Robert Berdella was born on January 31, 1949, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio,[4]:45 the first of two sons born to Robert Andrew Berdella Sr., a die setter for the Ford Motor Company, and Mary Louise (ne Huffman) Berdella. ], When it became clear that the women's remains would never be found without Robinson's cooperation, a compromise was reached. [18], Later questioned by officers investigating Howell's disappearance, Berdella claimed to have driven the youth to Merriam as promised, and that the two had parted company close to Howell's intended destination. Throughout the latter part of his six weeks of captivity, Pearson trained himself to sleep without moving, in order that he did not antagonize Berdella and thus invite further torture or being returned to the basement. As a form of reward, Pearson was moved to the second floor, with Berdella first informing Pearson that if he continued to cooperate, he would not continue to inflict as much pain upon him as he had done so while he had been held captive in the basement. Berdella was able to name all of his victims to investigators. 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. [10], Berdella provided testimony to prosecutors between December 13 and 15, after he changed his plea and sought approval of their agreement not to seek the death penalty against him if he fully confessed. [4]:151. For several years, Bonner's mother continued forwarding her alimony checks and Robinson continued cashing them. [11] Corroborating Bryson's claims of having been restrained and tortured in a second floor bedroom, investigators discovered the bedroom on the second floor was found to have burnt ropes attached to the posts at the foot of the bed. The property was later demolished. [11], Despite initially pleading not guilty to the remaining five murder charges on September 13, 1988,[34][35] with the agreement of his two defense attorneys, Berdella ultimately conducted a plea bargain with the prosecutors to avoid the death penalty in these remaining charges. [4]:307,309, On the afternoon of June 23, Berdella and Pearson watched the movie Creepshow 2 together before eating lunch. Prosecutors described Robinson as a predator who trolled the Internet under the name "Slavemaster" looking for sadomasochistic sex with women. Right now John E. Robinson is in his 70s, sitting on death row in Kansas. Robinson, who has never cooperated with investigators, refused. Authorities believe that he's responsible for the murders of at least eight women in Missouri and Kansas. On Christmas Day 1965, the Berdella family drove to Canton, Ohio to visit relatives. Woman Wins Lawsuit to Halt Profit Sought by Man Who Killed Her Mother. All five women were killed in the same way, by one or more blows to the head with a blunt instrument. Before Friday's ruling, the court had faced criticism over the number of death sentences it had overturned. [4]:41, Before the search of Berdella's property had concluded, the KCPD assembled a special task force of 11 detectives and one sergeant to focus exclusively on Berdella's case. [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. [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". [n 6], On the afternoon of Bryson's escape, Berdella was arrested on charges pertaining to the sexual assault of Christopher Bryson. 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 . [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. 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. There, he enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI), with aspirations of becoming a college professor. [4]:5657, In 1982, Berdella began renting his own booth at the Westport Flea Market. Beginning in the late 1970s, Berdella worked with the South Hyde Park Crime Prevention and Neighborhood Association, becoming their chairman in the early 1980s and encouraging neighborhood watch patrols. [4]:183, Berdella performed well academically, though teachers often found him difficult to teach, in part due both to his aloofness, and his being the recipient of bullying by other students. He won't ever tell. 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. [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]. Stasi was never heard from again. 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. In a video that went viral on TikTok and other platforms, a man claimed that four Black girls . By the summer of 1984, Jerry Howell had turned 19. [4]:266. Officers also discovered a stenographer's pad containing the detailed torture logs he had maintained for each victim above a chest of drawers,[4]:37 several newspaper clippings from The Kansas City Star regarding a missing young man named Jerry Howell, and both a wallet and a driving license belonging to a missing person named James Ferris was discovered in a closet on the second floor of the property. He previously. Sheldon's skull was that which he placed inside a closet on the second floor of his property,[40] in an area of the household Berdella referred to as "my gallery area. [25] Berdella had kept him bound to a bed on the second floor of the house throughout much of the time he had been held against his will, repeatedly sodomizing him, drugging him, and injecting his throat with drain cleaner to diminish his ability to speak loudly. The unnamed victim still had a collar with a padlock around her neck that was later removed by police. 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. [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. [2]:9, Over time, Robinson became increasingly careless, and his ability to avoid detection declined. For you to survive being here, and for you to, you know, make it, it could either be rough or it could be easy. [4]:2425, During later questioning at the KCPD,[n 5] Bryson divulged that his captor had shown him Polaroid images of men who appeared to be deceased,[4]:20 and that he was told that he would never leave the property and that if he became a nuisance or threat, he would either be subjected to greater levels of torture than what he had already endured, or simply killed. We're happy to ship internationally, please contact us prior to order for an accurate shipping quote. By 1999, he had attracted the attention of authorities in Kansas and Missouri as his name frequently came up in missing person investigations. [32] In return for his cooperation, the prosecution agreed not to seek the death penalty[36] at a formal hearing scheduled for 9a.m. on December 19. 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. [4]:260, Although police extensively searched for the remains of Berdella's victims throughout their initial investigation into his crimes, the confession he provided to investigators in the autumn of 1988 confirmed the dismembered bodies of all six of his victims had been stowed in trash bags and subsequently taken to unknown landfill sites. [31] In response to questioning by his attorneys, Berdella stated: "I put a plastic bag over his head, and tied it with rope and allowed him to suffocate." No trace of Godfrey has ever been found. 