Anthony Robinson, and shopping cart he allegedly used the move bodies in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Police fear that an alleged serial killer may have more victims. Anthony Robinson, 35, murdered four women, including one who was pregnant, Virginia cops announced on Friday. Cops are calling him the “Shopping Cart Killer” because they say he moved remains in shopping carts.
Three of the victims have been identified, officers said. Each of the three met him through online dating and each of the killings happened the last two to three months, according to police.
“That’s what worries us,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said. “He didn’t suddenly turn into who he is three months ago. So that’s why we’re painstakingly going through his whereabouts, his relationships, his employment history to figure out if in fact there are other victims.”
Harrisonburg Police Chief Kelley Warner told reporters that cops found two women dead in an open lot. Officers identified them as Allene Elizabeth Redmon, 54, of Harrisonburg, and Charlottesville resident Tonita Lorice Smith. They were found within a short distance of one another but were killed at separate times and were moved there in a shopping cart, officers said.
Fairfax police said that they separately found D.C. resident Cheyenne Brown, 29, and an unidentified person. Their remains were in a large plastic container near a shopping cart, according to cops.
“The state of decomposition was so bad that it’s going to take a little bit of work, but we have leads about a missing person in particular last seen in the area,” Davis said of the unidentified person.
Brown has yet to be positively identified, with cops relying on a tattoo they said was identified by her family. DNA testing is pending, but Davis said they’re naming her immediately because they fear there could be more victims, and they want to seek more information.
“He preys on the weak, he preys on the vulnerable, and he does unspeakable things with his victims,” Davis said.
The chief described Robinson as having a “remarkable absence” of a criminal history. Robinson was somewhat transient, with many jobs over the years, he said.
Officers suggest this investigation could take them out of state, with Robinson having past addresses in New York, as well as Prince George’s County, and Washington D.C.
Police: Missing woman Cheyenne Brown a potential victim of this “serial killer”. Her body was found in a container in Fairfax County. She was the mother of a 7-year-old son and had a baby on the way. https://t.co/RrjypaQD3J pic.twitter.com/pbdiYLU1T3
— Darcy Spencer (@darcyspencer) December 17, 2021
Robinson’s pattern was to go from the dating sites, to motels, to killing the women through blunt force trauma, to moving their bodies in the carts, and to putting them in their “resting place,” Davis said.
Some, including Brown, were possibly with him at the Moon Inn on Richmond Highway, police said. In her case, police say that Brown took the Metro train from D.C. to the Huntington stop on Sept. 30 and never returned.
She was in the 6100 block of Richmond Highway, possibly at the Moon Inn that night. Video showed her and Robinson together at the same Metro stop in D.C. Also, cell data showed them together as well, officers said. She had met him through a dating site, according to Fairfax County Police Major Ed O’Carroll. Brown was four months pregnant, he said.
He voiced hope that searching the dating site records would help identify the unnamed victim.
O’Carroll said investigators did not rule out that more than one person could be involved in the killings.
He asked that anyone with information to come forward to Fairfox police at (703) 246-7800. Anonymous tips through the crime solvers program. 1 866-411-TIPS. There is a reward program for information leading to charges, he said.
“I’m sorry,” O’Carroll said, addressing the victim families. “My deepest condolences. This police department, the Harrisonburg police department, all the agencies mentioned are absolutely committed. Justice will prevail, and the offender will be held accountable for what he did.”
[Booking photo via Fairfax County Police Department]
