Robert Sylvester Alston

Robert Sylvester Alston (born May 19, 1969) is an American serial killer who raped and murdered at least four women in Greensboro, North Carolina from 1991 to 1993, whose bodies he then dismembered and buried in various locations. He made anonymous phone calls to investigators about the crimes in an attempt to confuse them and gain media attention. He pleaded guilty to all charges in 1998 and received multiple life sentences.

Biography Robert Sylvester Alston was born on May 19, 1969, in Greensboro, North Carolina. The son of school custodian Jack and factory worker Dorothy Alston, he was one of two children born to a poor but otherwise stable and respected family.

Alston attended the local Grimsley High School, where he developed a reputation as a social outcast due to his introverted nature, having trouble interacting with his peers and having no close friends. He avoided deep emotional connections to everyone, including his own parents, and spent most of his time in his room or walking around the neighborhood. After his arrest, his father told reporters that there was little to no emotional intimacy or trust between them.

Alston committed his second murder in October of that year, strangling 26-year-old Sharon Martin.

The third murder occurred sometime during the spring of 1992, when the naked and decapitated body of 19-year-old Shameca Warren was discovered by police officers at a vacant lot near Alston's home. Warren, a prostitute suffering from drug addiction, had been reported missing by her relatives in May.

Alston's last confirmed murder took place sometime in early-to-mid December 1993, when he raped and strangled 41-year-old Lois Elizabeth Williams. While interviewing witnesses, investigators learned that she had last been seen in the company of a black male who appeared to be approximately 6 feet tall and about 185 pounds. Both Williams' and Warren's bodies were later recovered after an anonymous caller submitted tips to the police. Although investigators were unable to uncover any evidence directly linking him to these two cases, he was nonetheless indicted for both in January 1998. During interrogations, Alston refused to reveal his true motives or point out where he had buried the women's remains, which were eventually recovered thanks to tips submitted by an anonymous caller. Investigators believed that Alston was the caller, but he denied it was him.

After his conviction, Alston was identified as the prime suspect in the murders of two other women—Bernice Denise Robinson and Cheryl Lynn Mason—who had been murdered and raped in Greensboro between 1991 and 1993; however, he was never charged in either killing. The murders of Robinson and Mason remain unsolved.

Status Since his conviction, Alston has remained in jail, being frequently transferred around various penitentiaries across the state. In the mid-2010s, he was visited twice by journalists. In one interview, he stated that he was responsible for more than four murders, but was unwilling to cooperate with the Guilford County prosecutors. In 2016, he was interviewed by Nancy McLaughlin, a journalist for the News & Record. In that interview, he said the following: "I won't feed anyone's fascination with my crimes. That trigger, that one thing that pushed me over the edge, I'll die with that... I don't see myself as a serial killer, but people do. Society is so quick to put monikers on people, name tags. Robert Alston. That's who I am."

In 2002, the Greensboro Medical Examiner's Office was ordered to pay $50,000 in fines to the family of Sharon Martin after her remains were lost. The chief examiner, John Butts, later released a statement apologizing for the mix-up.

As of August 2026, Alston is serving his sentence at the Columbus Correctional Institution in Brunswick, North Carolina.