John Edward Robinson (serial killer)

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For other uses of "John Edward Robinson", see John Edward Robinson (disambiguation).

John Edward Robinson (born December 27, 1943) was convicted in 2003 of the murders of several women.

Robinson was born in Cicero, Illinois, a town famous for its connection to Al Capone. As a Boy Scout he performed before Queen Elizabeth II at a concert in London and became an Eagle Scout. As a freshman at Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, Illinois, he was a poor student and a discipline problem. He did not return to Quigley for his sophomore year; it is believed that he was denied admission as a sophomore due to either his academic or discipline shortcomings.

He had dreams of becoming very important. He was named Man Of The Year once at a Kansas City charity, an award he rigged in his own favor, and was described by acquaintances as very personable and easy to like.

Beneath his outward charm, however, he was a con artist and thief who served time in jail in 1987 on charges of felony theft. He was supposed to serve five years, but he was released after only four years for good behavior. He was then handed to Missouri authorities, who arrested him because his conviction in Kansas violated one of the conditions imposed when Robinson was released on probation from a Missouri jail after being convicted of forging signatures on some documents. But he started complaining of chest pains and was released with a doctor's recommendation letter.

It was while at that jail that he met one of his lovers and victims, a married woman named Beverly Bonner.

In 1995, Robinson bought a computer and started looking for females to unleash his sexual fantasies on. He would lure them by calling himself the Slave Master, and telling them what they wanted to hear.

According to the police, he would later meet some of those women in person and have sex with them. Then, the women he met disappeared. In the summer of 2000, some of their bodies appeared at Robinson's farm near La Cygne, Kansas and in a rented storage space in Missouri.

Robinson was accused of murdering three of these women. He was convicted at the Johnson County Court House in Olathe, Kansas in 2002 and sentenced to death. He then pled guilty in Missouri and did not receive a second death sentence from a Missouri court. Robinson could be the first person executed by lethal injection in the state of Kansas. However, in 2005 the Kansas Supreme Court ruled the current Capital Punishment laws in Kansas unconstitutional. It could be years before new Capital Punishment laws are written by the legislator and approved by the courts, if they are written at all.

In 2001, a book about him and his victims, Internet Slave Master, was released, covering his life up to the trial. A second book has also been released covering his life and his trial and conviction.

[edit] Victims

In 1984 18-year-old Paula Godfrey left home to take up a job with one of Robinson's many non-existent companies. After being told she was being sent away to take a few seminar classes to get her trained, her parents contacted the police and filed a missing person's report. A few days after questioning Robinson on Godfrey's whereabouts they received a type-written letter from Godfrey. The letter assured them that everything was fine, and that she simply did not want to contact her family. Her signature was at the bottom of the letter The case was dropped as Godfrey was an adult and had the right to disappear.

In 1985 Lisa Stasi, a 19-year-old single mother, met a man calling himself "John Osborne" at a shelter. The man promised her an apartment, job training, a monthly stipend, and even daycare for her 4-month-old daughter, Tiffany. Eager to become independent Stasi agreed, signing a few blank sheets of paper. She was never heard form again. A few days after meeting Stasi, Robinson contacted his brother and informed him he had a baby he could adopt. The baby's mother had committed suicide in a hotel room, and his connections with local charity would allow him to get the child for him if he paid the legal fees. The baby was Tiffany Stasi, and the papers Robinson brought were all forgeries. The money went straight into Robinson's account.

In 1993 Robinson was released from a stint in jail for violating his parole by running an underground prostitution ring specializing in domination and submission. He had met 49-year-old Beverly Bonner in prison. A librarian, she had been charmed by the eloquent man, and upon his release divorced her husband to follow Robinson. Shortly after having all of her alimony checks forwarded to a PO box, Bonner was killed and her body was placed inside of a barrel that was later put into a storage unit in Missouri. Robinson continued to collect her alimony checks and cash them in his account for years.

[edit] Email hoax

The trial also spawned a number of e-mail hoaxes, with web users warned first against the username SlaveMaster, SweetCaliGuy4evr, Free_mumia911, and most recently, Monkeyman935.

The email usually looked something like this:

Subject: FROM THE STATE POLICE: NOT A JOKE

PLEASE READ THIS: State Police Warning for Online

WARNING FROM THE STATE POLICE . . USA (Not a joke.)

State police warning for online: Please read this "very carefully"..then send it out to all the people online that you know.

Something like this is nothing to be taken casually; this is something you DO want to pay attention to. Think of it as a bit of advice too.

If a person with the screen-name of Monkeyman935 contacts you, do not reply.

DO not talk to this person; do not answer any of his/her instant Messages or e-mail. Whoever this person may be, he/she is a suspect for murder in the death of 56 women (so far) contacted through the Internet.

Please send this to all the women on your buddy list and ask them to pass this on, as well. This screen-name was seen on Yahoo, AOL, AIM, and Excite so far.

This is not a joke! Please send this to men too...just in case! Send to everyone you know! Ladies, this is serious.