ASHLAND — The suspect in three murders and an abduction in Ashland has a previous abduction conviction resulting from a 1999 incident in Marion County, Ohio.
According to court records, Shawn Michael Grate pleaded guilty to one count of abduction and was sentenced to five years of community control. A second count of abduction and a child endangerment charge were dropped.
In 1996, Grate was convicted of burglary in Marion County. He was sentenced to four years in prison, but in 1997 his request for judicial release was granted and his sentence was commuted to five years of community control.
Grate was arrested Tuesday and charged with abduction after a woman called 911 and said she was being held at 363 Covert Court in Ashland, across from the Fourth Street Laundromat.
After police obtained search warrants, two bodies were found in the home and Grate led authorities to a third body in Madison Township.
