Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Slave Master” Pt. 1: John Edward Robinson

Episode Date: May 11, 2020

As a child growing up in Illinois in the 1940s and ‘50s, John Edward Robinson was obsessed with figures from the criminal underworld. When he was grown and married, he began conning his way into jobs he wasn't qualified for. It wasn't long before his scheming ways took a decidedly dark turn... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Try Activia today. Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder and assault that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. Paula got

free hummed as she dashed around her room. She grabbed clothes from a dresser drawers and hastily folded them into a small suitcase. The 19-year-old was excited and a little nervous. Her new boss John had asked her to go on her very first business trip, a training course in Texas. John told her not to worry about any costs. The business would take care of it. He was even driving her to the airport himself. When she finished packing, Paula took one last glance around the room. This was a big step for her, and this trip was sure to be just one of many important moments in what was sure to be an exciting career. When she heard John honking outside, she grabbed

her things and rushed through the house. She said a quick goodbye to her father, then ran to the car, best not to keep her generous employer waiting. Paula's father waved from the front of door as Paula and John backed out of the driveway. He had no way of knowing that he'd never see his daughter again. I'm Greg Paulson. This is serial killers, a podcast original. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today we're discussing John Edward Robinson, a small-time con artist who was involved in the disappearance and murder of at least eight women from 1984 to 2000. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone.

You can find episodes of Serial Killers and all other Parcast originals for free on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. To stream Serial Killers for free on Spotify, just open the app and type Serial Killers in the search bar. At Parcast, we're grateful for you, our listeners. You allow us to do what we love. Let us know how we're doing. Reach out on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. This week will follow John Edward Robinson's journey from underworld obsessed kid to community-oriented father of four.

We'll see how John's search for easy money and an obsession with sex took him from petty thief to cold-blooded killer. Next week, we'll look deeper into John's connections to the trail of missing and murdered women left in his wake. Growing up in the early 1940s, John Edward Robinson listened intently to stories about the legendary gangster Al Capone. Many of the people in John's hometown of Cicero, Illinois, seemed to admire Capone for his cunning and his ability to outsmart the police. This idea fascinated John. He wanted to use his wits like Capone had to gain respect and power. He didn't

want to end up like his blue-collar parents, who often struggled for money. His father was an alcoholic and his mother was a strict disciplinarian. Neither option appealed to him. He deserved He deserved more. Initially, his strong ambitions drove John to excel academically. At 13, John was accepted to the prestigious Quigley Preparatory Seminary School. The five-year Roman Catholic program was intended to prepare young boys who planned on joining the priesthood. But John's intentions to take the cloth were not altruistic. He told his friends that he only wanted to work inside the Vatican to gain power. His fellow students were confused by John's brazen confession, but he had no sense.

shame. His was a great plan. But though John behaved as if he were an exceptional student, he struggled academically. According to his teachers, John was never anything more than average, yet a few people did notice his unsettling ability to manipulate others. Later, a public relations director for the Chicago Boy Scouts, which John had participated in, said that John didn't talk a great deal, but when he did talk, it was to produce an effect that he wanted. He was shrew. As a teenager, when John wasn't in school, he spent his time roaming the back alleys of his neighborhood. The criminal underworld held a hypnotic allure for him. It was mysterious and filled with a variety of unsavory characters who commanded respect.

Before long, John was running favors for low-level criminals who had connections to the mob. On the street, John worked hard to gain the admiration of his peers. He started ditching school and his grades to grade. declined. John's aspirations toward priesthood eventually faded, especially when he graduated from Quigley at 17. John's father hoped to get his son back on track for a solid career. He encouraged John to continue his education and convinced him to enroll at a junior community college. There he began studying to become an X-ray technician. At college, John's inflated self-image evolved into delusions of grandeur. In his mind, merely becoming

an X-ray technician was not good enough. Apropos of nothing, he felt he deserved more. John told the other students he was too smart to be a technician and wanted to be a real doctor instead. Displaying the clear thinking required of a doctor, John dropped out of the program before earning his degree. But he wasn't going to let a sheet of paper, or lack thereof, stand in his way. He would get what he thought he deserved. John carefully forged his diploma, as well as a few letters of recommendation. He then used these forgeries to apply to a hospital in Chicago. Not long after, John was offered a job in the X-ray department.

Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but she has done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Even as a child, John Robinson was a convincing liar who was adept at manipulating people. Agent John E. Douglas, one of the FBI's first criminal profilers and author of the novel Mind Hunter, said Robinson possessed characteristics of a classic antisocial personality disorder.

Those with antisocial personality disorder, also referred to as ASPD or APD, are typically intelligent and will cleverly use their charm and wit to bypass an unsuspecting person's defenses. They can also be extremely dangerous. Their lack of empathy, combined with arrogance, can cause them to be aggressive and violent. John's charm, combined with his sense of superiority and lack of remorse, made him a good liar. He was convincing in part because he felt no shame. After conning his way into a job for which he was unqualified, life seemed to be on track for John. When he was 20, he met a young woman named,

Nancy Joe Lynch. Nancy fell quickly for the smooth-talking charismatic X-ray technician. He was friendly, kind, and appeared to have a bright future ahead of him. When John proposed early on in their relationship, Nancy happily accepted. Soon after they announced the engagement, Nancy became pregnant, and the couple was married at a church in Cicero. Although John's parents were uncomfortable with their son's rushed marriage, it did give them hope that he would finally settle down. Perhaps the responsibilities of fatherhood would help encourage him to straighten up and fly right. But the pressure of a growing family had the opposite effect. John quickly discovered that having a child was expensive and found himself in need of a quick buck.

Although he was ambitious, he wasn't interested in working hard to get the money he felt entitled to. It was easier to steal it. John set his sights on the hospital, but his fledgling criminal methods were unsophisticated. His attempts to embezzle money were so clumsy that the hospital caught him almost immediately, and he was fired. But with a little smooth talking, he was at least able to convince the hospital not to press charges, as long as he paid them back. With his reputation tarnished in Chicago's medical community, John decided to relocate his family to Kansas City. He once again forged certificates and letters of recommendation to secure another technician job at Children's Mercy and General Hospitals in Kansas City. Initially, his colleagues at Children's Mercy Hospital thought John was an intelligent and competent employee.

He was friendly and loved to talk about his time spent in Chicago, where he claimed to have been a nuclear medicine technologist. However, once John had to perform his technical duties, the medical staff saw his incompetence at just about every aspect of his job. Not only could John not properly take x-rays, he was also unskilled at handling the patients. He spoke to infants as if they were adults. He would tell them to hold their breath and move their bodies in a specific way under the X-ray machine. This clumsy bedside manner didn't match up with the experience John had claimed, which raised more eyebrows. While John struggled at work, he also faced pressure at home. Around this time, now Nancy gave birth to a boy.

Perhaps driven by the stress of fatherhood, John began frequenting seedy nightclubs and bars. He was on the hunt for sex, and he didn't seem to care where he found it. Suddenly seized by an obsession for infidelity, John slept with many women. He became a regular at secret erotic clubs around the city, where he engaged in BDSM.

As he had done as a teenager, John was once again living dual lives. At home, he was a devoted family man, but at night, in downtown Kansas City, John was dedicated to only one thing, his own pleasure. Before long, this new sexual obsession spilled into his professional life. After he propositioned multiple female co-workers, John was fired from his hospital positions. Never one to wait around for things to happen. John moved quickly to secure another job, and it seemed to be getting even easier to secure. second chances. With his forged documents and reassuring charisma, John was hired on the spot

during his interview at Fountain Plaza X-ray. He dazzled them so thoroughly, the company never even ran a background check. By all accounts, Dr. Graham, who owned Fountain Plaza X-ray, was intelligent and excelled in his field, but he was also notoriously trusting of others. Unfortunately for Dr. Graham, John knew an easy target when he saw one. Within weeks of starting out, at Fountain Plaza X-ray. He doctored the books, withdrew money from the company account, and pocketed copayments made in cash. The company was suddenly so short on funds that year,

employee Christmas bonuses were canceled. Eventually, John's technical ineptitude caught up with him, and his colleagues at Fountain Plaza lost trust in his abilities. When a bookkeeper checked John's paperwork, the full extent of his duplicity was revealed. Like he had done in the past, John tried to sweet talk his way out of trouble by offering to pay back the money he had stolen. But this time it didn't work. Dr. Graham, though trusting, was not so quick to forgive.

