[4]:266. (AP Photo/Matthew S. Hicks, Pool). 7920 NW Tiffany Springs Pkwy., I-29 & Tiffany Springs Pkwy., Kansas City, MO, 64153-2310. The prosecution team assigned to the case accepted the plea, with assistant prosecutor Pat Hall later explaining this decision as being "in the best interest of our client, the people of the state of Missouri". Berdella accepted with the specific intention of kidnapping Ferris, whom he arranged to meet at a bar that evening. Despite these later claims to investigators, Berdella would often engage in sexual relations with the men he befriended, and would establish a degree of control over them in part to engage in these sexual relations via methods such as loaning them money and allowing them to live rent free at his house for periods of time. A total of nine men are on Kansas' death row. Occasionally, Berdella's father physically and emotionally abused his children, and beat them with a leather strap. Consequently, their bodies were never recovered. This task force extensively researched Berdella's history, discovering that he was well-known among Kansas City's male hustlers, having earned a reputation for preying on transient young men. 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. When Berdella refused, Stoops burst into tears. John Robinson, who did not. [4]:100 Shortly after graduation, Berdella relocated to Kansas City. [4]:36 The search also uncovered numerous restraints and sexual devices; pornographic literature; hypodermic needles; and a book on narcotics. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The Bloody Benders - Serial Killers of Kansas. [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 addition to these disclosures, Kellogg was able to name three of the men depicted in the Polaroids as being Todd Stoops, Robert Sheldon, and Larry Wayne Pearson. By his mid-teens, Berdella had begun to display a degree of self-confidence, becoming rude and condescending to others, particularly women. [4]:260, Although police extensively searched for the remains of Berdella's victims throughout their initial investigation into his crimes, the confession he provided to investigators in the autumn of 1988 confirmed the dismembered bodies of all six of his victims had been stowed in trash bags and subsequently taken to unknown landfill sites. [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. In a carefully scripted plea in October 2003, Robinson acknowledged that Koster had enough evidence to convict him of capital murder for the deaths of Godfrey, Clampitt, Bonner, and the Faiths. The letters were, her mother said, uncharacteristically free of typographical errors. In 1961, Robinson enrolled at Morton Junior College in Cicero to become a medical radiographer, but dropped out after two years. Throughout the latter part of his six weeks of captivity, Pearson trained himself to sleep without moving, in order that he did not antagonize Berdella and thus invite further torture or being returned to the basement. A metal tray containing syringes, small bottles apparently containing prescription drugs, swabs, and eye drops were also close to the bed. A "suspected serial killer" has been taken into custody with the semi-automatic pistol he allegedly used in multiple slayings within weeks in the St. Louis area and in Kansas City, Kansas . [4]:231 He initially operated this side business from his home. At 37 years old, Diamond Blair . [4]:353 Berdella sought solace in his Catholicism and later read extensively about many faiths but eventually became cynical about all religion. Prosecutors described Robinson as a predator who trolled the Internet under the name "Slavemaster" looking for sadomasochistic sex with women. 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. The discovery of a woman's body stuffed inside that. Alarming social media posts warning of a Kansas City serial killer are untrue, according to police. It's the last control he's got," said one investigator. [24] The meter reader led Bryson to the house he had been approaching, whereupon the occupants promptly called the police, who arrived minutes later. 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]. 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. [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 U.S. Supreme Court is considering appeals in three such cases, including those of brothers Jonathan and Reginald Carr, who were convicted of dozens of crimes leading up to the murders of four people in a snow-covered soccer field in Wichita in December 2000. After Stoops and his wife moved out of Berdella's home the second time, Berdella did not see him again until a chance encounter at KansasCity's Liberty Memorial Park on June 17, 1986. By the final day of his captivity, Stoops was so weak Berdella later stated he had been unable "to breathe in a sitting position". About Us. However, he would later state to investigators that he had thought almost