| 00:00:19 | >> There's the trailer belonging
to John Robinson.
|
| 00:00:22 | >> KURTIS: On a morning full of
hard sunlight, on a farm in
Kansas, detectives take the
wraps off a team of canines
trained in the business of
sniffing out corpses.
|
| 00:00:34 | It doesn't take long before the
dogs hit on two yellow barrels
and the endgame begins in the
hunt for a serial killer-- a
hunt that began almost two
decades earlier.
|
| 00:00:59 | >> ♪ I thought the world
was letting me down... ♪
|
| 00:01:05 | >> KURTIS: It is the summer of
1984 in the flatlands of eastern
Kansas.
|
| 00:01:12 | Paula Godfrey is 19 years old,
fresh out of high school, and
looking to land her first job.
|
| 00:01:20 | She answers an ad in the local
paper.
|
| 00:01:22 | A man named John Robinson offers
her a position.
|
| 00:01:27 | The catch-- Paula must attend a
training seminar out of town.
|
| 00:01:32 | On August 23, the young woman
hops into a car with Robinson.
|
| 00:01:36 | It is last time Paula Godfrey's
parents will see their daughter
alive.
|
| 00:01:43 | >> ♪ ...was letting me down... ♪
|
| 00:01:54 | >> KURTIS: January 1985.
|
| 00:01:56 | Lisa Stasi is 19 years old with
a five-month-old named Tiffani,
no husband, and no way to
support herself.
|
| 00:02:05 | Again John Robinson comes to the
rescue.
|
| 00:02:09 | Working through a local outreach
group, Robinson offers Stasi
money and sets her up in a
motel.
|
| 00:02:15 | Lisa checks into the Rodeway Inn
on January 7, 1985, and checks
out on January 10.
|
| 00:02:23 | The bill is settled by Robinson,
and Lisa Stasi, like Paula
Godfrey before her, disappears,
this time with her five-month-
old daughter in tow.
|
| 00:02:44 | Inside a parole office, Steve
Haymes is the first local
investigator to take a hard look
at John Robinson, not in
connection with the missing
Kansas women, but as the result
of concerns raised by a charity
called Birthright.
|
| 00:02:58 | Robinson is offering aid to
young pregnant women in the
community, and Birthright wants
to confirm the local businessman
is legit.
|
| 00:03:07 | Haymes sits down with Robinson
for a heart to heart.
|
| 00:03:11 | >> He told me a similar story to
what he had told Birthright--
that he and some area
businessmen who had done very
well had decided they wanted to
give back to the community and
had decided to set up this
program to help young girls with
babies.
|
| 00:03:27 | >> KURTIS: Some might find
Robinson's story heartwarming.
|
| 00:03:30 | Haymes, however, is not among
them, largely because the man he
is talking to is a convicted
embezzler-- in other words, a
con man.
|
| 00:03:40 | >> My initial thought was, you
know, "What's his angle here,
who's he trying to con money out
of, and how's he going to do
it?"
>> KURTIS: The probation officer
gets on the phone with other
charitable organizations who
further muddy the waters,
pointing out the first
connection between Robinson and
a woman gone missing.
|
| 00:04:00 | >> Almost as an afterthought,
they said, "You know, there is a
girl that was referred to him
with a baby, wasn't referred by
us, but was referred by another
local organization, and she's
missing."
>> KURTIS: The girl is Lisa
Stasi, her baby five-month-old
Tiffani.
|
| 00:04:19 | Haymes then checks with Overland
Park police, who fill him in on
Robinson's missing employee,
Paula Godfrey.
|
| 00:04:27 | >> You've got a girl with a baby
and a girl without a baby.
|
| 00:04:30 | What's the connection?
|
| 00:04:31 | Where's all of this going?
|
| 00:04:33 | And again, going back to what's
his angle in this and how's he
going to make money out of this?
|
| 00:04:39 | >> KURTIS: Haymes senses he
might be tapping into something
deeper than petty fraud, but has
nothing more than his own
suspicions.
|
| 00:04:47 | >> I'd found from past
experience with con men the best
thing you could do is play them
a little bit at their own game
and try and catch them up in
their lies.
|
| 00:04:57 | >> KURTIS: Haymes enlists the
help of the FBI and agent Tom
Lavin.
|
| 00:05:02 | Together they search for any
possible probation violations
that might put Robinson at least
temporarily back behind bars.
|
| 00:05:10 | >> We came upon an individual by
the name of Theresa Williams
that was being... had been
placed in an apartment by John
Robinson.
|
| 00:05:21 | >> She told us that not only had
she seen him with a firearm but
that on one occasion that he had
taken thisr and that he
had put the gun barrel in her
vagina and had threatened her
with that and said something to
the effect of, you know, "How
would you like a blowout?"