He decided to press charges, and in 1969, 25-year-old John was found guilty of stealing by means of deceit. At the sentencing, Nancy testified that John was a good father and husband. The judge showed leniency and sentenced him to three years of probation. Once again, John had escaped any real consequences for his crime. To the ordinary observer, John Robinson was lucky to get away with his misdeeds. But John thought differently. In his mind, he had outsmarted the police, just like Al Capone had done in Cicero. Now, free to carry on with his life, John once again went in search of easy money.

His forged documents had worked well in the past, so he decided to use them again. This time, he set his sights on the corporate world. Now in his mid-20s, John applied for a high-paying systems analyst job at Mobile Oil. His fake resume showed that he was a perfect fit. During his interview, the employees in charge were so impressed by John's intelligence and wit that they hired him on the spot. Once again, it seems no one thought to check into John's background. Although the probation officers assigned to John's case were curious how he'd secured such a prestigious position,

they were confident that the motivated young man would settle in to become an upstanding member of society. It didn't take John's new employers long to realize their mistake. Within months, Mobile Oil fired him for stealing over 6,000 postage stamps. To understand why John would throw away a potentially lucrative career for $400 worth of stamps, It's important to remember FBI criminal profiler John Douglas' assessment of him and the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. A study published in 2009 in the Journal of Psychiatric Research looked at two distinct groups of men,

one who fit antisocial personality disorder criteria and one who did not. The experiment compared the two groups' responses to impulses, those that offered an immediate reward but diminished long-term gain and those that demanded an immediate response with no thought of future consequences. The subjects who displayed antisocial personality disorder symptoms were more likely to give in to impulses that demanded an immediate reaction. They paid little attention to the pros or cons of the situation. John didn't need the stamps and likely didn't consider the consequences of stealing them.

He just followed his immediate impulse to steal. To keep the theft from being reported, John paid mobile oil for the stamps. After leaving the company, John quickly found a new job, selling insurance. It was finally a job that suited his personality perfectly, skilled in the art of manipulation and willing to creatively bend the truth when needed. He was an impressive salesman. But John felt he was too smart to be an insurance salesman. In his mind, the way he continuously outwitted the legal system.

proved that. He deserved more from life and would do anything to get it. After a few months on the job, John got caught yet again embezzling money, and again he escaped jail time by paying restitution. Instead of viewing his brushes with the law as close calls, they only made John bolder. He managed to carry on affairs, lie his way into jobs, and steal money without anything bad happening to him. He began to wonder, what else could he get away with? In a moment, John takes his scams all the way to City Hall. Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigued, ask your doctor about Zepbound, terseptite, the first and only FDA-approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity. Zepbound is a prescription

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Call 1-800-545-99 or visit zepbound.lily.com. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen.

Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Now back to the story. By 1970, 26-year-old John Edward Robinson was straddling two sides of himself. He was both a family man and a con artist with a history of theft and forgery. Although he'd been caught stealing from his employers numerous times, he had so far managed to stay out of jail, and he showed no intention of slowing down.

With his criminal past and tarnished reputation, John found that job opportunities open to him were rapidly drying up. But with his wife expecting twins, he needed a way to remedy this problem. He decided to start his own business. He created a medical consulting business called Profitably. Professional Services Association. In a promotional pamphlet, John promised to streamline and organize doctors' offices.

