[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. He won't ever tell. At the age of 14, in a rather . He had a speech impediment and wore thick glasses from the age of five because he was severely nearsighted. In 1964, he moved to 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. [4]:307 That evening, Berdella ensured Pearson became intoxicated before injecting him with chlorpromazine and moving him down to his basement, where he bound Pearson's hands above his head, then linked the rope he had used for this purpose to a brick column, before injecting Pearson's larynx with drain cleaner. [4]:4647, When Berdella reached puberty he discovered that he was homosexual; initially, he kept this fact a closely guarded secret, and he did not become open about his sexuality for several years. 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. [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. Body Found In Barrel Linked To Robinson? [8]:270 Towards the end of Stoops's captivity, he tried to feed his captive ice cream and soup, although Stoops "wasn't able to keep anything down". 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. Getty Aerial view of suspected serial killer John Edward Robinson Sr.'s home June 6, 2000 in Linn County, Kansas . He then suspended Howell's body above a large cooking pot and made several incisions to the youth's inner elbows and jugular vein, before leaving the body suspended in this position overnight to allow the blood to drain from his corpse. [4]:47. "[32] He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. According to evidence during his trial, Robinson used the Internet to lure Trouten and Lewicka to Kansas, and their bodies were found in June 2000 in large barrels on Robinson's rural property 60 miles south of Kansas City. [4]:3637 He further claimed to have intended to retrieve Pearson's skull once sufficient time had elapsed for it to skeletonize, although he was adamant there had been no rational or sinister reason for his doing so. Medical staff determined his heart was unstable and called an ambulance. He was 43 years old. Occasionally, Berdella's father physically and emotionally abused his children, and beat them with a leather strap. A suspected serial killer already charged in six killings in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas has been charged with first-degree murder in a seventh death. John Robinson, who did not. In 1985, a Kansas serial killer believed to have murdered at least 10 women in two states killed Lisa Stasi, a 19-year-old mother whose body has never been found. [2]:9, In 2002, Robinson stood trial in Kansas for the murders of Trouten, Lewicka, and Stasi along with multiple lesser charges. One month after this first arrest, Berdella and two other students were arrested for possession of marijuana and LSD in Johnson County. Berdella remained a casual friend of the family, also offering his assistance if Jerry encountered any minor scrapes with the law. He was sentenced to three years' probation. [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." After several weeks, the woman dies of a contracted illness despite her captor's efforts to keep her alive. [2]:9, Across the state line in Missouri, investigators searched a storage facility where Robinson rented two garages. [39] Investigators consulted a specialist in toxicology in their investigation into Berdella following his arrest who stated that, judging by the notes he had written about victim Robert Sheldon, the accumulation of chlorpromazine injected into this victim had been toxic. 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. [2]:4 In 1957, Robinson became an Eagle Scout and traveled to London with a group of Scouts who performed before Queen Elizabeth II. 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. The family regularly attended Mass, and both sons regularly attended religious education courses. In 1961, Robinson enrolled at Morton Junior College in Cicero to become a medical radiographer, but dropped out after two years. He would later be temporarily placed in protective custody at the Potosi Correctional Center, due to concerns for his safety. He further claimed he had been demonized unfairly by the media before, during, and after his arraignments and plea bargains, and that police ineptitude had resulted in his being allowed to remain at liberty following his first murder. [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". Arms Ltd. 7804371090 ksarmssales@telus.net. In his subsequent confessions to investigators, Berdella stated he had dismembered the bodies of Sheldon, Wallace, Ferris, and Stoops in the bathtub in his third floor bathroom, whereas the bodies of Howell and Pearson had been dismembered in his basement. Robinson cashed Faith's pension checks for the next seven years. Should Berdella ever discover any of them was a police informant, he would use this knowledge for blackmail. [10], Shortly after the death of Berdella's father, his mother remarried; an action which was met with resentment by Berdella, who viewed the move as a form of betrayal against his father. In 1999, he offered a job and a bondage relationship to Izabela Lewicka, a 21-year-old Polish immigrant living in Indiana. (AP Photo/Matthew S. Hicks, Pool). 