Man sentenced to life in prison in 1996 kidnapping of Kentucky girl

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — A man charged nearly 30 years after the kidnapping and killing of a young girl in Bowling Green has been sentenced to life in federal prison.

Robert Scott Froberg was sentenced Monday, Nov. 2, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky after pleading guilty to one count of kidnapping. The judgment shows Froberg pleaded guilty on July 22.

According to the sentencing document, Froberg received a life sentence that will run consecutively to prison sentences he is already serving in Alabama. He was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

The federal case stems from the July 24, 1996, kidnapping of 7-year-old Morgan Violi in Bowling Green. Froberg was charged in February 2026 after investigators said DNA evidence from a stolen van provided a break in the decades-old case.

PAST COVERAGE: Man charged in 1996 kidnapping and killing of Kentucky girl after DNA links him to stolen van

According to court documents previously reported by LEX News, Froberg stole a maroon Chevrolet van in Dayton, Ohio, the day before the kidnapping. Investigators said he later drove to Bowling Green, where he abducted the child from the Colony Apartments.
The girl's body was later found in a wooded area in White House, Tennessee.

The investigation remained cold for decades until the FBI developed a DNA profile from a hair recovered from vacuum sweepings taken from the van. According to court documents, the DNA profile was entered into CODIS, the national DNA database, and produced an association with Froberg.

Investigators interviewed Froberg in Alabama in February. According to the federal affidavit, he waived his Miranda rights and admitted to kidnapping and killing the child.

Froberg's life sentence will be served consecutively to sentences he is currently serving in Montgomery and Jefferson counties in Alabama. The federal judgment also imposes a $100 assessment.

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