KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A serial killer given life sentences in two states was indicted on a federal charge in one of the murders and may face the death penalty, authorities said Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said the charge arose because John E. Robinson Sr. tricked 27-year-old Suzette Trouten into moving to Kansas from Michigan, and their path took them through Graves' western Missouri district.

Graves said the federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death is different enough from the state convictions that it does not violate Robinson's right not to be tried twice for the same crime.

"It is certainly an expansive reading of the statute," Graves acknowledged during a news conference. "This office and I have been aggressive in seeking the death penalty where it is appropriate. Justice seeks the ultimate penalty for the ultimate crime."

Story continues

advertisement

Robinson, 62, originally was sentenced to death in Kansas state court for the capital murders of Trouten and Izabela Lewicka, 21, of West Lafayette, Ind. But Kansas' death penalty law was tossed out by the state's highest court in December 2004; the death sentence would be reinstated if the U.S. Supreme Court decides the law is constitutional.

Graves said his office hasn't decided whether to pursue the death penalty but added, "You can follow the logic." Asked if he would abandon the case if the Supreme Court reinstates Kansas' death penalty, Graves said, "That's something we'd have to consider."

An attorney representing Robinson in his appeal of his Kansas death sentences did not immediately return a call seeking comment Thursday.

Trouten's and Lewicka's bodies were discovered in June 2000 in barrels on Robinson's property 60 miles south of Kansas City. Robinson was also sentenced to life in Kansas in the 1985 disappearance of a 19-year-old woman whose body was never found.

In Missouri, he avoided trial and a possible death sentence by admitting in October 2003 that he had killed two women and a teenage girl whose bodies were found in barrels in a rented storage locker, as well as two other women whose bodies were never found. He was sentenced to five life terms without parole in those cases.

Authorities have said Robinson lured some of his victims, including Trouten, with promises of work or sadomasochistic sex. Graves said luring Trouten to Kansas under false pretenses amounted to kidnapping.