GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A convicted murderer, Garry Artman, admitted to killing 11 women in the 1990s while on his deathbed in a Michigan prison. Artman had been serving time for the 1996 killing of Sharon Hammack in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but was also a suspect in several other cases.
Before his death on Dec. 28 at the age of 66, Artman reached out to local law enforcement and confessed to the additional murders. Police confirmed that 10 of the murders occurred in Grand Rapids, and that Artman’s admission was made while he was in a prison hospital.
During his time in custody, Artman met with the investigative team from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office three times to provide information on unsolved murders and missing persons. The meetings were fruitful and resulted in valuable information, according to Lt. Eric Brunner of the Sheriff’s Office.
Many of the victims were sex workers, and between 1993 and 1996, 17 women disappeared in Grand Rapids with some never being found or found dead. Artman was linked to two cases through DNA evidence, one being the killing of Dusty Shuck, a 24-year-old woman found dead near a truck stop in Maryland in 2006.
Despite Artman’s passing, law enforcement officials are investigating the details of his confession and working to connect them to unsolved cases in Grand Rapids to bring closure to the families of the victims.