The Virginia defense attorney for Anthony Eugene Robinson, the suspected “Shopping Cart Killer,” told WTOP that he hasn’t sought bond as police get ready to charge his client in the deaths of two women in Fairfax County, Virginia.
Harrisonburg defense attorney Louis Nagy says he has talked several times with Robinson, through security glass at the Rockingham County Jail.
Robinson is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, and disposing of the bodies of two female victims who were found in a vacant Harrisonburg lot in late November. Those victims were identified as 54-year-old Allene Elizabeth Redmon of Harrisonburg and 39-year-old Tonita Lorice Smith of Charlottesville.
Fairfax County police are waiting on DNA confirmation before charging Robinson in connection with two deaths after human remains were found last 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 near a motel called the Moon Inn, on U.S. Route 1.
Fairfax County police believe one of the victims is 29-year-old Cheyenne Brown, of Southeast D.C., after her family members recognized her tattoos. On Sunday, WTOP reported detectives were flying to California to gather DNA samples as they work to confirm the identity of the fourth victim.
Anthony Guglielmi, lead spokesman for the Fairfax County Police Department, told WTOP detectives believe the victim could be Stephanie Harrison, a California woman last heard from Aug. 19, 2021.
Asked about possible defenses, Nagy told WTOP: “I cannot comment at this time.”
Robinson’s next court appearance in Harrisonburg is set for Dec. 27 to schedule his preliminary hearing. During the preliminary hearing, prosecutors would ask a judge to find probable cause to send the case to trial.
“I have not asked for a bond hearing,” said Nagy. Although Nagy didn’t discuss his reason for not seeking bond, with Fairfax County set to charge Robinson for two more murders, the chance of pretrial release, with even the strictest conditions, is likely nil.
Nagy was appointed by the court to represent Robinson. Unlike larger jurisdictions, which have public defenders, in Rockingham County indigent defendants are appointed a local private attorney.
In the past several days, Nagy became aware that Fairfax County police were investigating his client, but didn’t learn Robinson would likely face two murder counts there until last Friday. That’s when Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis and Harrisonburg Police Chief Kelley Warner said investigators believe Robinson is a serial killer who has transported his victims’ bodies to their final resting place in a shopping cart.
The judge will likely appoint a Northern Virginia defense attorney to represent Robinson in connection with the Fairfax County deaths, Nagy said.
Nagy said he has never represented a defendant whom police have labeled a possible serial killer.
If the deaths had happened several months earlier, it’s likely Nagy would not have been assigned to the case — rather, the judge would have referred the case to the State’s Capital Defender Service, which represents defendants in cases eligible for the death penalty.
In March, Gov. Ralph Northam signed legislation making Virginia the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty.
