Pennsylvania

Harvey Robinson

Basic Facts

Full name: Harvey Miguel Robinson

Lived: December 6th, 1974 – Present day.

Date Apprehended: July 19th, 1993

Victims: 5

Criminal Penalty: 97 years in prison and 3 counts of the death penalty, though 2 overturned.

At only 18-years-old when apprehended, Robinson is considered one of the youngest serial killers in American history. His crimes spanned just 1 year, between 1992 and 1993 but still today is imprisoned on Death Row in Pennsylvania.

Harvey Robinson’s father was an alcoholic who physically and emotionally abused his wife – Robinson’s mother – for years until he finally walked out on the family when Robinson was just 3-years-old. Shortly after this, Robinson’s father was arrested for beating his mistress to death. However, Harvey Robinson still idolised his father. At a young age, Robinson was already causing trouble. Whilst at school, he was arrested several times for burglary and resisting arrest. He was also a known drug addict and showed many signs of sociopathy. In many reports on Robinson, they frequently suggest he used to steal women’s underwear at a young age.

On August 5th, 1992 when Robinson was just 17, he burgled the home of a 29-year-old woman. He broke in through the backdoor that led to the patio and stole $50 from a drawer in the woman’s bedroom. She reported the burglary and everything else seemed undisturbed. However, 4 days later the woman’s neighbour called the police to say she couldn’t get hold of her neighbour. She could hear that the woman’s stereo had been playing for 3 days straight and when she went to ask her about it, there was no answer at the door. She also reported that one night she heard screams. When the police arrived at the scene, they found the woman who had reported the burglary days before, dead. She had been sexually assaulted and had been hit over the head at least 37 times. Doing so fractured her skull and damaged her brain significantly. The police also discovered that the woman had defensive injuries on both of her hands, indicating that she was alive during at least some of the attack. Semen was found on a pair of shorts, suggesting a male had masturbated on them.

Robinson’s second victim was a 15-year-old girl who had been delivering newspapers on her paper round. Customers knew she was always on time and particularly diligent with her work. So, when she failed to deliver a customer’s paper on June 9th, 1993, the customer went out into the street to see if she was nearby. What she saw instead, was the girl’s newspaper cart abandoned in the street, so she immediately called the police. When the police arrived, they found the 15-year-old’s head set and radio laying on the floor. They thought it likely that the girl had been abducted so they searched the area. Very quickly, they found her bicycle abandoned along with some of her belongings. Within hours, investigators began searching a nearby wooded area. There they found blood and a shoe which led them to the body of the girl, buried under a stack of logs. According to the autopsy report, the 15-year-old had been stabbed 22 times and her throat had been slashed. The cutting and scraping wounds around her neck were inflicted when the girl was still alive. She had also been raped. Investigators were able to collect blood samples, a pubic hair and a head hair that did not match the girl’s DNA. However, there was no match for anyone they had on the system. A short time after the girl’s murder, Robinson was almost apprehended when he was pulled over for a speeding violation, but he received his speeding ticket and was let go.

On June 17th, 1993 Robinson burgled a couple’s home whilst they were away for a few days. He took a gun collection from their home. However, the woman who lived here would not get away so easily as Robinson would come back for her 11 days later.

Before that, Robinson entered another woman’s home and choked and raped her 5-year-old daughter. The child managed to survive but based upon her injuries it appeared that Robinson had intended to kill her. Many speculated that Robinson was actually after the child’s mother, but when he found her sleeping with her partner, he decided to attack the child instead.

It was June 28th, 1993 that Robinson went back to the house he had previously burgled and stolen the guns from. The woman’s partner was out of town, so she awoke alone to the sounds of Robinson breaking into her house. She decided to try and run out of the house, but Robinson grabbed her. They struggled, but the woman managed to escape his grasp and ran out of the house. Robinson ran out after her and pinned her to the ground in her front garden and began punching her. The woman still tried to get away and bit Robinson on the side of his arm. Robinson sliced open her lip and then raped her, but the woman’s screams alerted her neighbour who turned on her porch light which caused Robinson to run away. When the police arrived, they found the woman in her front garden, alive. They found her severely beaten with strangulation marks around her neck and her lip was deeply slashed. They also found a butcher’s knife lying inside the woman’s house on the floor by her bathroom door. The woman was taken straight to hospital, so she was safe – for now.

On July 14th, 1993 Robinson raped and murdered a 47-year-old in the living room of her daughters’ home. When the police found her, she was dead, half-naked and her face was swollen and black. There was blood spatter across the walls, indicating that she had died a violent death. Then just 4 days later, Robinson went back to the previous home he burgled to finish the job. The woman he had raped in her garden could identify him, so he went back to her home to kill her. However, the woman and her partner had equipped their house with a burglar alarm. When Robinson attempted to break in, it was set off and he immediately ran. After this, police made sure an officer was to stay at the house as they assumed the perpetrator was going to return. They were correct as on July 31st, Robinson broke into the house through a window. The police officer in the house identified himself to Robinson and told him to halt. Robinson shot at the police officer, but he missed and went to run. The police officer shot at Robinson as he broke through several glass panels in the kitchen door. The police officer called for back-up and went upstairs to warn the couple to stay in their bedroom. Police officers found a trail of blood, so they knew Robinson was injured so alerted local hospitals. A few hours later, the police were called to a hospital where Robinson turned up to be treated for a gunshot wound. The officer who had shot him identified him as the man that had broken into the house and they identified the bite mark on Robinson’s inner arm where the woman had bit him. Robinson was arrested.

The DNA gathered from Robinson’s second victim was matched with his own and he was charged with kidnapping, burglary, rape, attempted murder and murder. In November 1994 Robinson was convicted and sentenced to 97 years in prison and to death in all three cases.

As of April 2006, Robinson’s execution had been stayed and his lawyers were able to get two of the three death sentences resentenced to life in prison. Still, one death sentence remains, and Robinson still remains on death row in Pennsylvania.