VA Shopping Cart Serial Killer: 4 Victims Found, More Suspected

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County police and Harrisonburg police are investigating a man accused of serial killings, dubbed the "Shopping Cart Killer," with four victims identified so far. The suspect is behind bars, according to Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis.

Anthony Robinson, 35, of Washington, D.C., was arrested in November after two bodies were found in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Police believe the suspect may be linked to the bodies found in Fairfax County, and charges are forthcoming.

Robinson is in custody at the Rockingham County jail. Davis said Robinson had a "remarkable absence of a criminal history" before his arrest.

"The good thing is, he's in custody. The challenge that remains is identifying other victims," Davis said in a news conference Friday.

The four victims identified so far were killed in Fairfax County and Harrisonburg, but police believe there may be additional victims.

On Nov. 23, Harrisonburg police identified two victims in an open lot in the city's commercial district, according to Police Chief Kelley Warner. Police arrested Robinson in connection with the killings of Allene Elizabeth Redmon, 54, of Harrisonburg, and Tonita Lorice Smith, 39, Charlottesville.

Robinson was charged in Harrisonburg with two counts of first-degree murder and two felony counts of concealing, transporting or altering a dead body.

One victim found in Fairfax County is tentatively identified as Cheyenne Brown, 29, who was reported as missing by D.C. police on Sept. 30. While the identification of Brown is not confirmed, a tattoo on the victim's body was identified by her family.

A second unidentified victim was also found in the same location.

"The reason why we're not waiting to share this information ... is because we believe there may be other victims in the area and throughout the commonwealth of Virginia, and we need to act now," said Davis.

According to Davis, the suspected serial killer met the victims on dating sites, then in person at motels in Fairfax County and Harrisonburg. Police said Friday they know a serial killer has traveled between the D.C. region and Harrisonburg, but are working to identify other locations.

Fairfax County police are working with law enforcement partners, homicide detectives and missing persons detectives to identify other victims and locations the serial killer has impacted.

"After he inflicts trauma to his victims and kills them, he transports their bodies to their final resting place, literally, in a shopping cart," Davis said.

The remains of the victim believed to be Cheyenne Brown were found near a shopping cart in the 2400 block of Fairhaven Avenue with an Alexandria address in Fairfax County on Wednesday. Police believe the contact between the killer and victim may have happened at the Moon Inn hotel on Richmond Highway in late September.

The remains of another unidentified victim were also in the container.

According to Major Ed O'Carroll, commander of the Major Crimes Bureau, Fairfax County police were informed about Brown's disappearance by the Metropolitan Police Department on Dec. 7. Detectives learned Brown took the Metro from D.C. to the Huntington Metro station on Sept. 30 and never returned home. As digital data showed Brown was in the 6100 block of Richmond Highway and possibly the Moon Inn, detectives went to the hotel and conducted a search that was unsuccessful.

Detectives later traveled to Harrisonburg to gather information on the possible link between the Harrisonburg killings and the missing person from DC. When Fairfax County detectives later saw a shopping cart in a wooded area near the Moon Inn site, they recalled the suspect in the Harrisonburg case used a shopping cart to transport the victims' remains.

On Wednesday, detectives received information that led them back to the Moon Inn to expand the search. In a wooded area near the Moon Inn, detectives located a shopping cart and human remains inside a container. Based on the investigation with Metropolitan Police and Harrisonburg police, Fairfax County detectives tentatively identified Brown as one of the victims in the container. Further DNA testing is being conducted to confirm her identity and the unidentified victim.

A search warrant on cellular data had confirmed Brown and the suspect were at the same location on the night of Sept. 30, police said. Robinson communicated with Brown through a dating site before her disappearance.

"We have determined that the suspect in custody in Harrisonburg was communicating with Ms. Brown, utilizing a dating website," O'Carroll said. "Detectives are hoping that further examination of these records that we have, and more that are coming, will provide additional information on who the second victim is. We have a lot of work to do."

The deaths of Brown and the unidentified victim are considered the 20th and 21st homicides in 2021 in Fairfax County. Anyone with information can call the Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800. Tips can be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers.