Heather Robinson Was Abducted by Her Uncle Who Killed Her Mom

Heather Robinson knew she was adopted as an infant, but she didn’t know how her parents wound up with her until she was 15 years old. That’s when she, and the rest of the world, learned that her “Uncle John” forged adoption papers that brought her to the Robinson family and that he is a serial killer.

Her story informs Lifetime's Kidnapped by a Killer: The Heather Robinson Story, and John's murders are covered in a season 4 episode of Cold Case Files Classics.

Heather’s biological mom, Lisa Stasi, got pregnant with her at 19, at which point Heather’s biological dad, Carl Stasi, proposed marriage. Lisa accepted, and the newlyweds rented an apartment in Kansas City, Mo., with their baby, Tiffany, born September 3, 1984, at Truman Medical Center. 

But by December, the couple separated. Lisa had no money or place to stay, so her aunt took her and Tiffany to Hope House, a housing facility for domestic violence victims, per 20/20. 

The previous month, according to court records, a man presented himself as John Osborne to a Truman Medical Center social worker, claiming that he and other local businessmen started an organization that provided housing, job training and babysitting and encouraged them to submit candidates. In January 1985, Osborne told the social worker that Hope House had referred a young mother to his program. 

Osborne offered Lisa employment, an apartment and the possibility of travel. He set her up at the Rodeway Inn, a motel in nearby Overland Park. On January 9, 1985, Lisa left the motel to pick up Tiffany from her sister-in-law, Kathy Klingensmith’s, home. She gave the front desk Klingensmith’s number in case Osborne needed to reach her. Within minutes, Osborne called and got the sister-in-law’s address and headed to her house. 

Upon arrival, Klingensmith testified that Osbourne “didn't say anything to me. He just stood there and looked at me.” Lisa and Tiffany left with Osbourne in his car, leaving behind some personal belongings along with her car. “I knew deep down that was the last time I would see Lisa,” Klingensmith recalled.

Once back in her motel room, Lisa called her mother-in-law, Betty Stasi. According to court filings, she was crying and hysterical. She said “they” told her Betty was planning to take Tiffany away from her because she’s an unfit mother. Betty said that wasn’t true. Lisa said she was instructed to sign four blank sheets of paper. Betty told her not to sign anything. “Here they come,” Lisa said and hung up.

The next morning, Klingensmith called the motel and was told Lisa and Tiffany had already checked out and that the bill was paid by John Robinson, not John Osborne. Klingensmith filed a missing persons report with the Overland Park Police.

Lisa’s family never spoke to her again. They received a typed letter with Lisa’s signature claiming she started a new life with Tiffany However, her family was not convinced they came from her. Her diction was too precise, and she didn’t know how to type.

On January 10, 1985, the same day Lisa and Tiffany disappeared, John Edward Robinson told his brother, Don, and Don’s wife, Helen, who had been looking to adopt a child, to come pick up their baby girl, Tiffany.  

Don had enlisted his brother’s help in doing a private adoption without knowing about John’s history of stealing and forgery. John’s first conviction was in 1969 for embezzling $33,000 from his employer, Dr. Wallace Graham. He had conned his way into the job through charm and manufactured certificates of accomplishment. The following year, he was arrested for swiping 6,200 postage stamps from another employer. In 1971, he was caught embezzling nearly $5,600 from yet another employer. 

Over the next decade, John was in and out of jail for various offenses, none violent. 

John told Don and Helen that Tiffany’s mother died by suicide. To create the appearance of a legitimate adoption, he forged documents and collected a total of $5,500 from the new parents, the supposed attorney fees. The child was renamed Heather.

Given John’s criminal record, authorities had been watching him for some time. In 2000, two women filed police reports alleging that John, who had an interest in sadomasochistic sex and called himself Slavemaster, went beyond consensual sex during their interaction. One of the women, Vicki Nuefeld, claimed John refused to return $700 worth of sex toys. That led to his arrest on June 2, 2000, and caused police to obtain search warrants. 

While searching through his home, police found a blank sheet signed by Lisa and receipts from Rodeway Inn. A search of a storage facility yielded personal items linked to Izabela Lewicka and Suzette Trouten, two women who disappeared in 1999 and 2000, respectively. 

The following day, police searched another Robinson property where they stumbled upon two 55-gallon barrels. Inside were the decomposed bodies of Trouten and Lewicka.

On June 5, detectives searched another storage facility. They discovered three barrels containing the remains of Beverly Bonner, Sheila Faith and her 15-year-old daughter, Debbie Faith. The Faiths disappeared in 1994; Bonner disappeared in 1996. 

Forensic consultant and Slave Master co-author Maurice Godwin tells A&E Crime + Investigation that the reason John kept some of the women in barrels was “to keep the victims close to him. He felt empowerment.” Godwin believes John would visit the barrels to fondly reminisce about his heinous crimes. Godwin was hired by the defense to create a psychological assessment of John’s crimes. The purpose was to convince Robinson to plead guilty and lead investigators to the missing bodies of Lisa, Paula Godfrey and Catherine Clampitt, two other victims who disappeared in 1984 and 1987, respectively.

John refused to cooperate and fired his entire defense team. “John thought he was smarter than law enforcement,” Godwin says. He believes John thought he could actually win the case.

Lisa’s body was never found. Nonetheless, there was enough evidence to convict John of her murder in addition to the murders of Trouten and Lewicka. He was found guilty on all three counts of capital murder and sentenced to the death penalty, which he has since sought to overturn. John remains on death row at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in Kansas.

After John’s arrest, Don and Helen began to wonder about their daughter’s mother. Authorities compared Heather’s footprint to known prints of Tiffany. They found a match. 

Heather was 15 at the time of the revelation. She always saw John as “Uncle John” but remembered tell-tale signs of his dark past. In a 20/20 interview in 2019, she said, “He always gave me this really weird, off-putting feeling in the pit of my stomach.” 

She claims John offered to help her move closer to him about a month before he was caught. “He said, ‘Hey, I know things are really rough between your mom and dad. I tell you what, you message me, don’t tell anyone. I’ll send you a plane ticket. Come out here. We’ll get things situated and settled for you and we’ll go from there,’” she said.

If she had joined him in Kansas, she’s certain “I’d be dead,” Heather said “I would be in that barrel.”

When Heather was 18, Don and Helen legally adopted her.