>> KURTIS: The use of a firearm
coupled with allegations by
Williams that Robinson had
supplied her with drugs is more
than enough to revoke probation.
|
| 00:05:50 | By the spring of 1987, however,
the ex-con is back on the
streets, and women once again
begin to disappear.
|
| 00:06:05 | >> There was a very good
possibility that Mr. Robinson
was, in fact, a serial killer.
|
| 00:06:10 | >> KURTIS: Marty Ingram is a
detective sergeant with Overland
Park.
|
| 00:06:14 | In the spring of 1987, the
department takes a call about
Catherine Clampitt, another
woman who took a job with
Robinson, another woman now gone
missing.
|
| 00:06:25 | >> There were numerous females
that had answered some ads in
the newspaper regarding an
opportunity to start a new life,
whether that be in modeling,
being an assistant, some type of
a ruse to get females to meet
him.
|
| 00:06:42 | And this would be the last time
that they would be seen.
|
| 00:06:46 | >> KURTIS: Like Steve Haymes
before him, Marty Ingram
believes John Robinson to be
nothing less than a predator,
one who has learned the first
rule of serial killing-- get rid
of the body and more often than
not you can get away with just
about anything.
|
| 00:07:02 | >> You knew that he was
responsible for some very evil
things, but you follow up the
leads and it just kept turning
up dead ends.
|
| 00:07:11 | It became very frustrating.
|
| 00:07:15 | >> KURTIS: Catherine Clampitt
joins Lisa and Tiffany Stasi and
Paula Godfrey in the cold files.
|
| 00:07:21 | Meanwhile, Ingram, like Haymes
before him, looks for a way to
get Robinson off the streets.
|
| 00:07:28 | >> We looked at it as a
situation of regardless of what
type of crime that we can charge
this gentleman with, we need to
get him charged and get him in
prison and away from the
civilian community.
|
| 00:07:40 | >> KURTIS: Ingram is able to
develop a chargeable case
against Robinson, not for
murder, but on an unrelated
charge of fraud.
|
| 00:07:48 | Robinson is once again packed
off to prison, and investigators
begin the hunt for bodies they
suspect he has stashed across
the Kansas countryside.
|
| 00:07:57 | The search, however, turns up
nothing, and Robinson's release
date looms.
|
| 00:08:02 | It is scheduled for the winter
of 1994.?.=(=PCPCPCPCPCPCPCPCPC2h,
>> KURTIS: In the winter of
1994, death drives its dark
chariot across the plains of
Kansas and comes to rest here in
the small town of Olathe.
|
| 00:12:07 | This is the home of John
Robinson, recently released on
parole and suspected of killing
at least three women and an
infant.
|
| 00:12:16 | >> We were really quite
aggressively pursuing the fact
that he was a threat to the
community.
|
| 00:12:22 | You know, they have certain due
process rights.
|
| 00:12:23 | You can't just lock them up and
throw away the key.
|
| 00:12:28 | >> KURTIS: For six years,
Robinson allows the community to
grow comfortable with his
presence.
|
| 00:12:35 | Then the serial killer begins to
stir, and women once again begin
to vanish.
|
| 00:12:41 | The first to notice, a cop who
knows Robinson all too well.
|
| 00:12:56 | More than a decade ago, Marty
Ingram was part of the team
working the disappearances tied
to Robinson.
|
| 00:13:02 | Now he is as a patrol sergeant
with Overland Park PD.
|
| 00:13:06 | One morning in the spring of
2000, an officer rings him up
for help with a missing person.
|
| 00:13:12 | >> He had contacted me and had
indicated that there was a
family in Michigan who had
wanted to report their daughter
as missing.
|
| 00:13:24 | >> KURTIS: The woman, Suzette
Trouten, had met a man over the
Internet and moved to Kansas
after the promise of a job.
|
| 00:13:31 | Her family provides police with
some of the girl's e-mail
correspondence, as well as a
photo of the man left behind by
Suzette.
|
| 00:13:39 | >> With the exception of a
slightly more receded hairline,
I knew without question that it
was the John Robinson that I had
worked almost 20 years prior.
|
| 00:13:51 | And at that point, you know,
it's one of those feelings that
come over you that you hope that
it isn't the person that you
think it is.
|
| 00:14:01 | >> KURTIS: After looking at the
photo, Marty Ingram knows at
least two things: John Robinson
has once again gone active, and
Suzette Trouten is most likely
dead.
|
| 00:14:11 | Ingram gets on the phone with
Joe Reed from homicide.
|
| 00:14:15 | >> It was immediately apparent
to me the importance of the
investigation and the fact that
we needed to give it a lot of
serious attention immediately.
|
| 00:14:24 | >> KURTIS: Reed sends a team to
the hotel where Suzette Trouten
was last seen.
|
| 00:14:28 | There they recover a
surveillance tape showing John
Robinson walking through the
lobby.
|
| 00:14:34 | At this point, investigators
also realize the hotel is
actually in the neighboring town
of Lenexa.
