John Edward Robinson

Case information

John Edward Robinson (born December 27, 1943) was an American serial killer. He was convicted in 2003 of the murders of three women during a fifteen-year period, and he later admitted responsibility for five additional murders during that time. Because he made contact with most of his post-1993 victims via on-line chat rooms, he was sometimes referred to as "the Internet's first serial killer".

Timeline

• 1957 — He became an Eagle Scout.
• 1957 — He reportedly traveled to London with a group of Scouts who performed before Queen Elizabeth II.
• 1958 — He enrolled at Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago and dropped out after one year due to disciplinary issues.
• 1961 — He enrolled at Morton Junior College in Cicero to become a medical X-ray technician.
• 1964 — He moved to Kansas City and married Nancy Jo Lynch.
• 1965 — Nancy Jo Lynch bore their first child, John Jr.
• 1969 — He was arrested in Kansas City after embezzling $33,000 from the medical practice of Dr. Wallace Graham.
• 1970 — He violated probation by moving back to Chicago without his probation officer's permission (or knowledge).
• 1971 — He was arrested again for embezzlement from R.B. Jones Company and ordered back to Kansas City, where his probation was extended.
• 1975 — His probation was extended again after an arrest on charges of securities fraud and mail fraud connected to a phony "medical consulting" company he formed in Kansas City.
• 1977 — He talked his way onto the board of directors of a local charitable organization and forged letters from its executive director to the mayor of Kansas City and from the mayor to other civic leaders.
• 1979 — He completed probation.
• 1980 — He was under arrest again on multiple charges including embezzlement and check forgery.
• 1982 — He served 60 days in jail.
• 1984 — He hired Paula Godfrey, 19, as a sales representative for his company Equi-Plus and Equi-2; Paula subsequently disappeared.
• September 1, 1984 — He turned up at the Godfrey house to pick up Paula Godfrey for her San Antonio trip.
• January 1985 — Police were removed from the missing persons list relating to Lisa Stasi and Tiffany after a series of letters; he was again allegedly involved in the disappearance of another woman.
• January 10, 1985 — He was involved in the disappearance of Lisa Stasi and Tiffany Stasi after the threesome booked out on January 10 and Lisa was not seen again.
• March 19, 1985 — Irv Blattner walked into the Secret Service office in Kansas City to offer to turn government witness.
• March 21, 1985 — Robinson was arrested and later posted a $50,000 bond.
• March 26, 1985 — He and his attorney, Bruce Houdek, were present at a parole violation meeting held at the Missouri State Probation Office.
• June 15, 1985 — Theresa Williams’s apparent murder was described as the culmination of a diary plot.
• June 12, 1994 — He and Paula Godfrey’s case remained missing; (no distinct dated entry in the timeline beyond existing statements).
• July 18, 1999 — Izabela made a bookstore visit with Robinson as he purchased books for her.
• June, 2000 — He was arrested in Kansas after two women filed sexual battery complaints.
• June 2, 2000 — Detectives moved in after the arrest warrant; charges were increased on July 28, 2000.
• June 5, 2000 — The task force opened locker #E2, finding barrels marked “Rendered Pork Fat”.
• June 8, 2000 — Investigators described him as a suspected cyber sex serial killer and discussed charges of aggravated sexual battery and felony theft.
• June 9, 2000 — His lawyer said he was innocent; he was described as being held on $5 million bond.
• June 13, 2000 — He was charged with 5 counts of first degree murder; death penalty sought by both states.
• October 8, 2002 — Testimony began; for two weeks and 100 witnesses, District Attorney Paul Morrison presented the case.
• October 28, 2002 — Testimony ended and the jury began deliberations.
• October 29, 2002 — After 11 hours of discussion, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all charges.
• January 21, 2003 — Judge John Anderson III formally gave him a death sentence and a life sentence for the murder of Lisa Stasi.
• March 2003 — He agreed to be extradited to Missouri to face 3 murder charges for Beverly Bonner, Sheila Faith and Debbie Faith.
• April 24, 2003 — He pleaded not guilty to the 3 murder charges in Missouri.
• October 16, 2003 — He returned to court to announce a change in his plea after negotiation for a guilty plea for three Missouri murders.
• 2005 — Nancy Robinson filed for divorce after 41 years of marriage.
• 2006 — Lisa Stasi's daughter (known since her "adoption" as Heather Robinson) filed a civil suit against Truman Medical Center and social worker Karen Gaddis.
• 2007 — Heather Robinson and the hospital reached a settlement for an undisclosed sum.

