GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Serial killer Garry Artman, on his deathbed, made two unusual requests before he confessed to the murders of nearly a dozen women in Grand Rapids over three decades ago. Artman, a long-haul trucker who died from lung cancer on Dec. 28, demanded his own prison cell and a ham sandwich from Subway with double meat.
The Kent County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that investigators met with Artman three times after he contacted prison administrators saying he wanted to talk about “bodies.” Artman reportedly confessed to a total of eleven murders, including Sharon Hammack in 1996 and Dusty Shuck in 2006 in Maryland.
Hammack and 28-year-old Cathleen Dennis, who was killed in 1995, were among 17 women murdered or missing from the Grand Rapids area in the early to late 1990s. Retired FBI profiler Julia Cowley noted that Artman referred to the victims as “the bodies” when he reached out to detectives, finding his choice of words to be remarkably impersonal.
In an interview, Cowley discussed deathbed confessions, the potential motivations behind them, and how serial killers select their victims. She also produces a true crime podcast, The Consult, with other retired agents where they discuss cases and the practice of criminal profiling.
Artman’s confession has led authorities to re-examine unsolved cases — offering closure to the families of the missing women and shedding light on a dark chapter in Grand Rapids’ history. An in-depth investigation is ongoing to corroborate details of Artman’s confession and bring justice to the victims and their families.