|
| 00:14:40 | >> So I called Rick Roth, my
counterpart in Lenexa, and let
him know that I had a real can
of worms for him.
|
| 00:14:47 | >> They wanted to be active in
the investigation and actually
offered their services to us.
|
| 00:14:54 | >> KURTIS: Overland Park and
Lenexa form a task force and
begin running the investigation
on two tracks.
|
| 00:15:00 | One team initiates round-the-
clock surveillance on the
suspect; the second talks to
Suzette Trouten's family,
looking for an angle on
Robinson.
|
| 00:15:10 | >> Honestly, when I knew she was
missing and when they said that
everything had been taken
from the guest house, and he is
saying that he didn't know
anything about it, I honestly
thought that she had either been
kidnapped or she was dead.
|
| 00:15:22 | There's no way she would not get
a hold of my parents.
|
| 00:15:27 | >> KURTIS: Kim Dod is Suzette
Trouten's sister.
|
| 00:15:29 | She and her mother Carolyn tell
police they have already spoken
with Robinson, who claims that
suzette left on a year-long
boating trip with a wealthy
attorney.
|
| 00:15:40 | Carolyn Trouten also tells
investigators she has a way to
reach Robinson via his cell
phone.
|
| 00:15:46 | Sergeant Dave Brown is
intrigued.
|
| 00:15:49 | >> We were going to have Carolyn
call John Robinson to see if she
could strike up a conversation
with him again.
|
| 00:15:55 | >> He wanted to actually try to
get John Robinson on tape,
anything that Mom could get him
to... you know, to say that
maybe they could figure
something out as to where she
was and stuff.
|
| 00:16:33 | >> At first, he didn't recognize
who was calling.
|
| 00:16:36 | It had been some time since he
had spoke to Carolyn.
|
| 00:16:38 | And in the recording that
Carolyn made, you could hear
John struggling, one, to grasp
what was going on.
|
| 00:17:06 | >> Throughout the conversation,
you could hear him struggling
for, "What am I going to say to
this woman to make her leave me
alone, to make her feel like
everything is okay?" when of
course he knew that it wasn't.
|
| 00:17:38 | >> KURTIS: Robinson is too
clever to fall for the police
trap and says nothing
incriminating to Carolyn Trouten
about her daughter.
|
| 00:17:45 | With one avenue of investigation
closed, all eyes turn to
surveillance and the hope that
John Robinson makes a mistake.
|
| 00:20:06 | Day two of the Robinson
surveillance.
|
| 00:20:09 | Rick Roth works the lead vehicle
in a six-car team tailing the
suspect.
|
| 00:20:14 | At a little after 2:00 PM,
Robinson leaves Olathe and
begins to head out on Route 169
into the netherland of eastern
Kansas.
|
| 00:20:24 | >> Several of us got lost; we
had no communication whatsoever.
|
| 00:20:28 | Our police radios failed.
|
| 00:20:29 | They were out of range.
|
| 00:20:31 | Our cell phones wouldn't work.
|
| 00:20:33 | Several officers just drove
around until we located each
other.
|
| 00:20:39 | >> KURTIS: Robinson leads
officers to an 18-acre piece of
land with a single trailer home
set precisely in the middle of
nowhere-- perfect for a serial
killer.
|
| 00:20:51 | >> We had made the decision that
thoing to be a covert
investigation.
|
| 00:20:56 | We did not want Robinson knowing
anything about it, so basically
we waited for him to leave.
|
| 00:21:03 | >> KURTIS: Robinson stays inside
the farmhouse for the better
part of an hour, then gets in
his car and heads back to town.
|
| 00:21:09 | >> Obviously, we wanted to get
onto the property to see if
there was any burial sites or
any bodies here, but we needed
evidence and we needed a reason
to get a search warrant to get
on here.
|
| 00:21:22 | >> KURTIS: The team lacks
probable cause for a warrant and
must bide its time.
|
| 00:21:27 | Meanwhile, back in Olathe,
another part of the task force
goes to work, picking through
the suspect's trash.
|
| 00:21:34 | Jack Boyer is expert in reading
the tea leaves of a homicide
investigation-- only in Boyer's
case, the tea leaves are
actually bags of garbage.
|
| 00:21:46 | >> Trashings involved actually
going to someone's house and
picking up their trash, and then
we leave other trash bags in
their place so that they're not
suspicious of it.
|
| 00:21:56 | >> KURTIS: Boyer begins
switching out John Robinson's
trash twice a week.
|
| 00:22:00 | The suspect has shredded all his
receipts and personal documents,
but investigators persevere,
getting out some tape and
fastening together the pieces of
what they hope will be a clue.
|
| 00:22:12 | >> We were very lucky in the
respect that we got several
pieces of paper that we were
able to tape back together, and
we found out where he was making
payments to a couple of storage
lockers.
|
| 00:22:24 | >> KURTIS: Two storage lockers
located just across the border
in Raymore, Missouri.
