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Crimes

In September 2021, in Washington DC, 40-year-old Sonya Champs’s dead body was found. She was in a shopping cart and was covered by a blanket.

Her death was ruled a homicide, but no immediate arrests were made, and soon, more victims turned up.

In October 2021, 54-year-old Allene Elizabeth Redmon left home, telling her family she was going to a sporting event with a man named “Ant” whom she met on a dating site. Her family never saw her again. They reported her missing to Harrisonburg Police on October 24th, 2021.

On November 14th, 2021, 39-year-old Tonita Smith was last seen as she was leaving Charlottesville, Virginia, and heading to Harrisburg. She was reported missing five days later.

Phone records for the two missing women eventually led investigators to a Howard Johnson Motel in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Detectives were given access to guest info and surveillance footage, and they soon saw a video of Redmon arriving at a room rented by a man they later identified as 35-year-old Anthony Eugene Robinson.

Ten hours after she arrived at his room, footage showed Robinson removing Redmon’s body, which was wrapped in bedding, from the room and placing it in a shopping cart before wheeling it outside behind the Hotel.

They found similar footage of him doing the same thing with Smith the month prior.

Both Redmon and Smith were found dead near the Hotel about 15 feet apart. Media reports differ on the women’s cause of death.

Robinson was arrested on November 23rd, 2021. During questioning, he claimed the women overdosed, and he got rid of their bodies so he wouldn’t be blamed for their deaths.

On December 15th, 2021, the remains of two additional women were found inside a container near a Moon Inn Hotel.

This crime scene was in Fairfax County, 130 miles away from the Howard Johnson Hotel, where the previous bodies were found.

One of the women was later identified as 29-year-old Cheyenne Brown. She was last seen getting on a transit bus and was reported missing on September 30th, 2021.

The other woman was later identified as 48-year-old Stephanie Harrison, a woman visiting Washington DC from California.

Neither woman’s cause of death was determined due to decomposition.

Days after the women were found, Fairfax County, Virginia, Police Chief Kevin Davis dubbed Robinson the shopping cart killer.

In September 2022, Rockingham County prosecutors charged Robinson with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of concealing dead bodies, and one count of aggravated murder.

In November 2022, he was hit with an additional count of aggravated murder.

He was not charged in the Washington DC murder of Sonya Champ or the Fairfax County, Virginia, murders of Cheyenne Brown and Stephanie Harrison.

Legal Proceedings

Robinson went to trial in January 2025 in Rockingham County for the murders of Redmon and Smith.

During the four-day trial, the jury saw the video of Robinson moving the women’s bodies via shopping carts.

The trial also saw an outburst from Smith’s brother, Dean, which landed him in jail for 10 days on contempt charges.

Robinson did not testify, and his defense did not call any witnesses. After a half hour of deliberation, the jury convicted Robinson of all charges.

The jury recommended four life sentences for the murder counts, plus 10 years for the two counts of concealing the bodies. They also recommended a $400,000 fine.

The official sentencing was scheduled for September 17th, 2025, but was delayed.

Sentencing

Robinson returned to court for sentencing on May 22, 2026. WHSV reported that the first-degree murder convictions were vacated, but Robinson got two life sentences for the two aggravated murder convictions. He also got an additional 10 years for concealing the bodies.

He was also ordered to pay restitution of $100,000 for each murder victim and over $5,000 for the concealment of the bodies.