Early Life
Shawcross was born in Kittery, Maine, but his family moved to Watertown in New York State when he was young. While several later tests showed Shawcross' intelligence to be sub-normal or even "borderline retarded", he received As and Bs in his first two years of grade school. His IQ was tested to be "low-normal" (between 86 and 92) when he was in the fifth grade. Shawcross was prone to behaviors such as bullying and physical violence. Shawcross dropped out of high school in 1960.
He was drafted at age 21 by the Army in April 1967. At this time, Shawcross divorced his first wife and gave up the rights to their eighteen-month-old son, whom he never saw again. After his tour of duty in Vietnam ended in September 1968, the Army assigned Shawcross to Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma as an armorer. His second wife Linda experienced several aspects of his disturbing behavior, especially a penchant for starting fires; an Army psychiatrist told her that Shawcross gained "sexual enjoyment" from fire starting.
Read more about this topic: Arthur Shawcross
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