The Call That Changed Everything: The Ohio Strangler

When Ashland Police get a 911 call about an abduction, they never imagine it will turn into one of the most prolific cases of a serial killer Ohio has ever seen.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome to the Midwest Crime Files. I'm your host, Gina. I'm here to tell you the stories of small towns and the heinous crimes that change them forever. I have a special guest host today. Welcome back, Taylor.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Welcome back.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

We are gonna tell you guys a story today about a phone call that started as a simple abduction and turned into one of the most prolific serial killer stories that Ohio has ever had.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Yeah. So buckle up. This one's gonna take you on quite the little ride.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

I'm here for it.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

So this story is called The Call That Changed Everything: The Ohio Strangler. It was a September day in 2016 when a 911 call came into dispatch in Ashland, Ohio. The caller told the dispatcher that she had been abducted and was being held in an abandoned house across the street from a laundromat. While police immediately raced to the scene where two yellow houses were across from the laundromat, the police raced to see if anybody were in those two yellow abandoned houses. These abandoned houses had stood for a long time. They had once been the houses where owners of historic businesses in Ashland stood, but they had been abandoned for a long time. There were no signs of life. It didn't appear anybody was there. Ashland wasn't the kind of city, although it was a city, it wasn't the kind of city where things like this happened. Police circled the houses, they didn't see anything, they didn't hear anything, and honestly, they were just about to give up when they saw a hand against a window pane.

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Oh, did they not try to go into the houses?

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Well, they did, but the the doors in even the steps to the doors were sort of like the concrete going up to the doors were was eroded. Right. Like there wasn't a clear way to even get into these houses. And it didn't appear, it almost seemed like a prank call. Oh. And then the dispatcher said that um all of a sudden he saw a hand against the glass. Oh god. And he's like, That's a vision I will never get out of my head. And the caller said she had to be quiet because she was afraid she was gonna wake up her abductor.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Oh god.

SPEAKER_00 2:52

The caller, referenced only as Jane Doe to protect her identity, was quiet for fear of waking her captor. This made it more difficult for the police to find her, but the responding officer finally did when he saw her hand against that window. He did rescue her, and he stated this was a scene he would never forget. The woman had clearly been brutalized, but now she was safe. The police arrested the sleeping man, a man named Sean Great. He was cooperative and rather polite throughout his arrest, but the scene, the scene was horrific. Women's clothing was tied to the sides of the mattress in order to bind Jane during her captivity. The house was very unkempt. It was truly an abandoned house that Sean had been squatting in for quite some time. He was arrested in just a pair of shorts. Jane explained that the two had been friends. They had actually met at a local community center. They told stories, uh, she told them stories of being brutally raped and tortured for the last several days, approximately three days.

unknown 4:08

Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

But he didn't deny that it was him either. He readily admitted his crimes. In fact, he admitted to much more than attacking Jane.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

There's a picture of Sean for your He he looks nor I mean, I guess that what they say is true though, that it's the guy next door. It's always the guy next door look.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Right. You never know who is the type of guy to do that, but he looks kind enough.

SPEAKER_01 4:45

Yeah, he looks like my neighbor.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Like somebody you would approach and not think twice of. Sean Great was born August 8th, 1976, in Marion, Ohio. He didn't speak until he was four years old. He was known to have learning disabilities and ADHD. He repeated the kindergarten and f uh first grade. He was always he always had a tumultuous relationship with his mother. He described their relationship as one of mutual hate. It always seems to be the mother, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

His mother abandoned their family when Sean was 11 and went to live with another man in Kentucky. Sean was an avid baseball player until a tumor was discovered in his arm and he had to have surgery to remove it in high school, and then he never played baseball again.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

So it ruined his arm. So you've got the mother wound that is never truly something that can be healed when you feel abandoned by the mother. Right. And now taken away every chance you've got.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yeah. That sucks. I mean, that really does suck. When you have something you're really good at, and then like it it gets taken away from you. Um during his youth, he his father moved in with a woman across the street and left him and his brother to fend for themselves.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

He admits that as teenagers they had parties and did whatever they wanted because they didn't have any parental supervision. According to Sean's high school girlfriend, he experienced depression to the point where he would lie around for days at a time. However, he was never given proper treatment for his mental health. In 1994, he was arrested for grabbing his girlfriend's throat. He graduated high school in 1995. In 1997, he was arrested for a felony burglary charge and sentenced to four years in prison, but was released after seven months of parole. In 1999, Sean's then girlfriend was pregnant.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

The same girlfriend?

