- www.texas-justice.com
- ©1999 The Dallas Morning News
- Associated Press 10/24/99
Austin slaying suspect's confession worthless, father says
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The father of a man accused in the Austin yogurt shop slayings says his son's confession to police is worthless.
"They got nothing," Robert Springsteen Sr. of Mesquite told the Charleston Daily Mail. "They got a scared kid they rattled around for eight hours until they got a confession."
Robert Burns Springsteen Jr., 24, and three Texas men have been charged with murder in connection with the shooting deaths of four teenage girls in Austin in December 1991.
West Virginia Gov. Cecil Underwood signed an extradition warrant Thursday to send Mr. Springsteen to Texas for trial. He is being held at South Central Regional Jail without bail.
An extradition hearing is set for Monday in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Robin Moss, Mr. Springsteen's wife, said eight hours of police questioning last month had left him shaken.
"He'd been terrorized," Ms. Moss said. "He was crying, pale, absolutely sick. I think they frightened him to death."
A spokeswoman for the Austin Police Department would not comment Saturday.
In testimony last week, Austin police Detective Ron Lara said Mr. Springsteen and Michael James Scott, 25, confessed.
Maurice Pierce, 24, and Forrest Welborn, 23, also were arrested Oct. 6 in connection with the crime. They have not confessed.
Each of the victims, Eliza Hope Thomas, 17; Amy Ayers, 13; Jennifer Harbison, 17; and Sarah Harbison, 15, were shot in the head. Eliza and Jennifer worked at the store, which was set on fire after they were killed.
Although police did not make arrests for three weeks after interviewing Mr. Springsteen, he refused to run because "he didn't think they'd ever be back," Ms. Moss said.
The night before his arrest, her husband of two years assured her that all would be OK, Ms. Moss said.
©1999 The Dallas Morning News