constantly about escaping. He had a speech impediment and wore thick glasses from the age of five because he was severely nearsighted. At the age of 14, in a rather . Pearson's body was later dismembered in the basement, and his head initially stored in a plastic bag inside Berdella's freezer before being buried in the backyard. In the 19th century, Kansas was a bloody place, especially before the Civil War, as " Free-Soilers " and slavery advocates "duked" it out for control of the new territory. Robert Andrew Berdella Jr. (January 31, 1949 - October 8, 1992) was an American serial killer who kidnapped, raped, tortured, and murdered at least six young men after having forced his victims to endure periods of up to six weeks of captivity. [7] The following year, Stasi's daughterknown since her (faked) adoption as Heather Robinsonfiled a civil suit against Truman Medical Center in Kansas City and social worker Karen Gaddis. 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. (May 18, 2006). In 2005, he admitted responsibility for five homicides in Missouri as part of a plea bargain to receive multiple life sentences without possibility of parole and avoid more death sentences. As a means of obtaining additional income, he also sold items of art and antiques he had accrued and collected from contacts he had established in Africa, Asia, South America, and various Pacific Rim countries. [14][n 2] By the early 1980s, many of his older acquaintances had ceased any form of social contact with him, with Berdella increasingly relying on these young men as a source of companionship and friendship. In response, Randall sarcastically remarked: "Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. As a result, he became increasingly withdrawn, and further immersed himself in the solitary activities he had participated in since childhood such as painting, collecting coins and stamps, and writing to foreign pen pals. John Edward Robinson (born December 27, 1943) is an American serial killer, con man, embezzler, kidnapper, and forger who was found guilty in 2003 for three murders committed in and around Kansas City, receiving the death penalty for two of them. He was arrested in June 2000 at his farm near La Cygne, Kansas, after a woman filed a sexual battery complaint against him and another charged him with stealing her sex toys. [4]:300 On June 27, he ruptured Stoops's anal wall with his fist, causing bleeding and discharge. [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. [4]:8182, Berdella is believed to have killed his first victim on July 5, 1984. Robinson is known to be responsible for eight homicides, but his total victim tally remains unknown. 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. [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". On September 25, the Kansas City Defender, a non-profit newsroom, posted a TikTok of Bishop Tony Caldwell, a local community leader, claiming "there is a serial killer currently on the loose in Kansas City" and that four Black women had been murdered and three others went missing from Prospect Avenue in the last week. Only Berdella referred to James Ferris by his given first name, Walter. [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. For several years, Bonner's mother continued forwarding her alimony checks and Robinson continued cashing them. His first known victim was 19-year-old Jerry Howell. After Robinson arranged for Bonner's alimony checks to be forwarded to a Kansas post office box, her family never heard from her again. John E. Robinson Sr. in 2002. [4]:300, The methods of torture exhibited against his victims had included the administration of high-voltage electrical shocks, starvation, the application of alkali-based detergents to their throats, vocal cords, or eyes, and the bludgeoning of their hands with the intention of rendering these body parts unusable. He enrolled at Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago, a private boys school for aspiring priests, but dropped out after one year due to disciplinary issues.[3][4]. I never thought it out to the level of: 'What if one of these bodies ever gets loose? As the two "[drove] around" Kansas, the young man began jokingly referring to his practice of robbing gay men in Wichita; this disclosure finalized Berdella's decision to hold Pearson captive. On the fifth day of his captivity, having by this stage endured torture such as the repeated administration of electrical shocks with the transformer, and the breaking of several hand bones with an iron rod to render him submissive,[4]:311 Berdella deduced Pearson had earned his trust as to his continued cooperation in his sexual and physical abuse. Wallace willingly accepted the offer and, 30 minutes later, Berdella decided to render him captive. It has been almost 15 years since a stream of crimson liquid, oozing from a metal barrel, revealed a serial killer's grisly handiwork. 