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Okay. I would hope not. Yeah, I don't think so. He was known to be a very possessive partner and was often very abusive. In this case, he threatened to kill her, and during a fight, a domestic violence charge was reported, and this violated his parole on the burglary charge. So he was sent back to prison to serve the rest of his four years. Good. And while he was in prison, his first child was born. The mother kept the baby from him and he was not a part of his baby's life.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

That's probably for the best.

SPEAKER_00 7:39

I would agree. Upon his release from prison in 2003, Great met a woman that would bear his second child. He again became very possessive and controlling, and domestic violence was a part of that relationship as well. He was accused of sexually assaulting her and arrested and charged with two counts of domestic violence against her. It's unclear what sentence he was given on these charges, but he was not a part of this baby's life either. She gave birth to his second child, and he was not allowed to have access to his second child either.

SPEAKER_01 8:22

Good.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yeah, so you can see this pattern. He is not a very good man. He is very violent.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

Seems like a self-perpetuating cycle of loneliness and abandonment, though.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

Absolutely. Absolutely. In 2011, he married a woman named Amber. He had his own business making wooden signs. If anyone thought that he turned his life around, however, they were wrong. Amber became pregnant with his third child, and Great's history of domestic violence became evident once more. Amber soon filed for divorce and took steps to keep Sean away from their baby daughter. Sean made ominous threats such as, quote, if I can't see my daughter, then no one will.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

Good. So it sounds like the violence doesn't come out until the pregnancy begins.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

That's what it seems. It's so far. So he has three kids with three women, and he is not part of any of their lives.

SPEAKER_01 9:37

For their best interest, thankfully.

SPEAKER_00 9:39

Yes, thank God. And it seems like these women did a very good job of keeping him away from their children. Between 2011 and 2016, Sean was a vagrant, traveling from county to county in Ohio to dodge child support and charges of various crimes that he had committed. He faced drug uh drug charges, domestic violence, child support contempt charges, and other petty crimes. He mostly squatted in vacant homes like the one in Ashland. He frequented shelters and community centers. He used his charm and charisma to make female friends that he would later take advantage of. Then came that ominous day in 2016. After taking Jane Doe's statement and sending her to the hospital for a full medical evaluation, sex crimes detective Kim Mager sat down with Sean Great. What he would confess to would shock not only the detective, but the entire community. Kim Mager was a specially trained detective that learned to build rapport with suspects in order to tune into their psyche. She was able to gain Sean's trust so that he would confess, which he did in a matter-of-fact way that was so chilling. Um to watch it on video is unbelievable. And I do have links on the website if you want to watch some of his confessions.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

So is he a psychopath or a sociopath?

SPEAKER_00 11:14

Both.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

Okay. I can't, I don't remember the difference.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

I mean, I I think any kind of word to describe an evil person, he probably is. And Kim Mager, I would describe as an Olivia Benson.

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:31

Like that's who I would describe her as. Yeah. Um, Sean admitted that he befriended Jane at the Crocs Center, a local community center. He admired her faith in God and her religious nature. He stated that he wanted to marry her. This is the woman, the Jane Doe woman. Yet he also admitted that he abducted her and raped her over and over. She was different, it seemed, from the others. That's what he said. What others?

SPEAKER_01 12:04

That's a good question.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

Yeah. Well, what what do you mean, others? He said that if they looked in the closet of the house that he was squatting in, they would find a body. There was another body in the basement as well.

unknown 12:22

Jesus.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Those weren't even all his victims. Sean Great was a serial killer, he told Kim Mager, and he was about to discuss his victims. So these were the that those were the two yellow houses. Yeah. This was the yellow house on Ashland. And these pictures, guys, are on the website.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

So how many do they end up finding?

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Well, let's talk about his victims. His first victim was Dana Lowry. According to Sean, a woman came to his house in 2006 and sold his mother a magazine subscription that never arrived. He got tired of hearing his mother complain about it, so he tracked the woman down.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

So he has a bond with his mother now?

