But the women he targeted were desperate enough financially to trust anyone, and Robinson was so experienced at conning people at this time, anyone he talked to would have fallen for his web of lies. Robinson was no better than a pimp, in addition to his roles as con man, fraudster, and forger. In this way Robinson’s modus operandi was at the forefront of technical culture, as child pornography and other crimes were multiplying in the new online “frontier” of crime. Robinson’s sex life was another venue that proved profitable for him, arranging for young women to become slaves in the local chapter of the secret society of bondage and rough sex alternative lifestyle. Robinson worked the online scene for “subs”, subjugated sex slaves who performed with behaviours suited to a role of subjective domination. Robinson technically was unemployed at the time of his arrest and spent all day driving between his body stashing country acreage and his Internet sessions luring women to their doom. Robinson acknowledged his sexual preferences as part of the bondage/master and slave relationship order, but these desires were neither suppressed nor shamed into secrecy. John Robinson is noted as having been involved in BSDM, bondage and sadomasochism, but irregular and deviant sexual practices were not just part of the modus operandi of this particular serial killer. Fifteen years of killing was laid before a jury with varying views on capital murder verdicts and cloudy understanding of Internet practices and BSDM clubs.

Luckily for prosecutors there were “barrels’ of evidence, namely the barrels with decomposing bodies found on Robinson’s farm. Robinson ended up throwing a huge burden of trial and court expense when he was caught, due both to his lengthy investigation by the task force and his longevity in scamming defrauding employers, corporations, and individuals. The victims’ families, witnesses, and jury pool selection extended year after year long after Robinson’s arrest. But the sheer burden, cost, handling chores and normal legal defence responses absorbed much more time than normal.

The life of any serial killer generally ends with them being caught and put for trial after a limited gruesome career, with notable exceptions such as the Green River Killer. The Internet Serial killer was not only significant for his plumbing of a new medium for victims. Yet his mind for the swindles was always razor sharp. At trial, Robinson’s defence team would allege he was the fourth generation of a depressive and clinically dissociative personality. A master swindler and determined scammer, Robinson juggled multiple schemes of women and plans that were fictitious and formed to exploit women and derive profit thereby. Robinson is titled the Internet Serial Killer because he was the first criminal serial killer whose exploits developed the Internet as a predatory hunting ground for new victims.

Pictures of serial killers on death row