Editing John Edward Robinson

{{short description|American serial killer on death row}}
{{For|the Bishop|John Edward Robinson (bishop)}}
{{Infobox serial killer
| name              = John Edward Robinson
| image             = John_Robinson_mugshot_3-4-2022.jpg
| image_size        = 
| caption           = Robinson's 2022 [[mug shot]] taken by the [[Kansas Department of Corrections]]
| birthname         = John Edward Robinson
| alias             = 
| birth_date        = {{no wrap|{{birth date and age|1943
|12|27}}}}
| birth_place       = [[Cicero, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date        = 
| cause             = 
| victims           = 8+
| country           = [[United States]]
| states            = {{hlist|[[Kansas]]|[[Missouri]]}}
| beginyear         = 1984
| endyear           = 2000
| apprehended       = June 2, 2000
| conviction        = '''Kansas'''<br>[[Capital murder]] (2 counts)<br>'''Missouri'''<br>[[First degree murder]] (5 counts)
| sentence          = '''Kansas'''<br>[[Capital punishment|Death]]<br>'''Missouri'''<br>[[Life without parole]]
| imprisoned        = [[El Dorado Correctional Facility]]
}}

'''John Edward Robinson''' (born December 27, 1943) is an American convicted [[serial killer]], [[kidnapping|kidnapper]], [[Rape|rapist]], and [[forger]]. He was found guilty and received the [[Capital punishment in the United States|death penalty]] in 2003 for three murders committed in [[Kansas]]. Two years later, as part of a [[plea bargain|plea deal]], he admitted responsibility in five other murders committed in [[Missouri]], for which he received multiple [[Life sentence without parole|life sentences without possibility of parole]]. Robinson, a prolific [[Confidence trick|con man]] and [[embezzlement|embezzler]], used online [[chatroom]]s to make contact with some of his victims while under the [[Online identity|alias]] "'''Slavemaster'''" – this makes him the first known serial killer to [[Internet homicide#Serial killers|have used the internet to lure in victims]].<ref name="ccf"/><ref name="trutv">{{cite web |url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/john_robinson/index.html |title=John E. Robinson, Sr.: The Slavemaster |last=Gribben |first=Mark |publisher=truTV |access-date=September 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927050756/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/john_robinson/index.html |archive-date=September 27, 2012}}</ref>

==Early life and criminal history==
'''John Edward Robinson''' was born on December 27, 1943, in [[Cicero, Illinois|Cicero]], [[Illinois]], the third of five children to Henry and Alberta Robinson, an abusive [[alcoholic]] father and a strict disciplinarian mother.<ref name="trutv" />{{rp|4}} In 1957, Robinson became an [[Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)|Eagle Scout]] and travelled to [[London]] with a group of Scouts who performed before [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]]; afterwards backstage he received a kiss from actress and singer [[Judy Garland]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1957-11-19 |title=Robinson meets Judy Garland |pages=1 |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/42388045/robinson-meets-judy-garland/ |access-date=2022-04-22}}</ref> 

Robinson enrolled at [[Quigley Preparatory Seminary]] in [[Chicago]], a private boys school for aspiring priests, but dropped out after one year due to disciplinary issues.<ref name="Radford"/> School records showed that he was a poor and failing student and frequently got involved in fights with his 
classmates and spent much time in school detention. In 1961, Robinson enrolled at [[Morton College|Morton Junior College]] in Cicero to become a medical [[radiographer]], but dropped out after two years. In 1964, he moved to [[Kansas City Metropolitan Area|Kansas City]] and married Nancy Jo Lynch, who gave birth to their first child, John Jr., in 1965, followed by daughter Kimberly in 1967, and twins Christopher and Christine in 1971.