To add legitimacy to the company, he rented office space, hired a secretary, and bought himself a suit. In his new suit, John looked the part of a bona fide businessman. During his interview at the University of Kansas Medical Center, the department chairman was so impressed with John, he immediately hired him as a consultant. Services Association was officially in business, and John didn't waste any time getting up to his old tricks. For the next three months, he steadily stole money from the medical center. In her book, Interpersonal Diagnosis and Treatment of Personality Disorders, Dr. Lorna Smith-Benzhenjamin

states that those with antisocial personality disorder show a pattern of inappropriate and unmodulated desire. That idea sheds light on why John repeatedly committed similar, embezzlement schemes. The fact that John had avoided severe punishment for this pattern of criminal behavior also fueled his arrogance. Perhaps feeling untouchable, John brazenly asked for his new client's company checkbook, but a suspicious bookkeeper reported John to an internal department, triggering an investigation. It didn't take the medical center long to conclude that John's motives were dubious and to fire his fraudulent company. But another lost job was nothing to John. After being forced out of Kansas medical, John simply changed his approach.

No longer interested in large businesses with excessive oversight. He decided to cheat individual investors instead. He understood two crucial things about these targets. First, amateur investors were plentiful. Second, people were often too embarrassed to admit they made a mistake. John had faith that a lot of his victims would never file a police report after he conned conned them. Once again, John believed he had outwitted everyone else. John developed a plan to lure potential investors. To trick people into believing his company was legitimate and thriving, he forged a series of documents. These forgeries suggested that a number of influential and wealthy people, like entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Major League baseball owner Ewing M. Kaufman had invested in

Professional Services Association. The Roos succeeded in attracting investors. but it also attracted the attention of Ewing Kaufman himself. When a friend of Kaufman called to discuss their investment in John's company, Ewing was outraged. They called the Securities and Exchange Commission. Two years later, the Securities and Exchange Commission indicted John on securities fraud, mail fraud, and falsely representing his company. Incredibly, after pleading no contest, John once again escaped prison time.

The court fined John $2,500. and extended his probation by three years, but never ordered him to pay back his investors. That stolen money came in handy when John and Nancy decided they wanted more room for their growing family. In 1977, when John was in his early 30s, the couple purchased a nine-bedroom home

in the upscale Kansas neighborhood of Pleasant Valley Farms. Viewing his affluent neighbors as yet another opportunity to swindle people, John strategically embedded himself in the community. To sell the deception, John became a model neighbor. He coached a tee ball team, refereed volleyball games, and became a Sunday school teacher. After enrolling his son in the Boy Scouts, John became the scoutmaster of the troop.

He bought two horses and volunteered to maintain the horse trails. John cleaned the neighborhood pond and took over the homeowners association. At Christmas, he even dressed up as Santa Claus. for the children in the neighborhood. John worked tirelessly in his community to present himself as a trustworthy person. While a few of his neighbors sensed something off about John, most believed he was the perfect family man.

Before long, he felt that time was right to strike. There were plenty of targets in Pleasant Valley Farms, seniors looking to grow their investment portfolios, or couples looking to save for retirement. John started a new company called HydroGrow, hydro grow incorporated. John created pamphlets describing a method of growing plants without soil and listed himself as an expert in the field of hydroponics. One neighbor desperate to pay their spouse's rising medical pills invested $25,000 into hydro grow. They

never saw a return on their investment and John pocketed the money. With this success, John set his sights even higher. He wanted to attract more investors, within his neighborhood and beyond. To do that, he needed a higher profile. In 1977, John devised an elaborate plan. He volunteered to be the director of Blue Valley Sheltered Workshop, an organization dedicated to helping the disabled. From there, he forged and sent letters to City Hall,

posing as the former director, inviting high-ranking government officials to attend a celebratory Man of the Year banquet. To seal the deal, John mailed a separate letter to the mayor's secretary confirming the mayor had personally approved the ceremony. Then he invited noteworthy business people from around the city to the event. He sweetened the pot by promising that senior members of the government would be in attendance. The scam worked, and in front of his wife, children, and prominent members of the community, a state senator awarded John the Bogus Man of the Year award. The senator even read aloud a speech about John Robinson's many charitable deeds.

