Prosecutor: Bodies Of John Robinson's Victims May Never Be Found
Convicted Killer Says Acquaintances Helped Dispose Of Bodies
Robinson 59, has already been convicted of three murders in Kansas and faces the death penalty. But when three bodies were found in barrels in Raymore, Mo., he was charged with those murders as well.
The bodies were later identified as those of Sheila Faith, her daughter Debbie Faith and Beverly Bonner.
Robinson avoided trial and a possible death sentence in Missouri by admitting that he killed the three females whose bodies were found in the Raymore storage locker and two others whose bodies have never been found.
Wearing a suit and tie, Robinson stood before Circuit Judge Joseph Dandurand and replied matter-of-factly to questions about the murders.
Robinson, of Olathe, Kan., had been charged with first-degree murder in three of the Missouri killings. But Cass County Prosecutor Chris Koster had said he would be willing to drop his pursuit of a death sentence if Robinson were cooperative in clearing up two other cases dating to the 1980s.
In his pleas Thursday, Robinson admitted that he killed Bonner, 49, of Cameron, Mo., and Sheila Faith, 45, and her paraplegic daughter, both formerly of California.
Their bodies were discovered in 55-gallon drums in the Raymore storage locker on June 5, 2000 -- two days after authorities dug up two larger barrels containing women's bodies on rural property Robinson owned just over the state line in Linn County, Kan.
Dandurand said he accepted Robinson's plea because "it is time for these victims to get some peace."
"This is a reasonable plea agreement recommendation made by the state because it saves these victims from any further turmoil. And had they not all unanimously advised the prosecutor that they were in support of this arrangement, I can tell you it wouldn't have happened here today," the judge said.
Robinson also admitted Thursday that he killed Paula Godfrey, of Olathe, who disappeared in 1984 when she was 19, and Catherine Clampitt, who had moved from Texas to Johnson County and was working for Robinson when she disappeared at age 27. She was last seen by her family in 1987.
No charges had ever been filed in the disappearances of Godfrey and Clampitt.
Robinson told Dandurand that he met Godfrey at the Belton Inn, argued with her over $800 she owed him, and then struck and killed her with a lamp, Breit reported. Robinson said an acquaintance, who is now dead, disposed of the body. Robinson told the court he killed Clampitt by striking her on the head with a bat at an apartment in Belton, Mo. The convicted killer again said a different acquantaince -- identified only as G.T. -- disposed of the body.
Koster said his office is investigating Robinson's claims.
"We do have an idea who G.T. is, we are going to investigate that immediately. But I have to be up front and admit that the best evidence we have against G.T. is John Robinson, which is pretty poor evidence," Koster said.
The prosecutor said he has considered that Robinson might be falsifying the truth in order to avoid the death penalty in Missouri.
"I believe that we are close to the correct version of events. I can't swear that this is gospel, what we have, but I do believe that the important test of credibility is whether we could convict John Robinson of five homicides in the state of Missouri. And I believe unquestionably that the answer to that is 'yes,'" Koster said.
The prosecutor added that he spent months trying to get Robinson to say where the bodies of Clampett and Godfrey are.
"Rightly or wrongly, I came to the conclusion about four weeks ago that the remains were unrecoverable, and in all likelyhood would never be found," he said.
Godfrey's father spoke in court after Robinson entered his guilty plea.
"Your honor, it's my wish that John Robinson spend the rest of his life in prison (with) no parole, no special treatment. I want him to think every day of the heartache he has caused our family, and all the other families involved," Bill Godfrey said.
Authorities in both states have said that Robinson -- whose criminal record of theft, embezzlement and other offenses dates to 1969 -- lured some of his victims to northeastern Kansas with promises of work or sadomasochistic sex.
The Johnson County jury that tried the Kansas case last year sat through three weeks of often lurid, grisly testimony before convicting him of murdering Suzette Trouten, 27, and Izabela Lewicka, 21, whose bodies were found in barrels on the Linn County property, and Lisa Stasi, 19, whose remains have never been found.