Monica met Anthony on a dating app
White was a recent divorcee when she connected with Robinson on Tagged in late 2020.She wasn’t necessarily looking for a serious relationship. In a 2024 interview with PEOPLE, she said she was more interested in companionship.They started talking and video-calling regularly. At first, Robinson seemed like an ordinary man she could get to know.Then they decided to meet.Robinson travelled from Harrisonburg, Virginia, to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, in January 2021.And that’s when White says the first warning signs appeared.
‘I don’t like when women reject me’
One thing Robinson said during that first visit immediately stuck with White.She recalled him telling her that he didn’t like being rejected by women.For her, that was a red flag.Things became more uncomfortable when Robinson allegedly tried to restrain her during an intimate encounter. White said he pulled her arms behind her back and grabbed her by the neck.She told him she wasn’t comfortable.He also reportedly suggested moving in with her, even though they’d only recently met.White wasn’t having it.“I told him, ‘No. You’re moving too fast, man,’” she later recalled.
His second visit changed everything
Robinson returned to Pennsylvania the following month, this time ahead of White’s 54th birthday.But instead of bringing them closer, the visit pushed White further away.She said his behaviour became increasingly strange and that she eventually told him she didn’t want to be intimate with him anymore.When she asked him to take his things and leave, White recalled that he “started snapping.”Robinson eventually left and stayed at a motel in Harrisburg.He later offered White $500 to come and see him.She said no.Then she drove past the motel and saw him.What she noticed scared her.“He looked like a totally different man,” White told PEOPLE. “Something snapped in him.”At the time, she still had no idea just how dangerous the man she’d been dating could be.
The truth came months later
Robinson was arrested in November 2021 after investigators connected him to the deaths of Allene “Beth” Redmon and Tonita Smith in Virginia.Investigators alleged that he had met women through dating platforms and used hotel rooms before their bodies were found.The nickname “Shopping Cart Killer” came from allegations that shopping carts were used to transport victims’ bodies.Then White saw his mugshot.Her cousin showed it to her, and she immediately recognised him.Suddenly, all those moments that had felt strange started making sense.White later spoke about the guilt and fear she felt after learning what Robinson was accused of. But there was no evidence that her rejection had anything to do with his later crimes.
What happened to Anthony Robinson?
Robinson was convicted in 2025 in connection with the deaths of Redmon and Smith and received a life sentence along with additional prison time.Authorities have also investigated possible links to other women’s deaths.For White, the most frightening part is probably how normal everything seemed at the beginning.She met someone online. They talked. They met in person.And slowly, the warning signs started piling up.White eventually trusted her instincts and walked away.She had no way of knowing then that the man she was dating would later be identified as a serial killer.That’s what makes her story so unsettling and why The Dating App Killer: The Monica White Story is getting renewed attention now.
