Lifetime’s newest movie, The Dating App Killer: The Monica White Story, premiered on Saturday, providing viewers with a Valentine’s Day twist based on the real-life events of Monica White and a serial killer.
What is ‘The Dating App Killer: The Monica White Story’ about?
Miriam Van Emst and David Weaver wrote the film, and former Law & Order star Elisabeth Röhm directed it. The film stars Lela Rochon and Jarod Joseph in the network’s latest true-crime installment, which recounts how White narrowly escaped a deadly encounter.
“After sending her son off to military school, Monica White (Rochon) is finally ready to start dating again and focus on herself. When she meets Anthony Robinson (Joseph) online, she is charmed by him and believes she’s finally found a real connection. As their relationship deepens, Monica decides to meet Anthony in person but is unaware Anthony harbors a dangerous secret — he’s a serial killer preying on women through dating apps,” according to the official description.
The real-life events of Anthony Eugene Robinson revealed disturbing details about who he was and the women he killed.
Who was Anthony Eugene Robinson?
Robinson was found guilty more than a year ago of killing two women in Harrisonburg, Virginia, in 2021. Robinson was known as the “shopping cart killer” since he would use a shopping cart to transport his victims, WTOP reported.
Surveillance footage captured the man entering a Harrisonburg Howard Johnson hotel on two separate occasions: first in October 2021 with Beth Redmon and again the following month with Tonita Smith.
In both instances, he left the hotel the following morning with a shopping cart draped with a sheet. Redmon’s and Smith’s bodies were later found on a nearby hillside.
Robinson is also linked to the unsolved deaths of two women in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. In September 2021, Sonya Champ’s body was found in a shopping cart underneath a sheet at D.C.’s Union Station. Robinson’s DNA was found on Champ and the shopping cart, forensic scientists confirmed at the time, per WTOP.
During the trial, Fairfax County detectives testified that they found the remains of Cheyenne Brown’s body in a garbage can next to a shopping cart at a Moon Inn in Alexandria. Robinson wasn’t charged in either case.
Authorities also linked Robinson to a woman’s death in Prince George’s County, Maryland, according to NBC 4 Washington.
In the deaths of Redmon and Smith, Robinson was found guilty on two counts of aggravated murder, two counts of first-degree murder, and two counts of concealing a dead body. The jury recommended four life counts plus 10 years, and a $400,000 fine. His sentencing is scheduled for May 22, according to Rocktown Now.
Monica White on her relationship with Robinson: ‘I knew something was wrong with him’
Monica White told People how she knew something wasn’t right with Robinson and decided to call off the relationship.
“I knew something was wrong with him,” White, 56, told the outlet in a 2024 interview. “Something snapped. It was crazy.”
In late 2020, White met Robinson on the dating app Tagged. They began speaking daily over video calls, but White said she wasn’t looking for a romantic relationship, having been divorced for three years.
After their first in-person meeting in early 2021 in Pennsylvania, White said there were several red flags the moment she picked him up from a bus station.
“There were things that went up as red flags at the first visit,” she recounted. “He was like, ‘Please don’t judge me straight off the bat. Let’s get to know each other. I don’t like when women reject me.’ So that was a red flag right there.”
Despite her uncertainty, White proceeded with getting to know Robinson, but there were other things he did that made her uncomfortable. From different sexual kinks to peeing in her bed on her birthday, White grew more concerned about her safety and well-being with Robinson.
“He tried to tie me up,” White told People. “But I wouldn’t let him. I was like, ‘I’m not into it.’ He pulled by arms behind my back and then grabbed me by my neck,” adding, “He peed in my bed on my birthday. I could not believe it.”
She said he snapped, and that’s when she broke things off with him. Months later, she found out from her cousin that Robinson had been arrested for the murders, and she believes she may have played a role in his becoming a serial killer.
“I felt like I might’ve been the reason why he might have snapped,” White said. “I had actually allowed this man into my home, allowed him to stay overnight in my home. Then to find out later on, you started killing people?”