Robert White (serial killer)

Last updated
Robert White
Born
Robert Jimmy White Jr.

(1960-08-09) August 9, 1960 (age 63)
Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Conviction(s) Manslaughter (1980)
Murder (2014)
Murder (2 counts) (2018)
Criminal penalty10-years to 20-years (1980)
50-years (2014)
50-years (2018)
Details
Victims4
Span of crimes
1980–2013
CountryUnited States
State(s) Connecticut
Date apprehended
March 18, 2013

Robert Jimmy White Jr. (born August 9, 1960) is an American serial killer who raped and beat three women to death in Hartford, Connecticut, between 1997 and 2013, committed following his parole for a 1980 manslaughter conviction. He pleaded guilty to the latter crimes in 2014 and 2018 and received two 50-year sentences. [1]

Contents

Manslaughter conviction

On the afternoon of April 23, 1980, White, then 19 years old, walked into a bar on Albany Avenue looking for a woman to rape. [2] That was when he noticed 46-year-old Betty Jo Robertson sitting alone and he began talking to her. He persuaded Robertson to let him walk her home, to which she obliged. After they both left, and once in a secluded location, Robertson resisted White's attempt to assault her, leading to White biting, scratching, and grabbing Robertson and smashing her head into the concrete sidewalk. [3] White fled and witnesses who saw the attack phoned authorities, who rushed Robertson to the hospital. She died from her injures the next day. [3]

Investigators, who were aided by witnesses and a cap that was found at the crime scene, detained White on suspicion of murder in late June. [3] He confessed to the crime, stating he was only trying to rape Robertson and did not mean to kill her. His defense was able to persuade a judge to lower White's indictment of felony murder to first-degree manslaughter due to him being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the murder. [2] On November 24, White pled guilty to the charge and was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison. At his sentencing, he said, "I have no explanation for my actions". [2]

Release and serial murders

After serving 8½ years of his sentence, White was paroled in July 1989. [4] His activities between 1989 and 1996 are unknown, but on August 10, 1997, he met Shiraleen Crawford, a 30-year-old prostitute, on Martin Street, and the two arranged to have sex in her apartment. After about two hours drinking, White produced a knife and slit Crawford's throat, proceeding to stab her numerous times before the blade broke. Afterwards, he grabbed a nearby hammer and beat her unconscious, proceeding to remove her clothes and have sex with her body before leaving. [5] Her decomposing body was found five days later by a visiting friend. [6] The following year, White was found guilty of first-degree sexual assault in an unrelated case and was sentenced to fourteen years in prison. He was released in 2011. [4]

After his release, White befriended and began dating 60-year-old Sawarie Krichindath, and the two eventually moved in together since he could not afford a home for himself. [4] On September 27, 2012, White stalked out an alleyway and attacked 48-year-old Sonia Rivera, a mother of five. He raped and beat her unconscious, leaving her for dead, although she lived long enough to be treated at the hospital before succumbing to her injuries five days later. [7]

In February 2013, White and Krichindath had an argument which escalated when White began choking and stabbing her in the neck, killing her. [4] Afterwards he stole her apartment key card and used it to access secure areas of the building. [4] White was arrested on March 18 and confessed to killing Krichindath. The following year, he was sentenced to 50 years in prison, the maximum sentence the judge could give, who argued that White was a danger to society. [8]

Exposure

After his sentence, White was required to submit his DNA into the state database. [1] In April 2016, his DNA was matched to forensic evidence left at the murder of Crawford. Afterwards, detectives interviewed White, who initially denied knowing Crawford, but when pressed about the evidence, he confessed to killing her. [5] After confessing to Crawford's murder, police questioned White about any other crimes he committed, and he subsequently confessed to killing Sonia Rivera. [5] By this time, her murder had been incorrectly attributed to a man named Denzil Nurse, who was arrested in 2014 and was awaiting trial until DNA ruled him out as a suspect. [9] In 2018, White entered an alford plea for these crimes and was sentenced to another 50 years in prison. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Bruce Ross</span> American serial killer (1959–2005)

Michael Bruce Ross was an American serial killer who was executed by the state of Connecticut in 2005. He was the last person executed in Connecticut before the state ended capital punishment in 2012. The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled capital punishment unconstitutional in 2015, converting the sentences of the state's remaining death row inmates to life in prison without parole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altemio Sanchez</span> Serial killer and rapist

Altemio C. Sanchez, also known as the Bike Path Rapist, was a Puerto Rican serial killer who is known to have raped and murdered at least three women, and raped at least 9 to 15 girls and women in and around Buffalo, New York, during a 31-year span from 1975, though perhaps earlier, to 2006. He was apprehended in 2007 through DNA evidence and sentenced to 75 years-to-life, serving 16 years before dying from apparent suicide in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlton Gary</span> American serial killer

Carlton Michael Gary was an American serial killer who murdered three elderly women in Columbus, Georgia, and one in Syracuse, New York, between 1975 and 1978, though he is suspected of at least four more killings. Gary was arrested in December 1978 for an armed robbery and sentenced to 21 years in prison. He escaped from custody in 1983 and was caught a year later. Evidence was found linking him to the earlier murders and he was convicted and sentenced to death in August 1986. He was executed by lethal injection on March 15, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Dugan</span> American rapist & serial killer

Brian James Dugan is an American convicted rapist and serial killer active between 1983 and 1985 in Chicago's western suburbs. He was known for having informally confessed in 1985 to the February 1983 abduction, rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico of Naperville, Illinois, which was a highly publicized case. He was already in custody for two other rapes and murders, one of a woman in July 1984 and the other an 8-year-old girl in May 1985. He was sentenced to life after pleading guilty to the latter two crimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Blair (serial killer)</span> American serial killer (1961–2024)

