Internet ‘Slavemaster’ Faces Death Penalty in 5 Slayings

LENEXA, Kan. — Prosecutors charged a Kansas man known on the Internet as “the slavemaster” with murder Tuesday and one said he would seek the death sentence for a “depraved” crime in which the bodies of five women were found stuffed in 55-gallon drums.

John E. Robinson Sr., 56, of Olathe, Kan., was charged after the bodies of two women were found in barrels on a farm he owned in Linn County, Kan., and three were found in barrels in a rented storage facility in Raymore, Mo.

“John E. Robinson committed the offense of murder in the first degree in a manner outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved torture or depravity of mind,” Cass County prosecutor Chris Koster said.

Koster filed three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action against Robinson, alleging he used a hammer or a similar instrument to beat the women to death.

In Kansas, Johnson County prosecutor Paul Morrison filed two counts of first-degree murder against Robinson as well as one count of kidnapping.

Robinson, who has been described by family as a good father and husband who lived modestly, has been in custody since June 2 when he was arrested at his home on sexual assault charges in connection with sadomasochistic encounters with two women he met on the Internet.