News 5’s Bob Jones will appear on 20/20 tonight on Killer Shawn Grate

ASHLAND, Ohio – Tonight at 9 p.m., 20/20 will air an episode detailing how convicted killer Sean Grate was brought to justice. News 5’s Bob Jones, who covered the case, will appear on the show.

Jones did a report recalling the case and anticipating tonight’s episode of 20/20 on News 5 at 6 and 7. The episode is titled Meet the Other Me. The correspondent is John Quinones.

“It’s a fascinating story, one of the most fascinating cases I’ve ever covered,” Quinones said.

The investigation began in 2016 when a woman called 911 and reported that she had been kidnapped and was being held captive. That call led police to an abandoned home in Ashland. He ultimately confessed to murdering five women.

When police arrived at the house, they made a terrifying discovery. Inside, investigators located the woman’s decomposing body in the basement on the cold concrete floor, buried under a pile of garbage and debris. The woman was naked from the waist down and had a scarf tied around her neck.

Upstairs, authorities made another gruesome discovery – a closet sealed with duct tape and emanating a “deplorable odor.” There was another body inside, hidden under a pile of clothes. Both women were tied up.

The women were later identified as Stacey Stanley Hicks and Liz Griffith. According to the authorities, it’s both Griffith and Hicks were strangled.

Grate is currently behind bars awaiting the death penalty after being convicted in 2018. He also pleaded guilty to Rebecca Leica in Ashland County and Candace Cunningham in Richland County.

Ashland County Sheriff’s Office/AP

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In 2019, a Jane Doe found dead in Marion County in 2007 was linked to Grate, with police confirming she was another of his victims. She was later identified as 23-year-old Dana Nicole Lowrey. Police say she killed him in 2006.

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Much of the 20/20 episode will focus on the work of Ashland Detective Kim Mager. She wrote a book about the case titled A Hunger to Kill.

Mager, who is now retired, is credited with forging a bond with Grate and getting him to confess to the murders.

“She has been compared to Clarice Starling, Jodie Foster’s character in The Silence of the Lambs,” Quinones said.