|
| 00:22:29 | >> We had no good physical
evidence against John Robinson.
|
| 00:22:33 | We tried to get into his lockers
with cameras, with surveillance.
|
| 00:22:39 | We never could pull it off.
|
| 00:22:41 | Until we had some evidence to
get us into his home or his
storage locker, we were at a
standstill.
|
| 00:22:49 | >> KURTIS: What Robinson has
stored inside the lockers
remains as much a mystery as the
boarded-up farm the suspect
visits.
|
| 00:22:57 | To get inside either, detectives
need a search warrant, the
grounds for which will be
provided by a woman who wants
John Robinson arrested not for
trying to kill her, but for
stealing her sex toys.
|
| 00:27:43 | >> KURTIS: In a small town
called Olathe, a murder
investigation begins to gain
steam as a team of investigators
builds their case against John
Robinson, a local they believe
killed at least four women and
an infant.
|
| 00:27:58 | >> You know, he was a complete,
I guess, Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
|
| 00:28:03 | Hyde.
|
| 00:28:06 | >> KURTIS: Keith O'Neal is a
captain in the Overland Park PD
and works the point on John
Robinson's surveillance.
|
| 00:28:12 | His job, follow the suspect
around town and see what he does
with his day.
|
| 00:28:19 | >> From 8:30 in the morning to
5:00 in the afternoon, he would
be out.
|
| 00:28:24 | He would meet other females.
|
| 00:28:26 | We found out about some
girlfriends that he had.
|
| 00:28:30 | But by 5:00, virtually
every day he was home when his
wife got home.
|
| 00:28:35 | They had dinner together, and he
looked like an all-American
family after 5:00 each day.
|
| 00:28:43 | >> KURTIS: O'Neal discovers
Robinson has women set up in a
string of hotels throughout the
area, one of them the Extended
Stay hotel.
|
| 00:28:51 | Detective Mike Lowther is
assigned to cover the location.
|
| 00:28:55 | >> On a particular day, one
local hotel did call us and
informed us that he had made a
reservation and that a woman had
checked into the room that he
had reserved.
|
| 00:29:04 | >> KURTIS: The detectives rent a
room adjoining Robinson's and
wait for their suspect to
arrive.
|
| 00:29:09 | When he does, investigators
press their ears to the wall and
listen as Robinson explains to
the woman what he would like her
to do.
|
| 00:29:17 | >> At first, the conversation
was very cordial.
|
| 00:29:20 | It was basically an introduction
to her of the BDSM lifestyle,
kind of the rules that govern
it.
|
| 00:29:29 | >> KURTIS: BDSM stands for
bondage, discipline, and
sadomasochism, a type of sexual
lifestyle that involves
handcuffs, chains, and a
master/slave relationship, in
this case with Robinson playing
the role of master.
|
| 00:29:46 | >> His voice became a little
sterner, a little more
demanding.
|
| 00:29:50 | I could hear the sound of chains
rattling.
|
| 00:29:56 | >> KURTIS: Detectives in the
room adjacent to Robinson are in
a difficult spot, not sure if
they are listening to an
argument over rough sex or a
prelude to murder.
|
| 00:30:06 | >> We'd hear, you know,
screaming, slapping.
|
| 00:30:08 | If that was any normal
situation, we probably would
have broke down the door.
|
| 00:30:13 | Under this one, we had to hold
off and make a decision how much
screaming was someone in trouble
and how much of it was part of
the BDSM lifestyle.
|
| 00:30:23 | >> We didn't know if he would
actually kill them or hurt them
inside the hotel room or not,
but of course we were concerned
about that.
|
| 00:30:30 | >> KURTIS: The surveillance team
decides to sit tight, believing
the woman to be safe and
unwilling to blow their cover.
|
| 00:30:37 | They make the right decision.
|
| 00:30:39 | Robinson exits the hotel, and
the woman eventually checks out
apparently unharmed.
|
| 00:30:45 | A month later, the woman,
identified by detectives as
Vicki Neufeld, turns up again,
filing a complaint against
Robinson for stealing a bag
filled with her favorite sex
toys.
|
| 00:30:57 | Another of Robinson's sex slaves
also comes forward claiming
Robinson played a little too
rough in one of their
encounters.
|
| 00:31:05 | Detectives believe these women
might be the break they are
looking for.
|
| 00:31:09 | >> When those two women came
forward and wanted to press
charges, that was the linchpin
that put the case together.
|
| 00:31:16 | Everything that we had up to
that point was pretty
circumstantial.
|
| 00:31:20 | But when they came forward with
actual charges against him, it
opened the door for us to go
ahead with search warrants, and
that led to his arrest.
|
| 00:31:30 | >> KURTIS: On June 2, 2000, a
judge grants an arrest warrant
for John Robinson on a charge of
battery.
|
| 00:31:37 | He also signs a slew of search
warrants-- on Robinson's home,
his rural farmland property, and
his storage lockers.
|
| 00:31:45 | The team will look for Vickie
Neufeld's sex toys but hopes to
find evidence of much more.
|
| 00:32:05 | On a Friday morning in June,
Overland Park Detective Greg
Wilson and Lenexa Detective Jack
Boyer arrive at John Robinson's
trailer home.
|
| 00:32:14 | They tell the suspect that he is
under arrest for assault and
theft.
|
| 00:32:19 | >> And I just told him, I said,
"Don't be surprised if we charge
you with murder."