Background

Robinson was born in Cicero, Illinois, the third of five children of an alcoholic father and a disciplinarian mother. In 1957 he became an Eagle Scout.

He reportedly traveled to London with a group of Scouts who performed before Queen Elizabeth II. Later that year he enrolled at Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, a private boys' school for aspiring priests, but dropped out after one year due to disciplinary issues. In 1961 he enrolled at Morton Junior College in Cicero to become a medical X-ray technician, but dropped out after 2 years.

In 1964 he moved to Kansas City and married Nancy Jo Lynch. Their first child, John Jr., was born in 1965, and fraternal twins Christopher and Christine were born in 1971.

The offence

Robinson was convicted in 2003 of the murders of three women during a fifteen-year period. Those murders were of:

• Suzette Trouten
• Izabela Lewicka
• Lisa Stasi (whose body was never found)

He subsequently admitted responsibility for five additional murders during that time.

In Missouri, prosecutors pursued additional murder charges based on evidence discovered there, and he was described as having lured victims through on-line chat rooms and sadomasochistic relationships.

In the circumstances described around multiple victims:

• All five women found in barrels were killed in the same way, by one or two blows to the head.
• Each victim was described as having been killed by heavy blows to the left hand side of their skull; each would be instantly killed, and the defense disputed certainty about whether evidence linked him to deaths.

Investigation and arrest

1984–1999 disappearances and contacts

In 1984, Robinson hired Paula Godfrey, 19, ostensibly to work as a sales representative. Godfrey’s parents filed a missing persons report after no further contact. Robinson denied any knowledge of her whereabouts. A typewritten letter with Godfrey’s signature appeared with a Kansas postmark stating she was thankful for Robinson’s help, that she was "OK", and that she did not want to see her family. No trace of Paula Godfrey was ever found.

In 1985, Robinson used the name John Osborne to meet Lisa Stasi and her 4-month-old daughter, Tiffany, at a battered women’s shelter in Kansas City. He promised her a job in Chicago, an apartment, and daycare for her baby, and asked her to sign several sheets of blank stationery. In connection with Tiffany Stasi’s adoption, Don and Helen Robinson received Tiffany for a $5,500 fee to an imaginary lawyer; the adoption papers were described as having forged signatures of two lawyers and a judge. Lisa Stasi was never heard from again.

In 1987, Catherine Clampitt, 27, left her child with her parents in Wichita Falls, Texas and moved to Kansas City to find employment. She was hired by Robinson and later vanished in June of that year. Her missing persons case remained open.

From 1987 to 1993 Robinson was incarcerated, first in Kansas (1987-91) on multiple fraud convictions, and thereafter in Missouri for another fraud conviction and parole violations. At Western Missouri Correctional Facility he met and ingratiated himself with 49-year-old Beverly Bonner, the prison librarian. Upon Robinson’s release, Bonner left her husband and moved to Kansas to work for him. Robinson arranged for Bonner’s alimony checks to be forwarded to a Kansas post office box. For several years Bonner’s mother continued forwarding the checks and Robinson continued cashing them. Beverly Bonner later disappeared; the account described family never hearing from her again.

Robinson became well-known in BDSM online chat rooms using the name "Slavemaster" and other identities. The account described his online contact with:

• Sheila Faith, 45, whose 15-year-old daughter Debbie was confined to a wheelchair due to spina bifida.
• Izabela Lewicka, 21, a Polish immigrant living in Indiana who moved to Kansas City to meet Robinson; she signed a 115-item slave contract and disappeared during the summer of 1999.
• Suzette Trouten, described as a licensed practical nurse by day and submissive slave by night, who moved from Michigan to Kansas.

Robinson told a web designer he employed that Izabela had been caught smoking marijuana and deported. He also described a narrative to Trouten’s mother that typed letters were mailed while the couple was abroad; the letters were described as being stamped with Kansas City postmarks.

June 2000 arrest and discovery of bodies

Robinson was arrested in June 2000 at his farm near La Cygne, Kansas after two women filed sexual battery complaints against him. A task force searching the premises found the decaying bodies of two women, later identified as Izabela Lewicka and Suzette Trouten, in two 85-pound chemical drums.