The writer of the speech? John Robinson, of course. Afterwards, John sent a press release about the event to the city paper. He wanted to drum up favorable coverage to attract investors to Hydrogrow, but he had finally gone too far. He gained attention, but not from investors. After the newspaper printed the story, their phone lines were flood. flooded with people who John had conned over the years. Finally, under public scrutiny, his lies unraveled, and the paper retracted the man of the year

story. They followed the retraction with an article exposing John's criminal past. John denied everything. He touted a story that painted him as the victim of a shakedown. He did all he could to project the image of a struggling businessman who had been taken advantage of by corrupt media and overreaching government. Meanwhile, the pressures at home were mounting. His family needed more income, and Nancy was deeply embarrassed by the Man of the Year fiasco.

Neither she nor her children had known that the award was fake. Additionally, the Robinson's neighbors began to grow concerned. They had noticed that John wasn't taking care of his home like he used to, and witnessed frequent outbursts aimed at his children. Nancy admitted to a friend that John had physically abused her. She also began to suspect that John was cheating on her. Children at school teased the Robinson kids over their father's bad reputation, and neighbors no longer wanted to invest in his business. It was such a stressful time that Nancy considered getting a divorce.

But she never filed for divorce papers. She didn't want to break apart her family. And perhaps she felt that John was truly cleaning up his act. In 1979, he was discharged from his probation. He closed HydroGrow and got a real job as the employee relations manager at Guy's Food. Again, blinded by his charisma and personality, the company neglected to perform a proper background check. John took advantage of the situation and immediately started looking for ways to satisfy his two

strongest desires, money and women. At Guy's Food, John seduced a secretary. With her help, John set up payrolls for employees that didn't exist. He also wrote himself checks, making them out to accounts he controlled, and even wrote one to his old company, Professional Services Association. The scheme all worked well. John flush with cash paid for exotic trips and hotel rooms for sexual romps. But John's charm had worked too well on the secretary.

She professed her love to John and told him that if he didn't leave his wife, she would go to the police. Cocky and arrogant, John tried to call her bluff, but this woman scorned wasn't bluffing. In 1980, John was charged with felony theft. It seemed his good luck with the law had finally run out. In a moment, John's misdeeds take a frighteningly dark turn. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. coin way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon.

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He was charged with felony theft, this time because John was a serial offender, he could face serious jail time. Hoping for a more lenient sentence, he agreed to pay restitution to guy's food and was sentenced to 60 days in jail. It was little more than a slap on the wrist. And it wasn't going to slow a con man like him down.

Soon after John was released, he set up yet another new business called Equipus. Advertised as a consulting service, Equipus contracted with a corporate seminar company called Backcare Systems. John promised Backcare that he would create a marketing plan to sell their services to companies looking to alleviate employees' back pain. Almost immediately, Backcare systems began receiving false and overcharged invoices. They quickly alerted the District Attorney, who opened an investigation into John.

Unfortunately, both Back Care and the District Attorney's Office underestimated John's con artistry. Every time they demanded to see documentation or evidence of service, rendered, John provided forgeries of his own making. He also created fake customer accounts and falsified affidavits in his own favor. He incessantly called the investigators, pretending to be various clients of Equipus. Eventually, John's tactics wore down the staff at the District Attorney's Office, and legal charges were never filed. And John just kept scheming.

By this time, John's scams were so prolific, they were becoming coming hard for him to keep track of. He stole investors' money, over-billed clients for services that were never performed, and even posed as a lawyer to represent a client during her divorce proceedings. As payment, she signed over her car title to him. When the client asked John about her divorce papers, John told her she didn't need them. He told her that she was legally divorced and could go out and get remarried if she wanted to. As a con artist, John was tireless.

He put countless hours into his scams and the only thing limiting him was the technology of the time. That all changed in the early 80s with the invention of the personal computer. As technology changed, John also looked to evolve his scams. In 1984, at the age of 40, he created a new company, Equit II. Pulling together multiple elements of his criminal past, John advertised Equit II as specializing in the management of agricultural, medical and charitable organizations.