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. 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. Entries reading "EK" or "EKG" referred to torture administered to his captives with electrical shocks, whereas several other entries contained the anatomical location where Berdella administered the abuse or torture to his victims. 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? 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Upon his release, Bonner left her husband, a prison doctor, and moved to Kansas to work for him. Market data provided by Factset. [n 9], On July 22, 1988, a grand jury formally indicted Berdella for the murder of Larry Wayne Pearson. [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 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. In 1971, he was arrested for embezzling funds and was ordered back to Kansas City, where his probation was extended. His family had also moved into an apartment above the shop. John Robinson's Family Described Him As Loving & Involved With the Family. [28] Several other Polaroid images depicted as-yet unidentified young men, and several detectives were assigned to identify them, determining if they were alive or dead and, if alive, the circumstance of the picture. 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. 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. Three days after Berdella had begun holding Sheldon captive, on April15, a workman came to perform some scheduled work on the roof of his home, leading Berdella to choose to fatally suffocate Sheldon by placing a sack over his head, which he then tightened with a piece of rope. He was 43 years old. [2]:9, Across the state line in Missouri, investigators searched a storage facility where Robinson rented two garages. This house, 4315 Charlotte Street, belonged to the Kansas City Butcher, one of the most deranged serial killers in history. The entry reading "CP", for example, referred to the chlorpromazine he had injected into his victims to assist in his restraining them, whereas entries reading "DC" referred to swabbing their eyes with drain cleaner or the injection of the substance into their vocal cords.[39]. 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. After the longest criminal trial in Kansas history,[6] he was convicted on all counts. When asked if he performed this act deliberately, and with malice aforethought, Berdella simply stated, "Yes. 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. Show you care with a Cracker Barrel Gift Card. 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. The investigation was terminated as Godfrey was of legal age, and there was no evidence of wrongdoing. The Blair family is a well-known crime family in Kansas City. Robinson was convicted in the 2000 death of 27-year-old Suzette Trouten of Newport, Michigan, and the 1999 killing of 21-year-old Izabela Lewicka, a Polish immigrant who attended Purdue University. Legal Statement. In 2005, he admitted responsibility for five homicides in Missouri as part of a plea bargain to receive multiple life sentences without possibility of parole and avoid more death sentences. [6], In the summer of 1967, Berdella graduated from Cuyahoga Falls High School. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! [4]:302 On July 1, 1986, Stoops died; a forensic pathologist later testified that the ruptured anal wall caused septic shock which proved fatal. 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. (AP Photo/Matthew S. Hicks, Pool). Bizzarrepedia Serial Killers Internet's First Serial Killer "The Slavemester" John Robinson meets the queen of England. [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. He was convicted of six counts of murder on March 16, 2007. )[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. Rader was a serial killer active in Kansas from 1974 to 1991. "[4]:15, By the third day of his capture, Bryson had earned sufficient trust from Berdella to persuade him to establish a daily regime of tying his hands in front of him after his sexual abuse rather than above his head and to the bed upon the excuse that Berdella's doing so was restricting the circulation to his arms; he had also persuaded Berdella to leave a television on within the room, with the remote control placed between his legs whenever Berdella was out of the room. He tersely explained his successive actions to investigators on December 14 with the statement that he was "capturing them first, and what developed, developed." [4]:285286 Despite the brutality to which he had subjected his first three victims, Berdella claimed that Ferris was the first victim upon whom he intentionally inflicted torture. [6], In 2005, Nancy Robinson filed for divorce after forty-one years of marriage, citing incompatibility and irreconcilable differences. Berdella also volunteered at fundraising events for a local public television station until the mid-1980s.[14]. [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. [4]:104, At the age of 19, Berdella was arrested for attempting to sell methamphetamine to an undercover officer;[11] he was released after posting a $3,000 bond (equivalent to about $25,600 as of 2023[update]),[12] and would later plead guilty to the offense and was handed a five-year suspended sentence. Robinson was prosecuted and found guilty by a. [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. [3], Describing his murders as being "some of my darkest fantasies becoming my reality",[4]:264 Berdella pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder of one of his victims, Larry Pearson, in August 1988, and would later plead guilty to one further charge of first-degree murder, and four charges of second-degree murder in December 1988. Police say there is no truth to a rumor about a serial killer that is circulating on social media in the Kansas City area. 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. A total of nine men are on Kansas' death row. He declined to allow officers inside his home,[4]:26 and the search warrant earlier requested was drafted to search his property. [2]:15 Robinson received a life sentence without possibility of parole for each of the five murders. Robinson, 72,. He helped start a neighborhood watch program, had worked as a chef, and ran his own booth at the . Robinson currently remains on death row at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas. [5] He died of a heart attack while incarcerated at the Missouri State Penitentiary in October 1992. Missing person reports had been filed in relation to both these men, and Berdella had been extensively questioned in relation to both of these disappearances. He also engaged in acts of animal torture on at least two occasions; during one of these instances, he decapitated a duck in the presence of his peers, and in the second instance, he experimented with sedatives and tranquilizers on a dog. [17], Howell was restrained to Berdella's bed for a period of approximately 28 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, 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]:100 Shortly after graduation, Berdella relocated to Kansas City. [4]:17, Questioned at the scene by four officers, Bryson initially claimed he had been hitchhiking when abducted by Berdella, who had kidnapped, raped, and tortured him for four days before he escaped by jumping from a window on the second floor of the property. 