A few days later, Robinson contacted his brother Don and sister-in-law, Helen, who had been unable to adopt a baby through traditional channels, informing them that he knew of a baby whose mother had killed herself. "He's maintained the secrets about what he's done with the women. "[6], According to published reports, although Berdella had a depressive personality disorder,[4]:202 he was also a diagnosed sexual sadist[44] who gained extreme sexual excitation from the humiliation, pain, and torture to which he had subjected his victims. On this occasion, Berdella could not post bond, and he spent five days in jail, although the charges against him and one of the other students would be dropped due to a lack of evidence. In a carefully scripted plea in October 2003, Robinson acknowledged that Koster had enough evidence to convict him of capital murder for the deaths of Godfrey, Clampitt, Bonner, and the Faiths. [17], Howell was restrained to Berdella's bed for a period of approximately 28 hours. Luminol tests revealed that the floor of Berdella's basement, and two plastic trash barrels, were extensively bloodstained. Robert Berdella - Wikipedia [6], In 2005, Nancy Robinson filed for divorce after forty-one years of marriage, citing incompatibility and irreconcilable differences. [4]:258 He also informed investigators there were occasions during his final three victims' periods of captivity when he ceased making additions to his abuse logs because he assumed the victim would not "be able to make it much longer". After hearing nothing further from her, Godfrey's parents filed a missing persons report. The frightened 22-year-old told Kansas City police that she's been locked in a basement for a month and identified 39-year-old . The following is a chronological summary of the victims identified thus far: Robinson's criminal activities were also profiled on episodes of the A&E series Cold Case Files,[1] Investigation Discovery's FBI: Criminal Pursuit, Sins & Secrets, Vanity Fair Confidential, It Takes a Killer, and Deadly Doctors, as well as Forensic Files, and The New Detectives on the Discovery Channel. At the Western Missouri Correctional Facility, he met 49-year-old Beverly Bonner, the prison librarian. Investigators also noted that posts on the bed had been extensively worn, suggesting that restraints had earlier been tied to these posts, and that the individual or individuals had struggled to free themselves. Rader was married and had two children, and was a leader in his community through the Christ Lutheran Church and Cub Scouts. He noted this victim's time of death as being 7:00p.m. on June 23. For several years, Bonner's mother continued forwarding her alimony checks and Robinson continued cashing them. [4]:231 He initially operated this side business from his home. With the state's assistance, he would complete a drug rehabilitation program. As a result, he became increasingly withdrawn, and further immersed himself in the solitary activities he had participated in since childhood such as painting, collecting coins and stamps, and writing to foreign pen pals. Throughout his studies in high school, he had earned such excellent grades and displayed such potential that in 1966, one teacher had placed him in an independent study program. "[4]:323 Berdella removed the teeth from this skull and stowed them inside envelopes in the same room. [8], In 2006, the body of a young woman was found in a barrel in an area of rural Iowa where Robinson reportedly had a business partner. 'Mindhunter': ADT Serial Killer in Kansas Explained - Insider Ferris gradually became delirious,[4]:288 but Berdella continued his physical and sexual assaults until he noted in his log that Ferris was "Unable to sit up more than 1015 sec[onds]". March 29, 1988. Locations States Missouri. [1], Because he made contact with most of his post-1993 victims via online chatrooms, Robinson is sometimes referred to as "the Internet's first serial killer". When she moved to Kansas City, Robinson (who was still married) gave Lewicka an engagement ring and brought her to the county registrar, where they paid for a marriage license that was never picked up. [4]:103, In 1969, Berdella voluntarily withdrew from KCAI after receiving harsh criticism from college administrators for killing and cooking a duck for the sake of art. Shortly thereafter, Pearson temporarily lodged with Berdella, and willingly performed chores around his home as a means of paying rent. John Robinson's Family Described Him As Loving & Involved With the Family. [4]:151. When asked if he performed this act deliberately, and with malice aforethought, Berdella simply stated, "Yes. John Edward Robinson's Kids & Family: 5 Fast Facts - Heavy 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Stasi was never heard from again. All five women were killed in the same way, by one or more blows to the head with a blunt instrument. In addition to these disclosures, Kellogg was able to name three of the men depicted in the Polaroids as being Todd Stoops, Robert Sheldon, and Larry Wayne Pearson. [4]:36 The search also uncovered numerous restraints and sexual devices; pornographic literature; hypodermic needles; and a book on narcotics. