Story highlights Shawn M. Grate was captured after a woman he allegedly kidnapped called 911

Prosecutor: "These are some of the most horrific crimes I've seen."

(CNN) A homeless Ohio man who was charged with two murders last week could now be linked to the slayings of up to five different women.

Shawn M. Grate, 41, was captured earlier this month after a woman he allegedly kidnapped called 911 while he was sleeping . After he was taken into custody, police searched the abandoned house he was occupying and found the bodies of Stacey Stanley, 43, and Elizabeth Griffith, 29.

"These are some of the most horrific crimes I've seen in my fifteen years as a criminal prosecutor," Ashland County Prosecutor Christopher R. Tunnell said in a press release.

Stanley, from Greenwich, Ohio, had been missing since September 8. Griffith was killed between August 16 and September 13, according to court documents.

Shawn M. Grate

Grate has been charged with 23 crimes, including two murders, multiple counts of rape, kidnapping, and gross abuse of two corpses. He pleaded not guilty through his attorney at an arraignment Thursday morning. Grate faces two death penalty charges.

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