In 1969, Robinson was arrested in Kansas City for [[Embezzlement|embezzling]] $33,000 from the medical practice of Dr. Wallace Graham, where he worked as a radiographer using [[forgery|forged]] credentials. He was sentenced to three years of [[probation]].<ref name="Radford"/> The following year, he violated his probation by moving to [[Chicago]] without his probation officer's permission and gained a job as an insurance salesman at the R.B. Jones Company. In 1971, he was arrested for embezzling funds and was ordered back to Kansas City, where his probation was extended. In 1975, Robinson's probation was extended again after an arrest on charges of [[securities fraud]] and [[mail fraud]] in connection with a phony medical consulting company he had formed.
[[File:John Edward Robinson (criminal).png|thumb|Robinson in a 1985 [[mugshot]] taken by the Johnson County Sheriff's Department]]
Robinson became a [[Scoutmaster]], a baseball coach, and a Sunday school teacher. 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''. Under that guise, he hosted an awards luncheon in his honor.<ref name="Radford"/> After completing his probation in 1979, Robinson was arrested for embezzlement and check forgery, for which he served sixty days in jail in 1982. 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.<ref name="trutv"/>{{rp|4}}

==Murders==
Robinson is known to be responsible for eight [[homicide]]s, but his total victim tally remains unknown. [[Kansas]] and [[Missouri]] police note that long stretches of Robinson's time remain unaccounted for, and considering how some of Robinson's confirmed victims have never been found or were not reported missing, authorities fear that there are additional undiscovered victims. "He's maintained the secrets about what he's done with the women. He won't ever tell. It's the last control he's got," said one investigator. "There are probably other barrels waiting to be opened, other bodies waiting to be found."<ref name="ccf"/>
* In 1984, having established two more fraudulent [[Shell corporation|shell companies]], Robinson hired '''Paula Guylene Godfrey''', aged 19, ostensibly to work as a sales representative for Robinson's management consulting firm, Equi II. Godfrey was interested in pursuing a business career and told her family that Robinson had arranged for her and a group of women to fly to [[San Antonio, Texas]] to enroll in a clerical skills course. Robinson picked Godfrey up at her residence in [[Overland Park, Kansas]] on September 1, 1984, to drive her to the airport for her flight.<ref>[https://charleyproject.org/case/lisa-stasi Paula G. Godfrey], The Charley Project.</ref> After hearing nothing further from her, Godfrey's parents filed a [[missing person]]s report. Police questioned Robinson, who denied any knowledge of her whereabouts. 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 investigation was terminated as Godfrey was of legal age, and there was no evidence of wrongdoing. No trace of Godfrey has ever been found.<ref name="trutv"/>
* In 1985, using the alias '''John Osborne''', Robinson met 19-year-old '''Lisa Stasi''' and her four-month-old daughter, '''Tiffany Stasi''', at Hope House, a shelter for homeless women in [[Kansas City]]. Stasi told relatives that she was joining the [[Kansas City]] Outreach Program, an organization designed to assist young mothers. Robinson presented the program to Lisa as a way to receive free room and board while studying for her [[GED]]. He promised Stasi a job and a stable living situation in [[Chicago]] in exchange for signing several sheets of blank [[stationery]]. Lisa and Tiffany checked into Room 131 at the Rodeway Inn in [[Overland Park]] in early-January 1985. Lisa told her relatives that "Mr. Osborne" arranged and paid for their new accommodations.<ref>[https://charleyproject.org/case/lisa-stasi Lisa Stasi], The Charley Project.</ref> On January 10, Robinson arrived at Lisa's sister-in-law's house where Lisa and Tiffany entered his vehicle and purportedly returned to the motel. A few days later, Robinson contacted his brother and sister-in-law who had been unable to adopt a baby through traditional channels, informing them that he knew of a baby whose mother had killed herself. For $5,500 in "legal fees", the couple received Tiffany, whose identity was confirmed by [[DNA testing]] in 2000, and a set of authentic-appearing adoption papers with the forged signatures of two lawyers and a judge. Stasi was never heard from again.<ref name="trutv" />{{rp|4}}
