There may be a fifth victim of the so-called “shopping cart killer,” the alleged serial killer in Virginia and around Washington, D.C., who leaves his victims in shopping carts.
Police on Friday said they had received a “critical tip” that may link the killer to the death of a woman whose body was found in a shopping cart.
“That deceased woman in a shopping cart was covered only with a blanket. We believe this may be Anthony Eugene Robinson’s fifth victim,” Ed O’Carroll of the Fairfax County Police Department said at a news conference on Friday.
There is evidence placing Robinson, 35, in the same area and at the same time as when the victim vanished, O’Carroll said, according to CNN.
WJLA-TV on Saturday reported the woman’s identity as Sonya Champ, whose body was found in September on F Street NE in Washington.
Robinson has been in custody since November. Police believe that he met the victims through dating websites and lured them to hotels, where he killed them and then moved their bodies using shopping carts, according to Insider.
Prosecutors have already charged Robinson with killing two women. Authorities allege he killed 54-year-old Allene Redmon of Harrisonburg, Virginia, and 39-year-old Tonita Lorice Smith of Charlottesville, Virginia. Police found their bodies on November 23 in Harrisonburg in an open lot.
Robinson is presently being detained at a North Carolina jail on two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of felony concealing, transporting or altering a dead body.
Also Friday, authorities released the names of two other women Robinson is believed to have killed. They are 29-year-old Cheyenne Brown of Washington, D.C., and 48-year-old Stephanie Harrison of Redding, California.
The bodies of Brown and Harrison were found inside a container by a shopping cart near a hotel on December 15 in Alexandria, Virginia.
Investigators believe Robinson was talking with Brown using a dating website. Phone data indicate he and Brown had been communicating in the area of the hotel. Police say Robinson had stayed at the hotel at least five other times,
Local authorities have asked for assistance from the FBI to better understand Robinson.
Investigators are also urging anyone with information about Robinson to come forward, including anyone who may have had contact with him.
“We believe there are others who have had contact with Robinson, who can provide crucial information to us about him,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said.
To report information about the case, call the Fairfax County Police Department’s Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800 and select option two.
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[Feature Photo: Police Handout]
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