And his response was, "Murder?"
I said, "Yeah, five counts of
it."
And then I started naming these
females' names, and when I got
to Suzette Trouten, Greg said
the color just completely left
his face.
|
| 00:32:36 | >> He was kind of demure, sort
of, but as soon as we walked out
that door, his back straightened
up, and he kind of looked at me,
and he goes, "Jesus, you guys
are making a big production out
of this."
>> KURTIS: Robinson is walked
out of his home in cuffs.
|
| 00:32:50 | Now it is up to detectives to
find some link to one of the
missing women or kiss Robinson
good-bye as a suspect forever.
|
| 00:32:58 | >> We knew that we were showing
our hand, and I think everybody
had a great deal of anxiety as
far as, you know, this is going
to be our one-time deal with
this guy.
|
| 00:33:09 | >> KURTIS: A forensic team
descends on the home searching
for any evidence of foul play.
|
| 00:33:14 | After four hours of work, they
have a total of nothing.
|
| 00:33:18 | Cold-case detectives, however,
are far from finished.
|
| 00:33:22 | Their next stop: John robinson's
place in the country.
|
| 00:33:36 | >> There's the trailer belonging
to John Robinson.
|
| 00:33:40 | >> We started out early in the
morning.
|
| 00:33:42 | The plan was for everybody to go
down there without the press
ever knowing about it.
|
| 00:33:48 | First on the scene were the
cadaver dogs from the Missouri
Search and Rescue.
|
| 00:33:53 | >> KURTIS: On June 3, Rick Roth
leads a team onto 18 acres of
land in a desolate corner of
Linn County, Kansas.
|
| 00:34:01 | >> We had really thought we
would find a burial spot.
|
| 00:34:04 | And by noon, we hadn't found
anything remotely close.
|
| 00:34:08 | I think everybody was dejected,
worried that... you know, this
was the one spot we thought we
would find the remains.
|
| 00:34:17 | >> KURTIS: At a little after
1:00, one of the cadaver dogs
hits on an area behind a shed
where several barrels are
stacked.
|
| 00:34:26 | >> And one of the first things
to be moved was one of the
yellow barrels that was sitting
there.
|
| 00:34:31 | And when we uprighted that
barrel, we saw blood come out of
that.
|
| 00:34:37 | >> As I got within about ten
feet of the barrel, I smelled an
odor that, through experience, I
associated with that of a
decomposing body.?.=(=PCPCPCPCPCPCPCPCPC2h,ñ
>> Again taking video of
property of John Robinson.
|
| 00:36:52 | That's the mobile home trailer
on the property, beyond the
trees.
|
| 00:36:57 | >> KURTIS: On a spring day in
Kansas, on a farm owned by a
suspected serial killer,
evidence technician Harold
Hughes pops open the lids on two
yellow barrels and takes a look
inside.
|
| 00:37:10 | >> I opened the first barrel and
confirmed that there was, in
fact, a body there.
|
| 00:37:15 | Then we opened the second barrel
and confirmed that there was a
body in it.
|
| 00:37:21 | >> The smell was horrendous.
|
| 00:37:23 | Once he popped the seal and
lifted that lid, the smell just
drove him back.
|
| 00:37:29 | He could only hold his breath so
long, then he'd drop the lid,
catch his breath and pull it up
again.
|
| 00:37:36 | >> KURTIS: Both barrels contain
the bodies of white females, one
significantly more decomposed
than the other.
|
| 00:37:44 | >> It appeared that they had
been placed in the barrels head
first, the head and shoulders
down in the bottom of the barrel
with the back and hips pressed
against the sides and the knees
down close to the face.
|
| 00:38:00 | >> KURTIS: The yellow barrels
confirm John Robinson is every
bit the monster cold-case
detectives have always
suspected.
|
| 00:38:09 | The only questions now: How many
did he kill, what are their
names, and why?
|
| 00:38:28 | Donald Pojman is given the task
of taking the bodies out of the
metal barrels and performing
autopsies.
|
| 00:38:35 | Upon examination, Pojman
determines that both women were
killed in a similar fashion--
blunt force trauma to the head.
|
| 00:38:42 | >> Both victims had injuries to
the left side of the skull, and
they had circular injuries, sort
of a punched-in lesion into the
skull.
|
| 00:38:52 | Typically the weapon of choice
is a hammer.