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 . This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. When Berdella refused, Stoops burst into tears. Robinson, who has never cooperated with investigators, refused. When he arrived home his family told him his father had died. Legal Statement. [8]:245 Berdella's father was a devout Roman Catholic of Italian descent. His family had also moved into an apartment above the shop. [n 11] In addition, he vehemently denied media rumors that he had been engaged in any form of satanism, or that he had sold sections of his victims' bodies at his flea market booth. Her missing persons' case remains open. Godfrey told friends and family that Robinson was sending her away for training. [3], By then, Robinson had discovered the Internet and roamed online chatrooms using the name "Slavemaster," looking for women who enjoyed playing the submissive partner role during sex. "He's maintained the secrets about what he's done with the women. He tersely explained his successive actions to investigators on December 14 with the statement that he was "capturing them first, and what developed, developed." 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." His first known victim was 19-year-old Jerry Howell. 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. Once Kansas declared itself with the Union and the Civil War began, the . Also in the room was an electrical transformer, plugged into a wall, and with wires leading to the bed. A post on . Market data provided by Factset. Prior to his arrest, Berdella was that serial killer clich, someone neighbors described as a nice man who kept to himself. For the first time, we're hearing from the daughter of one of his victims, and it's an unbelievable story you'll . 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. [4]:100 Shortly after graduation, Berdella relocated to Kansas City. [4]:302 On July 1, 1986, Stoops died; a forensic pathologist later testified that the ruptured anal wall caused septic shock which proved fatal. The frightened 22-year-old told Kansas City police that she's been locked in a basement for a month and identified 39-year-old . [2], In 1985, using the name John Osborne, Robinson met Lisa Stasi and her four-month-old daughter, Tiffany, at a women's shelter in Kansas City. [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. Wallace willingly accepted the offer and, 30 minutes later, Berdella decided to render him captive. To all concerned, he attempted to restore his image as a "sensitive citizen" who had simply "made mistakes" in committing his crimes. 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. Robinson currently remains on death row at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas. He noted this victim's time of death as being 7:00p.m. on June 23. [n 8][12], In late April, the skull found inside Berdella's closet was identified via dental X-rays obtained via subpoena from the University of Kansas Medical Center as that of Robert Sheldon. There, he enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI), with aspirations of becoming a college professor. The Bloody Benders - Serial Killers of Kansas. Members of the public were prohibited from attending this hearing, with only family members of his victims and news reporters permitted access to the proceedings. Market data provided by Factset. 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. Hours. 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. One other method of torture was the insertion of needles beneath their fingernails. [4]:353 Berdella sought solace in his Catholicism and later read extensively about many faiths but eventually became cynical about all religion. The Kansas Homestead Where America's First Serial Killer Family Committed Its Crimes Is Up for Sale. That evening, Berdella's father had a heart attack at the age of 39. The auction attracted considerable national interest; attracting telephone bids from across the United States. 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. Unfortunately for those of us who have lived here all our lives, there has been more than one serial killer in Kansas - including one of the most terrifying serial killers of all time: Dennis Rader, also known as BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill). 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. They became something other than people to me. Legal Statement. 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. December 13, 1988. [4]:316317 An interview with Robert Sheldon's employers at a Kansas City manufacturing plant had confirmed the young man had been a reliable employee of theirs, but that he had suddenly ceased attending work in April 1985. The following June, Berdella found Mark Wallace (whom he vaguely knew via Wallace having previously helped him with yard work) hiding in his tool shed to seek shelter from a severe thunderstorm. As had been the case with Robert Sheldon, Berdella invited him inside his house, and, noting Wallace's acute state of tenseness and depression, volunteered to inject him with chlorpromazine with the explanation this would "calm down and relax" him. [29], Berdella would be formally charged with the murder by dismemberment of Larry Wayne Pearson in July after the head discovered in his backyard was formally identified as Pearson's on May 12. 