After a nearly 30-year investigation, a man has been charged in the kidnapping and murder of seven-year-old Morgan Violi.
She was abducted July 24, 1996, while playing outside her home at the Colony Apartments in Bowling Green.
Violi's body was found three months later in a wooded area of White House, Tennessee.
"I'm proud to tell you that, yesterday, we filed a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, charging Robert Scott Froberg with kidnapping resulting in death," U.S. Attorney Kyle Bumgarner said Friday during a news conference at the Bowling Green Police Department.
Witnesses who spoke to investigators in 1996 reported seeing a burgundy van driven by a white male take the young girl. The vehicle was found abandoned two days later at a truck stop just south of Nashville.
The van was determined to have been stolen in Dayton, Ohio, days prior to the abduction. Forensic evidence collected from it was key to tying Violi and Froberg to the van.
Violi's body was found on Oct. 20, 1996. A fiber found in her hair was tested by the FBI and determined to be consistent with material in the seat cushion of the abandoned van, but the suspect remained unidentified for decades.
With recent advancements in DNA forensics, the FBI sent a strand of hair recovered from the van back for testing and found that a DNA profile extracted from the hair was associated with Froberg.
Investigators determined that in 1996, the year Violi was kidnapped, Froberg was serving a lengthy sentence in Alabama Department of Corrections. But on April 3, 1996, he escaped prison and traveled to Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania.
On May 20, 1996, a child on a playground made a complaint about Froberg, and when confronted by police, he fled before being captured, arrested, and jailed in Pennsylvania. He escaped from that jail on July 16, 1996, and seven days later, the burgundy van later linked to Violi's abduction was stolen in Dayton near the home of Froberg's parents. Once again, he escaped from custody in Ohio.
Earlier this week, a team of detectives traveled to Montgomery, Alabama, to interview Froberg. According to Bumgarner, the now 62-year-old Froberg admitted that after leaving Ohio, he drove south headed to Huntsville where he intended to hide in the home of a male nurse he met while incarcerated in Alabama.
Froberg admitted to pulling off I-65 in Bowling Green to find drugs and pulled into the Colony apartment complex where he spotted seven-year-old Morgan Violi. Froberg told investigators he abducted Morgan and put her in the back of the van, headed south, and pulled off the interstate in the northern Tennessee town of White House.
"All the while, Morgan fought," Bumgarner said at the Friday news conference. "She screamed. She resisted. Morgan was a fighter."
Members of Violi's family attended the news conference and wept as Bumgarner detailed the series of events.
Bumgarner said Froberg admitted to driving to a wooded area where he covered the girl's mouth with his hands and caused her death in the van before disposing of her body in a wooded area.
Froberg told detectives he then traveled south and stayed with the nurse in Hunstville for a week before traveling back to Pennsylvania where he was arrested on Aug. 21, 1996, for fleeing prison in Alabama.
"For years, the community has feared that Morgan's abductor lived silently among us. We feared that one of our kids might be next," Bumgarner said. "I hope this announcement today can give some level of comfort to this community, my hometown, that Froberg has been in the custody of the Alabama Department of Corrections since 1996 where he is today."
According to the Alabama Department of Corrections, Froberg is being held on charges of robbery and escape.
Violi's family, including her parents and two older sisters, were notified Thursday evening that her alleged killer was identified and is in custody.
"Today is not about Froberg. Today is about Morgan Violi," Bumgarner said. "Today is about a seven-year-old daughter and sister who remained in our hearts for nearly 30 years. As Morgan's mom told me last night, Morgan was more than the worst thing to happen to her. She was daughter. She was a little sister. She had the biggest smile. She loved to laugh. She loved to dance. She loved to sing, and when she grew up, she was going to be a veterinarian. Morgan, today is for you."
William Kurtz, Supervisory Special Agent for the FBI's Bowling Green office, thanked the community for decades of support.
"Not a week has gone by in the last 30 years that we haven't received tips and information related to Morgan's abduction," Kurtz said. "This is a reflection of the community's engagement and level of commitment to finding justice for Morgan."
Among those attending Friday's announcement were generations of law enforcement who worked the case, including current Bowling Green Police Chief Michael Delaney.
"To the Violi family, we wish this tragedy had never occurred and that Morgan was still with us today. While nothing can undo the pain that you've endured, we hope this development brings a measure of closure knowing the individual responsible for this senseless act will be held accountable," Delaney said.
According to Bumgarner, Froberg will soon be taken into federal custody in Kentucky where he will await trial. He's eligible for life in prison or the death penalty, if convicted.
