Cheyenne Brown was a 29-year-old Black woman from Washington, D.C., who was pregnant and the mother of a 7-year-old son. Her family described her as a loving mother and daughter. In the fall of 2021, their concern grew when they were unable to reach her, and her mother made a public plea, saying, "I just want my daughter to come home."
On September 30, 2021, Brown left her home and was seen on surveillance video at a Metro station meeting a man she had reportedly been in communication
with on a dating app. Cellphone data tracked her journey from D.C. to the area near the Moon Inn motel in Fairfax County, Virginia. After that day, she was never heard from again. Her family told police that about ten days before she vanished, a man they believed to be Anthony Eugene Robinson had been at her home, and a cousin had made him leave on two separate occasions.
The investigation into Brown's disappearance led authorities to focus on Robinson as a person of interest. On December 15, 2021, the search came to a tragic end. In a wooded area near the Moon Inn, detectives discovered a shopping cart next to a large plastic container. Inside, they found the remains of two people. Due to the advanced state of decomposition, one of the victims, Cheyenne Brown, could only be identified by a distinctive tattoo. The remains of the second victim were identified as 48-year-old Stephanie Harrison.
The medical examiner officially ruled Brown's death a homicide, though the advanced decomposition of her body prevented a determination of the exact cause of death. Investigators believe the suspect, whom they dubbed the "Shopping Cart Killer," used shopping carts to transport his victims' bodies after meeting them on dating apps and luring them to motels.
Anthony Eugene Robinson, 35, was arrested in November 2021 and charged with the murders of two other women in Harrisonburg, Virginia. While he is the primary suspect in the death of Cheyenne Brown, he has not been formally charged in her case. In January 2025, Robinson’s murder trial began in Rockingham County for the two Harrisonburg homicides. During the proceedings, prosecutors introduced evidence related to Brown’s death to show a pattern of conduct. A forensic scientist testified that Cheyenne Brown’s blood was found on the mattress in the Moon Inn room that Robinson had rented.
As of January 2025, the case of Cheyenne Brown’s murder remains officially unsolved.
