Photo: YouTube
This is absolutely chilling and creepy.
By Bernadette Giacomazzo — Written on May 08, 2020
Her mother was murdered by a serial killer — and then, in a bizarre real life story you would only expect in a work of fiction, her mother's killer's brother took her in.
Who is Heather Tiffany Robinson?
Even if you're an #IDAddict and watch nothing but crime dramas on Netflix — like this writer — you have to admit that this story is pretty creepy and a total mind warp.
Imagine, if you will, that your mother is murdered. Now imagine, that your mother was murdered by a serial killer. Now further imagine, if your mind isn't able to process this trauma enough, that you're subsequently taken in by the brother of the man who murdered your mother.
Creepy? Crazy? Grounds for a raging addiction and a possible justifiable homicide charge? All of the above?
Yes. And then some. Yet, somehow, Heather Tiffany Robinson pulled through it and became a productive member of society.
Let's look at what we know about her.
Her mother was only 19 when she was killed.
Lisa Stasi — Heather Tiffany Robinson's mother — was only 19 years old when John Edward Robinson murdered her.
Heather's life, of course, was spared in the brutal killing, though Stasi was one of eight women believed to have been murdered by John Edward Robinson.
Heather Tiffany Robinson was given to John Edward Robinson's brother.
"John Robinson gave Heather Robinson, who was born as Tiffany Stasi, to his brother Don Robinson and his wife, who did not know the true circumstances at the time they took the baby in and renamed her Heather Tiffany Robinson. To this day, Lisa Stasi's remains have never been found,"
Robinson told the full story of her "adoption" (for lack of a better way of putting it) on 20/20 on Friday, October 4, 2019.
She said that she got the creeps from "her uncle."
Heather Tiffany Robinson said while she was growing up, she always got a creepy feeling from "her uncle," John Edward Robinson, but she couldn't figure out why.
She also said that he never harmed her, or even threatened to, but she didn't want to be around him if she could avoid it.
Heather Tiffany Robinson's father had no idea his brother was a killer or that the adoption was illegitimate.
"The two-hour program features Heather’s exclusive and emotional conversation with her adoptive father, Donald Robinson, who discusses his belief at the time that her adoption was legitimate and learning about the horrific crimes of his brother. 20/20 cameras also exclusively document Heather and her husband, Roberto Ramos, as they travel to Kansas, Missouri and Tennessee to investigate her birth mother’s past and as she meets Rick Roth and Dave Brown, former Lenexa, Kansas detectives who worked on John’s case; Paul Morrison, former district attorney who prosecuted John in Kansas; as well as her step-grandmother, Sara Elledge, for the first time,” reads a press statement printed in Rolling Stone.
Even John Edward Robinson's colleagues had no idea he was a serial killer.
20/20 sat down with several of John Edward Robinson's former colleagues, and they all admitted that they had no idea he was a serial killer. Had they known, they said, they would have blown the whistle on him a long time ago.
But Heather Tiffany Robinson got some measure of justice.
Even though she can never get her mother back, when she was 22 years old, she got a $5 billion judgment against John Edward Robinson for wrongful death and (obviously) pain and suffering.
While Heather won't collect that amount of money, the judgment ensures that John Robinson will never be able to write a book or otherwise profit from his crimes.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on October 9, 2019 and was updated with the latest information.