SPEAKER_00 13:12

Supposedly. I doubt that. I think that's probably a crack of shit. I think he probably killed her the minute she came to the door.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Probably.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Um, her name was Dana Nicole Lowry. She was 23 years old, originally from Louisiana, and the mother of two small children. I think they were one in five.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Oh, those poor kids.

SPEAKER_00 13:33

I know. He said that he led her back to his house where he strangled her. He said that he dragged her down to the basement of the home, but then she woke up, so he didn't do a very good job of strangling her. He confessed that he then stabbed her in the neck. He later dumped her body in a wooded area. She was found in Marion County, Ohio in 2006 and was originally considered a Jane Doe until DNA evidence confirmed her identity in 2018.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

So for 12 years, her family just didn't know where she was. Yep. That's so sad.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

His second victim was Rebecca Lacey. Rebecca Lacey was a friend of Sean's that he often went to the bar with. Her body had been found in a wooded area in 2015 and originally was ruled a drug overdose. According to Grey, he believed that Rebecca had stolen four dollars from his wallet. Four dollars. And so he strangled her and dumped her in the woods. Her death investigation was reopened following his confession. Jesus. Four fucking dollars.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

I take it because he was at the Croc Center. Either she worked there or she was there as well.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

Probably.

SPEAKER_01 14:55

So is their Croc Center similar to ours?

SPEAKER_00 14:58

I think so. Okay. Yeah. Four fucking dollars. So you kill your friend.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

That's not a friend.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Right.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Not at that point.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

His third victim was 29-year-old Candace Cunningham. She was Sean Great's girlfriend in June of 2016. She thought that she had found her soulmate. They had been dating on and off again for a few years, almost five, from some of the sources I found.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

So immediately following his divorce.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Yeah. According to Sean, Candace had problems with drug addiction and suicidal ideation. He described killing her after subjecting her to three days of torture. He said very calmly, I just finished her.

SPEAKER_01 15:51

That's so sad. That's terrible.

SPEAKER_00 15:53

I just finished her. I watched that on one of the videos of his confessions, and it just sent chills down my spine. He just says it real calm. I just finished her.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

That poor girl.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

And she looks so sweet. Is she pregnant that picture? I can't tell if she's pregnant or if it's just the way she's posed. I can't tell. I thought the same thing. She does look almost like she's pregnant because she's so skinny. I think she might be. Um he then set the house that she was in on fire. However, I guess he didn't want her to burn up, so then he removed her body from the house and he hid it in the woods. After his confession, he led authorities to her body. Feel sick yet? I mean it's heavy. It's heavy, heavy. It's heavy, heavy. Elizabeth Beth Griffith is the next victim. She's 29-year-old. She was a regular face for the Ashland police department. She wasn't someone who got in trouble. She was just someone who frequently would call the police department. They said she would often call for like neighbor issues. It sounded like maybe she was a Karen. Kinda, but it sounded like maybe she was maybe. I want to say this nicely, like maybe a little bit slow. Oh. And so she would call for like neighbor issues.

SPEAKER_01 17:37

Because she didn't know who else to ask. Yeah. So how did he run across her?

SPEAKER_00 17:43

So she was ne um she went missing in September 2016. Sean admitted that he met her at the community center and he took advantage of her trusting nature. He brought her back to that the abandoned house and he strangled her, undressed her, hog tied her, and hid her in the closet of the abandoned house he was living in.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

That's so sad.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

And I'm sure he probably sexually assaulted her, but I don't know that for factual information.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

So yeah, it does sound like the Croc Center. I don't know, I I don't know if that's like a nationwide thing, but it does sound like their Crocs Center similar to ours. Yeah. And that it's a place for people with disabilities or home facing homelessness to go for resources.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Um he took steps to hide the odor by sealing the closet door shut. Sealing it with what?

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Spray foam?

SPEAKER_00 18:43

I'm assuming like plastic. I'm sure it wouldn't have lasted that long. Probably not. Um police located her body the same day they rescued Jane Doe. DNA confirmed the identity despite the decomposition.

