Cops discover ‘Shopping Cart Killler’s’ FIFTH victim after missing woman’s body found in D.C

The body of a woman found covered ‘only with a blanket’ in a shopping cart last September may have been the first victim of the ‘shopping cart killer’, a man from Washington, DC, accused of killing four other women by luring them to hotel room dating apps before murdering them and taking their bodies to nondescript places.

Anthony Eugene Robinson, 35, is Charged with the murders of two women whose bodies were found in a parking lot in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in November and suspected of killing two women whose remains were found in a wooded area of ​​Alexandria in Fairfax County last month.

Those murders followed the murder of 40-year-old Sonya Champ, who was discovered near Union Station in the nation’s capital on September 7 by a passerby who alerted police.

At a news conference Friday, Fairfax County Sheriff’s Major Edward O’Carroll said he suspects Robinson of killing the woman.

“We believe this may be the fifth victim of Anthony Eugene Robinson,” O’Carroll said. This is based on digital evidence that places him in the same neighborhood at the time of the victim’s disappearance. It’s sad and tragic. ‘

Champ’s mom, Norma Hairston, said she’s’ at peace with it now because now [she] you know what really happened to him [her] daughter.’

“ I found out early today and I still understand everything, ” Hairston told WUSA9. “It’s bringing back the memories.”

She described Champ as a ‘sweet person’ who was an introvert, but loved being with family and helping others.

O’Carroll also said Friday that the two potential killer victims found in Alexandria had been positively identified as Cheyenne Brown, pregnant mother of one, of Washington DC, 29, and Stephanie Harrison, 48, of Redding, California.

Police initially believed Brown was one of the victims based on a distinctive tattoo described by his family, but were awaiting DNA confirmation.

The bodies of Brown and Harrison were found on December 15 near the Moon Inn in a wooded area in the 2400 block of Fairhaven Avenue in Alexandria. O’Carroll said in an earlier press conference that Robinson had brought the women to the hotel after meeting them on dating apps.

During a search of the hotel, the police found a red shopping cart nearby and recalled that the killer had used a shopping cart to transport the bodies of the victims. Near the shopping cart was a large plastic container containing the remains of the two women.

O’Carroll said Robinson was the last person to be seen alive with Brown after the two met on the dating app Plenty of Fish. Police also believe that Robinson used the Tagged app to lure potential victims. Cellular data also placed Brown and Robinson in the same location the night of their disappearance on September 30.

Brown was last seen leaving her home in the 200 block of 36th Street in the southeastern section of DC around 3 p.m. on September 30.

Her family said the 29-year-old woman, who has a son of seven, was pregnant with her second child at the time of her disappearance.

After police announced Robinson’s arrest in late November in connection with the deaths of Redmon and Smith, Brown’s family became concerned that he, too, had hurt her.

Brown’s cousin Jonathan Willis told NBC Washington prior to the discovery of his remains that he believes Robinson was the man who was with Brown at his home about 10 days before he disappeared.

“My heart is broken,” Nicadra Brown, Cheyenne’s mother, told The Washington Post. “The very idea that my baby is not here is devastating. It’s like a bad dream that I just want to wake up from. ”

Receipt records show they stayed together at the Moon Inn on the same day, and that Robinson had stayed at the hotel at least five other times, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said at the conference. Friday press.

Robinson was initially charged in connection with the murder of two women found dead from blunt force trauma on November 23, found close to each other in an open lot at the intersection of Route 33 and Interstate 81 in the Harrisonburg business district. in Virginia.

Both women, Allene Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Redmon of Harrisonburg, 54, and Tonita Lorice Smith of Charlottesville, 39, had hooked up with Robinson on dating sites and later met him at a hotel.

Video surveillance and cell phone logs connected him to the two women, according to the Harrisonburg Police Department.

Investigators believe that the bodies of both women had been transported to the scene in a shopping cart.

Police did not say whether the victims were sexually assaulted, but Davis bluntly stated during the press conference that the suspect did “unspeakable things with his victims.”

Redmon, a mother of two and a grandmother, had disappeared around October 24. His last sighting was in downtown Harrisonburg.

Smith, a mother of six, was last seen Nov. 14 in the 300 block of 10 1/2 Street near Charlottesville. His mother reported him missing on the 19th.

Smith was the aunt of Sage Smith, a 19-year-old from Charlottesville who disappeared in November 2012. 29-year-old Erik McFadden, a person of interest in that case, was supposed to be interviewed by police, but disappeared in 2019 .

So far, Robinson has been charged with two felonies of murder in the first degree and two felonies of concealing, transporting, or tampering with a dead body.

Louis Nagy, his attorney, said he does not comment on the charges or the new allegations.

Robinson is currently being held at the Rockingham County Adult Detention Center and awaiting trial for the Harrisonburg killings. Fairfax County Police said there are additional charges pending in that case.

“Fortunately, he’s incarcerated and gives us the ability to work backwards while he’s not killing yet,” Davis said.

“The fact that he is awaiting trial in Harrisonburg, Virginia allows us to continue to build our probable cause to eventually indict him here in Fairfax County.”

“The challenge is to identify other victims.”

Davis said Robinson has lived in various places along the East Coast in recent years, including New York. Police have met with members of the surrounding police departments to see if any missing persons cases could be attributed to Robinson.

They also urge anyone who has connected with Robinson on dating apps to come forward as part of their investigation.

“We think there are survivors,” Davis said. “We remain very determined to keep digging and getting to the bottom of this.”