He hired a 19-year-old woman named Paula Godfrey as a sales representative for his new and improved consulting firm. Believing Equitou was an authentic company, Paula jumped at the chance to gain real-world job experience. John explained to Paula that to be proficient at her job, she would have to receive clerical training in Texas. He told her that the company would cover the cost of the trip and even offered to drive her to the airport himself. A few days later, Paula's father, Bill, watched John drive away with his daughter. Bill believed Paula was on her way to San Antonio.

She had promised to call him when she landed, but the call never came. Worried and with no other way to contact her, Bill booked a flight to San Antonio to search for his daughter. There, he discovered that Paula hadn't checked into the hotel. He was also told that she never. even got on the plane. Understandably panicked, Bill returned to Kansas City and confronted John at his office. In the usual way, John spoke fast and persuasively. He convinced Bill that he didn't know anything about Paula's disappearance. He was just as shocked as Bill that she missed her flight.

A few days later, a letter arrived in Bill's mailbox. The typed message signed by Paula explained that she never wanted to see him again. The letter offered no explanation. for the extreme decision, but dedicated time to expressing gratitude to John Robinson for offering Paula a job. Sure that the letter was a forgery, Bill showed it to the police. The officers told him that there was nothing they could do. According to them, the letter was genuine. Because Paula was an adult, she could legally do as she wished. But Bill Godfrey never heard from his daughter ever again.

While Paula's body was never found, there are some of her. some clues as to her fate. Around the time she vanished, John Robinson claimed to be involved in a secret sadomasochistic cult. The International Council of Masters membership apparently boasted men who wanted to sexually dominate submissive women. The men referred to the women as slaves, and according to John, it was his job to recruit them. Some came willingly, but others were forced to join in sexual acts against their will. John was supposed to so good at finding women, the group gave him the name Slave Master. It's possible that Paul's disappearance was related to the International Council of Masters,

but investigators could never confirm this. John's increasingly dangerous desire to push the boundaries of sadomasochistic sex, commit fraudulent crimes, and manipulate others were classic symptoms of antisocial personality disorder. In her book, The Sociopath Next Door, psychologist Dr. Martha Stout states, Sociopaths have a greater than normal need for stimulation, which results in their taking frequent social, physical, financial, or legal risks. Characteristically, they can charm others into attempting dangerous ventures with them.

It's hard to understand why a person would trust a relative stranger enough to get in their car, but individuals like John can break down a person's standard defense barriers through skillful deception. A scientific study conducted by Dr. Tatia Lee and Dr. Robin Schau suggests that those with psychopathic traits are not born but learned liars. The study in which students repeatedly lied throughout two training sessions showed people with psychopathic traits were far better at learning how to lie. By recognizing, memorizing, and controlling the tasks required to lie convincingly, psychopaths reroute the neural pathways inside their brains.

Typically, individuals can instinctively pick up on facial and body cues to tell when someone is lying. But in people with antisocial personality disorder, these tells don't exist because they've wired their brains differently. Not long after Paul's disappearance, John rented a duplex in the city. His reason was twofold. He needed to bring in more money for expenses at home, and he wanted to explore his sexual obsessions further.

And for both, he needed a suitable location. He reportedly turned the duplex into a brothel, and the location quickly gained a reputation on the street for specializing in rough S&M sex. To recruit women to work in the brothel, John began contacting outreach programs and non-profits dedicated to impoverished mothers. On the phone, he often described himself as a successful philanthropist.

who was interested in helping the needy get back on their feet. John offered to provide the women with a place to live, job training, and paid living expenses. He made no mention of sex work. It was an appalling practice that only got more sinister. John's brother and sister-in-law had previously told him that they wanted to adopt a child. John said that he had connections at a private adoption agency, but it would cost a couple $5,500 in legal fees. They agreed.

