DNA evidence links the fugitive former fugitive to the 1996 murder of a Kentucky girl
Morgan Jade Violi was kidnapped while playing outside her apartment building on July 24, 1996, in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and her case went cold for 30 years until recent developments in forensic science linked Robert Scott Froberg to her murder.
Froberg, who was already in Alabama prison systemHe was charged Thursday with kidnapping resulting in death, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky Kyle J. Bumgarner said at a news conference Friday.
“Morgan’s kidnapping and murder changed her family’s lives forever,” Bumgarner said.
“The Morgan family “I was left with unanswered questions.”
Morgan Jade Violi, left, and a sketch of the suspect, right (FBI)
Her kidnapping also changed her, he said Bowling Green Community.
“We remember when she was kidnapped, we remember the outpouring of support, but we also remember the fear,” said Bumgarner, of Bowling Green. “We remember worrying about our kids in the driveway innocently riding a bike or playing basketball.”
Eyewitnesses to Violi’s kidnapping said that a man in his twenties was driving a pickup truck that was found days later abandoned at a truck stop in Tennessee. The truck was stolen in Ohio a few days ago.
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Bumgarner said Forensic evidence What was taken from the truck at the time was a “key” to tracking down Violi and, decades later, linked Froberg to the crime.
“The fibers in Morgan’s hair have been tested by FBI Forensic Laboratory shortly after it was found, Bumgarner said, adding that it turned out to be consistent with the truck.
“However, the suspect remained unidentified for many years,” he added.
Fibers were found in the burgundy truck connecting Violet to it. It took decades for a suspect to be linked to the crime. (FBI)
Because of recent advances in forensic testing, the FBI sent a strand of hair for testing this year, and a DNA profile extracted from the hair was linked to Froberg, he said.
Froberg had escaped from the Alabama prison system in April 1996, and later reportedly spoke to a 7-year-old boy in Pennsylvania while hiding in the child’s treehouse.
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The boy told his parents, who called the police. Froberg was arrested.
Then he ran away Prison in Pennsylvania A week before the truck had been stolen from Ohio, less than a mile from where his parents lived.
Young Violet was kidnapped from Bowling Green, Kentucky in this stolen truck. (FBI)
Confronted with evidence at his Alabama prison this week, Froberg admitted to taking Violi with him after he stole the truck, Bumgarner said.
“The whole time she fought Morgan, she was screaming and fighting. Morgan was a fighter,” Bumgarner said.
Froberg also admitted that he stopped at A A forested area in TennesseeThe man, Bumgarner said, got into the back of the truck where Violet was, covered her mouth with his hand and “ultimately caused her death.”
Froberg left the child’s body in the woods.
He was arrested A month after she was killed for escaping from the Alabama prison system, where he has remained ever since.
Bumgarner said he could face life in prison or death if convicted.
Bumgarner added that the community had feared for years that Violet’s killer was living “silently” among them and that “one of our children could be next.”
“They’ve waited too long for answers.”
He said he hopes the news will give the community and her family some comfort that he is behind bars.
“They waited too long for answers,” Bumgarner said. Her parents and two older sisters.
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He asked the community to “continue to surround the Morgan family with love and prayers.”
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