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William
Chandler SHRUBSALL
A.K.A.: "Ian Thor Greene"
New name: Simon Templar
Classification: Homicide
Characteristics: Juvenile (17) -
Sexual predator
Number of victims: 1 +
Date of murder: June 25, 1988
Date of birth:
1971
Victim profile: His 56-year-old mother, Marianne
Method of murder: Beating with a baseball bat
Location: New York, USA / Nova Scotia, Canada
Status:
Convicted of manslaughter in New York, USA, in 1988. Served 16
months. Sentenced to life in prison in Nova Scotia, Canada, being
declared a dangerous offender in 2001
William Chandler Shrubsall,
also known as Ian Thor Greene and now Simon Templar
(Ethan Simon Templar MacLeod), is an inmate currently serving a
life sentence, being declared a dangerous offender for a string of
violent assaults against women.
Early crimes
Shrubsall was originally from Niagara Falls,
New York. He was convicted of killing his mother with a baseball
bat in 1988 the night before his high school graduation.
Apparently, he had a disagreement with his mother, a domineering
woman, over his having a girlfriend.
His then-girlfriend and Detective John Donner
expressed concern about Shrubsall's lack of remorse when he
confessed to police. He served 16 months for that crime, as he was
still a minor, and afterwards supposedly graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania in 1994, transferring there from two
years at Niagara University. While at Penn, he lived in a single
room in Stouffer College House for two years without any
incidents.
In 1996, after returning home to upstate New
York, Shrubsall was on trial for sexually abusing a 17-year-old
girl and jumped bail, leaving a suicide note claiming to have
jumped into Niagara Falls. In reality, he fled the U.S. to Canada.
He was later convicted of sexual abuse in absentia.
Life as a fugitive
Shrubsall showed up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, using the alias "Ian
Thor Greene". At a frat house, many students believed that he was
a medical student. Saying that he had financial difficulties, he
managed to con a local congregation into providing him with money.
During one evening with a student, when she tried to call a taxi
to go home, he punched and choked her.
He had been previously arrested by police for
picking up an undercover officer posing as a prostitute (he used
the name Ian Thor Greene). He was not properly identified by the
police.
Detectives searching his room discovered that
he had the identification of two previous victims that he
attacked, and this was confirmed by witnesses. These were for
aggravated sexual assault and one in May 1998 for robbing and
assaulting a female store clerk with a baseball bat; the first
case was unsolved, while another man, Danny Myette (who suffered
from schizophrenia) confessed to the crime, respectively.
Caught
Interrogators
also questioned Shrubsall's stories and found no records to
support them, realizing that Greene was an alias, but he refused
to divulge further details. The authorities released his photo and
the New York State Police immediately identified him as the
missing fugitive.
A forensic psychiatrist diagnosed Shrubsall as
a psychopath, saying that he separated women into two categories:
"angels" and those that he would assault. The Crown, assisted by
his former victims who had flown in to testify, had him declared a
dangerous offender, giving him no possibility of parole.
While serving his life sentence, Shrubsall
applied to have his name changed to "Simon Templar" after the
popular TV character.
Sexual predator declared dangerous offender
CBC.ca
December 21, 2001
William Chandler Shrubsall has been declared a
dangerous offender by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, meaning he
will spend an indefinite period in prison.
The court handed Shrubsall his sentence for
crimes against three women in Nova Scotia.
Shrubsall has a long history of violent sexual
deviance. He killed his mother with a bat when he was a teenager
in Niagara Falls, New York. He later faked his own death to dodge
a U.S. sentence for sexual assault.
Shrubsall was impassive as Justice Felix
Cacchione read his decision. He sat quietly between two bailiffs,
his shoulders slightly hunched under a navy blue blazer.
The judge called Shrubsall "an extremely
violent sexual deviant," lacking in conscience and empathy for his
victims. He said hope for successful treatment was speculative at
best.
Cacchione spoke directly to Shrubsall's
victims, saying an indefinite prison term was the best protection
the courts could offer.
Prosecutor Rob Fetterly said he was satisfied
with the ruling. "I'm really pleased that the judge has condemned
in the strongest terms the actions of Mr. Shrubsall, and I think
that's appreciated by all involved."
As a dangerous offender, Shrubsall's sentence
will face regular reviews. But odds are slim he'll ever be
released. Only 12 of Canada's nearly 300 dangerous offenders have
ever been let out of jail.
If Shrubsall were to ever leave Canada's
corrections system, he'll quickly find himself back behind bars.
He still faces a sentence for the assault he committed in New
York, before he fled to Nova Scotia.
William Shrubsall found guilty
CBC.ca
November 17, 2000
An American fugitive was found guilty Thursday of a brutal sexual
assault in Halifax.
A judge has convicted William Chandler
Shrubsall of attacking a woman two years ago.
Shrubsall sat impassively as Associate Chief
Justice Michael MacDonald delivered the verdict.
During the trial, Shrubsall testified that he
overreacted when the woman slipped a tie around his neck during a
massage. He later said he had planned to call ambulance when he
realized the woman was unconscious.
The woman testified she had decided to call a
taxi after spending the evening with Shrubsall. She said he
punched and choked her when she tried to go home.
Justice MacDonald said he found nothing in any
of the evidence presented to raise any doubts about the woman's
evidence.
As for Shrubsall's testimony, MacDonald said it
defied any type of belief or comprehension.
Shrubsall already has three other convictions
in Halifax, one for stalking an ex-girlfriend, one for aggravated
sexual assault and one for robbing and assaulting a female store
clerk.
He'll be in court on Feb. 4 when the Crown
applies to have him declared a dangerous offender.
He also has convictions in the United States
for sexual assault and beating his mother to death with a baseball
bat.
Valedictorian Held in Killing of Mother With
Baseball Bat
Los Angeles Times
June 28, 1988
NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y. — A valedictorian who
allegedly killed his mother with a baseball bat only 10 hours
before he was to be graduated from high school said she wouldn't
"give him any freedom," police said.
William Shrubsall, 17, was arraigned Monday on
a charge of second-degree murder and was being held in the city
jail without bail.
Shrubsall beat his 56-year-old mother,
Marianne, to death Saturday morning after an argument over his
late return from his girlfriend's house, Detective Lt. Richard
Clute said.
