Ashland abduction suspect wouldn’t get angry, ‘more like evil,’ says ex-girlfriend

Published: Sep. 15, 2016 at 12:30 AM EDT|Updated: Sep. 15, 2016 at 11:59 AM EDT
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ASHLAND, OH (WOIO) - A woman who said she dated the Ashland abduction suspect for about five years said there was something about him that made your skin crawl.

She said it was little weird things Shawn Grate said. Christina Hildreth said the behavior wasn't the normal thinking of someone that's angry.

"More like evil," she said.

Hildreth said one Christmas, he took pictures of her in tears to save. She said it was almost as if he was happy about some of the things he'd done to her and other people.

"At first I thought he was different," she said. "The more it progressed, the more I knew I needed to get away. I was just looking for the right opportunity and place to go."

Grate's criminal background

She thinks he would have eventually killed her.

"If I hadn't got out I would be one of the victims," she said.

Grate is charged with abduction.

After a 911 call led police to a home in Ashland on Tuesday, officers found a woman who claims she was being held against her will, Grate, and two bodies. Authorities say Grate led them to a home in Mansfield where a third body was found.

Other women in the area say they know him and have denied invitations from Grate to come over.

The homes Grate stayed at in Ashland and Mansfield were abandoned, and authorities believe he was squatting.

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