Troy Graves

Last updated
Troy Graves
Troygraves ftcollinscomugshot.jpg
Graves' mugshot, 23 April 2002
Born (1972-05-04) May 4, 1972 (age 52)
Minnesota, U.S.
Occupation(s)Maintenance worker, U.S. Air Force airman
Criminal status Incarcerated
SpouseAmy Graves (2001-2004)
Parent(s)Earl Clayton Graves (d. 2001), Michal B. Graves
Conviction(s) First degree murder
Rape
Criminal penalty Life imprisonment without parole
Imprisoned at Sterling Correctional Facility

Troy Graves (born May 4, 1972) is an American serial rapist and murderer of Shannon Schieber. He committed a series of rapes in Philadelphia from 1997 to 1999, where he was known as the "Center City rapist". He also committed rapes in Fort Collins, Colorado in 2001, where he was arrested in 2002. He is serving a life sentence in the Sterling Correctional Facility in Sterling, Colorado.

Contents

Early life

Troy was born to Earl and Michal Graves in Minnesota. He grew up in New York and Pennsylvania, living with his mother and older brother Marc, following his parents' divorce in 1986. He dropped out of Bensalem High School in 1989 and worked various jobs in the Philadelphia area while living in the neighborhoods of West Philadelphia and Center City. [1]

His whereabouts were unknown throughout July–October 1999, when he reported for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Following training, he was assigned to F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming in April 2000 as a maintenance worker on missile silos.

In March 2001, Graves was married in Larimer County, Colorado and the couple later settled into a home a few blocks west of the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins. [2]

Criminal career

Philadelphia attacks [3]

  1. June 20, 1997: a woman on South 21st Street is the target of an attempted rape by a home intruder;
  2. July 11, 1997: a woman on Pine Street was raped by a home intruder;
  3. August 6, 1997: a woman on Pine Street was raped by a home intruder;
  4. August 13, 1997: a woman on Pine Street was raped by a home intruder;
  5. May 7, 1998: Wharton School doctoral student Shannon Schieber was raped and murdered by a home intruder;
  6. August 28, 1999: a woman on Naudain Street was raped by a home intruder.

Fort Collins attacks

  1. May 10, 2001: a woman on Raintree Drive was raped;
  2. June 13, 2001: a woman on Raintree Drive was raped;
  3. June 24, 2001: a woman on Battlecreek Drive was raped by a home intruder;
  4. July 26, 2001: a woman on Prospect Road was raped by a home intruder;
  5. August 5, 2001: a woman on University Avenue was raped by a home intruder;
  6. August 23, 2001: a woman on Landings Drive was raped by a home intruder; she scared him away as he tried to attack her roommate.

Arrest and trial

On April 23, 2002, Fort Collins police arrested Graves for a series of six rapes near Colorado State University. Graves' DNA matched that of the Center City rapist and that left at Schieber's murder scene, a link made in May 2001 that had led law enforcement in both states to work together to create a list of individuals who had connections in Fort Collins and Philadelphia. Fort Collins authorities also linked Graves to at least one of the Colorado crimes through fingerprint evidence. [4]

Graves pled guilty to the Fort Collins assaults on May 17, 2002 and to the Philadelphia crimes on May 30, 2002, in order to prevent a possible death sentence in Philadelphia. He was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole in both states, but will serve his time in Colorado because he pleaded guilty there first. [5] [6]

Television shows about the case include:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darlie Routier</span> American prisoner on death row

Darlie Lynn Peck Routier is an American woman from Rowlett, Texas, who was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of her five-year-old son Damon in 1996. She has also been charged with capital murder in the death of her six-year-old son, Devon, who was murdered at the same time as Damon. To date, Routier has not been tried for Devon's murder.

A home invasion, also called a hot prowl burglary, is a sub-type of burglary in which an offender unlawfully enters into a building residence while the occupants are inside. The overarching intent of a hot prowl burglary can be theft, robbery, assault, sexual assault, murder, kidnapping, or another crime, either by stealth or direct force. Hot prowl burglaries are considered especially dangerous by law enforcement because of the potential for a violent confrontation between the occupant and the offender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary M. Heidnik</span> American kidnapper, rapist, and murderer (1943–1999)

Gary Michael Heidnik was an American murderer and serial rapist who kidnapped, tortured and raped six women, murdering two of them, while holding them captive in a self-dug pit in his basement floor in Philadelphia between 1986 and 1987. He was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection in July 1999, currently the last person to be executed in the state of Pennsylvania. Heidnik was one of the inspirations for the character of Jame "Buffalo Bill" Gumb in The Silence of the Lambs.

Aimee Ellen Willard was a college lacrosse player who was murdered by Arthur Bomar near Philadelphia on her way home from a night out with friends. Her car was left running, with the lights on and driver's side door open, on the Exit 5 off-ramp of Interstate 476. Her body was found the next day in North Philadelphia, 17 miles away. She had been beaten to death with a tire iron. The beating was so savage that her skull had multiple fractures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph James DeAngelo</span> American serial killer and serial rapist (born 1945)

Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. is an American serial killer, serial rapist, burglar, peeping tom, former police officer and mechanic who committed at least 13 murders, 51 rapes, and 120 burglaries across California between 1974 and 1986. He is responsible for three known separate crime sprees throughout the state, each of which spawned a different nickname in the press, before it became evident that they were committed by the same person.

Alex Kelly is an American convicted rapist.

