I often talk about serial killers with big numbers to their names. But the fact of the matter is that in order to be classified a serial killer, you need only (only???) kill three people, with a period of time between each murder. It’s also worth noting that most serial killers are between the ages of thirty and fifty.
I mention these two little facts because this month’s subject — Harvey Miguel Robinson — killed that minimum of three…and was only 17 years old. A good reminder to us all that horror comes in all ages and all types.
Robinson was, again, only a teen when he raped and murdered three women ranging in age from 15 to 47 in his native Allentown, Pennsylvania. He did this in the early nineties and was arrested in 1993, wounded by the police in the process. Which, while I am against police brutality, I honestly can’t complain about this time. Mainly because he’d tried killing a fourth victim but after assaulting and beating her, she managed to escape, leading the police to him. Violence ensued and Robinson ended up arrested.
He was tried and convicted in 1994 and sentenced to death in all three murder cases. A judge later threw out two of those death sentences, leaving just one. Which is fine because, sadly, you can only kill the guy once anyway.
In 2006, he was scheduled to die by lethal injection, but a judge stayed that procedure and a new sentencing saw him instead sentenced to life in prison. Justice? Who knows. But in the words of his last, surviving victim: “We move on. He’s useless to society, so if they do put him to death, there’s no loss.”
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