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. They became something other than people to me. CA$250.00 Attention international customers. These 10 Kansas Serial Killers' Stories Will Chill You To The Bone His third, noncapital conviction in Kansas was in connection with the 1985 death of Lisa Stasi, a 19-year-old who was last seen by her family with Robinson in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park. Berdella would later claim that his hobby of writing to pen pals in countries such as Vietnam and Burma and the fact these pen pals would send him stamps for his collection, and photographs of mythical and historical icons, ancient cultures, and architecture would lead to his developing an avid interest in primitive art, photographs, and antiques. [n 8][12], In late April, the skull found inside Berdella's closet was identified via dental X-rays obtained via subpoena from the University of Kansas Medical Center as that of Robert Sheldon. life sentences without possibility of parole, life sentence without possibility of parole, List of serial killers in the United States, Cold Case Files - Sex, Lies and Murder (February 23, 2010), "Death sentence is upheld for serial killer John E. Robinson Sr.", "Authorities investigate Tomich for deaths of prostitutes", Complete Court TV coverage of "slave master" serial killer John Robinson, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Edward_Robinson&oldid=1137938651, Robinson, John E Sr (KDOC# 45690) - current status is incarcerated, This page was last edited on 7 February 2023, at 04:47. On Christmas Day 1965, the Berdella family drove to Canton, Ohio to visit relatives. [2]:9, Over time, Robinson became increasingly careless, and his ability to avoid detection declined. You see, what you got, is nothing compared to what you can have. [4]:261. [24] The meter reader led Bryson to the house he had been approaching, whereupon the occupants promptly called the police, who arrived minutes later. [n 4], "You did not choose to be here, but you are. (AP Photo/Matthew S. Hicks, Pool). Occasionally, Berdella's father physically and emotionally abused his children, and beat them with a leather strap. He viewed this business as his full-time job and later ceased working as a chef. As a child Berdella was intelligent, but a loner who rarely played outside his home and seldom had friends visit to socialize. Before Friday's ruling, the court had faced criticism over the number of death sentences it had overturned. Sometime during the summer of 1999, Lewicka disappeared. John Robinson, one of the most infamous serial killers of recent times, is the subject of the episode titled "Sole Survivor," on ABC's journalistic and true crime show '20/20'. "[32] He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. )[4]:180, Initially, Berdella was formally charged with one count of felonious restraint, one count of assault, and seven counts of forcible sodomy,[21] as investigators continued their investigations into the discoveries at his property. [2]:9, In 2002, Robinson stood trial in Kansas for the murders of Trouten, Lewicka, and Stasi along with multiple lesser charges. For $5,500 in "legal fees", the couple received Tiffany (whose identity was confirmed by DNA testing in 2000[5]) and a set of authentic-appearing adoption papers with the forged signatures of two lawyers and a judge. On the farm, a task force found the decaying bodies of two women, later identified as Lewicka and Trouten, in two 85-pound (39kg) chemical drums. [2]:4 In 1957, Robinson became an Eagle Scout and traveled to London with a group of Scouts who performed before Queen Elizabeth II. Trouten's mother received several typed letters signed by her daughter and purportedly mailed while the couple was abroad, although the envelopes all bore Kansas City postmarks. [8]:271, In the spring of 1987, Berdella became friendly with a 20-year-old named Larry Wayne Pearson. Robinson, on the other hand, faced pressure to plead guilty to avoid an almost certain death sentence in Missouri, and failing that, yet another capital murder trial back in Kansas. In 1999, he offered a job and a bondage relationship to Izabela Lewicka, a 21-year-old Polish immigrant living in Indiana. Sheldon was drugged with sedatives and held captive in the second floor bedroom for three days, enduring forms of torture such as the swabbing of drain cleaner in his left eye,[4]:266 the insertion of needles beneath his fingertips,[4]:268 the binding of his wrists with piano wire with the intention of permanently damaging the nerves in his hands,[4]:271 and filling his ears with caulking to reduce his hearing capacity. [7], In November 2015, the Kansas Supreme Court vacated the Trouten and Stasi murder convictions on technicalities, but upheld the Lewicka conviction and its accompanying death sentence. