Authorities said Friday they are investigating whether the death of a woman whose body was found four months ago in a shopping cart outside Union Station in Northeast Washington may be linked to a man police in Virginia have labeled a possible serial killer.
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The cause of death for the 40-year-old woman has not yet been determined, and a D.C. police spokeswoman said there were no obvious signs of trauma on her body. Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for Fairfax County police, said the department’s investigators alerted D.C. police after concluding the suspect “may have been one of the last to see the new D.C. victim alive.”
The news about the expanding investigation into a man authorities have dubbed the “Shopping Cart Killer” came as Fairfax police said DNA testing has conclusively identified the remains of two other women they say may be victims of the suspect.
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The decomposed bodies of Cheyenne Brown, 29, and Stephanie Harrison, 48, were found in a trash can in a vacant lot near a motel in Fairfax County on Dec. 15, as authorities were probing Brown’s disappearance.
Fairfax County police said evidence links Brown to Anthony Robinson, 35, of D.C., who was charged in November with killing two women whose bodies were found in Harrisonburg, Va. Robinson has not been charged in the slayings of Brown or Harrison. The investigation is ongoing and authorities said they expect to charge Robinson with additional counts.
Police allege Robinson sought women on relationship apps, got them to go to hotels and then killed them, before using a shopping cart to wheel their bodies to locations where he dumped them. Detectives have discovered Robinson maintained profiles on at least two dating sites, Plenty of Fish and Tagged, Fairfax County police said.
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“Our Major Crimes detectives are looking for anyone who interacted with Robinson on these dating apps,” said Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis. “We believe there are others who have had contact with Robinson that can provide crucial information to us about him.”
Fairfax County police met with 35 local police agencies this week to go over missing persons cases in the search for additional victims.
Police are also working with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and Washington Field Office on the case. They are also piecing together a profile of women they say were targeted.
Fairfax County police said surveillance video showed Brown and Robinson together at a D.C. Metro stop on Sept. 30, the day Brown disappeared. Police said Brown took the Metro to the Huntington Station in Fairfax County.
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Cellphone data put Brown nearby — in the vicinity of the Moon Inn Hotel — where the manager said Robinson had been staying at the time she disappeared. Davis said detectives had discovered Robinson stayed there five times after combing through thousands of receipts from the motel.
As Fairfax County police searched for Brown, a shopping cart in a vacant lot across the street from the motel caught a detective’s eye, since authorities said video from the Harrisonburg cases allegedly showed Robinson moving bodies with a shopping cart there.
Police found the remains of Brown and Harrison in a trash can next to the cart, they said.
Fairfax County police are still exploring how Robinson and Harrison may have intersected. Her family said she traveled from her lifelong home in Redding, Calif., on Aug. 17 and they last heard from her two days later. They said she was staying at the Moon Inn.
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Harrison’s mother, Jane, said her daughter, who had struggled with mental illness, had once worked at a second hand store and had three children and grandchildren.
Stephanie told her mother she had come to the D.C. area to visit friends and get a job. Jane Harrison said the family knew of no connections between Harrison and Robinson.
“Her whole life was her children and grandchildren,” Jane Harrison said.
Little is known about Robinson, who police called “transient” and said had no criminal record. Family members have declined to comment. Police said they are working with police agencies from Harrisonburg, Va. to New York, where he grew up, to try to piece together Robinson’s movements over the years.
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D.C. police said the body of the 40-year-old woman was found Sept. 7 in the 200 block of F Street NE, about one block from Union Station. Fairfax County police said a blanket was draped over her body and “digital evidence” put Robinson in the vicinity of the woman at the time of her disappearance. They did not further describe that evidence.
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The woman had no fixed address and police said they believed she had been living in a tent outside the station. Efforts to reach her family were not successful.
“We believe this may be Anthony Eugene Robinson’s fifth victim,” said Fairfax County Police Major Ed O’Carroll at a Friday night news conference.
Kristen Metzger, a D.C. police spokeswoman, said detectives “are investigating to determine if the case is linked” to those in Virginia.
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Attempts to reach Robinson’s attorney on Friday were not successful. He is being held in a jail in Rockingham County, Va., without bond.
Authorities in Harrisonburg said he was arrested there on Nov. 23, after they discovered two bodies in a lot in a commercial district. Police said surveillance video and cellphone records connected Robinson to the victims, Allene Elizabeth Redmon, 54, of Harrisonburg, and Tonita Lorice Smith, 39, of Charlottesville.
Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.