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. Robinson was sentenced to death for killing two women in Kansas, in 1999 and 2000. In 1965, Berdella saw the film adaptation of the John Fowles novel The Collector. [4]:104, At the age of 19, Berdella was arrested for attempting to sell methamphetamine to an undercover officer;[11] he was released after posting a $3,000 bond (equivalent to about $25,600 as of 2023[update]),[12] and would later plead guilty to the offense and was handed a five-year suspended sentence. 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. James Ferris's wife identified him in several instant photos found at Berdella's property, some taken after her husband's death. [2]:9, Over time, Robinson became increasingly careless, and his ability to avoid detection declined. [4]:151. She did sign a 115-item slave contract that gave Robinson almost total control over every aspect of her life, including her bank accounts. He later dissected Sheldon's body in the third floor bathroom. Woman Wins Lawsuit to Halt Profit Sought by Man Who Killed Her Mother. [11], As would be the case with all Berdella's murders, he kept a detailed log in which he documented each act of sexual and physical torture inflicted upon his victim. Authorities believe that he's responsible for the murders of at least eight women in Missouri and Kansas. By Associated Press May 28, 2022 [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. Nonetheless, in his early teens he briefly had a girlfriend. We're happy to ship internationally, please contact us prior to order for an accurate shipping quote. [2]:4 In 1957, Robinson became an Eagle Scout and traveled to London with a group of Scouts who performed before Queen Elizabeth II. [n 9], On July 22, 1988, a grand jury formally indicted Berdella for the murder of Larry Wayne Pearson. [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. Berdella would later claim that his hobby of writing to pen pals in countries such as Vietnam and Burma and the fact these pen pals would send him stamps for his collection, and photographs of mythical and historical icons, ancient cultures, and architecture would lead to his developing an avid interest in primitive art, photographs, and antiques. Nonetheless, investigators did discover that, in August 1987, Berdella had filed an assault report from a hospital room in which he alleged a man named "Larry Person" had deeply bitten his penis during oral sex, causing a serious laceration. He formally pleaded guilty to each of these charges before Judge Robert Meyers in the Jackson County Circuit Court. [4]:270, On April 10, 1985, an itinerant former lodger, 20-year-old Robert Sheldon, arrived on Berdella's doorstep, asking if he could again stay at his house for a short period of time. [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. ], When it became clear that the women's remains would never be found without Robinson's cooperation, a compromise was reached. He was also diagnosed with high blood pressure for which he took several medications. These bags were later placed inside larger trash bags which Berdella placed outside for a garbage crew to collect and take to a landfill site. He then brought an electrical transformer to the basement. He would later be temporarily placed in protective custody at the Potosi Correctional Center, due to concerns for his safety. Updated October 03, 2016 4:13 PM. [2]:9, Across the state line in Missouri, investigators searched a storage facility where Robinson rented two garages. [n 4], "You did not choose to be here, but you are. [2]:9, In 2002, Robinson stood trial in Kansas for the murders of Trouten, Lewicka, and Stasi along with multiple lesser charges. Robinson told a web designer he employed that she had been caught smoking marijuana and deported. He also engaged in acts of animal torture on at least two occasions; during one of these instances, he decapitated a duck in the presence of his peers, and in the second instance, he experimented with sedatives and tranquilizers on a dog. [25] Berdella had kept him bound to a bed on the second floor of the house throughout much of the time he had been held against his will, repeatedly sodomizing him, drugging him, and injecting his throat with drain cleaner to diminish his ability to speak loudly. The unnamed victim still had a collar with a padlock around her neck that was later removed by police. In June 1967, Graham reported to the Kansas City police that Robinson had embezzled about $33,000 from him by manipulating checks and deposits. One month after this first arrest, Berdella and two other students were arrested for possession of marijuana and LSD in Johnson County. [1], Because he made contact with most of his post-1993 victims via online chatrooms, Robinson is sometimes referred to as "the Internet's first serial killer". Officers also discovered a stenographer's pad containing the detailed torture logs he had