Dead Men Talking (8 page)
Authors: Christopher Berry-Dee
My offer to JR, however, included a proviso: I would not edit a word that he sent to me, providing that he told the truth and was up front. He broke this agreement from the outset, so, in the absence of any worthwhile input from JR himself for the reader to assimilate, it now falls upon me to provide a psychological profile, if you will, of this man. Let’s visit the dysfunctional mind of John Edward Robinson.
JR has always imagined that he is more intelligent than anyone else. It is an ego thing, a state of mind not uncommon among the more learned, and ‘intelligent’ of the serial murderer breed. One might imagine that an ‘intelligent’ person might learn from previous errors of judgement but, alas, the true sociopath does not.
JR is a true sociopath. He understands the difference between right and wrong, yet he carried on committing his antisocial offences regardless of the pain and suffering he caused as the result. Sociopaths – once labelled psychopaths – just simply don’t feel remorse for their actions. They don’t care.
Like so many sado-sexual serial killers, John, the man with several identities and many faces, trawled for his victims. In a few instances he selected vulnerable women from places where women felt safe – in one case at least, a hostel for women in danger.
John the flim-flam man, conned men and women, even his own family.
John the sadist, abducted, used and horrifically sexually abused women.
John the serial killer, bludgeoned these terrified women to death.
John the garbage man, disposed of the bodies, leaving them to decompose and rot in their own bodily fluids.
That’s how this lowlife disposed of his victims. Some of the deceased have never been found, while other intended victims escaped by the skin of their teeth, their lives mercifully intact. If the truth were known, if law enforcement had not been on their toes when JR first appeared on their radar as a potential homicidal maniac, many more women would have been murdered as a result.
Despite his pathetic protests that he didn’t use the internet to entrap prey, JR was the first serial killer in criminal history to use the internet. He hung out in S&M chatrooms, like a deadly spider waiting to ensnare a victim.
But where did all this start?
Unlike the majority of those who graduate into the serial taking of human life, John did not suffer from an abusive childhood. His folks were decent, hard-working and of strong Catholic faith. There is no evidence whatsoever that he was inclined towards criminal activity during his teens. Then one day, in his twenties, he embarked on a series of frauds, becoming a plausible liar and a serial swindler who embezzled his employers and friends, even his own brother, out of considerable sums of money. He had suddenly metamorphosed into a real life Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and it was all about money, and lots of it.
Simply put, John mutated. But it wasn’t just a sudden change in a single gene, the whole genetic package of his makeup underwent a complete deviation into evil personified. The motive for his first murder was not sexual deviancy. JR needed cash, even if it meant deceiving his own brother, Don, over the adoption of baby Tiffany. Here was a quick way to earn $5,000, and the disposal of the baby’s mother, Lisa, was merely a side issue. But there can be no doubt that having this young, attractive mother begging him for mercy turned him on. I think that the very act of control over Lisa gave him sexual pleasure. This control freak was then, psychologically, pressed on to commit the most violent sexual acts on any woman who fell into his clutches. And, as most psychiatrists and psychologists might agree, once the pleasure/reward switch for certain actions has been flicked on in the human brain, it is almost impossible to switch off. This state of mind is called addiction. Combine sexual addiction with a sociopathic mind and disaster is as sure to follow as night does day.
Whatever the case, to satisfy his perverted cravings, JR soon graduated into trawling for sex by exploiting women who were lonely and dissatisfied with the hum-drum dreariness of their day-to-day existence. He could smell them a mile off, and was able to hone in on them with unerring accuracy.
Your unwarranted accusation of attempted manipulation and flim-flam pretty much says it all.
John Robinson, letter to the author, 4 March 2008.
John Robinson portrayed himself as a respectable businessman, a high achiever, the well-dressed ‘man of the year’. Using blatantly false credentials, he even fooled the distinguished former physician to President Truman. What chance did vulnerable women have when confronted with the philanthropic generosity and charms of a man like John E Robinson, a pillar of the community? The answer is, of course, none.
John’s history is adequately covered throughout the previous pages, and the reader may look into his psychopathology as they see fit, but where do we go from here, bearing in mind that John is now locked up and will remain so until he dies?
One might have thought that this man could, one day, tell us the whole truth of what happened and how he managed to earn himself the accolade of one of the most heinous serial killers in recent history. God only knows how JR feels about having deceived his loving wife of so many years. Regarding his doting children, is there any sorrow and regret? No.
Does this man feel any remorse for his homicidal activities? I think not, and it is at this point that we return, once again, to his correspondence with the author.
‘Don’t blow smoke!’ JR demands in one of his letters. ‘I don’t have time for meaningless delays. I don’t have the time or the funds to play games,’ he rants, while at once stating that it will take at least a year before he could even discuss his childhood, and that is after his attorney – no name or address given in his letters – is placed in funds to the not-insubstantial tune of almost half a million dollars.
While demanding that the author and a TV production company digs deep to follow his every whim (and bear in mind he has already pleaded guilty to each murder), he adds:
Next we will proceed to the expert phase. First to examine and evaluate documents, photos and testing. Then to complete the necessary testing that has never been done. Each step of the way, we will evaluate and adjust our investigation or approach as required. The proposed budget is fairly simple at this point but may have to be adjusted depending on need:
Database: $100,000
Investigator: $150,000
Travel: $20,000
Experts: $60,000
Attorney: $50,000
Communication, copies, supplies: $10,000
Equipment: $8,000
Misc. $2,000
Total: $400,000
My attorney would control all information and distribution of funds. Nothing will begin until there is a firm written agreement in place!