Across the state line in Missouri, other members of the task force searching a storage facility where Robinson rented two garages found three similar chemical drums containing corpses subsequently identified as Beverly Bonner and Sheila and Debbie Faith. All five women were killed in the same way, by one or two blows to the head.

At the time of the initial arrests, Robinson was later charged with aggravated sexual battery of two women. The account further described that prosecutors sought death penalties connected to the murders discovered in Kansas and Missouri.

Trial

Kansas capital murder proceedings

Robinson faced a Kansas trial in which he was convicted of:

• capital murder for the deaths of Suzette Trouten and Izabela Lewicka (their bodies were described as found in barrels on his rural Kansas property)
• first-degree murder for the death of Lisa Stasi, 19, whose body was never found
• arranging the fraudulent adoption of her 4-month-old baby

The trial began in September 2002 and ran for three weeks, with prosecutors presenting circumstantial and physical evidence. The account described a jury of six men and six women that deliberated for 11 hours over two days.

Outside a radio station stunt, t-shirts were being sold with the phrase ‘Roll Out the Barrels’ emblazoned on them.

The account described witnesses including Robinson’s wife, Nancy Robinson, and the deputy coroner Donald Pojman. It stated that each woman was killed having received heavy blows to the left hand side of their skull, and that each would be instantly killed. The account also stated that Izabela Lewicka survived for a short period before succumbing.

The defense argued that the prosecution case was entirely based on circumstantial evidence and that evidence presented linked Robinson to five women but did not prove he was responsible for their deaths. The defense also argued that no other potential suspects were investigated and that Robinson was the sole focus.

On October 29, 2002, after deliberations, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all charges. Robinson gave no reaction to the verdict.

Sentencing in Kansas

A penalty phase followed. Under Kansas law as described, options were life sentence or death by lethal injection, with a unanimous decision required for death. The defense pleaded for a life sentence, using members of the Robinson family to request mercy.

The account described Nancy Robinson testifying again and accepting that her husband was guilty because the jury had found him so. The jury rejected the pleas and announced their decision of death by lethal injection.

Robinson was taken back to his cell at Johnson County Jail and placed on suicide watch until formal sentencing.

On January 21, 2003, Judge John Anderson III formally gave him a death sentence and a life sentence for the murder of Lisa Stasi, whose body had never been found.

Missouri proceedings (related charges and plea)

Robinson agreed to be extradited to Missouri to face three murder charges for Beverly Bonner, Sheila Faith, and her daughter Debbie Faith. He pleaded not guilty on April 24, 2003, and a trial date was set for March 8, 2004.

On October 16, 2003, Robinson returned to court via his lawyers and announced a change in plea. The account described negotiation with Missouri prosecutor Chris Koster for a guilty plea for the three Missouri murders in exchange for a life sentence. As part of the plea, Robinson confessed to two further murders that he was not charged with, identified as Paula Godfrey and Catherine Clampitt.

Outcome

Robinson remained on death row in Kansas after being sentenced to death on January 21, 2003, and he received a life sentence for the murder of Lisa Stasi.

Other details

People, victims, and related identifications described

The account repeatedly described these victims and identifiers:

• Paula Godfrey, 19 — missing; no trace found.
• Lisa Stasi, 19 — missing; body never found; Tiffany Stasi was adopted under illegal adoption described by prosecutors.
• Tiffany Stasi — described as resurfacing as Heather Robinson, adopted by Robinson’s brother and sister-in-law; later living in the Midwest with an adoptive family.
• Catherine Clampitt, 27 — missing since June 1987; later confessed by Robinson during Missouri plea.
• Izabela Lewicka — described as Polish immigrant; 21 in one section, 22 in another; body found in a barrel.
• Suzette Trouten — described as 28 in one section; body found in a barrel; missing since March 1, 2000 in one portion of the account; emails and letters were described.
• Beverly Bonner — described as 49; body found in a barrel.
• Sheila Faith (described in multiple places as “Sheila Faith” and “Sheila Dale Faith”) — described as 45 in one section and 49 in another; body found in a barrel.
• Debbie Faith (also “Debbie Lynn Faith”) — described as a disabled daughter confined to a wheelchair; ages differed across the narrative (15-year-old daughter of Sheila in one part; later described as 21); body described as believed to be the third body at the Missouri storage site but also described as not yet confirmed in one place.

