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Charleston Daily Mail

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Father says Springsteen is innocent

Letter states murder suspect never hid his whereabouts

Todd Frankel <tcfrankel@dailymail.com> Daily Mail staff

Monday October 11, 1999; 01:00 PM

The father of Robert Springsteen Jr., the Charleston man now facing murder charges for the 1991 yogurt shop killings in Texas, has written a letter to the Daily Mail proclaiming his son's innocence and saying he never tried to hide from the law.

"My son did not do this," the elder Springsteen said by e-mail from his home in Mesquite, Texas. "My understanding of this goes beyond that of a father's concern for his son."

The son, 24, was arrested by city police at his home on Falcon Drive last Wednesday, the same day Texas authorities filed capital murders charges against him for his alleged role in the slayings of four teenage girls during a robbery at a "I Can't Believe It's Yogurt" shop in Austin. Three other men in Texas also were arrested on charges related to the killings.

In the letter received by the newspaper this weekend, Springsteen said his son, who has lived in Charleston for most of his life, never tried to run from Texas authorities.

"Austin police have known the whereabouts of my son since 1991 and detectives have been in contact with my son several times since the murders and he has always been cooperative," he wrote.

There seems to be little indication that Springsteen Jr. did try to avoid capture by police. In the eight years since the killings, he has lived and worked under his real name, even rising to become the manager of the McDonald's restaurant in Charleston Town Center. He also was arrested and convicted in 1995 for driving under the influence.

But Springsteen Jr. was not officially a wanted man until last Wednesday, when Texas police issued a warrant. Austin authorities said new information gathered in recent interviews with an alleged accomplice, Michael Scott, and Springsteen Jr. led to the arrests.

According to the letter, Springsteen Jr. was born near Chicago and has lived in Charleston since 1976 -- with the exception of a school year spent with his father in Austin. The father did not specify the year. The crime occurred on Dec. 6, 1991.

Former teachers and classmates have said the son attended both Stonewall Jackson Junior High School and Cabell Alternative School before leaving to attend school in Texas.

In declaring his son's innocence, the elder Springsteen said "our family's sympathy goes out to the families of the girls who were murdered....We are so sorry that anyone has to go through something like this."

He also urged the media "to control the temptation for ambush and buffalo stampede tactics" in covering the case.

Contacted by telephone today, the elder Springsteen declined to comment beyond what he wrote in his letter.

The father's plea comes one day before his son is scheduled to appear in Kanawha Circuit Court for an extradition hearing.

David Bungard, Springsteen Jr.'s attorney, declined to say whether his client would contest the state's request that he be sent to Texas to face murder charges.

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