Antoni Imiela was a German-born convicted serial rapist who grew up in County Durham, England. He was found guilty of the rape of nine women and girls, and the indecent assault, and attempted rape, of a 10-year-old girl whom he repeatedly punched and throttled. The crimes took place in Surrey, Kent, Berkshire, London, Hertfordshire and Birmingham, and the press dubbed the offender the M25 Rapist after the M25 motorway that passes in the vicinity of all those areas except Birmingham. He died in HM Prison Wakefield on 8 March 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Donnelly</span> Fictional character on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Elizabeth "Liz" Donnelly is a fictional character from the NBC crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, portrayed by Judith Light. She made her first screen appearance during the third season episode "Guilt", which was broadcast on March 29, 2002.

FamilyTreeDNA Commercial genetic testing company

FamilyTreeDNA is a division of Gene by Gene, a commercial genetic testing company based in Houston, Texas. FamilyTreeDNA offers analysis of autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, and mitochondrial DNA to individuals for genealogical purpose. With a database of more than two million records, it is the most popular company worldwide for Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA, and the fourth most popular for autosomal DNA. In Europe, it is the most common also for autosomal DNA. FamilyTreeDNA as a division of Gene by Gene were acquired by MYDNA, Inc., an Australian company, in January 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcia S. Krieger</span> American judge (born 1954)

Marcia Smith Krieger is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Floyd Thomas Jr.</span> Convicted American serial killer

John Floyd Thomas Jr. is an American serial killer, serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murders of seven women in the Los Angeles area during the 1970s and 1980s. Police suspect Thomas committed 10 to 15 more murders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christie Shaner</span> American soccer player

Christie Robinson Shaner is an American soccer defender from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who last played for Pali Blues of USL W-League.

Larry Murphy is an Irish convicted felon. After his conviction for kidnapping, repeatedly raping, and attempted murder of a young Carlow woman on 11 February 2000, in the Wicklow Mountains, he was jailed in January 2001. His release from prison less than 10 years later drew widespread criticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CeCe Moore</span> American genetic genealogist (born 1969)

CeCe Moore is an American genetic genealogist who has been described as the country's foremost such entrepreneur. She has appeared on many TV shows and worked as a genetic genealogy researcher for others such as Finding Your Roots. She has reportedly helped law enforcement agencies in identifying suspects in over 300 cold cases using DNA and genetic genealogy. In May 2020, she began appearing in a prime time ABC television series called The Genetic Detective in which each episode recounts a cold case she helped solve. In addition to her television work, she is known for pioneering the genetic genealogy methodologies used by adoptees and others of unknown origin for identifying biological family.

Vinson Horace Champ is a former comedian and convicted rapist. He was the winner of Star Search in 1992. In 1997, he was identified as a serial rapist when his DNA and tour schedule were matched up with a series of rapes on college campuses. He is currently serving a 30-to-40-year sentence at Nebraska State Penitentiary. His projected release date is in 2033, after which he will begin two consecutive life-term sentences in Iowa.

Parabon NanoLabs, Inc. is an American company based in Reston, Virginia, that develops nanopharmaceuticals and provides DNA phenotyping services for law enforcement organizations.

Between 2008 and 2011, a series of rapes in the suburbs around Seattle and Denver were perpetrated by Marc Patrick O'Leary, a United States Army veteran who had been stationed near Tacoma. The first victim, an 18-year-old woman known as Marie, reported to Sergeant Jeffrey Mason and Jerry Rittgarn that she had been raped at her home in Lynnwood, Washington. According to a later report, the bullying and hounding of her by the detectives led Marie to recant her statement, resulting in her being charged with making a false report of rape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watts family murders</span> 2018 mass murder in Colorado

In the early hours of August 13, 2018, in Frederick, Colorado, American oil field operator Christopher Lee Watts murdered his pregnant wife Shanann (34) by strangulation, and their two children Bella (4) and Celeste (3) by suffocation. He buried Shanann in a shallow grave near an oil-storage facility, and dumped his children's bodies into crude oil tanks. Watts initially maintained his innocence in his family's disappearance, but was arrested on August 15, after confessing in an interview with detectives to murdering Shanann. He later admitted to murdering his children.

"An Unbelievable Story of Rape" is a 2015 article about a series of rapes in the American states of Washington and Colorado that occurred between 2008 and 2011, and the subsequent police investigations. It was a collaboration between two American, non-profit news organizations, The Marshall Project and ProPublica. The article was written by Ken Armstrong and T. Christian Miller. It won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting and the 2015 George Polk Award for Justice Reporting.

References

  1. ↑ Moran, Robert; Leonard N. Fleming and Larry King. "Accused caper is Colorado airman Archived 2012-11-14 at the Wayback Machine ". Philadelphia Inquirer. April 24, 2002.
  2. ↑ Campisi, Gloria. "Caution didn't help wife Archived 2006-12-11 at the Wayback Machine ". Philadelphia Daily News. April 26, 2002.
  3. ↑ "Graves' Philadelphia attacks Archived 2006-12-11 at the Wayback Machine ". Philadelphia Inquirer. May 31, 2002.
  4. ↑ Ginsberg, Thomas; Larry Fish and Thomas J. Gibbons Jr. "Philadelphia rape suspect arrested Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine ". Philadelphia Inquirer. April 24, 2002.
  5. ↑ Blaser, Vince. "Victims speak out; Graves gets life Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine ". The Rocky Mountain Collegian. August 22, 2002.
  6. ↑ Clarke-Pearson, Mary (6 June 2002). "Center City rapist gets life sentence". The Daily Pennsylvanian. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018. He will serve the Philadelphia sentences after his life term in Colorado.
  7. ↑ "Forensic Files". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 11 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  8. ↑ "Cold Case". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  9. ↑ "Vudu - Cold Blood: Season 5, Episode 7 Philadelphia's Night Stalker". www.vudu.com. Archived from the original on 12 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  10. ↑ "People Magazine Investigates | TV Guide". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.