Robert Sylvester Alston (born May 19, 1969) is an American serial killer who raped and murdered at least four women in Greensboro, North Carolina from 1991 to 1993, whose bodies he then dismembered and buried in various locations.
The son of school custodian Jack and factory worker Dorothy Alston, he was one of two children born to a poor, but otherwise stable and respected family.
[1] Alston attended the local Grimsley High School, where he developed a reputation as a social outcast due to his introverted nature, having trouble interacting with his peers and having no close friends.
Shortly after the birth of his second son, Alston got into a conflict with his partner and abandoned his family, returning to his parents' home in Greensboro, where he stuck with doing low-skilled labor over the next several years.
[1] As victims, Alston chose young black women who were either prostitutes or drug addicts, all of whom he picked up in his dark blue Pontiac.
By late November, utility workers found her severed head and one of her hands in a wooded area on a street near the Jackson Middle School.
[4] The third murder occurred sometime during the spring of 1992, when the naked and decapitated body of 19-year-old Shameca Warren was discovered by police officers at a vacant lot near Alston's home.
[4] He offered her a ride, but when she got in the car, he drove to a forested area near the James B. Dudley High School where he proceeded to assault, beat, rape and attempt to strangle her.
[4] At the police station, the victim was presented with photographs of previously convicted black men, choosing one that she thought resembled her attacker – that of Robert Alston.
He remained a suspect in the other crimes, but denied any involvement until 1996, when he contacted the Guilford County Prosecutor's Office and confessed to killing JoAnne Robinson.
[9] During interrogations, Alston refused to reveal his true motives or point out where he had buried the women's remains, which were eventually recovered thanks to tips submitted by an anonymous caller.
At one point, he was asked by the judge and Warren's mother to reveal the location of her remains, but he turned this request down, stating the following: "I have had time to search my soul.