In the summer of 1993, a wave of terror gripped the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania, as a serial killer moved through its neighborhoods. The city’s first-ever serial killer, later dubbed "The Monster of Allentown," had already claimed two lives and attacked others. His final victim was Jessica Jean Fortney, a 47-year-old female grandmother who lived on the East Side of the city.
Her death on July 14, 1993, marked the end of a brutal spree that left a community in fear and a family grappling with an unimaginable loss.
Jessica was living with her daughter, Louise, and her son-in-law, Ricky, in a home at 407 North Bryan Street. On the morning of July 14th, her daughter and son-in-law made a horrific discovery. They found Jessica’s body on the sofa in the front room of their house. An autopsy would later reveal the horrifying extent of the violence she had endured. She had been sexually assaulted, savagely beaten, and strangled to death. The medical examiner identified more than fifty distinct injury patterns, a testament to the brutal nature of the attack.
The investigation into Jessica’s murder quickly became part of a larger, more terrifying picture. For months, Allentown had been on edge. In August 1992, 29-year-old Joan Burghardt was murdered in her home. Then, in June 1993, 15-year-old Charlotte Schmoyer was abducted and killed. Another woman, Denise Sam-Cali, was brutally attacked and raped in her home but managed to survive. The attacks were linked by their geography on Allentown's East Side and the terrifyingly violent methods employed.
The man responsible for this reign of terror was a teenager named Harvey Miguel Robinson. He was just 18 years old when he broke into Jessica Fortney’s home by cutting a window screen to gain entry. Robinson, who had a troubled history and an abusive family background, attacked women of all ages, his crimes characterized by extreme brutality including bludgeoning, stabbing, and strangulation.
The breakthrough in the case came just weeks after Jessica’s murder. Robinson, who had repeatedly returned to the home of his surviving victim, Denise Sam-Cali, was caught when police set up a stakeout at her residence. On July 31, 1993, an officer waiting inside the home exchanged gunfire with Robinson as he attempted to break in again. Wounded, Robinson fled but was apprehended when he sought treatment at a local hospital. DNA evidence would conclusively link him to the murders of Jessica Fortney, Joan Burghardt, and Charlotte Schmoyer, as well as the attacks on two survivors.
In November 1994, Harvey Miguel Robinson was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder, along with numerous other charges including rape, attempted murder, and burglary. He received three separate death sentences for the murders. "These were horrific killings, and I just thought the death penalty was appropriate under the circumstances," said District Attorney James B. Martin.
Over the years, Robinson’s sentences for the murders of Joan Burghardt and Charlotte Schmoyer were appealed and ultimately reduced to life in prison, partly because he was a juvenile at the time of the first murder. However, the death sentence for the murder of Jessica Jean Fortney was repeatedly upheld by the courts. Harvey Miguel Robinson remains on death row in Pennsylvania, serving two additional life sentences plus 40.5 to 81 years for his other crimes. The family he shattered on that July day was left to navigate the world without the grandmother who was taken from them in such a violent and senseless act.
