Serial killer John Edward Robinson is on death row in Kansas City, Kansas. [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. Under that guise, he hosted an awards luncheon in his honor. About Us. Right now John E. Robinson is in his 70s, sitting on death row in Kansas. The family regularly attended Mass, and both sons regularly attended religious education courses. The prosecution team assigned to the case accepted the plea, with assistant prosecutor Pat Hall later explaining this decision as being "in the best interest of our client, the people of the state of Missouri". [6] These pictures showed Christopher Bryson and several other men both in life and in death, and many of the images had been taken as the subjects had been tortured. These bags were later placed inside larger trash bags which Berdella placed outside for a garbage crew to collect and take to a landfill site. The U.S. Supreme Court is considering appeals in three such cases, including those of brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr, who were convicted of dozens of crimes leading up to the murders of four people in a snow-covered soccer field in Wichita in December 2000. [2]:4, In 1987, Catherine Clampitt, aged 27, left her child with her parents in Wichita Falls, Texas, and moved to Kansas City to find employment. A suspected serial killer already charged in six killings in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas has been charged with first-degree murder in a seventh death. [14] Both a hacksaw and a miter saw were discovered in the basement of the property,[21] and a chainsaw was also found to be soiled with bloodstains, flesh, and pubic hairs. Pick your location. Tiffany, now 16 and named Heather, still lives with Don and Helen Robinson. The property was later demolished. 7920 NW Tiffany Springs Pkwy., I-29 & Tiffany Springs Pkwy., Kansas City, MO, 64153-2310. In 1999, he offered a job and a bondage relationship to Izabela Lewicka, a 21-year-old Polish immigrant living in Indiana. [4] He learned about cooking and art and developed showmanship. A "suspected serial killer" has been taken into custody with the semi-automatic pistol he allegedly used in multiple slayings within weeks in the St. Louis area and in Kansas City, Kansas . [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". [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. 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. Rader was married and had two children, and was a leader in his community through the Christ Lutheran Church and Cub Scouts. 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]:3637 He further claimed to have intended to retrieve Pearson's skull once sufficient time had elapsed for it to skeletonize, although he was adamant there had been no rational or sinister reason for his doing so. Paul Howell formally identified one picture of a young man hanging upside down in Berdella's basement as depicting his son. The discovery of a woman's body stuffed inside that. Though his statement was technically a guilty plea and was accepted as such by the Missouri court, observers remarked that it was notably devoid of any remorse or specific acceptance of responsibility. Robinson received the death penalty for the murders of Trouten and Lewicka, and life imprisonment for Stasi's murder because she was killed before Kansas reinstated the death penalty. Show you care with a Cracker Barrel Gift Card. In both instances, he had denied having anything to do with the disappearance. He also wrote several letters to a local minister claiming that prison officials knew of his high blood pressure, yet were not providing him with his prescribed heart medication. In 1977, he was named to the board of directors of a local charitable organization where he forged letters from its executive director to the mayor of Kansas City and from the mayor to civic leaders, naming him as the organization's Man of the Year. Legal Statement. [11], As would be the case with all Berdella's murders, he kept a detailed log in which he documented each act of sexual and physical torture inflicted upon his victim. He previously. The investigation was terminated as Godfrey was of legal age, and there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Once Kansas declared itself with the Union and the Civil War began, the . [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. Robinson, 72,. [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. [46], In November 1988, auctions of Berdella's vast collection of artifacts and furniture confiscated from his home and business were held on four separate dates, with the intention that all proceeds raised at the auctions to be used to pay his mounting legal fees within then-ongoing legal proceedings. Updated October 03, 2016 4:13 PM. Arms Ltd. 7804371090 ksarmssales@telus.net. [4]:100 Shortly after graduation, Berdella relocated to Kansas City. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, 2" Stainless Steel Barrel blank. One other method of torture was the insertion of needles beneath their fingernails. As the two "[drove] around" Kansas, the young man began jokingly referring to his practice of robbing gay men in Wichita; this disclosure finalized Berdella's decision to hold Pearson captive. [6], By the early 1980s, Paul Howell had relocated his business to a store close to the intersection of 39th and Main Street. [14] He remained active in the association until the mid-1980s, when he relinquished his position. Shortly thereafter, Pearson temporarily lodged with Berdella, and willingly performed chores around his home as a means of paying rent. Should Berdella ever discover any of them was a police informant, he would use this knowledge for blackmail. Berdella was taken to a hospital in Columbia, Missouri, where he was pronounced dead from a heart attack at 3:55p.m. Roger Coleman, relaying his distress pertaining to staff at the Missouri State Penitentiary withholding his heart medication. [4]:259261 The following day, he dismembered Howell's body using a chainsaw and boning knives, before wrapping the sections in newspaper and trash bags. [4]:300 On June 27, he ruptured Stoops's anal wall with his fist, causing bleeding and discharge. For several years, Bonner's mother continued forwarding her alimony checks and Robinson continued cashing them. Robinson was prosecuted and found guilty by a. Don't try to fight me, or you'll just get more of what you had earlier. 8225 North Church Rd., I-35 & State Route 152, Kansas City, MO, 64158-1105. [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". The plot of the film revolves around a disturbed man who stalks and then abducts a young woman whom he finds attractive, holding her captive in his windowless stone basement, and viewing her as little more than an attractive specimen. Berdella remained a casual friend of the family, also offering his assistance if Jerry encountered any minor scrapes with the law. "[32] He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. 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. [7][unreliable source? Shortly after his release from hospital and further questioning by the KCPD, Christopher Bryson lapsed into cocaine abuse. [4]:300, The methods of torture exhibited against his victims had included the administration of high-voltage electrical shocks, starvation, the application of alkali-based detergents to their throats, vocal cords, or eyes, and the bludgeoning of their hands with the intention of rendering these body parts unusable. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Consequently, their bodies were never recovered. He was arrested in June 2000 at his farm near La Cygne, Kansas, after a woman filed a sexual battery complaint against him and another charged him with stealing her sex toys. Bob Berdella, the Kansas City Butcher, might have been viewed as an odd man by neighbors, but no one ever suspected that he was responsible for raping, torturing, and murdering seven men in 1980s Kansas City. [42], In 1992, Berdella contacted the counselor whom he had met when first incarcerated, Rev. [4]:270, On April 10, 1985, an itinerant former lodger, 20-year-old Robert Sheldon, arrived on Berdella's doorstep, asking if he could again stay at his house for a short period of time. Berdella would recall that like the subsequent victims he would hold captive Howell had repeatedly pleaded for his ongoing abuse and torture to cease throughout the period of his capture, although Berdella would either ignore these pleas, taunt his victim, or threaten him. If I grow to like you, and to trust you, then I could do special things for you, such as buy you cigarettes, pick up a movie on the way home from work and so forth. [6] Chris Koster, the Missouri prosecutor, insisted as a condition of any plea bargain that Robinson lead authorities to the bodies of Stasi, Godfrey, and Clampitt. Lorenzo Jerome Gilyard, Jr. (born May 24, 1950), known as the Kansas City Strangler, is an American serial killer.A former trash-company supervisor, Gilyard is believed to have raped and murdered at least 13 women and girls from 1977 to 1993. 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. [32] In this plea bargain, Berdella agreed to confess in graphic detail as to whom he had killed, what indignities he had subjected each victim, how he had killed each victim, and what he had done with their bodies. His first known victim was 19-year-old Jerry Howell. 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. The ruling in the case of John E. Robinson Sr. -- accused of killing seven women and a teenage girl in Kansas and Missouri -- marked the first time that Kansas' high court has upheld a death sentence since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1994. A Kansas serial killer convicted of murdered several women and stuffing some of their bodies into barrel appealed his case to the Kansas Supreme Court Tuesday. [n 6], On the afternoon of Bryson's escape, Berdella was arrested on charges pertaining to the sexual assault of Christopher Bryson. Simultaneously, he began to devote more of his attention to his own business as opposed to his work as a chef. 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. The letters were, her mother said, uncharacteristically free of typographical errors. Bizzarrepedia Serial Killers Internet's First Serial Killer "The Slavemester" In addition, he began regularly abusing alcohol. At Berdella's home, Bryson was knocked unconscious with an iron bar, then bound to Berdella's bed, where he was subjected to similar methods of abuse and torture endured by previous victims, although in Bryson's case, Berdella repeatedly swabbed his eyes with ammonia,[23] before exclaiming to him: "The only things you need to think about are you, me, and this house. 