When John called a battered women's shelter in Kansas City, his request to be put in touch with a woman with a white baby should have thrown up a red flag, but John was a smooth talker and convinced an employee at a place called Hope House to introduce him to a woman named Lisa Stacy. Lisa was the perfect target. Her father and brother were both dead, and her husband had abandoned her. All Lisa had was her baby. promised her and her baby a new life and she readily agreed. In 1985, John picked the young

mother up from Hope House. John rented a hotel room for Lisa and her baby. He told her to wait as he prepared travel arrangements and then asked her to sign multiple blank sheets of paper. Although she was unsure why John needed them, Lisa did as she was asked and signed the bottom of each page. A few days later, Lisa called her mother-in-law. scared. But as Lisa's mother-in-law tried to get more information, Lisa abruptly ended the call. The last thing she said on the phone was, I've got to go. Here they are. Worried, Lisa's mother-in-law contacted the police. When they arrived at the hotel, Lisa had already checked out. According to the hotel's records, the room had been paid for with an Equi 2 credit card. Just as Paula Godfrey's

father had done, Lisa's father-in-law arrived at John's office. and demanded to know where Lisa was. John denied having any information, but Lisa's father-in-law didn't believe him. John became irate. The altercation got physical and John violently shoved the other man out of the building. John was angry that someone had the gall

to accuse him, an upstanding businessman, of being involved in Lisa's disappearance. A few days later, Lisa's father-in-law got a letter from Lisa saying that she was safe but didn't want to see him. At the bottom of the letter was Lisa's signature.

Around the time Lisa disappeared, John arrived home with a baby. Nancy instantly had misgivings, but she gave John a chance to explain. He told her that he had mediated an adoption between a private agency and his brother. When she asked for details about the baby, he frowned and told her the mother had committed suicide. John handed the baby girl to his wife. Dirt covered the infant's face and her diaper. was full, so Nancy drove to a convenience store and bought supplies. When Nancy returned, she changed and fed the baby. By then, the situation seemed utterly reasonable.

The next morning in 1985, Don and Helen Robinson flew in to meet their new baby. They named her Heather. As John beamed with pride, someone took a photo of the family. John grinned for the camera with baby Heather on his lap. Don and Helen had no idea that the baby was really Lisa's daughter, Tiffany, and they had no reason to suspect anything terrible it happened to the baby's mother. They were aware John had experienced legal troubles over the years, but never suspected him of hurting someone. No one close to him would have ever believed John was capable of something so terrible.

Don and Helen Robinson thanked John for his help, boarded a plane, and flew back home. A few days later, John mailed the adoption papers to them. The documents certainly appeared official. Two separate lawyers and an adoption judge had signed off on the paperwork. It was even notarized. If they looked a little closer, they might have noticed a few problems with the paperwork. Signatures were forged. The authorizing judge worked in a civil court that didn't handle adoptions.

And the person who notarized the documents later admitted that she was not a notary. She was, however, John's mistress. After a lifetime spent breaking the lawn and facing few consequences, a disturbing new pattern was emerging. John's desire for money and sex had evolved into a dark new fascination with his darker, more violent impulses. And nothing was going to stop him now. Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers.

We'll be back next time with part two of John. John Edward Robinson will follow John's dark descent and the trail of missing women he left in his wake. For more information on John Edward Robinson, amongst the many sources we used, we found, Anyone You Want Me to Be, a True Story of Sex and Death on the Internet, by John E. Douglas and Steven Singular, extremely helpful to our research. You can find more episodes of serial killers and all other Parcast originals, free on Spotify. Not only does Spotify already have all of your favorite music, but now Spotify is making it easy for you to enjoy all of your favorite Parcast originals, like Serial Killers, for free from your phone, desktop, or smart speaker.

To stream Serial Killers on Spotify, just open the app and type Serial Killers in the search bar. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Parcast and Twitter at Parcast Network. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers was created by Max Cutler and is a parcast studio's original. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, sound designed by Mike Ramos, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden, and Aaron Larson. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Adam Boland,

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