‘Shopping Cart Killer’ May Be Linked To 5th Victim, Officials Investigating More Leads

Virginia officials believe that they may have found a fifth victim of the notorious “shopping cart killer” after a woman’s body was found in a shopping cart in Washington, D.C.

Fairfax County Police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi posted a statement to Twitter that read, “This week we also received a credible tip that suggests our person of interest may be a person of interest in a Washington DC case where a woman was found deceased in a shopping cart. Digital information places him in that area at the time of her disappearance.”

Police officers were only able to locate the woman after receiving an anonymous tip. The identity of this fifth victim has yet to be revealed, but police are concerned that there may be more victims still unaccounted for.

As The Blast previously reported, Anthony Robinson, 35, had been arrested for the murder of two women in mid-December. At the time, he was suspected of claiming the lives of only four women until a fifth body was found earlier this week.

According to authorities, Robinson would allegedly meet his victims on dating apps Plenty of Fish and Tagged and then lure them to motels where he would kill them and transport their bodies into the woods in shopping carts.

When he was first arrested, he was facing two counts of first-degree murder and two felony counts of concealing, transporting, or altering a dead body. However, officials state that there is a high likelihood that there will be additional charges filed against him as police continue their investigation into his three other alleged victims.

At the time, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said “We’re in the process of conducting, along with many other partners, a retrospective investigation to figure out where he’s been.”

He continued, “And we’re going to work with our law enforcement partners, homicide detectives, missing person detectives, to see if we can identify any other victims and families and communities that he has brought harm to.”

The first victims to be identified were Elizabeth Redmon, 54, of Harrisonburg, and Tonita Lorice Smith, 39, of Charlottesville. Harrisonburg Police Chief Kelley Warner said during a press conference that investigators believe that both victims died at different times.

Robinson is also believed to be behind the disappearance and death of Cheyenne Brown, 29, of Washington D.C.. Robinson and Brown had been in contact with each other through a dating website shortly before her disappearance, according to authorities. Detectives also found cell phone records that placed both Robinson and Brown “in and around the area” of the Moon Inn motel in Alexandria, Virginia at the time of her disappearance.

In mid-December, authorities found a shopping cart in the woods around the Moon Inn motel. O’Carroll said that they found the human remains of two people in a container not far from where the shopping cart was found. Brown’s body was identified due to a “very distinctive tattoo” she had. The other woman was later identified as Stephan Harrison, 48, of Redding, California.

In a press conference on Friday, Guglielmi confirmed the identities of the last two victims to be found in Alexandria. He said that Anthony Robinson remains the primary suspect behind the murder and disappearances of both women.

Fairfax officials have solicited the support of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and partnered with authorities in Robinson's home state of New York to help get more information about the suspect. Officials are hoping that they will be able to connect with other women who may have been in contact with Robinson to try to find more potential victims.

Authorities revealed that Robinson and Brown communicated primarily on the Plenty of Fish dating app, although Robinson is rumored to have also used the Tagged dating app. They are asking for anyone who communicated with Robinson on these or other dating apps to please step forward to provide “crucial information to us about him.”