My first letter was clear about the possibilities available to you. Yet you responded with a request for information about my formative years, assuming it would be no threat to my present or future legal status. Unfortunately, that is not the case. When I win a new trial, it will be necessary to prepare a “mitigation case” containing the very information you now seek. My attorneys did not investigate or provide any mitigation evidence at my first trial.
I did offer you a smidgen of palpable researchable material right there in England. In November of 1957, I was a 13-year-old Boy Scout who traveled to London to appear in the Command Performance for the Queen. No one has of yet recovered the newspaper articles of that trip. As you see, everything is tied together.
John goes on to say:
I offered you the opportunity to do a real life true crime book and documentary. One that would expose blatant police and prosecutorial misconduct, fairly present the real evidence including complete details of the lives of the victims, and perhaps unveil the real killer. You could of course simply go for titillating, sensationalized products based on the fiction already out there. That decision, of course, is yours.
The titillating and sensationalised products John refers to are the official trial records!
John E. Robinson is very much like John Wayne Gacy – another businessman/sado-sexual serial killer who also had all the apparent trappings of integrity. Both men used their human hunting skills to trawl and entrap their prey, but whereas bisexual Gacy tortured and murdered young lads, in many instances male prostitutes, only JR actively searched for prey in the S&M internet chatrooms.
I would use the analogy of JR being very similar to one of the Cornish wreckers of old who used lanterns to lure ships on to the rocks, and then plundered the cargoes that spilled from the wrecks. This predator and human parasite, Robinson, sent out attractive signals that were intended to lure the vulnerable toward him… like an insect where one genus fools another into approaching using a flashing code. This, the intended prey does; it approaches and is summarily eaten. So it was with John Edward Robinson.
If anything, John is a determined man, and he says that for the past five years he has been ‘tireless [in his] attempts to locate individuals, companies, or organizations willing to assist in the completion of the necessary investigation, testing, etc., required to fully disclose the real story’. Blah, blah, blah.
Determined to either prove my innocence or die trying I began writing letters to anyone and everyone I could think of for both the UK portion of my case as well as those who might possibly help on this side of the pond. I wrote to Alan Hayling – head of producing documentaries at the BBC, in March 2007, and received not even a courtesy reply. I recently wrote to Mr Felix Dennis, owner of
Maxim
magazine who lives in Stratford-upon-Avon, and have no word yet.
My basic offer has been very simple. If they would provide funding
[the $400,000]
for the investigation and testing, along with some equipment necessary, I would give them access to the results no matter the outcome as long as everyone agreed that nothing
would be made public until my attorney authorized release.
John E Robertson, letter to the author.
No doubt that the BBC and
Maxim
were bowled over by the generosity and business opportunity offered them by JR, and the reason they haven’t replied is because they haven’t, as yet, recovered their composure!
Moving up a gear, JR gets into full swing. Working up quite a lather, he wrote to me, saying:
The cost of putting all discovery information onto a searchable interactive data base, investigating, testing, travel and equipment will be about $400K and will require at least twelve months to complete. The investigator will need some specialized equipment – video and digital recorders capable of two concurrent recordings. All funds would be disbursed by an attorney. I would receive nothing but an allocation to cover supplies and postage.
But now, and completely carried away, JR almost bursts into song:
We are starting from scratch with a thorough methodical investigation of everything. Every document, every photo, every video, every witness, testing every item and utilizing acknowledged experts to evaluate to calculate every person or object.
‘Ah, yes, John, that sounds fine,’ I replied, ‘but what about the five decomposing bodies found in barrels on your property and in your unit at the storage depot?’
To facilitate this investigation we have obtained every page of material connected to my case, some 300,000 more or less. Here is how we anticipate proceedings:
A) A data base will be designed with unlimited search capabilities. All documents will be scanned, cross-referenced with new documents added as developed.
B) A full time investigator will be hired under the supervision of my attorney. He/she will complete the legwork required to secure records and documents previously ignored, and conduct video interviews with all witnesses.
‘John…’
I may be able to up the ante for you. For several years I have been in contact with a person who befriended Dennis Rader, the confessed BTK serial killer of 10. This person visited him in jail and corresponded with him regularly. This individual claims to have details and information never before revealed and has been working on a book. This person has the information, wants to do a book but has no industry name. The two of you should be able to do a great ‘insider’ true crime book and a documentary about BTK. You and your publisher could end up getting two for the price of one. I will await word from you.
‘For God’s sake JR, what about the bodies!’
I was embezzled out of over two hundred thousand pounds over a three-year period. To that end I have received preliminary word that a non-profit organization – Reprieve – operated by an attorney Clive Stafford-Smith OBE has agreed to help. My attorney has replied to a letter I received from them, by email, and we are still awaiting a reply… Finally I must tell you that I am working with a group of college students to publish a book of my poetry and short stories. An attempt to raise the money for the required investigation. No credit would be given – no author named. The book will, if published, simply be written
by
A Condemned on Kansas Death Row
. I will receive nothing.
‘John… the five bodies in barrels…’
For the record, I will explain exactly how the Kansas Department of Corrections mail system works. When a letter is received it is automatically date stamped on the outside of the envelope. Then the letter is opened by the censors, date and time stamped, read and all the letters to the inmates in segregation copied…
And so he goes on, and on, and on for ten pages of excruciating drivel, so it was at this point in our relationship that JR told me never to write to him again: ‘You, Berry-Dee, have wasted my valuable time,’ he spouted from his Special Housing Unit cell, where he lives in solitary confinement because the other inmates would kill him. ‘I have never asked you for $400,000. I have never asked anyone for $400,000. I didn’t say that I was going to use students, and if you print this I might sue you. I fucking told you that I never used the internet, and I was never into BDSM and I was never into kinky sex. FUCK OFF!’