Police on Friday identified a suspected serial killer in the deaths of at least four people whose remains have been found in Fairfax County and Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Anthony Robinson, 35, has been in custody at the Rockingham County Jail, more than 100 miles from Fairfax, since late November, police said Friday.
The man police called the “Shopping Cart Killer” meets victims from online dating sites at motels before killing them and transporting their remains in shopping carts to “their final resting place,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a news conference Friday afternoon.
Police said the victims were killed with blunt force trauma. While there is video evidence, police are holding off on releasing the footage as they work with the victims’ families.
A joint news conference between Davis and Harrisonburg Police Chief Kelley Warner shared evidence naming as the alleged killer on Friday afternoon.
“Our shopping cart killer does unspeakable things with his victims,” Davis said. “And it’s our collective duty and responsibility to bring justice and closure to all of our communities.”
Police said Robinson has addresses ranging as far north as New York; others are in Prince George’s County, Maryland, and D.C. They suspect he may be responsible for other murders.
“We know he’s obviously traveled all the way down to Harrisonburg,” Davis said. “But where else has he been? Where else has he laid his head? Where else has he worked? Who does he know in all of the jurisdictions in between?”
Robinson was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in a case where two female victims were found in a vacant parking lot in Harrisonburg. He was arrested near the spot where the bodies were found in late November.
Those victims were identified as Allene Elizabeth Redmon, 54, of Harrisonburg, and Tonita Lorice Smith, 39, of Charlottesville. Though police said they were killed at different times, their bodies were found near each other.
Police said human remains were found Wednesday in an isolated wooded area near the 2400 block of Fairhaven Avenue, in Fairfax County. The remains were placed in a large plastic container by a shopping cart nearby a motel called the Moon Inn, police said.
Cheyenne Brown, 29, of Southeast D.C., was identified as one of the victims on Thursday after her family members recognized her tattoos, police said. Robinson was talking to Brown on a dating site and was four months pregnant at the time of her death.
Video shows Brown with the suspect at a D.C. Metro stop on Sept. 30. Footage of the night Brown was killed shows her taking the Metro from D.C. to the Huntington Metro stop. She never returned.
Though the DNA has not been verified for Brown’s identification, police said they are releasing her name in an effort to find other possible victims.
Police said the decomposing state of the remains of the second person killed in Fairfax County has made it difficult to identify the victim.
The possibility that sexual violence was involved in the crimes is being investigated.
“Justice will prevail and the offender will be held accountable for what he did,” Major Ed O’Carroll said.
Police are asking anyone who knows Robinson to reach out to investigators. Anyone with more information is asked to call the Fairfax County Police Department Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800 or use tip anonymously with 1866411.
WTOP’s Colleen Kelleher contributed to this report.
