The small, unassuming community of Bara, Ohio, was forever shattered on April 22, 1986, when 13-year-old Robin Field vanished without a trace, only to be discovered dead in a nearby river less than 24 hours later, her body wrapped in a green sheet and discarded like refuse. The initial search for the missing teenager was a frantic, community-wide effort, with family, friends, and neighbors combing the streets and fields for any sign of the bright and vivacious girl who was known for her kind heart and generosity. Yet, as the hours ticked by and hope began to dwindle, a far more sinister reality was unfolding just beneath the surface of this quiet town, one that involved a twisted web of teenage romance, jealousy, and a cold-blooded killer who was actively participating in the search for his own victim.
Robin was the only child from her mother Nancy’s second marriage, having tragically lost her father to a heart attack just one year after her birth. Despite this early devastation, she was raised in a loving home with her five half-siblings, who adored her and helped raise the bright and vivacious girl. She was a well-rounded student who enjoyed track, gymnastics, softball, and cheerleading, and she was known for her selfless character, always willing to lend a helping hand to those in need.
However, this generosity would ultimately become her undoing, as someone on the receiving end of her kindness was quick to take advantage of her trusting nature, harboring a dark and violent obsession that would culminate in an unthinkable act of brutality.
On the morning of her disappearance, Robin left for Rome Middle School as she did on any other day, but she would never return home. When the school bus arrived at her usual stop that afternoon, she was not on it, and her half-sister Sharon Schultz soon received a call from Robin’s classmate, 15-year-old Warren Paxton Brown, who went by Paxton, inquiring about her whereabouts. Initially, there was little concern, as it was Sharon’s birthday and she had plans with her sister, but as hours passed with no sign of Robin, panic began to set in.
Nancy was notified and immediately drove home from work, rallying a large search party that included Robin’s close relatives and friends, including Paxton and her next-door neighbor, 15-year-old Michelle Jackson, unaware that the perpetrator was moving among them, watching their frantic efforts with a cold, calculating gaze.
The search continued into the night, with Robin’s half-brother Rick, who had assumed the role of family patriarch at just 23 years old, staying up all night looking for his little sister. His search led him to Paxton’s house at 3 a. m.
, where he found the entire family awake, a detail that struck him as odd for a school night. When he demanded to speak with Paxton, the teenager was vague but quick to point the finger at another boy, claiming Robin was hiding in his garage. This deflection was a pattern that would repeat itself, as Paxton consistently asked the family “Have you found her yet?”
rather than expressing hope that she would come home, a subtle but chilling linguistic tell that betrayed his guilty knowledge of her fate.
The next day, the search ended in the worst way imaginable when a local fisherman along the South Rocky River in Strongsville discovered a young girl’s body lying face down in the water, wrapped only in a green sheet. Robin’s half-brothers, Ken and Rick Schultz, were tasked with the grim responsibility of identifying the body at Southwest Hospital. Rick remembers the moment with harrowing clarity, describing the difficulty of telling his mother that her daughter was gone.
The coroner faced challenges in determining an exact time of death due to the cold temperatures the night she vanished, but the investigation quickly turned to a series of interviews that would expose a twisted web of lies and deception, with several theories beginning to circulate among the townspeople.
One theory pointed towards 17-year-old Frank Salinka, who was reportedly seen with Robin riding a bike on the day she disappeared, and rumors suggested the pair may have had feelings for each other. Adding to the suspicion, Sharon had received a call a week prior from Paxton warning her to keep Robin away from Frank, claiming he feared Frank might hurt her. Another theory emerged from Robin’s brother Rick, who mentioned a note his sister may have written expressing feelings of depression, leading police to wonder if there wasn’t a killer on the loose after all.
However, the most significant break in the case came when police traced Robin’s last movements, learning she had gotten off the bus one stop early with Paxton and another boy, 14-year-old Jimmy Martin, and had gone to Paxton’s house.
Paxton’s aunt and grandmother, Charlene and Winfred Murphy, were the last people to have seen Robin alive, and they told police that the three friends went upstairs to listen to music, but the hangout was cut short after just 15 minutes when Jimmy left and Robin followed in complete hysterics. When investigators spoke with Paxton, his story didn’t align with his aunts’. He claimed he and Robin were secretly dating, a relationship hidden from her family who didn’t approve of him, and that she had ended things with him, causing her to run out in tears.