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. [29], Berdella would be formally charged with the murder by dismemberment of Larry Wayne Pearson in July after the head discovered in his backyard was formally identified as Pearson's on May 12. [5] He died of a heart attack while incarcerated at the Missouri State Penitentiary in October 1992. In. 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. [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. 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. Michael H. Stone & Gary Brucato. 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. [4]:231 He initially operated this side business from his home. [14][n 2] By the early 1980s, many of his older acquaintances had ceased any form of social contact with him, with Berdella increasingly relying on these young men as a source of companionship and friendship. [4]:307,309, According to Berdella, Pearson was by far the most cooperative of his six murder victims. As Pearson had once been a ward of the court in Wichita, his dental records were discovered and compared with the skull found in Berdella's backyard. ", "Robert Berdella: The Butcher of Kansas City, Missouri", "Talk of Reopening Serial Killer Bob Berdella's Bazaar Bizarre is Dismissed as a Hoax", "House of Horrors Shocks Residents of a Quiet Neighborhood", "Serial Murder, Psychopathy, and Objectification", "Berdella Sentenced To Life In Prison Without Parole", "Crime Watch Leader had Human Head in Yard", "Man Convicted of Murder After a Head Was Found in Garden", "Robert Berdella: The Butcher of Kansas City", "Macabre Mystery Surrounding Death of 2 Men in Kansas City", "Second Skull Found at Berdella's House Identified", "Man Convicted of Murder after a Head was Discovered in His Yard", "Missourian Admits Murders of 5 Men: Shopkeeper Now Serving Life Terms for 6 Killings in All", "Robert Berdella: Serving Six Life Sentences", "Killer Reportedly Agrees to Confess to Five Slayings", "The Kansas City Butcher: The Confession", "Berdella Criticizes Police; Insists He Does Feel Remorse", "Bob Berdella: The Butcher of Kansas City", "Police Seek Victims from Torture Photos", "Auction of Killer's Art Collection Cancelled", "Auction of Killer's Art Collection Canceled", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Berdella&oldid=1142906983, American people convicted of sexual assault, American people who died in prison custody, American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Missouri, Serial killers who died in prison custody, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2023, All articles containing potentially dated statements, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox criminal with motive parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 23:48. Two days later, three more bodies were discovered in barrels in a storage locker Robinson rented in the Kansas City area. [2]:4 In 1957, Robinson became an Eagle Scout and traveled to London with a group of Scouts who performed before Queen Elizabeth II. In 2007, Heather and the hospital reached a settlement for an undisclosed sum, which Heather said she would split with her biological grandmother, Patricia Sylvester. Woman Wins Lawsuit to Halt Profit Sought by Man Who Killed Her Mother. We're happy to ship internationally, please contact us prior to order for an accurate shipping quote. [21], Following the submission and acceptance of this plea, the judge insisted that Berdella confess under oath as to Pearson's death. I never thought it out to the level of: 'What if one of these bodies ever gets loose? [4]:299300, During the second week of his capture, Stoops asked Berdella for a soft drink and sandwich. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Body Found In Barrel Linked To Robinson? [6], Berdella became known as the Kansas City Butcher due to his practice of extensively dissecting his victims' bodies, which he would then dispose of in garbage bags, and The Collector due to both the movie which he stated was the basis of the fantasies behind the modus operandi of his crimes, and much of the evidence subsequently uncovered by investigators.[4][7]. [1] The theft charge finally gave investigators the probable cause they needed to obtain search warrants. Luminol tests revealed that the floor of Berdella's basement, and two plastic trash barrels, were extensively bloodstained. 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. Berdella entered this plea of guilty at his, Berdella's identification of the two human heads upon his property had by this stage been corroborated by. Authorities recovered the bodies of up to 11 people from the Old West tract of land owned by . [11] The following month, he was arraigned and pleaded guilty in the 4th Circuit of the Jackson County Court before Judge Alvin C. Randall to the first-degree murder of Larry Pearson. Rader was a serial killer active in Kansas from 1974 to 1991. On the fifth day of his captivity, having by this stage endured torture such as the repeated administration of electrical shocks with the transformer, and the breaking of several hand bones with an iron rod to render him submissive,[4]:311 Berdella deduced Pearson had earned his trust as to his continued