bed, but he was smiling.
596
00:37:04.940 --> 00:37:05.980
He was in a good mood.
597
00:37:08.780 --> 00:37:12.619
The women murdered by Sean Great had one thing in common.
598
00:37:13.239 --> 00:37:16.909
They were in vulnerable situations and they didn't suspect there
599
00:37:16.929 --> 00:37:18.889
was anything sinister about him.
600
00:37:19.650 --> 00:37:25.280
Sean Great would profile his victim first he would find
601
00:37:25.619 --> 00:37:29.579
out what their vulnerable spot was. And that doesn't necessarily
602
00:37:29.619 --> 00:37:34.480
mean a fragility. For example, with one of his victims,
603
00:37:34.760 --> 00:37:38.420
he knew that she was incredibly religious. So he knew
604
00:37:38.440 --> 00:37:42.840
if he engaged her in religious conversation, if he presented
605
00:37:42.889 --> 00:37:45.429
himself as very religious as well, he was in.
606
00:37:45.909 --> 00:37:48.590
He was in. That was his manipulation.
607
00:37:51.869 --> 00:37:55.530
The common feature that we see across these women is
608
00:37:55.550 --> 00:37:58.969
that they were very trusting and loving and it's in
609
00:37:59.010 --> 00:38:01.809
a way exactly what Sean needed he didn't feel like
610
00:38:01.829 --> 00:38:04.389
he had that earlier in life so you can understand
611
00:38:04.469 --> 00:38:07.070
why he was searching it out but at the same
612
00:38:07.190 --> 00:38:11.429
time turning that against them and using that trust that
613
00:38:11.469 --> 00:38:14.519
they gave to him against them and using it to
614
00:38:14.599 --> 00:38:16.280
kill them is just so important.
615
00:38:20.199 --> 00:38:23.960
Great was reveling in the attention his crimes were receiving.
616
00:38:24.639 --> 00:38:28.829
Often you'd see Sean sitting on his cot reading the Bible,
617
00:38:29.230 --> 00:38:31.969
but when the 4, 5 and 6 o'clock news came on,
618
00:38:32.409 --> 00:38:34.269
he would stand up and just stare.
619
00:38:33.989 --> 00:38:38.079
At the television. He was watching his crimes be announced
620
00:38:38.099 --> 00:38:38.579
to the world.
621
00:38:38.619 --> 00:38:42.320
He was watching his reign of terror play out in
622
00:38:42.340 --> 00:38:42.800
the media.
623
00:38:43.449 --> 00:38:45.389
All channels just surfing all day.
624
00:38:45.969 --> 00:38:50.510
I think that he truly enjoyed watching himself on television
625
00:38:51.030 --> 00:38:55.010
and just the terror he has unleashed on this quiet
626
00:38:55.210 --> 00:38:58.309
Ashland community. Now I'm starting to wonder if this is
627
00:38:58.329 --> 00:39:01.829
all for self-gratification. And he's proud of what he's done.
628
00:39:03.809 --> 00:39:07.510
His enjoyment would soon come to an end. On the
629
00:39:07.650 --> 00:39:11.719
23rd of April, 2018, Sean Great faced trial in Ashland
630
00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:16.170
County Courthouse for the murders of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith.
631
00:39:17.170 --> 00:39:20.139
I will tell you, Sean is afraid of the death penalty.
632
00:39:20.260 --> 00:39:22.860
The one thing he said to me in jail, I said,
633
00:39:22.920 --> 00:39:24.380
are you afraid of what happens now?
634
00:39:24.440 --> 00:39:25.739
And he said that he didn't want to be put
635
00:39:25.780 --> 00:39:27.349
to death. He wanted to.
636
00:39:27.289 --> 00:39:29.869
Do his time and spend the rest of his life
637
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:32.380
thinking about what he had done. He was very afraid
638
00:39:32.400 --> 00:39:34.440
of the death penalty. He didn't want anybody injecting him
639
00:39:34.480 --> 00:39:34.960
with anything.
640
00:39:36.079 --> 00:39:39.969
On the 1st of June, 2018, Sean Great was sentenced
641
00:39:39.989 --> 00:39:43.889
to death for the murders of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith.
642
00:39:45.789 --> 00:39:49.030
But his time in court wasn't over. he had to
643
00:39:49.150 --> 00:39:53.300
answer for the deaths of three other women, Candace Cunningham,
644
00:39:54.300 --> 00:40:00.119
Rebecca Lacey, and Dana Lowry. It was showtime once more.
645
00:40:00.619 --> 00:40:02.119
Great pleaded guilty.