*27-year-old '''Catherine Frances Clampitt''' left her child with her parents in [[Wichita Falls]], [[Texas]], and moved to Kansas City to live with her brother's family and find employment in January 1987. She located an advertisement for Equi II, a management consulting firm in [[Overland Park, Kansas]], shortly after her arrival which promised extensive traveling and a new wardrobe. Robinson hired her and Clampitt began staying at several local hotels near the Equi II offices. On June 15, 1987, Clampitt left to have a meeting with Robinson. She has not been seen since. Her missing persons' case remains open.<ref name="clampitt">{{cite web |url=http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/clampitt_catherine.html |title=Catherine F. Clampitt |date=October 12, 2004 |access-date=September 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820083620/http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/clampitt_catherine.html |archive-date=August 20, 2017}}</ref>
* Between 1987 and 1993, Robinson was incarcerated, first in [[Kansas]] on multiple fraud convictions and later in Missouri for another fraud conviction and [[parole]] violations. At the [[Missouri Department of Corrections|Western Missouri Correctional Facility]], he met 49-year-old '''Beverly Bonner''', the prison librarian. Upon his release in January 1994, Bonner left her husband, a prison doctor, and moved to Kansas to work for him. After Robinson arranged for Bonner's [[alimony]] checks to be forwarded to a Kansas [[post office box]], her family never heard from her again. For several years, Bonner's mother had been forwarding her alimony checks and Robinson continued cashing them.<ref name="Radford">{{cite web | last =Lynnes | first =Ashley |author2=Rachel Lythgoe |author3=Keely Maitland |author4=Charity Martin  | title =John Edward Robinson Sr. | work =Radford. U. Psych405 | url =http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Robinson,%20John%20Edward%20-%202005.pdf | access-date =2010-08-13 }}</ref>
* After his release, Robinson discovered the [[Internet]] and roamed online [[chatroom]]s using the name '''Slavemaster''', looking for women who enjoyed playing the [[Dominance and submission|submissive partner role]] during sex. An early online correspondent was '''Sheila Faith''', 45, whose 15-year-old daughter '''Debbie Faith''' was a wheelchair user due to [[spina bifida]]. Robinson, portraying himself as a wealthy businessman and [[philanthropy|philanthropist]], offered to pay Debbie's medical expenses and give Sheila a job. In 1994, the mother and daughter moved from [[Fullerton, California|Fullerton]], [[California]], to Kansas City and immediately disappeared. Robinson cashed Faith's [[pension]] checks for the next seven years.<ref name="trutv" />{{rp|6}}
* Robinson became well known in increasingly popular [[BDSM]] chatrooms. In 1999, he offered a job and a [[Bondage (sexual)|bondage relationship]] to '''Izabela Lewicka''', a 21-year-old Polish immigrant living in [[Indiana]]. When she moved to Kansas City, Robinson gave Lewicka an engagement ring despite still being married and brought her to the county registrar, where they paid for a marriage license that was never picked up. It is unclear whether Lewicka believed she and Robinson were married; she told her parents that she had married but never told them her husband's name. She did sign a 115-item slave contract that gave Robinson almost total control over every aspect of her life, including her bank accounts. In 1999, Lewicka disappeared. Robinson told a web designer he employed that she had been caught smoking [[marijuana]] and deported.<ref name="trutv" />{{rp|8}} Her body was found in a drum on Robinson's farm in Kansas in 2000.<ref name=":0" />
* In March 2000, a 27-year-old [[licensed practical nurse]] named '''Suzette Trouten''' moved from [[Michigan]] to Kansas to travel with Robinson as his submissive sex slave. 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. The letters were, her mother said, uncharacteristically free of typographical errors. Later, Robinson told Trouten's mother that she had run off with an acquaintance after stealing money from him.<ref name="trutv" />{{rp|9}} Along with Lewicka, her body was found in a drum on Robinson's farm in Kansas in the same year.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |title=Anyone You Want Me to Be: A True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet |isbn=1439189471 |author-link=John E. Douglas |first1=John |last1=Douglas |first2=Stephen |last2=Singular|year=2003 |publisher=[[Simon and Schuster]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXugzgPZNqEC}}</ref>

==Arrest and conviction==
Over time, Robinson became increasingly careless, and his ability to avoid detection declined. By 1999, he had attracted the attention of authorities in Kansas and Missouri as his name frequently came up in missing person investigations. 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 toy]]s.<ref name="ccf"/> The theft charge finally gave investigators the [[probable cause]] they needed to obtain [[search warrant]]s. 