He failed to mention Jimmy was present until confronted, and his timeline of events that evening directly contradicted Charlene’s account, which placed him at home watching videotapes all night.
The investigation took another 𝓈𝒽𝓸𝒸𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 turn when it was revealed that Robin and Michelle had argued the night before the disappearance over a betrayal, as Robin was heartbroken to learn that Michelle and Paxton had shared a secret kiss. Michelle had retaliated with a strongly worded letter that included a disturbing drawing of a tombstone with Robin’s name on it, a symbol she claimed represented the end of their friendship, but it made her look increasingly suspicious. The day after Robin’s body was found, Paxton called Nancy to say he had found Robin’s purse in his home, and when Sharon went to retrieve it, she was met by Paxton, Michelle, and another friend in a silver car.
Sharon’s suspicion grew when Paxton’s story about where the purse was found changed, and he made a bizarre comment about having taken a polygraph test three times before, prompting her to warn him that he would be in a lot of trouble if he failed one given by police.
Paxton was a troubled teenager with a history of violent tendencies, having been routinely expelled from school and failing every subject on his last report card. He was the leader of a small group that called themselves the Masters of Destruction, and they engaged in acts of vandalism, breaking into schools and setting fires. A friend, Norman Clark, witnessed Paxton punch his own mother in the face during an argument, and there were unfounded allegations of devil worship, with a shrine reportedly found in his bedroom closet.
Despite this, Robin had taken it upon herself to tutor Paxton, hoping to give him stability and bring out the good in him, a selfless act of generosity that would tragically seal her fate, as Paxton had developed a twisted obsession with her.
The truth finally came to light when police re-interviewed Jimmy Martin on May 1st, and he broke down, revealing a horrifying confession. He told investigators that on Sunday, April 20th, Paxton had told him he was going to take Robin’s life because he believed she had used him, and he had even told his aunt Charlene of his plan, who merely laughed it off. On the day of the murder, Paxton lured Robin to his house under the guise of listening to a tape, and once there, he took Jimmy into the bathroom and told him to turn up the radio volume.
In the bedroom, Paxton asked Robin to go steady with him, but when she refused, he became enraged, blocking her path as she tried to leave.
Robin began to cry and attempted to flee, but Paxton overpowered her, dragging her back to the bed and spitting in her face. He forced her to the ground, placing one hand over her throat and the other on her mouth, and as she fought for her life, he hit her head into the ground, knocking her unconscious. Jimmy, terrified, said he wanted no part of the attack, but Paxton threatened to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 him and his family if he told anyone.
Paxton then demanded that Jimmy bring Charlene into the bedroom, and after Jimmy complied, he fled the scene, leaving Robin’s fate sealed in the hands of the deranged teenager and his complicit aunt.
Charlene, when brought in for interrogation, confessed to the brutal truth, telling detectives that she found Paxton sitting next to Robin’s body on the floor, the girl’s skin blue and her clothes partially removed. Paxton claimed he was “finishing it” before fleeing to meet Jimmy, leaving Charlene alone with the corpse. When Paxton’s mother Linda arrived home, Charlene remained silent about the crime, paralyzed by fear of her nephew’s reaction.
Later, Paxton instructed Charlene to help him dispose of the body, and they wrapped Robin in a green bed sheet, placing her in the back of Charlene’s station wagon. In a display of inconceivable brazenness, they drove to Robin’s own home, where Paxton got out and asked Sharon, “Have you found her yet?” while the lifeless body of her sister lay just a few feet away in the car.
The pair then drove to a Metro Park Bridge overlooking the Rocky River, where they horrifically disposed of Robin’s body, discarding her clothes in a garbage bin behind a store before returning home. For days, Paxton, Charlene, and Jimmy lied to family, friends, and police, but the inconceivable truth eventually prevailed. On May 1st, 1986, both Paxton and his aunt were placed under arrest.
Paxton was tried as an adult and convicted of aggravated murder, sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years, while Charlene pled guilty to tampering with evidence and was placed on probation. For 37 years, Robin’s family has fought to keep her killer behind bars, successfully opposing his parole petitions, while Paxton maintains a website claiming to take full responsibility for his actions and asking for a second chance, a request the victim’s family has publicly and vehemently rejected.
