In the spring of 1985, a young man named Robert Sheldon, aged 20, found himself in a vulnerable position in Kansas City, Missouri. Seeking temporary lodging, he reached out to an acquaintance, Robert Berdella, and on April 10th, moved into his home. Sheldon was reportedly paying his rent, but his presence became an 'inconvenience' to Berdella. The situation took a dark turn on April 12th when Berdella, finding Sheldon intoxicated, decided to act on his 'darkest fantasies.'
He drugged and held Sheldon captive, not out of any personal malice, but as an outlet for his own anger and frustrations with others.
For three days, Sheldon was held against his will. The grim ordeal came to a sudden and tragic end on April 15th. A workman was scheduled to do repairs on the roof of Berdella's house, and to prevent his crime from being discovered, Berdella murdered Sheldon by suffocating him with a sack and a rope. He then dismembered Sheldon's body in his third-floor bathroom.
Robert Berdella, who would later be known as 'The Kansas City Butcher,' was not immediately apprehended for Sheldon's murder. His horrific crimes, which involved the kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder of at least six young men between 1984 and 1987, came to light in April 1988 when his last victim managed to escape. Berdella was arrested on April 2, 1988. In August 1988, he pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of one of his victims and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Subsequently, in December 1988, he pleaded guilty to an additional charge of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder, which included the case of Robert Sheldon. Berdella died of a heart attack in the Missouri State Penitentiary in October 1992.