On the farm, a task force found the decaying bodies of two women, later identified as Lewicka and Trouten, in two {{convert |85|lb|adj=on}} chemical drums.<ref name="trutv" />{{rp|9}} Across the state line in Missouri, investigators searched a storage facility where Robinson rented two garages. They found three similar chemical drums containing corpses subsequently identified as Bonner, Faith, and Faith's daughter. All five women were killed in the same way, by one or more blows to the head with a blunt instrument.<ref name="trutv" />{{rp|9}}

In 2002, Robinson stood trial in Kansas for the murders of Trouten, Lewicka, and Stasi along with multiple lesser charges. After the longest criminal trial in Kansas history,<ref name = "KCS">[http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article43427508.html "Death sentence is upheld for serial killer John E. Robinson Sr."]. ''The Kansas City Star'' (November 6, 2015), retrieved March 13, 2017.</ref> he was convicted on all counts. Robinson received 2 [[Capital punishment in Kansas|death sentences]] for the murders of Trouten and Lewicka, and [[life imprisonment]] for Stasi's murder because she was killed before Kansas reinstated the death penalty. He received a 5-to-20-year prison sentence for interfering with the parental custody of Stasi's baby, 20 years for [[kidnapping]] Trouten, and seven months for [[theft]].<ref name="trutv" />{{rp|9}}

After his Kansas convictions, Robinson faced murder charges in Missouri based on the evidence discovered in that state. Missouri aggressively pursued capital punishment convictions, so Robinson's attorneys wanted to avoid a trial there.<ref name = "KCS"/> [[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. Robinson, who has never cooperated with investigators, refused. However, Koster faced pressure to make a deal because his case was not technically airtight⁠. Among other issues, there was no unequivocal evidence that any of the murders had been committed within his jurisdiction. 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.<ref name="crimezzz">{{cite web| website = crimezzz.net |url= http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkiller_news/R/ROBINSON_john_edward_sr.php |title= ROBINSON John Edward sr. | date = |access-date= September 30, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080516195225/http://www.crimezzz.net/serialkiller_news/R/ROBINSON_john_edward_sr.php |archive-date=May 16, 2008 | publisher = }}</ref>

When it became clear that the women's remains would never be found without Robinson's cooperation, a compromise was reached. 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. 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.<ref name= "trutv" />{{rp|15}} Robinson received a [[Life sentence without parole|life sentence without possibility of parole]] for each of the five murders.<ref name="crimezzz"/>

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.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=State v. Robinson |vol=363 |reporter=P.3d |opinion=875 |court=[[Kansas Supreme Court|Kan.]] |date=2015-11-06 |url= https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/3152697/state-v-robinson/}}</ref> The ruling marked the first time Kansas's highest court has upheld a death sentence since the reinstatement of capital punishment there in 1994. Robinson currently remains on [[death row]] at the [[El Dorado Correctional Facility]] in Kansas.<ref name = "KCS"/>

==Aftermath==
In 2005, Nancy Robinson filed for divorce after forty-one years of marriage, citing incompatibility and irreconcilable differences.<ref name="crimezzz" /> The following year, Stasi's daughter—known since her faked adoption as '''Heather Robinson'''—filed a [[civil suit]] against Truman Medical Center in Kansas City and social worker Karen Gaddis. 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." 

