2. John’s Childhood
Robinson was born and raised in Cicero, Illinois, the
third of five children of an alcoholic father and a disciplinary
mother. John was an Eagle Scout and he traveled to London
in 1957 and performed upon Queen Elizabeth II.
3. John’s Adult Life
John enrolled at Quigley Preparatory Seminary, in Chicago, a private
boys’ school for aspiring priests. A year later he dropped out due to
disciplinary issues. In 1961 he enrolled in Morton Junior College in Cicero
to become a medical X-ray technician, but dropped out two years later. In
1964 he moved to Kansas City and married Nancy Jo Lynch. In 1965 they
then had their first child John Jr. and fraternal twins in 1971, Christopher
and Christine
Early Crimes-
Robinson was arrested for the first time in 1969, where he embezzled
$33,000 from the medical practice of Dr. Wallace Graham, where he
worked as an X-ray technician. He was sentenced to three years probation.
In 1970 John violated probation by moving back to Chicago without his
probation officers permission and took a job as a local salesman at R.B
Jones Company. In 1971 he was arrested once again for embezzled from
that firm, and ordered back to Kansas City, where his probation was
extended. In 1979, he completed probation.
4. Motives for Killing
In 1983, John’s crimes escalated. His brother, Don Robinson, and his
wife, Helen, had been unsuccessful on trying to conceive and formally
adopting a child. John “claiming” on having connections in the adoption
business, John started looking for a single pregnant women who could
provide them a baby. He went directly to the source and approached Lisa
Stasi, the single mother of a four-month-old baby. Using the name “Josh
Osborne” he convinced her that he would take her into a training program
in Texas that included daycare and job training. John then killed Stasi. Two
days later, John handed the baby over to his brother and his wife along
with legal documents about the adoption claiming that the child’s mother
had committed suicide.
5. Methods and Rituals
In 1994, he made contact with Shelia Faith whose daughter, Debbie,
had been confined with a wheelchair. Promising to give her work and
provide medical care for her daughter, they moved to Kansas City, where
he killed them both. In 1997 Robinson met Polish immigrant Izabela
Lewicka. After dropping out of college, she moved in with him and signed a
115-year slave contract where she signed all of her belongings, including
her bank account to him. In 1987, Catherine Clampitt left her child with her
parents and moved to Kansas City where John promised extensie travel
and a new wardrobe. She vanished in June of that year. In 1999, she was
killed by him and disappeared. Robinsons last known victim was Suzette
Trouten, who worked as a nurse in her day life, and convinced her to work
for him as a caregiver for his elderly father. After moving to Kansas, she
disappeared. To cover it up, John sent her mother several typed letters, all
which were post-marked in Kansas and written with better spelling than
what Suzette normally used. John became carless of what he was doing
and how he was covering his tracks. He hijacked Suzette’s email and kept
in touch with some of her friends to keep up the appearance of her being
alive. Then he met Beverly Bonner, the prison librarian, in which she left
her husband and began to work for John. She then disappeared. For
several years, Beverly’s mother had been forwarding her checks, and John
continued cashing them.
6. The Victims
Shelia Faith, 45 Debbie Faith, Lisa Stasi, 19 Izabela Lewicka,
15 21
Suzette Troutan, Paula Godfrey, 19 Catherine Clampitt, Beverly Bonner,
28 27 49
7. Profile and Characteristics of the
Victims
All of them were women with children and they all were married,
some left their husband.
All wealthy women.
All left their job to work with Robinson.
All were very young.
All lived in Missouri and left to live in Kansas.
8. How John was Caught
Like many other serial killers, John became careless over time
and did a poor job of covering up his tracks. By 1999, he had
attracted the attention of authorities in both Kansas and Missouri
and his name popped up more and more in the missing person
investigation. Robinson was arrested in 2000 after a woman filed a
sexual battery complaint against him and another for stealing her
sex toys. The theft charge finally gave the investigators the
probably cause they needed to obtain search warrants. All five
woman were killed in the same way, by one or two blows to the
head with a hammer or other blunt instrument.
9. Charged with and Sentence
to…
In 2002, Robinson was sentenced to death in Kansas for the
murders of Trouten and Lewicka, and life imprisonment for killing
Stasi, because she had been murdered before Kansas reinstated
the death penalty. Robinson could become the first convict by lethal
injection in the state of Kansas.
10. Additional Questions
Why are serial killers so difficult to spot?
-Serial killers don’t know how to feel sympathy for others, instead they
learn to stimulate normal behavior by observing others. They’re actors with
a natural penchant for performance.
List the characteristics that make up the four types of serial killer crime
scenes?
1. Victim is a targeted stranger.
2. Body’s hidden.
3. Missing weapon or evidence.
4. Aggressive acts done before death.
What are the most surprising pieces of information you learned from this
web quest?
-The most surprising thing I found out about doing this web quest is the
way a serial killer can be so well to hid these things over a 15 year time
period.