maintained for each victim above a chest of drawers,[4]:37 several newspaper clippings from The Kansas City Star regarding a missing young man named Jerry Howell, and both a wallet and a driving license belonging to a missing person named James Ferris was discovered in a closet on the second floor of the property. [47] Although many items sold for less than the expected price, by the end of the first day's auctioneering alone, more than $60,000 had been raised for this purpose (equivalent to $151,000 as of 2023[update]). [6], By the early 1980s, Paul Howell had relocated his business to a store close to the intersection of 39th and Main Street. Shortly thereafter, Pearson temporarily lodged with Berdella, and willingly performed chores around his home as a means of paying rent. 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. [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." By the summer of 1984, Jerry Howell had turned 19. For the first time, we're hearing from the daughter of one of his victims, and it's an unbelievable story you'll . or redistributed. On this occasion, Berdella could not post bond, and he spent five days in jail, although the charges against him and one of the other students would be dropped due to a lack of evidence. He tersely explained his successive actions to investigators on December 14 with the statement that he was "capturing them first, and what developed, developed." 3. All rights reserved. [11] Also found in the room were a long iron pipe, various lengths of rope, and leather belts. Later, Robinson told Trouten's mother that she had run off with an acquaintance after stealing money from him. When she moved to Kansas City, Robinson (who was still married) gave Lewicka an engagement ring and brought her to the county registrar, where they paid for a marriage license that was never picked up. [2]:4, In 1987, Catherine Clampitt, aged 27, left her child with her parents in Wichita Falls, Texas, and moved to Kansas City to find employment. [2], John Robinson was born in Cicero, Illinois, the third of five children of an alcoholic father and a disciplinarian mother. Initially, Jerry Howell and his friends scathed and taunted Berdella over his overt homosexuality, although according to Berdella, Jerry Howell later confided in him[4]:7879 that he and his friends occasionally earned money as male prostitutes. The New Evil: Understanding the Emergence of Modern Violent Crime (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 2019), pp. About Cracker Barrel; Food with Care; These confessions were given to prosecutors between December 13 and 15, 1988. In this testimony, Berdella claimed the movie he had first seen in 1965, The Collector, had left a major impression on him. Searching the house and grounds of 4315 Charlotte Street, investigators uncovered a human skull inside a closet on the second floor of his property,[26] and a partially decomposed human head in the backyard. Updated: Sep 26, 2022 / 12:25 PM CDT. [6] Chris Koster, the Missouri prosecutor, insisted as a condition of any plea bargain that Robinson lead authorities to the bodies of Stasi, Godfrey, and Clampitt. [19] He would remain adamant to investigators that this would be not for his enjoyment, but what he termed his "physical and mental satisfaction". Berdella was largely unathletic, whereas his younger brother, Daniel seven years his junior displayed an aptitude for various sports from an early age. According to Berdella, one hour after his "experimenting" with hypodermic needles by inserting them into various muscles upon his victim's back, Mark Wallace died through a combination of "the drugs, the gag, and the lack of oxygen". Robinson cashed Faith's pension checks for the next seven years. 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). Following the senses of shock and disgust he claimed to have initially experienced after killing his first victim,[4]:270 the movie had resurfaced in his memory and subsequently became a motivating psychological force in the actions he exhibited against his victims in his subsequent murders. [2]:8, Around the time of Lewicka's disappearance, a licensed practical nurse named Suzette Trouten moved from Michigan to Kansas to travel the world with Robinson as his submissive sex slave. [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. A post on . Missouri aggressively pursued capital punishment convictions, so Robinson's attorneys wanted to avoid a trial there. Robinson was prosecuted and found guilty by a. The investigation was terminated as Godfrey was of legal age, and there was no evidence of wrongdoing. [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. 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. She vanished in June of that year. No trace of Godfrey has ever been found. The property was later demolished. 