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. Soon, Berdella became acquainted with Paul Howell's younger son, Jerry. [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. In 1969, Robinson was arrested in Kansas City for embezzling $33,000 from the medical practice of Dr. Wallace Graham, where he worked as a radiographer using forged credentials. For example, at one point in relation to victim James Ferris, Berdella had written an entry reading: "2 1/2 ket nk + shoulder" to indicate he had injected 2.2 cubic centimeters of ketamine into his victim's neck and shoulder. Over the course of those years, he killed eight women and two men via strangulation, suffocation, stabbing, or hanging. Berdella was largely unathletic, whereas his younger brother, Daniel seven years his junior displayed an aptitude for various sports from an early age. [19] He would remain adamant to investigators that this would be not for his enjoyment, but what he termed his "physical and mental satisfaction". 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. 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. [n 1] He began spending much of his free time with male prostitutes, drug addicts, petty criminals, and runaways. He promised Stasi a job and a stable living situation in Chicago in exchange for signing several sheets of blank stationery. It is unclear whether Lewicka believed she and Robinson were married; she told her parents she had married but never told them her husband's name. [4]:103, In 1969, Berdella voluntarily withdrew from KCAI after receiving harsh criticism from college administrators for killing and cooking a duck for the sake of art. [4]:8182, Berdella is believed to have killed his first victim on July 5, 1984. Locations States Missouri. [45] Moreover, despite his claims to journalists whom he had contacted in the years of his incarceration, Berdella never expressed any degree of remorse for his actions and tersely referred to his victims as "play toys" in an interview he granted shortly before his death. [4]:233, By the time of Berdella's arrest, he had abducted, tortured, and murdered at least six young men (although the KCPD suspect Berdella of involvement in two other disappearances). 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. [4]:16 The following day, he managed to break free of his restraints by burning through them using a book of matches Berdella had inadvertently left in the room and within his reach when he had left the house to go to his place of work. "[4]:323 Berdella removed the teeth from this skull and stowed them inside envelopes in the same room. Investigators had until 07:30 on April 3 to compile sufficient evidence to formulate either an, When formal murder by dismemberment charges were filed against Berdella, his bail sum was increased to $750,000 (the equivalent of approximately $1,887,400 as of 2023. 7920 NW Tiffany Springs Pkwy., I-29 & Tiffany Springs Pkwy., Kansas City, MO, 64153-2310. [2]:4, In 1984, having established two more fraudulent shell companies, Robinson hired Paula Godfrey, aged 19, ostensibly to work as a sales representative. He then brought an electrical transformer to the basement. Robinson is known to be responsible for eight homicides, but his total victim tally remains unknown. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. Only Berdella referred to James Ferris by his given first name, Walter. Last week Diamond Blair, nephew of serial killer Terry Blair, was convicted of second-degree murder. 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]. Bender Mounds, Kansas by Kathy Alexander. [3], After completing his probation in 1979, Robinson was arrested for embezzlement and check forgery, for which he served sixty days in jail in 1982. [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. [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. Robinson was prosecuted and found guilty by a. Upon his release, Bonner left her husband, a prison doctor, and moved to Kansas to work for him. K.S. (Investigators later sought to obtain handwriting samples from Berdella in an effort to prove he had written the notes found within the various stenographer's pads discovered at his house; he refused to cooperate and was sentenced to six months in jail for contempt of court. [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. After hearing nothing further from her, Godfrey's parents filed a missing persons report. He also wrote several letters to a local minister claiming that prison officials knew of his high blood pressure, yet were not providing him with his prescribed heart medication. Sheldon was drugged with sedatives and held captive in the second floor bedroom for three days, enduring forms of torture such as the swabbing of drain cleaner in his left eye,[4]:266 the insertion of needles beneath his fingertips,[4]:268 the binding of his wrists with piano wire with the intention of permanently damaging the nerves in his hands,[4]:271 and filling his ears with caulking to reduce his hearing capacity. He received a 5-to-20-year prison sentence for interfering with the parental custody of Stasi's baby, 20.5 years for kidnapping Trouten, and seven months for theft. John Robinson's Family Described Him As Loving & Involved With the Family. Born Robert Andrew Berdella Jr. on January 31, 1949, in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, the man who would become this terrifying killer grew up in a deeply religious Roman Catholic family in the early 1950s. 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. In a video that went viral on TikTok and other platforms, a man claimed that four Black girls .