The Hand in the Window: 'The Other Me'
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Debra Roberts. I'm here with another weekly episode of our latest series from 2020 and ABC Audio, The Hand in the Window. Remember, you can get new episodes early if you follow The Hand in the Window for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or your favorite podcast app. Now, here's the episode.
A few days after Shawn Great was arrested for kidnapping, rape, and murder, Ashland County Prosecutor Chris Tunnell gave a press conference covered by local ABC News affiliate WEWS.
I want to say something very important. Ashland County is a safe place to live. We've not seen crimes of this magnitude in a very long time. There's no reason for people in this county to live in fear.
Grade was behind bars in the Ashland County Jail. This man, who had been living in Ashland for less than two months, had shattered the town's sense of safety. Investigators had begun learning the rough outlines of Grade's life before his killing spree. He said his mother had abandoned him when he was a kid. He'd started getting in trouble with the law at the age of 20. He'd racked up convictions for burglary, abduction, and brandishing a knife at his ex-girlfriend. He had a son and two daughters with three different women. Throughout his adult life, Great had moved from town to town in rural Ohio. Detective Kim Major had learned that Great was good at charming people. His appearance helped with that.
Sean's own mother is quoted as saying, yes, he's good looking, but the devil's good looking too.
She said that about her son. She did.
Ted Bundy was good looking and charming, and he was able to seduce women because of that.
Yes, he was.
What crimes did Shawn Grate commit in Ashland County?
Is there a comparison, a similarity to Sean? Great.
In the manipulation piece of this, the calculating yet opportunistic ways, absolute parallels in that. And the fact that they were both charming or they're both handsome, and to think that he used those things to land himself in these situations is just incredible.
There was the charming Sean Great, who looked good on the outside, and the violent Sean Great, who lurked just beneath the surface. From ABC Audio in 2020, I'm John Quinones, and this is The Hand in the Window. Episode 5, The Other Me. To learn more about these different sides of Sean Great, we spoke with two people who knew him well, not as the murderer Sean Great, but simply as Sean. Christina Hildreth met Sean Great about a decade before he showed up in Ashland. Christina had just moved from Texas to a small town in Ohio.
And I met him then, and he was just very friendly. And he just had a way that, you know, it made you feel like you were important.
Like many people, Christina was charmed by Great's piercing eyes.
just such a blue, and they just, just the way they looked at you, you know, it made you feel like you were the only one. He wasn't, you know, paying attention to nobody else. It was all about you. It was just blue eyes. You know, they're very, very attractive, very magnifying, very just, he had great eyes.
Christina said Great never asked her out on a date or made plans to meet up. He just sort of showed up at her house when he wanted to, which was fine with her back then.
Sean was very charming and good-looking, and it was just, oh, he's here, okay, great. You know, let's figure out something to do.
Eventually, they started a romantic relationship. And at first, that relationship was fun. They hiked, fished, and made the best of the rural area they lived in. Grade continued to be charming, and he seemed happy. But things started to change when he moved into Christina's house.
I never put Sean on the lease. Sean never had a house. He just moved himself in.
Once they lived together, Christina started to see a different side of great. His charm started slipping away.
He'd be very friendly, very nice, and one little thing would just send him over the edge, and he was mad. He just had a way of really, really making you feel horrible. I spent a lot of time in tears over things he said.
Christina said she and Sean Great were in a relationship for five years.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:09
2
What crimes did Shawn Grate commit in Ashland County?
2:09–6:39
3
How did Shawn Grate's past influence his actions?
6:39–17:53
4
What was Christina Hildreth's experience with Shawn Grate?
17:53–26:18
5
How did the relationship between Christina and Shawn evolve?
26:18–34:46
6
What led to the violent incident between Christina and Shawn?
34:46–36:17