cooperation in his sexual and physical abuse. In his subsequent confessions to investigators, Berdella stated he had dismembered the bodies of Sheldon, Wallace, Ferris, and Stoops in the bathtub in his third floor bathroom, whereas the bodies of Howell and Pearson had been dismembered in his basement. Berdella would typically befriend these individuals, then try to help free them from their drug addictions or criminal lifestyles, although he was adamant that, throughout much of the 1970s, he had no physical contact whatsoever with any of them. It's the last control he's got," said one investigator. [4]:261. When Berdella refused, Stoops burst into tears. After Robinson arranged for Bonner's alimony checks to be forwarded to a Kansas post office box, her family never heard from her again. [6], In the summer of 1967, Berdella graduated from Cuyahoga Falls High School. [4]:4647, When Berdella reached puberty he discovered that he was homosexual; initially, he kept this fact a closely guarded secret, and he did not become open about his sexuality for several years. [9] Two days later, Berdella returned to Cuyahoga Falls by himself. [10], In the years following his 1988 convictions and incarceration, Berdella granted an interview to the Missouri-based television station KCPT, and corresponded with numerous individuals. Police say there is no truth to a rumor about a serial killer that is circulating on social media in the Kansas City area. Missouri aggressively pursued capital punishment convictions, so Robinson's attorneys wanted to avoid a trial there. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review the death penalty case of Kansas serial killer John E. Robinson Sr., meaning his capital murder conviction and . [29] Prosecutors had gathered sufficient circumstantial evidence to accompany the physical evidence retrieved. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. In a video that went viral on TikTok and other platforms, a man claimed that four Black girls . Bender Mounds, Kansas by Kathy Alexander. Stasi was never heard from again. List of serial killers in the United States, List of serial killers by number of victims, "Berdella Doesn't Want to Discuss Crimes: Convicted in Dismemberments, He Cites Concerns for His Relatives, Lawsuits", "Robert A. Berdella, Already Convicted of One Count of First-Degree Murder, Pleads Guilty to A Second Charge", "Kansas City Sicko Kept Detailed Diary, Photos of Sex Torture, Bondage and Murder", "Robert Berdella: Madman or Just Murderer? [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. March 29, 1988. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. As Bryson spoke, the officers also noted that in addition to the dog collar and broken foot, Bryson had red, swollen eyes, and visible scars and welts across his entire body. Authorities believe that he's responsible for the murders of at least eight women in Missouri and Kansas. The torture included repeated administering of 7,700-volt electrical shocks to the shoulder and testicles for up to five minutes in each instance, and acupuncture via hypodermic needles to the neck and genitals. When asked if he performed this act deliberately, and with malice aforethought, Berdella simply stated, "Yes. Two officers were told to maintain a discreet surveillance of the property, as Bryson was driven to the Menorah Medical Center, accompanied by a third officer, for treatment as the fourth officer radioed the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) to request a formal search warrant of the property be drafted. (May 18, 2006). Her missing persons' case remains open. From approximately 1965, he would begin avidly collecting these artifacts; this practice would later inspire him to open his own antiques business in 1982. Until 2000, investigators. [24] The meter reader led Bryson to the house he had been approaching, whereupon the occupants promptly called the police, who arrived minutes later. Robinson was sentenced to death for killing two women in Kansas, in 1999 and 2000. [4]:258, Berdella would later state that he briefly attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation upon Howell after he had died before dragging his body to the basement. Upon his release, Bonner left her husband, a prison doctor, and moved to Kansas to work for him. [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. 185-189. [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. [4]:36 The search also uncovered numerous restraints and sexual devices; pornographic literature; hypodermic needles; and a book on narcotics. [4]:289[10], Todd Stoops was a 23-year-old drug addict and occasional prostitute who, alongside his wife, had twice lived briefly at Berdella's house in 1984. [4]:47. One of those traced, a young man named Freddie Kellogg, was able to state to detectives he and several other young men had intermittently lodged with Berdella since the early 1980s, and that Berdella had been in the habit of plying his lodgers with drugs typically intravenously before engaging in sex with them regardless of whether they consented or not. [4]:9495 These investigators would shortly discover Berdella had paid a $30 fee to secure a bond for Pearson in June 1987 (the equivalent of about $78 as of 2023[update]),[12] and that no further records existed to indicate Pearson was still alive.