In 2007, Heather and the hospital reached a [[legal settlement|settlement]] for an undisclosed sum, which Heather said she would split with her biological grandmother, Patricia Sylvester.<ref name="crimezzz" /> Heather won a second judgment in 2007 preventing Robinson from profiting from any future potential book sales or film rights.<ref>Logan, C. (26 May 2007). Woman Wins Lawsuit to Halt Profit Sought by Man Who Killed Her Mother. [http://voices.yahoo.com/woman-wins-lawsuit-halt-profit-sought-man-who-366573.html?cat=9 Yahoo Voices archive] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004231910/http://voices.yahoo.com/woman-wins-lawsuit-halt-profit-sought-man-who-366573.html?cat=9 |date=2013-10-04 }}. Retrieved 2 October 2013.</ref> 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. She was initially considered a possible victim but was later identified and ruled out.<ref>Body Found In Barrel Linked To Robinson? (May 18, 2006). [http://www.kmbc.com/r/9236762/detail.html KMBC archive] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713161906/http://www.kmbc.com/r/9236762/detail.html |date=2011-07-13 }} Retrieved March 14, 2011.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Authorities investigate Tomich for deaths of prostitutes|url=https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/state-and-regional/authorities-investigate-tomich-for-deaths-of-prostitutes/article_75acaf72-f545-5b4a-822d-b315ef1da07a.html|access-date=2021-05-28|website=Sioux City Journal|date=19 November 2006 |language=en}}</ref>

==In media==
* A 2001 book by [[John Glatt]], ''[[Internet Slave Master]]'' ({{ISBN|0312979274}}), documented Robinson's life up to the time of his Kansas trial. A second book by Glatt, ''Depraved'' ({{ISBN|0312936842}}), published in 2005, focused on the lives of Robinson's victims and others affected by his crimes. 
* ''Anyone You Want Me to Be: A True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet'' ({{ISBN|1439189471}}) by [[John E. Douglas|John Douglas]] and Stephen Singular was published in 2003.
* Sue Wiltz' book ''Slave Master'' was published in 2004.

Robinson's criminal activities were also profiled on episodes of the [[A&E Network|A&E]] series ''[[Cold Case Files]]'',<ref name="ccf">[http://www.livedash.com/transcript/cold_case_files-(sex,_lies_and_murder)/612/KICU/Tuesday_February_23_2010/204568/ Cold Case Files - Sex, Lies and Murder (February 23, 2010)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009170220/http://www.livedash.com/transcript/cold_case_files-%28sex%2C_lies_and_murder%29/612/KICU/Tuesday_February_23_2010/204568/ |date=October 9, 2011 }} Retrieved March 14, 2011.</ref> [[Investigation Discovery]]'s ''FBI: Criminal Pursuit'', ''Very Scary People'', ''[[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]].

==See also==
* [[Internet killer]]
* [[John Haigh]]

'''General:'''
* [[List of serial killers in the United States]]

==References==
* ''Slave Master'' (Pinnacle True Crime) by Sue Wiltz and Maurice Godwin. Kensington Books {{ISBN|978-0-7860-1408-8}}
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [https://kdocrepository.doc.ks.gov/kasper/ Kansas Prison Inmate Database] - Kansas Department of Corrections
** Robinson, John E Sr (KDOC# 45690) - current status is incarcerated
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070121194127/http://www.courttv.com/trials/robinson/ Complete Court TV coverage of "slave master" serial killer John Robinson]
* [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/slavemaster.asp Snopes addresses Slavemaster rumours]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, John Edward}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American criminals]]
[[Category:21st-century American criminals]] 
[[Category:American male criminals]] 
[[Category:American serial killers]]
[[Category:American kidnappers]]
[[Category:American confidence tricksters]]
[[Category:Forgers]] 
[[Category:Murder convictions without a body]]
[[Category:American people convicted of murder]] 
[[Category:American people convicted of fraud]]
[[Category:American people convicted of theft]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by Kansas]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by Missouri]]
[[Category:American prisoners sentenced to death]] 
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to death by Kansas]]
[[Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Missouri]]
[[Category:Criminals from Kansas]]
[[Category:Criminals from Missouri]] 
[[Category:Serial killers from Kansas]]
[[Category:Serial killers from Missouri]]
[[Category:People from Cicero, Illinois]]
[[Category:People from La Cygne, Kansas]]