SPEAKER_01 19:00

That's so sad. I I hope her family got some sort of closure from them finding her.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

It's terribly sad. Stacy Stanley Hicks was the next victim. She was not an Ashford resident, but she was traveling through Ashford about a week before Sean's arrest. She had the misfortune of getting a flat tire. She had called her son to come and assist her, but before he got there, she ran into Sean Great. He offered to help her with her flat tire, and the two decided to hang out for a while. Sean admitted to strangling her and leaving her body in the basement of the abandoned house where police discovered it that September day they rescued Jane Doe. She was identified by her family due to her tattoos and other identifying marks. He told the story about Stacy fighting. She even tried to mace him, but he was able to overpower the mother and grandmother.

SPEAKER_01 20:08

That's so sad.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

She was in her early 40s. Yeah. Just probably thought she met a nice guy.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

It's a I mean, she fought, I'm sure she fought for her life. It's just a shame she couldn't get out in time.

SPEAKER_00 20:24

It is. So what was Sean's motive? Could Sean what would his motive be? Well, exwarts believe that it was the hatred for his mother. His mother was apparently an alcoholic who was distant and unloving towards her children. She abandoned her children early on and partied frequently as opposed to paying attention to Sean. Sean himself admits to hatred for his mother. His mother compared Sean to the devil. In Sean's words, quote, they were already dead. Just their bodies were flopping where it can flop, but their minds were already dead. The states took their mind once they started receiving their monthly checks. End quote.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

So he's killing people that receive Social Security?

SPEAKER_00 21:19

That's sort of what he alluded to.

SPEAKER_01 21:22

There are some there are plenty of people who've been abandoned by their parents or who've had a mother who is an alcoholic or a junkie or whatever you may have, or who've passed away. They don't go around killing people.

SPEAKER_00 21:32

I mean, he sort of alluded to the fact that they were on state aid, but like so the fuck was he. Right. I mean, he was taking the same resources. So I don't really know that he had a motive other than the fact that I think he's just fucking evil. And I don't think his mom saying that he's the devil himself makes his mom an evil mom.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

No, I don't think that makes her an evil person. We also don't just be real. We also don't know the context for why the mother left. Did the mother actually abandon him? Or was it a divorce and the father ended up with custody?

SPEAKER_00 22:07

And was he evil? We don't know that either. So Sean's punishment. Sean was charged with 23 charges. I mean, obviously, there's a lot to unpack here. There was no way, there was no way we were gonna face some kind of innocence versus guilty thing here.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

So did they give him a plea deal?

SPEAKER_00 22:32

No. Okay, good. Oh no. In Ohio. They have the death penalty state.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Oh, good for them.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

So this is this is Sean Great's punishment. Two counts of aggravated murder, punishment, death. Two counts of aggravated kidnapping, 15 years to life to run consecutively. That means after his death penalty. So basically, if for some reason his penalty, his death penalty would get thrown out, he still has 15 years each on those. Four counts of rape, 15 years to life to run concurrent. Kidnapping, 10 years concurrent. Unknown collar. Oh, unknown caller can go away. Um two counts of abuse of a corpse, one year concurrent. Four counts of burglary, one year concurrent, tampering with evidence, one year concurrent. Aggravated robbery, five years concurrent. Breaking and entering, six months concurrent. Unauthorized use of a vehicle, six months concurrent. Aggravated murder life consecutive. Two counts of abuse of a corpse, one year consecutive, murder, fifteen years to life. There is currently no execution date set yet for Sean Great. You know why they did that, right?

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Because with the death penalty, you they have to provide so many appeals. Yeah. And that way, no matter if he is able to overturn the death penalty in his case, he's still going to die in prison.

SPEAKER_00 24:18

Oh, yeah. He's got life no matter what. And he's got two death sentences, I believe. Yes, he does. He has two death sentences. So even if he gets one of his death sentences overturned, he's still got another death sentence. Good. And then how many life sentences does he have that are consecutive?

SPEAKER_01 24:37

Did they try him for each charge individually, or did they put all the charges in one case?

SPEAKER_00 24:42

I believe his charge for Stacey Stanley Hicks and his charge for Elizabeth Beth Griffith, those are the two death sentences, they are charged separately. Those are his two death sentences. So good.