|
| 00:38:55 | Now, it could be any other
object that is heavy and has a
circular end to it.
|
| 00:39:02 | >> KURTIS: The ME begins his
investigation by trying to
establish a framework for the
time of death.
|
| 00:39:08 | >> The first one we looked at,
she obviously had less
decomposition than the other
one.
|
| 00:39:14 | And so I estimated her death to
be within several months to
possibly a year.
|
| 00:39:19 | The other one, because of the
state of decomposition, I
thought it was close to the six
months to two years.
|
| 00:39:25 | >> KURTIS: The first body is
believed to be Suzette Trouten,
the last of Robinson's suspected
victims gone missing just two
months prior.
|
| 00:39:34 | The second woman does not fit
with any of Robinson's other
suspected victims, all missing
at least 13 years.
|
| 00:39:42 | Cold-case detectives wonder,
could this be yet another woman
they knew nothing about?
|
| 00:39:47 | A review of Robinson's personal
records reveals a potential
candidate-- a woman named
Isabella Lewicka.
|
| 00:39:55 | >> Her name had just come up
approximately three or four days
before that when we had
subpoenaed his checking account
and we saw her name where he was
giving her $200, $300 checks on
a routine basis.
|
| 00:40:10 | >> KURTIS: Police learn Lewicka
was another of Robinson's S&M
sex partners who went missing
the year before.
|
| 00:40:16 | Dental records confirm both
Lewicka and Trouten's IDs-- two
women accounted for.
|
| 00:40:22 | At least three others, however,
remain missing.
|
| 00:40:26 | Detectives head next to
Robinson's private storage
lockers.
|
| 00:43:44 | At a little after 10:00 AM,
Detective Mike Lowther clips the
lock on a storage facility
rented by the suspect.
|
| 00:43:52 | Lowther and his team work their
way through piles of junk to the
back of the locker.
|
| 00:43:59 | >> I remember somebody making
the comment, "Are those
barrels?"
And we kind of looked up, and
it's like, "Yeah, I think those
are barrels."
We pulled some more stuff off,
and we found three barrels that
were wrapped in heavy clear
plastic and heavily taped with
duct tape.
|
| 00:44:19 | >> KURTIS: The cops remove one
of the barrels bearing the label
"rendered pork fat."
>> When we opened up the barrel,
there was a shoe-- I think it
was a tennis shoe-- that was
kind of on the top.
|
| 00:44:30 | And we inspected the barrel
further and found a body inside
the barrel.
|
| 00:44:35 | We only opened the one.
|
| 00:44:37 | Once we opened up the one, we
assumed that the other two
probably contained bodies also.
|
| 00:44:42 | >> KURTIS: The medical
examiner's office confirms each
barrel holds the body of a
Caucasian female, each killed by
blunt force trauma to the head.
|
| 00:44:52 | Investigators believe these
victims to be three Overland
Park women: Paula godfrey, gone
missing in 1984; Lisa Stasi,
missing with her infant Tiffani
since 1985; and Catherine
Clampitt, gone missing in 1987.
|
| 00:45:08 | Once again, however,
investigators are wrong.
|
| 00:45:12 | The rate of decomposition
indicates the women in the
storage locker have not been
dead that long.
|
| 00:45:18 | >> It wasn't shocking, but it
threw a whole lot more mess into
the situation there.
|
| 00:45:24 | Now we had three additional
victims in conjunction with the
Overland Park women that we had
to look into.
|
| 00:45:32 | >> KURTIS: Investigators
eventually identify the victims
as Sheila and Debbie Faith, a
mother and daughter who met John
Robinson over the Internet in
1994, and Bev Bonner, a
librarian at the prison where
Robinson was locked up for
fraud.
|
| 00:45:48 | >> In every one of those
victims, there was a financial
angle to that.
|
| 00:45:52 | The Faiths, we believe that he
killed them for their Social
Security benefits.
|
| 00:45:57 | And in fact, we were able to
prove that he had defrauded the
federal government to the tune
of about $80,000 over the years
by stealing their Social
Security benefits after they
were dead.
|
| 00:46:08 | Bev Bonner, who had divorced her
husband for him, was probably
killed for alimony money,
because her ex-husband continued
to write alimony checks and mail
them to a P.O. box.
|
| 00:46:22 | And little did he know that his
ex-wife was dead and that John
Robinson was cashing those
checks by forging her name and
putting them in his bank
accounts.
|
| 00:46:30 | >> A judge steps in to the
serial killings investigation
before charges are even filed.
|
| 00:46:35 | >> He's put a gag order on all
the major players in the John E.
|
| 00:46:38 | Robinson case.
|
| 00:46:39 | Robinson remains jailed in
Olathe, suspected in the murder
of five women.
|
| 00:46:43 | Their bodies were found in
barrels on his Linn County farm
and in a storage locker in
Raymore.