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Mon 7am-4pm. Furthermore, Berdella confessed to having alternately buried the two victims' heads in his backyard,[26] adding that he retrieved and cleaned the first skull that of Robert Sheldon at the time he buried victim Larry Pearson's head in the same hole. The auction attracted considerable national interest; attracting telephone bids from across the United States. Soon, Berdella became acquainted with Paul Howell's younger son, Jerry. [2]:4, In 1984, having established two more fraudulent shell companies, Robinson hired Paula Godfrey, aged 19, ostensibly to work as a sales representative. Berdella finished this discussion with a stern warning: "I've gotten this far with other people before, and they're dead now, because of mistakes they made. Berdella used electrical shocks through Stoops's closed eyes in an attempt to blind him and injected drain cleaner into his larynx to try to silence his screaming. Medical staff determined his heart was unstable and called an ambulance. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The Bloody Benders - Serial Killers of Kansas. Rader was a serial killer active in Kansas from 1974 to 1991. [10], Shortly after the death of Berdella's father, his mother remarried; an action which was met with resentment by Berdella, who viewed the move as a form of betrayal against his father. Bender Mounds, Kansas by Kathy Alexander. Prior to his arrest, Berdella was that serial killer clich, someone neighbors described as a nice man who kept to himself. Alarming social media posts warning of a Kansas City serial killer are untrue, according to police. Roger Coleman, relaying his distress pertaining to staff at the Missouri State Penitentiary withholding his heart medication. K.S. [1], Bryson then managed to escape from the house by jumping from a second floor window, wearing nothing besides a dog collar around his neck, breaking a bone in his foot in the process; he then ran toward a meter reader walking across the other side of the street, shouting for them to call the police. [3] The following year, he violated probation by moving to Chicago without his probation officer's permission and gained a job as an insurance salesman at the R.B. John Edward Robinson (born December 27, 1943) is an American serial killer, con man, embezzler, kidnapper, and forger who was found guilty in 2003 for three murders committed in and around Kansas City, receiving the death penalty for two of them. [4]:80 According to Berdella, he plied Howell with alcohol, Valium and acepromazine both in his car and at his house until the youth became unconscious. In the 19th century, Kansas was a bloody place, especially before the Civil War, as " Free-Soilers " and slavery advocates "duked" it out for control of the new territory. Berdella was able to name all of his victims to investigators. ], When it became clear that the women's remains would never be found without Robinson's cooperation, a compromise was reached. Berdella invited him to his house with an offer of lunch,[4]:139 with an added incentive of sex as Stoops stated he needed $13 to purchase drugs (the equivalent of about $35 as of 2023[update])[8]:270, Berdella would later stress to investigators he had been extremely physically attracted to Stoops, and this victim was held captive for two weeks before he died, with him gradually increasing his captive's terror to make him a cooperative and incapacitated sex slave. Lorenzo Gilyard - Wikipedia For you to survive being here, and for you to, you know, make it, it could either be rough or it could be easy. The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2019), pp. Robinson, now 71, was sentenced to life in prison for killing four other women and a teenage girl in Missouri. Shortly thereafter, investigators discovered that photograph "D" released to the media in this same array was one Larry Wayne Pearson. One other method of torture was the insertion of needles beneath their fingernails. He previously. As a result, Berdella would occasionally steal or scavenge for items to sell at his booth or take lodgers at his home as a means of gaining additional income. Because of this he seldom socialized with his peers. [45] Moreover, despite his claims to journalists whom he had contacted in the years of his incarceration, Berdella never expressed any degree of remorse for his actions and tersely referred to his victims as "play toys" in an interview he granted shortly before his death. 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.