GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — A convicted murderer, Garry Artman, has confessed to the killing of 11 women in the 1990s before passing away in a Michigan prison. Artman, who was already serving time for one of the murders, admitted to the additional killings just days before his death at the age of 66. According to police sources, 10 of the murders took place in Grand Rapids.
In the mid-1990s, 17 women disappeared in Grand Rapids, many of whom were sex workers. Some of them were never found, while others were discovered dead. Investigators suspect that Artman confessed to 11 killings because that number was mentioned by a prosecutor during his trial for the 1996 killing of Sharon Hammack in Grand Rapids.
While Artman was only convicted for the murder of Hammack, DNA evidence also linked him to the killing of Dusty Shuck, a 24-year-old woman found dead in Maryland in 2006. Artman, a long-haul trucker, passed away from lung cancer before he could be tried for Shuck’s murder.
Law enforcement officials are currently investigating the details of Artman’s confession and attempting to connect them to unsolved cases in Grand Rapids. Their goal is to bring closure to the families of the victims, even beyond Artman’s death.
The sheriff’s office confirmed that Artman provided fruitful information during three meetings with investigators in his final days. However, no further details have been provided about the ongoing investigation. The confession has raised questions among the community about whether all the murders can now be solved.