The account stated that Tiffany Stasi’s identity was confirmed by DNA testing in 2000.

Court personnel and prosecutors named

The account named:

• Chris Koster (Missouri prosecutor)
• Paul Morris (District Attorney in one described section)
• Paul J. Morrison and Paul Morrison (Kansas District Attorney as described)
• Judge John Anderson III (Kansas judge)
• Judge Joseph Dandurand (Missouri judge as described)
• Judge Hutcherson (parole and probation matter described in a non-capital section)
• Deputy Coroner Donald Pojman
• Defense counsel including Patrick Berrigan and death penalty specialists with the Kansas public defenders office (names given include Byron Cerrillo and Bruce Houdek in other parts)
• Phil Kline and Kevin O’Connor (named in a later discussion of death penalty logistics)

Verbatim statements and quotations (as included in the narrative)

Chris Koster was quoted as saying:

• "I hope there are no more bodies" Paul Morrison was quoted as saying:
• "Whether it is five years or 20, we don’t know" and
• "We know that 20 years ago, he was definitely killing" and
• "Bodies left in barrels were “unusual, but they’re not rare.”" and A letter quote from the “Paula” note was included:
• "(B)y the time you read this I'll be long gone..." Another quoted phrase attributed to Robinson in relation to the video:
• "This is what you wanted me to tell you: I'm your slave. ... Everything is yours." and
• "The most important thing in life you are is my slave,"

Koster was quoted as describing the offence and quoting from his letter to Robinson:

• "John E. Robinson committed the offence of murder in the first degree in a manner outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture or depravity of mind," Morrison was quoted regarding the legal problems of bringing a prisoner back and forth:
• "My understanding is there are serious legal problems with bringing a prisoner back and forth over state lines while there's a charge against him," and
• "We're not going to inject any legal difficulties into this case." Moore was quoted regarding the verdict:
• "I'm just glad he's been held responsible for his actions." and
• "It was hard to know that a man could do this but you can't let the hatred eat you alive." Lucero was quoted regarding closure:
• "Those people are just made to suffer on and on and on, waiting for something that they've been told will bring closure to their lives, when it doesn't," Woodman was quoted as saying:
• "We will continue to forcefully litigate these issues in the many months and years ahead."

Media and popular culture items described

The account described several books:

• Internet Slave Master (released in 2001)
• Anyone You Want Me to Be: A True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet (written by John Douglas and Stephen Singular)
• Depraved by John Glatt (released in 2001) Robinson’s life was described as being documented on A&E’s show Cold Case Files.

The account also described email and SecondLife hoaxes, including usernames warned against: SlaveMaster, SweetCaliGuy4evr, imahustlababay, Free_mumia911, Monkeyman935, Rockhard abs, and DreamWeaverGrey. It included an example email text beginning: Subject: FROM THE STATE POLICE: NOT A JOKE PLEASE READ THIS: State Police Warning for Online WARNING FROM THE STATE POLICE . . USA (Not a joke.) and continued with:

• "State police warning for online: Please read this "very carefully"..then send it out to all the people online that you know." and
• "If a person with the screen-name of Monkeyman935 contacts you, do not reply." and
• "DO not talk to this person; do not answer any of his/her instant Messages or e-mail." and
• "Whoever this person may be, he/she is a suspect for murder in the death of 56 women (so far) contacted through the Internet." and
• "Please send this to all the women on your buddy list and ask them to pass this on, as well." and
• "This screen-name was seen on Yahoo, AOL, AIM, and Excite so far." and
• "This is not a joke!" and
• "Please send this to men too...just in case!" and
• "Send to everyone you know!" and
• "Ladies, this is serious."

Post-conviction civil matters

In 2005, Nancy Robinson filed for divorce after 41 years of marriage, citing incompatibility and irreconcilable differences.

In 2006, Lisa Stasi’s daughter (known since her "adoption" as Heather Robinson) filed a civil suit against Truman Medical Center in Kansas City and social worker Karen Gaddis, contending that Gaddis told John Robinson about Stasi and her newborn daughter in 1984, after he told her he was looking for women for his fictional home for "unwed mothers of white babies."

In 2007, Heather Robinson and the hospital reached a settlement for an undisclosed sum, which Robinson said she would split with her biological grandmother, Patricia Sylvester.