|
| 00:46:49 | >> KURTIS: With bodies being
found across the countryside,
John Robinson suddenly becomes
big news.
|
| 00:46:56 | He refuses to talk to police, is
arraigned on five counts of
murder, and sits in a county
jail awaiting trial.
|
| 00:47:04 | Meanwhile, the strange case of
the Kansas serial killer is
about to take yet another twist.
|
| 00:47:22 | On the outskirts of Chicago, 15-
year-old Heather Tiffany
Robinson sits in front of her
computer, confused.
|
| 00:47:30 | Her Uncle John has just been
arrested for murder, a fact the
teenager finds hard to accept.
|
| 00:47:36 | She accesses a Witeb site on the
case and pulls up photos of
Robinson's suspected victims.
|
| 00:47:43 | One is of a baby believed to be
the missing daughter of a woman
Robinson allegedly murdered.
|
| 00:47:49 | The woman is Lisa Stasi.
|
| 00:47:51 | The baby Heather recognizes as
herself.
|
| 00:47:55 | Her family calls police.
|
| 00:47:57 | >> It was a huge surprise to us,
and certainly I've never heard
of anything like it before-- the
fact that, you know, she'd been
missing for, you know, 15, 16
years at the time and then
resurfaced.
|
| 00:48:09 | >> KURTIS: Investigators travel
to Chicago and learn that, in
1985, John Robinson sold a baby
to his brother Donald and
That baby grew up to be Heather.
|
| 00:48:21 | Detectives collect a footprint
from the 15-year-old and compare
it with a print from Lisa
Stasi's missing infant.
|
| 00:48:28 | >> The fingerprint examiner
compared the footprint of the
adolescent to the footprint of
the infant and indicated that
they were made by the same
person.
|
| 00:48:37 | >> KURTIS: The footprints
unravel the last bit of doubt
about what happened to Lisa
Stasi.
|
| 00:48:43 | In fact, police recover a
picture taken, they suspect,
just hours after Robinson killed
Stasi.
|
| 00:48:50 | It's a family photo.
|
| 00:48:52 | John Robinson is in the front
row.
|
| 00:48:54 | On his knee: Lisa stasi's
infant.
|
| 00:48:58 | >> John Robinson's got that baby
and posing for pictures in his
house with that baby bouncing on
his knee with his brother and
sister-in-law there, who have
come down from Chicago to get
their new adopted baby.
|
| 00:49:10 | He told them that through his
connections in the community, he
had been able to find this baby
whose mother had committed
suicide in a hotel room.
|
| 00:49:21 | >> KURTIS: Lisa Stasi's murder
is added to the list of charges
Robinson faces, a set of crimes
for which the state of Kansas is
prepared to seek the death
penalty.
|
| 00:49:33 | >> I have never prosecuted
anybody in my 24 years as
prosecutor that was more
deserving of the death penalty
than John Robinson.
|
| 00:49:42 | It is impossible to describe or
to estimate the amount of
suffering John Robinson has
inflicted on other people
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| 00:50:51 | >> KURTIS: Johnson County
District Attorney Paul Morrison
has worked for two years
preparing the case against
suspected serial killer John
Robinson.
|
| 00:51:00 | >> We had great evidence against
John Robinson, but the challenge
was how do we put 17 years of
criminal conduct that involves
thousands and thousands of pages
of police reports and hundreds
of witnesses in some sort of an
understandable format so a
jury can understand what all
he's done?
|
| 00:51:21 | >> KURTIS: The DA's biggest
challenge-- make a jury
understand how a nondescript,
middle-aged businessman could
lure women to Kansas, in some
cases seduce, and then kill
them.
|
| 00:51:35 | >> Most of the women that he was
hooking up with were women that
he'd met on the Internet in
these bondage sadomasochism chat
rooms.
|
| 00:51:44 | He was holding himself out as
this rich sort of philanthropist
who was also a slave master.
|
| 00:51:53 | >> KURTIS: A slave master always
on the prowl for his next slave.
|
| 00:51:58 | Robinson surfed the Internet
daily, offering his services in
a BDSM relationship-- that is,
bondage, discipline, and
sadomasochism.
|
| 00:52:08 | Mistress Carol has been in the
lifestyle for ten years.
|
| 00:52:11 | >> A master/slave relationship
is really kind of an
intellectual relationship.
|
| 00:52:17 | It is where one person takes
control in the relationship and
where one person willingly gives
up the control.
|
| 00:52:28 | >> KURTIS: The BDSM relationship
is a powerful and potentially
dangerous one.
|
| 00:52:33 | If a master abuses his control,
there is little chance of anyone
ever finding out.
|
| 00:52:39 | >> Many of the people may be
ashamed to let anyone in their
family or let their friends know
about.
|
| 00:52:45 | Maybe they're afraid of
ridicule.
|
| 00:52:46 | I really don't know.
