HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) — A Virginia judge has granted a motion for a mental health evaluation for a man police have dubbed the “shopping cart killer” after he was charged in two slayings and authorities linked him to several others.
A Rockingham County judge on Friday approved defense attorney Louis Nagy's request that his client, Anthony Eugene Robinson of Washington, D.C., undergo a sanity evaluation, the Daily News-Record and area TV stations reported.
In a motion, Nagy wrote that the allegations against Robinson, 36, are “so egregious such that there is reason to believe that the Defendant’s behavior was not rational at the time of the offense," according to the newspaper.
Nagy also wrote that medical documents indicate Robinson, who remains in custody and appeared at the hearing by video, has a history of mental illness dating back to at least 2014.
Robinson is accused of killing Beth Redmon, 54, of Harrisonburg and Tonita Smith, 39, of Charlottesville last year.
He was arrested in Harrisonburg in November 2021.
Evidence uncovered after his arrest led police to search part of Fairfax County, where they found the remains of two other women.
During the search, detectives noticed a shopping cart and recalled that a cart had been used to transport the bodies in the Harrisonburg cases, Fairfax County police said at the time.
Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis dubbed Robinson the “shopping cart killer" and said officers were working to determine if there are other victims.
Police have also publicly connected Robinson to a woman's killing in Washington. But Robinson has not been charged in the latter three cases, the newspaper reported.
Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Christopher Bean did not object to Nagy’s motion in the Rockingham County case, the newspaper reported. A forensic psychologist is expected to conduct the evaluation.
