The Dating App Killer: The Monica White Story, a dramatization based on the crimes of convicted murderer Anthony Eugene Robinson, was the No. 1 movie on Netflix in the United States earlier this week (currently 3rd as of press time).
The movie tells the story through the perspective of Monica White, a Pennsylvania woman who briefly dated Robinson in early 2021. White encountered several alarming warning signs, including statements that he hated being rejected, sudden aggression during intimate encounters and attempts to push the relationship forward quickly. She eventually made him leave her home and ended the relationship.
Robinson later became known as the “Shopping Cart Killer” because authorities said he used shopping carts to transport and dispose of victims’ bodies after meeting women through dating websites. His crimes and suspected crimes were centered primarily around Harrisonburg and Fairfax County, Virginia.
Fairfax County Police became involved in the investigation while assisting the Metropolitan Police Department with the disappearance of 29-year-old Cheyenne Brown of Washington, D.C. Surveillance footage showed Brown and Robinson together at the Huntington Metro station on September 30, 2021, the last time she was seen.
The investigation eventually led detectives to the area surrounding the Moon Inn Hotel on Richmond Highway in the Fairfax County portion of Alexandria. On December 15, 2021, a detective noticed a shopping cart near a wooded area and discovered a container holding human remains nearby. The remains were later identified as Brown and 48-year-old Stephanie Harrison of California.
Fairfax County Police said Robinson had communicated with Brown through a dating website before her disappearance and identified him as the suspect in the deaths of Brown and Harrison. The two Fairfax County cases are separate from the Harrisonburg murders for which he was convicted.
Robinson was found guilty in 2025 of murdering Allene “Beth” Redmon and Tonita Smith in Harrisonburg. He was sentenced in May 2026 to two life sentences plus 10 years in prison.
The film, starring Lela Rochon as White and Jarod Joseph as Robinson, originally premiered on Lifetime before arriving on Netflix on August 15. Netflix describes it as a drama based on the true story of the “Shopping Cart Killer.”
