‘Shopping Cart Killer’ Arrested After Murdering 4 Women He Met On Dating Sites
Virginia native Anthony Robinson, 35, was arrested last month in connection to the murders of two women, but a recent police press conference revealed he might have killed two other women as well. Coined the “Shopping Cart Killer,” Robinson was first tied to the murders of Allene Elizabeth “Beth” Redmon, 54, and Tonita Lorice “Nita” Smith, 39, whose bodies were found inside shopping carts in otherwise vacant lots in Harrisonburg. The Virginia man is now being held responsible for the death of Cheyenne Brown, 29, and one other unidentified female victim.
Robinson is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of Redmon and Smith, but as per authorities, charges in conjunction to the other two murders are still pending. As Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis explained, “we have a serial killer.” He continued, “the good thing is he’s in custody, the challenge that remains is identifying other victims.”
So how did Robinson commit the tragic murders? Davis said Robinson first connected with each of these women on dating sites, convincing them to meet him at a motel. By the time they arrived, he killed them by inflicting “trauma to the body.” By the end, Robinson placed the womens’ bodies into shopping carts to transport them to lots in the middle of nowhere, with alleged videos to prove it which have since been obtained by police.
Now connected to four murders, police fear there might be even more victims, who held various jobs as of late and moved from city to city. At the conference, Fairfax County bureau chief of the major crimes Major Ed O’Carroll said, “we want people to come forward that have run across him,” whether seeing him on social media, on the street, or having worked with him at some point. “There are people that have information and we’re asking them to help us bring justice for these victims.” Davis echoed this, saying, “it’s our collective duty and responsibility to bring justice and closure to all of our communities.”
Robinson was linked to the deaths of these four women through cell phone records and video surveillance intel, with Cheyenne Brown’s last point of contact being the killer himself back in September. She was last seen at the Moon Inn in Alexandria and at a metro stop with Robinson the night of her disappearance, with the remains of two women found in a shopping cart near the hotel.
Meanwhile, the daughter of victim Allene Elizabeth “Beth” Redmon is speaking out, explaining that her mother was grieving after losing her husband in 2017. About her mother, May Redmon described, “she was lonely, and so, I mean, I guess that might be the reason why she had met up with this monster that took her away from us.”
“Beth” Redmon reportedly told her family she was going to watch a football game with a friend named Ant back on October 24, never to be seen or heard from again. Her body was not found until a month later, with May Redmon saying, “it really bothers me to know that my mom laid out there, dead, for a month… but I’m just glad that we have some type of closure now because, to be honest, it hurts very bad.”
It will be a “challenge” to identify other women, particularly the fourth body found in conjunction to the killings. As per police chief Davis, Brown’s family quickly identified her due to a unique tattoo, but the fourth body’s “state of decomposition was so bad that it’s going to take a bit of work.”
Meanwhile, O’Carroll says the police force is using dating apps to search for other significant clues, in case Robinson is connected to any other victims. As the families of the four women grieve, investigators plead for any information people may have on Robinson or the killings.