8225 North Church Rd., I-35 & State Route 152, Kansas City, MO, 64158-1105. [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. [10], Berdella provided testimony to prosecutors between December 13 and 15, after he changed his plea and sought approval of their agreement not to seek the death penalty against him if he fully confessed. They found three similar chemical drums containing corpses subsequently identified as Bonner, Faith, and Faith's daughter. [5] He died of a heart attack while incarcerated at the Missouri State Penitentiary in October 1992. [11] In spite of this condition of his living with Berdella, Kellogg further stated that numerous male prostitutes and addicts had been reluctant to engage in any form of contact with Berdella because of rumors regarding his links to the 1984 disappearance of Jerry Howell. Robinson, who has never cooperated with investigators, refused. [6], In 2005, Nancy Robinson filed for divorce after forty-one years of marriage, citing incompatibility and irreconcilable differences. There, he enrolled in the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI), with aspirations of becoming a college professor. "He's maintained the secrets about what he's done with the women. He was sentenced to three years' probation. [1], Bryson then managed to escape from the house by jumping from a second floor window, wearing nothing besides a dog collar around his neck, breaking a bone in his foot in the process; he then ran toward a meter reader walking across the other side of the street, shouting for them to call the police. [28] Several other Polaroid images depicted as-yet unidentified young men, and several detectives were assigned to identify them, determining if they were alive or dead and, if alive, the circumstance of the picture. [46], In November 1988, auctions of Berdella's vast collection of artifacts and furniture confiscated from his home and business were held on four separate dates, with the intention that all proceeds raised at the auctions to be used to pay his mounting legal fees within then-ongoing legal proceedings. [11], Kellogg also stated Berdella had expressly stated that a condition of his lodging with him was for Kellogg to persuade young men whom Berdella found attractive to attend parties at Charlotte Street in order that Berdella could drug them. Throughout his studies in high school, he had earned such excellent grades and displayed such potential that in 1966, one teacher had placed him in an independent study program. Shortly after his release from hospital and further questioning by the KCPD, Christopher Bryson lapsed into cocaine abuse. Shortly thereafter, investigators discovered that photograph "D" released to the media in this same array was one Larry Wayne Pearson. Authorities recovered the bodies of up to 11 people from the Old West tract of land owned by . Other entries such as "gag loose, no resist in retie" or "very delayed breathing, snoring" were more self-explanatory. 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. ", "Robert Berdella: The Butcher of Kansas City, Missouri", "Talk of Reopening Serial Killer Bob Berdella's Bazaar Bizarre is Dismissed as a Hoax", "House of Horrors Shocks Residents of a Quiet Neighborhood", "Serial Murder, Psychopathy, and Objectification", "Berdella Sentenced To Life In Prison Without Parole", "Crime Watch Leader had Human Head in Yard", "Man Convicted of Murder After a Head Was Found in Garden", "Robert Berdella: The Butcher of Kansas City", "Macabre Mystery Surrounding Death of 2 Men in Kansas City", "Second Skull Found at Berdella's House Identified", "Man Convicted of Murder after a Head was Discovered in His Yard", "Missourian Admits Murders of 5 Men: Shopkeeper Now Serving Life Terms for 6 Killings in All", "Robert Berdella: Serving Six Life Sentences", "Killer Reportedly Agrees to Confess to Five Slayings", "The Kansas City Butcher: The Confession", "Berdella Criticizes Police; Insists He Does Feel Remorse", "Bob Berdella: The Butcher of Kansas City", "Police Seek Victims from Torture Photos", "Auction of Killer's Art Collection Cancelled", "Auction of Killer's Art Collection Canceled", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Berdella&oldid=1142906983, American people convicted of sexual assault, American people who died in prison custody, American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment, Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Missouri, Serial killers who died in prison custody, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2023, All articles containing potentially dated statements, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox criminal with motive parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 23:48. 185-189. All five women were killed in the same way, by one or more blows to the head with a blunt instrument. Paul Howell formally identified one picture of a young man hanging upside down in Berdella's basement as depicting his son.
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