Florida Trucker Garry Artman Arrested For Multiple Cold Case Murders Along Interstate Highways He Kept Trophies, Possible Link as I-4 Serial Killer

UPDATED Oct 4, 2023, ‘Evil on earth’: Long-haul trucker convicted of 1996 rape, murder. It took investigators about 26 years to arrest a suspect after Sharon Hammack was raped, murdered and left along the side of a road near Grand Rapids MI. Garry Artman, 64, of White Springs, Florida, was linked to the slaying by DNA evidence. It took a jury about half an hour to convict him. Garry Artman was found guilty Thursday of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, first-degree felony murder and first-degree premeditated murder in the death of Sharon Hammack. Serial killer Garry Artman showed no emotion at the verdict was read. The 29-year-old mother of two, who was pregnant, had been raped, stabbed, strangled and hogtied. Her body was wrapped in a blanket bound with electrical cords. “Prostitutes are an easy target because, No. 1, he thinks they’re sinners, and No. 2, nobody cares — they’re prostitutes. That’s his thinking.” If his health holds up, Garry Altman is set to stand trial in Maryland for the murder of 24-year-old Dusty Shuck, whose body was found along I-70 in 2006.

Florida Trucker Garry Artman, 64, Arrested For Multiple Cold Case Murders Along Interstate Highways He Kept Women's Panties as Trophies, Possible Link as I-4 Serial Killer. Garry Artman 64 of White Springs Fl has way more than two bodies on him, it appears he started his rape and murder spree in 1981, he did 12 years in prison for rape in Michigan out in 1992. Next Artman raped and murdered Sharon Hammack in 1996 and left her body along I-96 in Michigan. Next, so far as is known, Artman raped and murdered Dusty Shcuk in 2006 and left her body along I-70 in Maryland. Gary Artman did not just take time off from his rape and murder spree from 1996 to 2006 and then again from 2006 till his capture in 2022, need to fill in the blanks, how many more bodies? Authorities confirmed that Sharon Hammack had a history of prostitution, and that at the time of her death, there were nearly a dozen unsolved murders of women over the previous 16 years. Of those, nine were confirmed to have been prostitutes. That had authorities worried they all might be linked to one suspect, Gary Altman. Gary Dean Artman's bond was set at $1,000,000 cash. Gary Altman was living in White Springs, Florida, in a home owned by some friends. Gary Artman was working as a flatbed trucker with Dixie Transport Starke Fl when he was arrested in Mississippi.

Long Haul Trucker Gary Altman's M.O. is to kidnap, rape, hog-tie, strangle and stab young women to death. "Artman Kept Trophies": a search warrant of his storage shed in Lake City Fl turned up several different pairs of women's underwear. It appears to me the FBI VICAP needs to get involved as this case is going to involve multiple states! FBI VICAP maintains a nationwide data information center that collects, collates, and analyzes crimes of violence i.e., homicide. Gary Artman had been working for a trucking company in Starke Fl.

UPDATE Oct 7th, 2022, Garry Artman, accused of killing Sharon Kay Hammack, 30, near Grand Rapids in 1996, is in court Friday, Oct. 7. In the background is a photograph of the scene where her bound body, wrapped in a blanket, was found. GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A judge on Friday ordered a Florida truck driver to stand trial in the 1996 killing of Sharon Kay Hammack, 30, whose killing went unsolved until advances in DNA science led to a suspect. "Genetic genealogists" used DNA samples of semen found on the victim to narrow down potential suspects to Garry Dean Artman, 64. The DNA sample had earlier been submitted to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, but there were no matches. It did show a DNA match to a 2006 killing in Maryland but no suspect. Artman kept a journal in a storage unit in Lake City, Florida. Police used a search warrant at the storage unit where Artman kept most of his belongings. Gary Artman traveled a lot and didn’t have a permanent home.

August 25, 2022 –Long haul trucker Garry Dean Artman 64 of White Springs Fl was arrested after DNA evidence connected him to the death of two women. Garry Dean Artman was arrested in Mississippi on an out-of-state warrant last Tuesday. He is currently waiting for extradition to Michigan, where he was linked to the 1996 murder of Sharon Hammack. Gary Artmen, who currently resides in White Springs Fl, had previously served eleven years in a Michigan prison for rape. Pikesville, Md (KM) Charges have been filed in a 16-year-old cold case homicide in Frederick County are announcing charges against Garry Dean Artman, 64, alleging he killed Dusty Myriah Shuck, 24, and left her body near a Frederick County rest stop along Interstate 70 in 2006. In Michigan on October 3rd, 1996, Sharon Hammack’s body was discovered rolled up in a blanket on the side of the road. She had been raped, strangled, stabbed, and hogtied. Florida trucker Garry Dean Artman previously served an 11-year prison sentence for rape. Sharron Kay Hammack was 29 years old, a mother of two and a hopelessly addicted sex worker who plied her trade at truck stops near Grand Rapids, Mich., on I-96. Her body — rolled up inside a blanket — was discovered by a truck driver in a field outside the tiny Michigan hamlet of Caledonia on Oct. 3, 1996. She had been murdered just hours before. The young mom was raped, stabbed and hog-tied. She was pregnant with her third child. Artman kept trophies: On August 31, 2022, investigators from the Kent County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan executed a search warrant on a storage unit in Florida believed to belong to Artman. Several pieces of women’s underwear were seized for biological evidence to determine whether there are other victims. Forensic analysts from the Maryland State Police Crime Lab are assisting with biological evidence examinations. Investigators from the Maryland State Police Homicide Unit traveled to Michigan to conduct interviews and gather additional information relevant to the investigation. State police are working with law enforcement partners in Michigan as the investigation continues.”

According to the FBI, four killings along I-4 near Orlando are among 28 in Florida that are unsolved and connected to serial killings that the bureau suspects were committed by long-haul truckers. Those include 19 deaths along the Interstate 4 corridor between Tampa and Daytona Beach. The FBI report documents dozens of serial killings of people whose bodies were dumped near popular trucking routes.The report is accompanied by a map that shows the FBI plotting more than 500 serial killings — mostly prostitutes and female drug users — across the United States.

NY Post writes Sunday May 1st, 2022, A good number of serial killers are believed to be truckers like the “Happy Face Killer” Keith Jesperson long-haul drivers who target prostitutes and take advantage of being on the road for weeks at a time to hide their crimes. “They can work a circuit,” cold case investigator Paul Holes said. “Picking up sex workers is something that has been seen over and over again. ‘Hey, you need a ride?’ And the victim gets in their vehicle and they’re done.” The creation of the FBI’s Highway Serial Killings Initiative in 2009 underscores the pervasiveness of truck-driving predators, he said. “It’s a huge aspect.”

 

If there is such a thing as an ideal profession for a serial killer, it may well be as a long-haul truck driver. FBI Crime Analyst Christie Palazzolo is quick to point out that long-haul trucking is an honorable profession and that the overwhelming majority of drivers are not murderers—but it does happen, and the pattern is unmistakable. More than a decade ago, analysts for the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP)—the only national database of serial crimes—began to see a marked increase in the number of bodies recovered along the side of the road. A majority of the victims were truck-stop prostitutes, and it turned out that many of the suspects were long-haul truckers.

Bill Warner Private Investigator Sarasota 941-926-1926 - Cheaters and Child Custody Cases, website https://www.wbipi.com/