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. Order Now . [4] He learned about cooking and art and developed showmanship. 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. This more detailed questioning occurred after Bryson had been released from the Menorah Medical Center, after he had undergone several days of treatment for his injuries. To all concerned, he attempted to restore his image as a "sensitive citizen" who had simply "made mistakes" in committing his crimes. 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. Godfrey told friends and family that Robinson was sending her away for training. Robinson, portraying himself as a wealthy businessman and philanthropist, offered to pay Debbie's medical expenses and give Sheila a job. ", Robert Berdella, conversing with Christopher Bryson. [4]:166 The same day a dental identification was made upon Sheldon's skull, two men separately phoned the Kansas City Police Department to state one of seven unidentified young men depicted in a photographic array released to the media on April 27 was a former high school acquaintance of theirs named Mark Wallace. [8]:245 Berdella's father was a devout Roman Catholic of Italian descent. In response, Berdella killed Pearson by first bludgeoning him into unconsciousness with a tree limb,[22] then suffocating him with a bag and ligature, before driving to the hospital to receive treatment for his wound. The auction attracted considerable national interest; attracting telephone bids from across the United States. John Robinson, who did not. (May 18, 2006). As a means of obtaining additional income, he also sold items of art and antiques he had accrued and collected from contacts he had established in Africa, Asia, South America, and various Pacific Rim countries. [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. Shortly before Berdella moved into his Charlotte Street address, he began working as a short-order cook in various restaurants around Kansas City in part to help pay lawyer fees and fines accrued from his previous drug arrests. 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. Arms Ltd. 7804371090 ksarmssales@telus.net. 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. 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. Born in 1943, Robinson quickly turned to a life of crime, becoming involved in embezzlement and fraud. 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. 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. [4]:46 In his first year at the KCAI, Berdella was considered an attentive and talented student, although by his second year, Berdella became vocally anti-authoritarian. He would later be temporarily placed in protective custody at the Potosi Correctional Center, due to concerns for his safety. When a detective contacted Wallace's sister, she stated her brother had been missing since mid-1985. In 1999, he offered a job and a bondage relationship to Izabela Lewicka, a 21-year-old Polish immigrant living in Indiana. 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]. [9] Two days later, Berdella returned to Cuyahoga Falls by himself. Other entries such as "gag loose, no resist in retie" or "very delayed breathing, snoring" were more self-explanatory. [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. 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. Several of these male prostitutes were also reluctant to accept him as a client both because of his penchant for drugging, injecting, and torturing his sexual partners and acquaintances, and also because he had long been considered a suspect in the disappearance of the two men whose personal possessions had been found in his house (Jerry Howell and James Ferris).[28]. Berdella was taken to a hospital in Columbia, Missouri, where he was pronounced dead from a heart attack at 3:55p.m. I never thought it out to the level of: 'What if one of these bodies ever gets loose? A viral social media post claiming a serial killer is targeting young Black girls in the Kansas City area is "completely unfounded," the Kansas City Police Department said Monday. 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 . [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. [2]:8, Around the time of Lewicka's disappearance, a licensed practical nurse named Suzette Trouten moved from Michigan to Kansas to travel the world with Robinson as his submissive sex slave. [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. "[32] He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. A metal tray containing syringes, small bottles apparently containing prescription drugs, swabs, and eye drops were also close to the bed. 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. Throughout this period of captivity, Berdella repeatedly drugged, tortured, raped and violated him with foreign objects,[4]:258 repeatedly ignoring Howell's intermittent questioning as to why he was being treated in this manner, and pleas to be freed before, according to Berdella, Jerry "either asphyxiated on [his own] vomit, or the combination of the gag and the medicines were too strong for him to be able to catch breath". He noted this victim's time of death as being 7:00p.m. on June 23. By Associated Press May 28, 2022 His first known victim was 19-year-old Jerry Howell. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 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. That evening, Berdella's father had a heart attack at the age of 39. [28] He would later have his lawyer threaten to file harassment accusations against police unless their questioning and surveillance of him ceased. 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. 185-189. Robert Andrew Berdella Jr. (January 31, 1949 October 8, 1992) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murdered at least six young men after having forced his victims to endure periods of up to six weeks of captivity. 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. He chose to remain in Kansas City and in September of that year, he moved into an address within the Hyde Park[13] district: 4315 Charlotte Street.
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