The Misbegotten Son: A Serial Killer and His Victims - The True Story of Arthur J. Shawcross
Language: English
Published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform, 2017
- Softcover
- Used
Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.World of Books Inc
AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026
Condition: Used - Good
£ 11.02
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Little Artie Shawcross bullied classmates, insulted teachers, started fires, tortured animals, and roved the woods of New York's hardscrabble North Country with imaginary friends, talking in a high squawk. He also scored top grades, excelled in sports and shared his money and toys with the children who ridiculed him. From the second grade on, he was subjected to psychiatric examination, regularly confounding the experts. Years later, while serving in Vietnam, Arthur John Shawcross wrote bloodcurdling letters about his battlefield ordeals, then returned to Watertown to commit a string of arsons and burglaries. He served two years in prison, was paroled to his respectable parents - and murdered a boy and a girl. Back in the penitentiary, he proved as enigmatic as ever. Some counselors saw him as a Frankenstein monster, beyond hope, irredeemable. To others he was a troubled young man who could be saved. No two psychiatrists seemed to agree. Shawcross served fifteen years, then conned a parole board into an early release. He settled in Binghamton, but angry citizens learned of his bloody history and ran him out of town. After two smaller communities turned him away, desperate parole authorities finally smuggled the child-killer into Rochester in the dead of night - neglecting to alert the local police. Soon the corpses started turning up, locked in winter ice, covered by reeds in swamps, floating in streams. The homicidal pedophile had changed his M.O., this time murdering diminutive women. As the body count grew, Rochester streets swarmed with police, and still the serial killer managed to snare his tenth victim, then his eleventh.…
Seller Inventory # CIN1542892961G
- Title
- The Misbegotten Son: A Serial Killer and His Victims - The True Story of Arthur J. Shawcross
- Author
- Katherine Ramsland
- Publisher
- Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
- Publication year
- 2017
- Condition
- Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1542892961
- ISBN 13
- 9781542892964
From New York Times bestselling author Jack Olsen, known as "the dean of true crime," comes a shattering account of a killer the system created, enabled, and then set loose to kill again.
Little Artie Shawcross bullied classmates, started fires, tortured animals, and roamed the woods of upstate New York talking to imaginary friends. He also scored top grades, excelled in sports, and shared his toys with the children who ridiculed him. From second grade on, psychiatrists examined him and walked away baffled. No two experts could agree on what he was, or what he was capable of.
They were about to find out.
After serving in Vietnam, Shawcross returned home and murdered a ten-year-old boy and a young girl. He served fifteen years, less than half his sentence, then talked his way past a parole board and walked free. Community after community turned him away when his history became known. Desperate parole authorities finally smuggled him into Rochester in the dead of night, telling no one. Not even the local police.
The bodies began turning up locked in winter ice, covered by reeds in swamps, floating in streams. Soon the streets of Rochester were swarming with police. Residents were terrified. And still Shawcross killed. His tenth victim, then his eleventh. He had been hiding in plain sight for years, a seemingly ordinary man with a job, a wife, and neighbors who had no idea.
Jack Olsen tells this story through the voices of those who lived it: the killer himself, the detectives who hunted him, the psychiatrists who failed to understand him, and the families of those he destroyed. He also gives full voice to those the system failed: the mothers who warned authorities, the communities that tried to protect themselves, and the women whose deaths might have been prevented.
The result is what one reviewer called "the most detailed portrait of a serial murderer" in the true crime genre, and a damning indictment of a justice system that chose convenience over the safety of the innocent.
Publishers Weekly called it "a triumph of true crime writing." It is also something more: a warning that has never stopped being relevant.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
World of Books Inc
Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026
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Founded in 2002, World of Books is a leading online destination for buying and selling both preloved and new books, committed to making sustainable reading accessible to all. With a mission to help people read more and waste less, World of Books offers a huge range of affordable, high-quality books — giving both new and preloved titles a second life. The company also operates World of Books – Sell Your Books, an easy-to-use platform that allows customers to trade in unwanted books for cash, helping to keep books in circulation while promoting sustainability. As a Certified B Corp, World of Books is driven by a vision to become the world’s largest and most sustainable dedicated online bookstore. The company measures its success through the positive environmental impact it creates, the value it provides to customers, and its ability to operate profitably while supporting its sustainable mission …
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