[3][4]. Hours. [5], Between 1987 to 1993, Robinson was incarcerated, first in Kansas (19871991) on multiple fraud convictions and later in Missouri for another fraud conviction and parole violations. In addition, he began regularly abusing alcohol. Among other issues, there was no unequivocal evidence that any of the murders had been committed within his jurisdiction. However, Koster faced pressure to make a deal because his case was not technically airtight. [2]:9, Across the state line in Missouri, investigators searched a storage facility where Robinson rented two garages. ABC's '20/20' digs into John Robinson serial killer case [9] Two days later, Berdella returned to Cuyahoga Falls by himself. Kansas Supreme Court upholds death sentence for serial killer John E. Robinson Sr. Zach Murdock 816-234-4153 Zach Murdock covers Johnson County for The Kansas City Star. Several days later, her parents received a typewritten letter, with Godfrey's signature at the bottom, thanking Robinson for his help and asserting that she was "OK" and did not want to see her family. The suit accused Gaddis of putting Robinson in contact with Stasi and her newborn daughter in 1984 after he told Gaddis that he ran a charitable organization assisting "unwed mothers of white babies." He declined to allow officers inside his home,[4]:26 and the search warrant earlier requested was drafted to search his property. [14] He remained active in the association until the mid-1980s, when he relinquished his position. [10], To several of his neighbors, Berdella stated he gradually almost felt like a foster parent to many of these youths. In. The house belonged to Robert Berdella, the man who would soon become known as Kansas City's most notorious serial killer. [30], On December 19, 1988, Berdella formally waived his rights to be tried for any of the outstanding murder charges, upon the understanding he was to be convicted of one further count of first-degree murder (that of Robert Sheldon), and four counts of second-degree murder. Searching the house and grounds of 4315 Charlotte Street, investigators uncovered a human skull inside a closet on the second floor of his property,[26] and a partially decomposed human head in the backyard. This task force extensively researched Berdella's history, discovering that he was well-known among Kansas City's male hustlers, having earned a reputation for preying on transient young men. HuffPost writes of how Berdella was a trusted figure who started a neighborhood watch program but mostly kept to himself.On the day before Easter in 1988, neighbors called the police . In both instances, he had denied having anything to do with the disappearance. Missouri aggressively pursued capital punishment convictions, so Robinson's attorneys wanted to avoid a trial there. [8]:270 Towards the end of Stoops's captivity, he tried to feed his captive ice cream and soup, although Stoops "wasn't able to keep anything down". Aside from Pearson's severed head and the striations upon his vertebrae, the accompanying evidence, compiled to bring this charge, included some 60 Polaroid photos of Pearson; the logs Berdella had kept of his captivity of the subject (and which the handwriting was proven to be Berdella's); chemical tests upon Pearson's hair which indicated the subject may have received fatal dosages of various tranquilizers; the injury Pearson was known to have inflicted upon Berdella on August 5, 1987; and the fact Berdella had paid Pearson's bond in June 1987. [2]:9, After his Kansas convictions, Robinson faced murder charges in Missouri based on the evidence discovered in that state. Berdella also volunteered at fundraising events for a local public television station until the mid-1980s.[14]. The justices upheld his death sentence in a 415-page ruling that also addressed numerous technical arguments raised by Robinson's attorneys. After his release, he formed a bogus hydroponics business and stole $25,000 from a friend to whom he promised a fast investment return so the friend could pay for his dying wife's medical care. He tersely explained his successive actions to investigators on December 14 with the statement that he was "capturing them first, and what developed, developed." John E. Robinson Sr., the convicted serial killer who stored some of his victims' bodies in barrels, has filed a motion to have his Johnson County death sentence thrown out. After Stoops and his wife moved out of Berdella's home the second time, Berdella did not see him again until a chance encounter at KansasCity's Liberty Memorial Park on June 17, 1986. Serial Killer J. R. Robinson's Sinister Alter Ego | Vanity Fair He promised Stasi a job and a stable living situation in Chicago in exchange for signing several sheets of blank stationery. By his mid-teens, Berdella had begun to display a degree of self-confidence, becoming rude and condescending to others, particularly women. Serial Killer John Edward Robinson's Victims List | Heavy.com [4]:13, At 1:00a.m. on March 29, 1988, Berdella abducted his last victim, a 22-year-old male prostitute named Christopher Bryson, whom he lured to his house upon the promise of payment for sex. [30][n 10] The plea was entered following a late-morning recess in the arraignment hearing into this particular murder, and came as a surprise to both the judge, and prosecuting attorneys. Both Berdella's career and the side business eventually flourished, and by the mid-1970s he began working as a senior cook at several renowned Kansas City restaurants, also joining a local chefs' association and helping establish a training program for aspiring chefs at a local community college. Order Now . [n 1] He began spending much of his free time with male prostitutes, drug addicts, petty criminals, and runaways. The Blair family is a well-known crime family in Kansas City. To his