646
00:40:05.099 --> 00:40:08.719
Why be an average serial killer? Let's tell them about
647
00:40:08.739 --> 00:40:12.699
a few more. Let's raise my status. Let's make myself
648
00:40:12.860 --> 00:40:15.280
even more important. Let's try and get some kind of
649
00:40:15.380 --> 00:40:18.780
title of worst serial killer ever. And the higher the
650
00:40:18.820 --> 00:40:21.570
body count, the more important he becomes.
651
00:40:22.590 --> 00:40:25.610
On top of his death sentence, Great was sentenced to
652
00:40:25.690 --> 00:40:29.110
life without parole for the murders of the three other women.
653
00:40:29.130 --> 00:40:34.730
I asked Sean.
654
00:40:35.469 --> 00:40:39.909
Did you have any influences that may have triggered this
655
00:40:39.969 --> 00:40:47.110
type of behavior? Had you watched violent news stories, violent
656
00:40:47.280 --> 00:40:52.159
television shows that may have produced these violent tendencies within yourself?
657
00:40:56.619 --> 00:40:57.400
Sean said no.
658
00:40:57.960 --> 00:41:00.900
Sean flat out said, this is an out of character
659
00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:01.949
behavior for me.
660
00:41:04.070 --> 00:41:07.630
They often say that the people that you are interested
661
00:41:07.670 --> 00:41:09.610
in later in your life are a reflection of your
662
00:41:09.760 --> 00:41:13.079
relationships with your parents, and it does seem like there
663
00:41:13.099 --> 00:41:16.960
was this replication of the relationship he had with his mother.
664
00:41:17.199 --> 00:41:18.300
With these other women.
665
00:41:18.820 --> 00:41:21.920
However, he was not able, either through his own willpower
666
00:41:22.119 --> 00:41:25.059
or his own desires, to kill his mother, but he
667
00:41:25.119 --> 00:41:27.179
certainly did take that out on the women that he
668
00:41:27.219 --> 00:41:29.010
dated or just had an interest in.
669
00:41:30.489 --> 00:41:35.659
People kill for different reasons. So Sean Great, why was
670
00:41:35.860 --> 00:41:40.719
he killing women? I don't think the killing of them
671
00:41:40.960 --> 00:41:43.039
was the moment of joy for him.
672
00:41:43.480 --> 00:41:45.489
It was the control. It was the lead up.
673
00:41:45.590 --> 00:41:48.610
It was the continued pressure to the neck and the
674
00:41:48.690 --> 00:41:51.150
fear and the terror and the feeling of power that
675
00:41:51.170 --> 00:41:52.050
it gave him.
676
00:41:53.489 --> 00:41:55.860
So I asked Sean if he was remorseful about any
677
00:41:55.880 --> 00:41:57.449
of his crimes, and he said he was about 50-50.
678
00:41:58.909 --> 00:42:02.360
because some women he felt deserved it, some women he
679
00:42:02.460 --> 00:42:03.599
felt he was helping.
680
00:42:03.619 --> 00:42:09.679
Sean Great had got away with murder for years. Once
681
00:42:09.739 --> 00:42:12.340
he was caught, it seemed he was happy to reveal
682
00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:15.670
the killer within that he had been hiding for so long.
683
00:42:15.690 --> 00:42:20.070
He's a narcissist. He loves the attention.
684
00:42:20.110 --> 00:42:22.760
He's got his true place in life up on this
685
00:42:22.860 --> 00:42:26.469
pedestal with everybody wanting information from him, wanting to know
686
00:42:26.510 --> 00:42:28.949
why he did things, you know, wanting to get inside
687
00:42:28.989 --> 00:42:31.849
his head. This is, all his Christmases come up once
688
00:42:31.989 --> 00:42:32.820
really for him.
689
00:42:34.690 --> 00:42:39.250
Sean always had these impulses that made him know he
690
00:42:39.269 --> 00:42:41.429
could use his charm to get what he wanted. And
691
00:42:41.769 --> 00:42:44.369
he was very aggressive from a very young age. But
692
00:42:44.769 --> 00:42:47.489
once he realized and put this all together, that he
693
00:42:47.530 --> 00:42:50.170
could charm people to give him initially what he wanted,
694
00:42:50.699 --> 00:42:52.949
And when they no longer did it, he could use
695
00:42:52.989 --> 00:42:55.110
violence and aggression to force them to do what he
696
00:42:55.150 --> 00:42:58.409
wanted or to end their lives as punishment. It really
697
00:42:58.469 --> 00:43:00.769
just combined to bring out this killer within him.
698
00:43:03.690 --> 00:43:07.320
The only thing that I still wonder about this case is,
699
00:43:07.340 --> 00:43:12.019
are there more victims? We hear from so many FBI
700
00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:16.079
profilers that there are probably more victims out there.
701
00:43:19.550 --> 00:43:20.349
So so
