2nd woman’s body identified in Ohio slaying, abduction case

ASHLAND, Ohio – Authorities on Friday identified the second woman whose body was found in an Ohio home this week, and a judge ordered a suspect arrested and charged with murder held on a $1 million bond.

The Ashland County prosecutor has identified the second woman as 29-year-old Elizabeth Griffith, of Ashland.

Shawn Grate, 40, faces two counts of murder in the deaths of Griffith and 43-year-old Stacey Stanley. Their bodies were found Tuesday inside a supposedly unoccupied home in Ashland after a third woman called 911 from inside a bedroom and said Grate was holding her hostage.

Police found the bodies after freeing the woman and arresting Grate. Authorities said a third body was then found Tuesday in neighbouring Richland County after Grate confessed to killing the woman in June. The third woman hasn’t been identified. Authorities haven’t said how any of the women died.

The woman in the house said in the 911 call that she had been tied up but had partly freed herself in the same room where her captor was asleep. She said the man had a stun gun, and she was afraid of waking him. She told the dispatcher she had known the man for about a month and a half.

Grate is charged with kidnapping in the woman’s abduction. A court document accuses Grate of kidnapping her “to engage in sexual activity.”

An Ashland County Common Pleas judge on Friday assigned Grate an attorney after Grate said he had no money, job or place to live. County Prosecutor Christopher Tunnell said during the hearing that authorities believe Grate also abducted Griffith and Stanley.

Grate has another hearing scheduled for Monday morning.