neighbors, Berdella was considered to be flamboyant yet helpful and civic-minded, despite the generally unkempt state of his property and his somewhat haughty attitude. Born Robert Andrew Berdella Jr. on January 31, 1949, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the man who would become this terrifying killer grew up in a deeply religious Roman Catholic family in the early 1950s. That evening, Berdella's father had a heart attack at the age of 39. [4]:121122, As numerous male names had been found scrawled upon various stenographer's pads at Berdella's address, the detectives began attempting to trace each of them. She was initially considered a possible victim but was later identified as Lois Tomich, who police believe was killed by her ex-husband. No trace of Godfrey has ever been found. [2] His crimes took place in Kansas City, Missouri, between 1984 and 1987. Robinson was prosecuted and found guilty by a. [3], By then, Robinson had discovered the Internet and roamed online chatrooms using the name "Slavemaster," looking for women who enjoyed playing the submissive partner role during sex. He would later claim to have become increasingly frustrated that many of these individuals were ignorant of his efforts to help steer them away from self-destructive behavior. Robinson was sentenced to death for killing two women in Kansas, in 1999 and 2000. [4]:269, Berdella confessed that many of the abbreviated entries within his torture logs were simply shorthand terms for methods of abuse he had inflicted upon his victims, whereas others would describe either their reactions to these ongoing acts of abuse and torture, or his initial observations upon viewing them when he entered the room where he had kept them restrained. All rights reserved. In addition, despite the fact that more than twenty different men were depicted in postures suggesting unconsciousness or death within the 334 Polaroid images and thirty-four snapshot prints seized from 4315 Charlotte Street following his arrest, Berdella was adamant that the six men identified as victims and whom he had confessed to killing were the only ones that he murdered.[11]. Pearson's body was later dismembered in the basement, and his head initially stored in a plastic bag inside Berdella's freezer before being buried in the backyard. In a video that went viral on TikTok and other platforms, a man claimed that four Black girls . The Bloody Benders - Serial Killers of Kansas Robinson raised more than 100 issues in appealing his Kansas convictions and death sentence, including the ability of a juror in his 2002 trial to bring a Bible into deliberations. Should Berdella ever discover any of them was a police informant, he would use this knowledge for blackmail. [4]:281, On September 26, 1985, Berdella answered a phone call from an acquaintance named James Ferris,[n 3] who asked to stay at Berdella's home for a short time. [21], Following the submission and acceptance of this plea, the judge insisted that Berdella confess under oath as to Pearson's death. On each victim's capture, Berdella described in graphic detail the sexual, physical, and emotional abuse to which he had subjected each victim, and which he had recorded within his torture logs. [4]:277, Wallace was carried to the second floor bedroom where he endured almost a day of captivity and torture including the application of alligator clips to his nipples to facilitate electrical shocks to his body at any point at which Wallace began regressing into a state of unconsciousness. Berdella accepted with the specific intention of kidnapping Ferris, whom he arranged to meet at a bar that evening. In June 1967, Graham reported to the Kansas City police that Robinson had embezzled about $33,000 from him by manipulating checks and deposits. A total of nine men are on Kansas' death row. He was 43 years old. Although one victim (Mark Wallace) had been seized by opportunity when he had discovered him seeking shelter from a severe thunderstorm in his tool shed, his other five victims had been captured after he had unsuccessfully tried to steer them away from their general lifestyles, and had thus simply become frustrated at the failure of his efforts. Her Mom Was Murdered. She Was Adopted by Killer's Brother - Peoplemag To all concerned, he attempted to restore his image as a "sensitive citizen" who had simply "made mistakes" in committing his crimes. [4]:300 On June 27, he ruptured Stoops's anal wall with his fist, causing bleeding and discharge. [4]:312, After six weeks of captivity, Pearson deeply bit into Berdella's penis before screaming he could not continue to tolerate his ongoing poor treatment. The same afternoon he was ordered to pose for the series of nude photographs for comparison with the Polaroid images he had taken, investigators attempted to conduct their first formal investigation with him, although Berdella simply invoked his right to silence in this setting. The Kansas Supreme Court upheld the death sentence for a convicted serial killer on Friday who trolled the Internet for female victims, sometimes using promises of work or sex, and stuffed.