John E. Robinson, Sr.: The Slavemaster

Courtroom footage is available for this story for license and/or purchase from the IN SESSION archives – click here.

Escalation

Released in 1993, Robinson discovered the Internet and its usefulness in meeting people interested in domination and submission sexual activity. He had always been interested in technology, which he used for his own ends. Robinson was a master of manipulating a word processor to create forged documents and when the Web took off in the 1990s, he was an avid Internet user and frequent participant in sexually explicit chat rooms.

Robinson used the name "Slavemaster" to meet women who enjoyed playing the role of the submissive partner during sex.

Beverly Bonner, victim

As the end of the century approached, Robinson was enjoying a steady income by cashing government checks and alimony payments from three of his victims. The first known woman to die after Robinson walked out of prison was Beverly Bonner, a librarian in the Missouri corrections system who had been seduced by John during his incarceration. Shortly after Robinson was freed from prison in Kansas, Beverly divorced her husband, a prison system doctor, and moved to Olathe to work for Robinson in one of his ventures. She disappeared almost immediately and Robinson placed her belongings in a storage locker in a Kansas City suburb. Beverly told her ex-husband that she was going to be traveling abroad and gave him an address at a post office box that he could use to mail her alimony.

When he was asked about Bonner by the storage facility staff, Robinson said Bonner, whom he described as his sister, was in Australia and that she was enjoying herself so much "she probably would never come back."

Little did the staff know that Beverly Bonner was actually entombed in a chemical drum in the storage locker. Next to Bonner's decomposing corpse were two other barrels that contained the remains of a mother and daughter whose government checks continued to supplement Robinson's income.

Sheila Dale Faith, victim

Sheila and Debbie Faith lived a lonely life in Fullerton, California, after Sheila's husband died. Debbie had been diagnosed at various times with spinal bifida or cerebral palsy. She was confined to a wheelchair and barely had the strength to manipulate the chair's joystick controller. When John Faith passed away, Sheila began trying to meet men online and made a string of bad choices before making the fatal acquaintance of John Robinson. He portrayed himself as a wealthy man who would support her and Debbie, pay for therapy for the girl and give Sheila a job. They packed up their belongings and moved to the Kansas City area, where they promptly disappeared.

Debbie Faith, victim

For years, the Social Security Administration continued to send checks to the suburban Missouri post office box that they had given out as their new address. Every month, John Robinson came by and picked up checks made out to Bonner and the Faiths, an employee of the mail box store would testify later.