Maryland man allegedly fatally shot his pharmacist brother for ‘killing people’ with the COVID vaccine, court records show
A Cumberland man allegedly killed his brother and sister-in-law in their Ellicott City home last week because his brother, a pharmacist, administered COVID-19 vaccines, according to charging documents filed Wednesday in a Howard County court.
Jeffrey Burnham told his mother he had to confront his older brother, Brian Robinette, because he was poisoning people by administering the COVID-19 vaccine, telling his mother, “Brian knows something,” according to the new charging documents filed against Burnham.
Burnham is being held without bond in Allegany County, where he is charged with stabbing Rebecca Reynolds, 83, to death inside her Cumberland home on Sept. 29. Police said he took her car and fled to Ellicott City, where a day later he killed Robinette, 58, and his wife Kelly Sue Robinette, 57. He faces first and second-degree murder charges in the couples’ deaths.
Burnham, 46, was captured last week in West Virginia following an 18-hour search.
According to the charging documents filed against Burnham related to the Howard County murders, Burnham told another unnamed person that his brother was “killing people with the COVID shot.”
Burnham’s mother Evelyn Burnham previously expressed concerns about her younger son’s mental health. In charging documents filed against Burnham in Reynolds’ death in Allegany County, Evelyn Burnham called Cumberland police twice last week because of her son’s “mental stability” after he made statements about the FBI “being after” them both.
She told police in one call that her son lived with her and kept a security system in his bedroom at their home, police wrote in the documents.
Evelyn Burnham called police again Sept. 30, concerned about her son’s talk of “Becky’s car,” referring to Reynolds, a friend of hers since childhood. Police have said Burnham stole Reynolds’ Lincoln and drove to Ellicott City.
Reynolds was found dead inside her home with a deep laceration across her throat and a pillow over her face, the charging documents said. Police indicated there were signs of a struggle, noting a broken vase, cordless phone and cane on the floor near where Reynolds was found.
The Robinettes were found fatally shot in an upstairs bedroom in their home on Kerger Road. A gun also was recovered from the home, according to the charging documents. Reynolds’ vehicle was found parked less than half a mile from the home, and the Robinettes’ 2007 red Corvette was missing.
Police later found Brian Robinette’s cellphone off the exit ramp of Route 100, headed to Interstate 95 north. An E-ZPass connected with the Corvette reported that the car went through the toll plaza at the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel at about 8:30 a.m. Sept. 30, the charging documents said.
The same day, an unidentified “tipster” called Maryland State Police, alerting them that Burnham returned to Cumberland shortly before 5 p.m. Sept. 30, driving his brother’s Corvette. Burnham asked the person for gas and told them “he would see him on TV,” the charging document said.
Burnham expressed concerns to this person about his brother administering the COVID-19 vaccine, which Burnham said was “killing people,” the charging document said. Robinette graduated from the University of Maryland Baltimore School of Pharmacy in 1986, according to a school annual report.
Burnham was arrested Oct. 1 at The Billy Motel & Bar in Davis, West Virginia, after flagging down a firefighter, and told him he “had been forced to kill three people.”
He was extradited back to Maryland Tuesday. He remains held without bond in Allegany County.
Howard County State’s Attorney Rich H. Gibson Jr. declined to comment on the pending case Wednesday. Calls to the Allegany County State’s Attorney’s Office were not returned.
Burnham did not have an attorney listed in court records.