Terry Anthony Blair was an American serial killer who was convicted of killing seven women of various ages in Kansas City, Missouri, although investigators believed that there were additional unidentified victims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Floyd Thomas Jr.</span> Convicted American serial killer

John Floyd Thomas Jr. is an American serial killer, serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the murders of seven white women in the Los Angeles area during the 1970s and 1980s. Police suspect Thomas committed 10 to 15 more murders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony and Nathaniel Cook</span> American criminal brothers

Anthony Cook and Nathaniel Cook are American brothers and serial killers who committed at least nine rape-murders between 1973 and 1981. They were active in Toledo, Ohio, and surrounding areas with most of their victims being young couples. Anthony was arrested and convicted for the final murder, but his and Nathaniel's guilt in the other killings would not be uncovered until Nathaniel was detained for a misdemeanor in 1998, after which DNA profiling exposed their involvement. Both brothers were later convicted and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment; Anthony received multiple life sentences, while Nathaniel was sentenced to 75 years with a minimum of fifteen years served, and he was paroled after eighteen years in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Little</span> American serial killer (1940–2020)

Samuel Little was an American serial killer who confessed to murdering 93 people, nearly all women, between 1970 and 2005. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) has confirmed Little's involvement in at least 60 of the 93 confessed murders, the largest number of confirmed victims for any serial killer in United States history.

Jorge Avila-Torrez is an American serial killer and rapist. A resident of Zion, Illinois, Avila-Torrez murdered two girls who lived in his neighborhood in 2005 and later murdered a female Naval officer in 2009 at Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall. He was sentenced to death by the federal government for that crime as well as receiving a 100-year sentence for the Illinois murders.

Alfred J. Gaynor is an American serial killer and rapist who committed a series of nine murders in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts from 1995 to 1998. For these crimes, Gaynor was subsequently given four sentences of life imprisonment without parole.

Dellmus Charles Colvin is an American serial killer who, during his employment as a truck driver, kidnapped and murdered at least six prostitutes in Ohio between 2000 and 2005. He was arrested after a DNA profiling exam exposed his guilt in two of the murders, and not long after he confessed to the other crimes and an earlier 1987 murder in New Jersey. He is currently serving six life sentences at the Lebanon Correctional Institution.

Lorenzo Fayne is an American serial killer and rapist who, between 1989 and 1993, murdered one woman and five children in the states of Wisconsin and Illinois. In 2001, he was convicted and sentenced to death, but the following year, in response to numerous miscarriages of justice in other cases, the Governor of Illinois George Ryan imposed a moratorium on capital punishment, commuting all prisoners' sentences to life imprisonment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Dwight Canaday</span> American serial killer

John Dwight Canaday was an American serial killer who raped and killed three young women in Seattle from 1968 to 1969. He was initially sentenced to death for two murders, but that was later commuted to two life sentences, and he was given a third life sentence in 2004 after he confessed to the third killing. He died while incarcerated at Clallam Bay Prison in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hugh Morse</span> American serial killer

Hugh Bion Morse was an American serial killer who committed numerous crimes across the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. With the help of the FBI, Morse was arrested, tried, and convicted on one count of murder in Minnesota, and is known to have committed murders in Alabama and Washington beforehand. He also committed rape, burglary, assault, attempted murder, and child molestation in at least four other states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel O. Jones</span> American serial killer

Daniel Oliver Jones is an American serial killer who raped and stabbed four young women to death in Kansas City, Missouri, between 1998 and 2001. He was arrested shortly after the final murder, and DNA evidence linked him to the previous crimes, after which he confessed and was given multiple life sentences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Wiley</span> Convicted American serial killer

Nicholas Lee Wiley, known as The Syracuse Serial Killer, is an American serial killer and sex offender who murdered at least three women in Syracuse, New York in 2004. He claimed to have killed a total of seven people, although his claims were never corroborated. For his known crimes, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Smallwood (serial killer)</span> American serial killer and rapist (born 1973)

Robert Franklin Smallwood Jr. is an American convicted serial killer who strangled three women to death in Lexington, Kentucky. Until August 2006, the killings were thought to be unrelated, but were linked together through DNA testing. Smallwood was arrested the following month, pleaded guilty to each murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 2007.

Raymont Hopewell is an American serial killer and serial rapist who assaulted ten elderly people in Baltimore, Maryland, between 1999 and 2005, killing five of them. In a deal with prosecutors, Hopewell pleaded guilty to five counts of murder in order to avoid a death sentence and received four life sentences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathaniel Harvey</span> American serial killer (1950–2020)

Nathaniel Harvey was an American murderer and suspected serial killer who was sentenced to death in New Jersey for the 1985 rape-murder of a woman in Plainsboro. He was one of only eight men on New Jersey's death row when it was abolished in 2007 by then-Governor Jon Corzine. He was re-sentenced to life in prison and died at South Woods State Prison in 2020. A few years after his death, he was linked through DNA evidence to a separate rape-murder committed in East Windsor in 1984, and investigators have since speculated he could have committed other killings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emanuel Lovell Webb</span> American serial killer (born 1966)

Emanuel Lovell Webb, known as The East End Killer, is an American serial killer who raped and killed four women in Bridgeport, Connecticut, from 1990 to 1993. After the murders were connected and a search for the killer was underway, Webb moved to Georgia, where he raped and killed a woman in Vidalia in 1994. He was convicted of that murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison, being paroled in 2001. He was detained for a parole violation in 2005 and afterwards DNA evidence linked him to the Bridgeport murders. He was extradited to Connecticut and pled no contest in 2008 and was sentenced to 60-years in prison.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.