A Washington, D.C., man charged last week in the murders of two women is a person of interest in an active missing persons case in the District, both Harrisonburg and Metropolitan police say.
Harrisonburg police said the man, 35-year-old Anthony Robinson, is charged in the deaths of two women whose bodies were found the night of Nov. 24 in a vacant lot in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Police identified the victims as Allene Elizabeth "Beth" Redmon, 54, of Harrisonburg, and Tonita Lorice Smith, 39, of Charlottesville.
Smith was the mother of six children. Her family has set up a GoFundMe account to help with ongoing expenses.
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Harrisonburg and Charlottesville police were searching separately for the two women when both investigations drew them to a vacant lot off Linda Lane, where Harrisonburg detectives found their bodies. The two victims were found in the same lot within a short distance of each other, but authorities said they died at different times.
D.C. police have so far declined to provide details on the missing persons case in which Robinson is a person of interest.
A Harrisonburg police spokesperson said the missing person from D.C. is a woman. The spokesperson said D.C. homicide detectives were in Harrisonburg on Friday as they continued to investigate.
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Several jurisdictions across Northern Virginia are also investigating whether Robinson might be a person of interest in any of their open cases, the Harrisonburg police spokesperson said.
Robinson, a D.C. resident, is being held without bail in Harrisonburg.
He is charged there with two counts of first-degree murder and two felony counts of concealing, transporting or altering a dead body.
The Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office has taken over the forensic investigation. The causes and times of death for Redmon and Smith have yet to be determined.
Stay with News4 and NBC Washington.com for more on this continuing story.
