Man accused in barrel bodies case faces sixth murder charge

Share this: Email | Facebook | X

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Prosecutors added a sixth murder charge against a Kansas man already accused of killing five women whose bodies were found last month stuffed in barrels.

John Edward Robinson Sr., 56, was charged Friday with the death of a teenage mother and the disappearance of her infant daughter more than 15 years ago.

Lisa Stasi's body has not been found, but prosecutors said she was last seen with Robinson around the time of her disappearance from the Kansas City area in 1985.

Johnson County District Attorney Paul Morrison said Stasi's daughter was found living in the Midwest with an adoptive family, who may have unknowingly adopted the girl illegally.

Robinson also was charged Friday with illegally setting up the adoption. The family that adopted the girl paid fees that eventually reached Robinson, though Morrison stressed that the family was under the impression the adoption was legal.

Officials said the girl, now a teenager, lives in another state and is aware of the investigation.

Robinson's attorneys, death penalty specialists with the Kansas public defenders office, did not immediately return messages seeking comment Friday.

Robinson also faces two counts of capital murder in Kansas and three counts of first-degree murder in Missouri in the deaths of five women found in barrels in June. Two bodies were found on Robinson's property in Kansas, and three were found in barrels in a Missouri storage locker.

Morrison would not elaborate on the evidence of Stasi's death, but said he did not expect to find her body before the case went to trial.

Robinson also has been linked to the disappearances of at least two other women who vanished in the mid-1980s.

Authorities have said he trolled the Internet for sex under the name ''slavemaster,'' where he may have met some of his victims, though officials have also suggested financial motives were involved.

Robinson is being held on $5 million bond. Missouri prosecutors are seeking the death penalty; Kansas prosecutors have not yet decided whether to pursue the same sentence.

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Sign in to comment