A scruffy trailer park in rural Missouri, in the American heartland, has become the focus of a grisly serial murder investigation involving a 56-year-old man who allegedly used internet chat rooms to lure his victims to sessions of sadomasochistic sex in motel rooms.
Prosecutors said yesterday they were preparing to file multiple murder charges against John Edward Robinson, who was arrested last Saturday accused of sexual assault. Soon afterwards, however, police found the decomposed bodies of five women on properties linked to Mr Robinson. They had all been stuffed into barrels.If convicted, Mr Robinson could emerge as one of the worst serial killers in American history and the first to have turned to cyberspace to snare his prey. In seeking out women interested in sadomasochistic sex on the world wide web, Mr Robinson is known to have used the name “Slavemaster”.Authorities continued to search for any additional bodies yesterday. The hunt, conducted by agents from local law enforcement agencies and the FBI, included the draining of a small lake. “We may find more bodies but we certainly hope not,” said Linn County Sheriff, Marvin Stites.Mr Robinson’s arrest came after two women filed complaints that he had brutalised them after they had agreed to role-play sex slaves for him in motel rooms.

Apparently, however, he forced them to go further than they had intended and insisted, against their will, on photographing them.One of the two women, a psychologist from Texas, also told police that the bespectacled and balding Mr Robinson, whose wife is the manager of the trailer park, had stolen $700 (£440) worth of S&M paraphernalia from her – whips, wooden bats and riding crops.Mr Robinson remained in custody last night on the original sexual assault charge. But authorities fully expected to upgrade that to murder as early as today. He was being held on $5m bail.”That gives us some breathing room,” said the local district attorney, Paul Morrison.Police made their first chilling discovery on a field owned by Mr Robinson in La Cygne, Missouri, close to the border with Kansas. Two barrels concealed at the field’s edge were each found to contain the body of a woman. First examinations suggested they had been killed by blows to the head.On Monday, investigators located three 55-gallon steel drums in a storage garage rented by Mr Robinson 30 miles away in Raymore, Missouri, at a facility called Stor-Mor For Less Each of these also contained female remains. Officials indicated that they had been killed at a much earlier date and had perhaps been decomposing in the barrels for periods of years.One of the first pair had been identified last night as a Detroit, Michigan, woman, Suzette Trouten, aged 28. Ms Trouten had left the Detroit area in early March after telling friends and relatives that she was travelling to Kansas City to research a new job opportunity.

No sooner had she left her home, however, before all contact with her was lost.”She went out there for a job interview,” a cousin, Lee Shukait, told reporters. “She checked into her motel and then turned up missing.” Authorities believe that Ms Trouten had responded to an invitation to meet with Mr Robinson who, in person, also went by the name of James Turner.Police had been investigating the case for three months before arresting Mr Robinson. As part of the inquiry, they have attempted to assemble a portfolio of all the women he had contacted through sex-related websites. They had discovered the names of a number of women, some with photographs.If, indeed, it is proven that Mr Robinson killed the five women – and possibly more if additional bodies are found – he will almost certainly face the death penalty “This started out as a missing person investigation.