|
| 00:52:47 | But I think the secrecy of it
enables someone like John
Robinson to do the things that
he did.
|
| 00:52:58 | >> KURTIS: In the two-month
period that Robinson was being
watched, investigators
identified no less than 30
different women with whom the
suspected killer was carrying on
BDSM activity.
|
| 00:53:10 | >> We were just shocked at the
number of women he was having
contact with on a daily basis.
|
| 00:53:16 | He was on his cell phones
literally off and on all day
long.
|
| 00:53:20 | He's driving around meeting
women at hotels.
|
| 00:53:22 | It was almost like he's running
a travel agency.
|
| 00:53:24 | He had women coming and going
all the time-- really in some
ways almost kind of a sexual
dynamo for a man of his age,
which you would never think by
looking at him.
|
| 00:53:36 | >> KURTIS: According to
investigators, no one but
Robinson knows why he chose to
kill some women and not others.
|
| 00:53:43 | Most, however, agree the man is
a sociopath and sexual sadist
who, if not stopped, would never
have tired of murder.
|
| 00:53:52 | >> He doesn't have the ability
to empathize with other people,
so hurting other people or
ripping them off or whatever,
victimizing them however he
chooses to do that, isn't going
to bother him.
|
| 00:54:01 | You've got that coupled with the
fact that in order for him to
get off sexually, the threshold
for that is going to continue to
rise.
|
| 00:54:09 | And for the John Robinsons of
the world, the ultimate thrill
is to be able to kill somebody.
|
| 00:54:19 | >> This is a slave contract in
this red folder with the clear
plastic face, and it has a
signature of Suzette Trouten.
|
| 00:54:30 | >> KURTIS: John Robinson goes to
trial in the fall of 2002.
|
| 00:54:33 | He is charged with capital
murder in the deaths of Suzette
Trouten and Isabella Lewicka,
murder one for Lisa Stasi, as
well as the kidnapping and sale
of her baby.
|
| 00:54:45 | The trial lasts six weeks.
|
| 00:54:47 | >> The body was in the barrel
head-down, in approximately 14
inches of fluid.
|
| 00:54:54 | >> KURTIS: On October 29,
Robinson is found guilty on all
counts.
|
| 00:54:59 | >> We were successful in
convicting him of everything.
|
| 00:55:02 | In the penalty phase, the jury
rolled with us and decided to
recommend the death sentence,
which the judge gave him.
|
| 00:55:09 | >> KURTIS: The killer is removed
from death row only long enough
to face three more counts of
murder in the state of Missouri
for the deaths of Bev Bonner and
Sheila and Debbie Faith, each
found in a barrel inside
Robinson's storage locker.
|
| 00:55:24 | Robinson pleads guilty to
murdering all three and also
pleads guilty to the homicides
of two Overland Park women,
Paula Godfrey in 1984 and
Catherine Clampitt in 1987.
|
| 00:55:38 | Robinson, however, refuses to
reveal how he killed them or
where their bodies might be
found.
|
| 00:55:44 | Finally he is returned to death
row, the investigation over, the
killing finally stopped.
|
| 00:55:57 | >> Well, the one woman he was in
BDSM with had signed adoption
papers, or he'd cut and pasted.
|
| 00:56:03 | I can't think of her name.
|
| 00:56:05 | >> KURTIS: For detectives from
small town police departments,
murder is a rare thing, serial
killers the stuff of movies and
novels.
|
| 00:56:13 | In the case of this task force,
however, John Robinson is all
too real.
|
| 00:56:19 | >> Well, I don't think he ever
told the truth ever to anybody.
|
| 00:56:23 | I mean, we couldn't find
anything.
|
| 00:56:26 | >> I think it's part of his
control.
|
| 00:56:28 | He's maintained the secrets
about what he's done with the
women, he won't ever tell,
it's the last control
that he's got.
|
| 00:56:34 | >> KURTIS: Even a year removed
from the Robinson investigation,
the men and women who worked
this case agree it changed them
forever, the memories of what
Robinson kept on his farm and in
his lockers etched in their
mind's eye.
|
| 00:56:48 | >> You know, he is a very... he
can be a very good liar, very
convincing, but on the other
hand you're talking about women
who were gullible and probably,
you know, wanted to believe.
|
| 00:56:58 | >> KURTIS: There is, however,
more than mere reminiscence
behind these meetings.
|
| 00:57:02 | The team believes Robinson might
know more than he's told and
that there are other barrels
waiting to be opened, other
bodies waiting to be found.
|
| 00:57:13 | >> There's a lot of time that is
not accounted for John Robinson.
|
| 00:57:18 | And the fact that he would kill
all those women and then have
those time frames where he
didn't just does not make sense.
|
| 00:57:26 | I believe there are others out
there that were killed by him.
|
| 00:57:32 | >> KURTIS: If you have any
information about John Robinson
or know anyone who might have
been involved with him, please
contact the Lenexa Police
|
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