SPEAKER_01 25:00

So even if he gets one case overturned, it's not going to overturn everything.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

Right. And then the life sentences, those are charged separately, too. So um, yeah, there's no way he will ever walk free. Good. Ever. He shouldn't. It's one of the worst cases I think I've ever covered. Well, and didn't you say he had siblings?

SPEAKER_01 25:24

I believe so. Well, here and here's why I ask. If you've got two kids from the same household and it begs the nature versus nurture question, one of them did the other one end up normal, or is are they also a serial killer?

SPEAKER_00 25:42

Yeah, I don't think his siblings have anything to do with him. Good.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

But that's at the end of the day, like that point. Yeah, I think he had a brother. That points to that no, this is a you issue.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Yeah, I think he had a brother. And I don't think his brother, like, I don't think they have like anything to do. Yeah, he had an older brother that doesn't have anything to do with him and hasn't since like high school. Good. So I think maybe the writing was on the wall. You know, sometimes you just know things about people. You can feel it even from a young age that people aren't right.

SPEAKER_01 26:19

Well, I mean, there's a lot of extenuating factors with him when he was young. I mean, talking about he didn't he didn't speak until he was four and he struggled with learning, that sounds like autism. Um, and so I mean, uh a lot of people will sit there and say, Oh, why knew he w when he was a kid because he didn't talk until he was four? Well, that doesn't really contribute to them being a psychopath. Now, cumulative.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

He was choking girlfriends out in high school.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Yeah, that's a problem. But that also begs the question what was going on at home. Beyond beyond parents abandoning his own. Dad might have been choking mom out. Right, or girlfriend. We don't we don't know this. Or dad's girlfriend. So is that something he was growing up witnessing and thinking was acceptable and just he expanded upon that. I'm not saying any of what this is okay, but it raises red flags about looking into the environment around him.

SPEAKER_00 27:13

Yeah, for real.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Because somewhere this was allowed to happen that he thought this was appropriate.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

Yeah. And a lot of his charges too are for Jane Doe, um, the kidnapping and all of those other charges, rape charges, things like that. So those carry very lengthy sentences that are gonna keep him in jail for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

When was he sentenced? Uh, I believe 2018. Good. So hopefully she's had a chance to move on and get the help she needs to move past it.

SPEAKER_00 27:44

Yeah. Um, and there is a book that was written by Kim Mager, who, like I said, is like kind of like our Olivia Benson. Um, and I am going to be giving away a hard copy of this book to a Patreon uh listener. You have to be a silver or gold Patreon member, and I will be giving this book away. We will be doing a drawing on April the 10th. Is that Friday? Hold on, guys, I gotta get my shit together.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

April the 10th is a Friday.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Yes, so April the 10th, I will do that drawing and give that away. So make sure you are a silver or gold Patreon member if you would like to win a hard copy book of Kim Maker's book where she details her 33-hour sit-down confession with this man and gets into all the nitty-gritty. Um, and I will be giving away that hard copy book. So make sure you get on the Patreon page and become a silver or gold paid member, and you will get a chance to win this book. Also, while you're on there, you'll get access to all the other um con uh content that is special. Uh, for example, um the Tom Odell, the man who in Mount Vernon who killed his entire family. I wrote to him in prison. He wrote me back. I've got his letters on there. I do.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

So that was the first episode I ever listened to. I've got his letters on there in Mount Vernon when you put that episode online. And I had a little panic attack. Was I living in the house that the murder house?

SPEAKER_00 29:31

I don't know where it was, but I've got his letters on there. Um, I've got some other really cool content on there. I've got pictures people have sent me from different stories, different things on there. Um, so it's definitely worth it to become a Patreon member. So jump on there and do that. Also, oh, excuse me, like and follow us on Facebook and check us out at www.themidwestcrimefile.com for all of the pictures and uh references, that kind of stuff. So if you want to be a Patreon member, I'm telling y'all it's well worth it. This is not gonna be the only giveaway, there's gonna be much, much more to come. So, and of course, thank you so much, Taylor, for joining us. Your in your input is always so well appreciated. It's a pleasure. All right, guys, I'll see you later. Bye.