Abductor captured after standoff
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 15, 2000
JUNCTION CITY, Kan. A man suspected in a Florida murder and double-kidnapping case that briefly touched southcentral Kentucky was captured around 9:30 a.m. today, following a five-hour standoff with law enforcement authorities here. William Stroba, 29, of Havana Fla., quietly surrendered to police and was lodged in Geary County (Kan.) Jail awaiting extradition to Florida, said Scott Teeslink, a senior special agent for Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Once in Florida, Stroba will face probation violation charges and could face other charges, Gadsen County (Fla.) Sheriffs Department Capt. Jim Godwin said. The probation violation charges are related to Strobas apparent entering of a Florida residence where his ex-wife, Michelle Stroba, 23, was staying after he had been ordered to stay away from the woman, Godwin said. Authorities suspected William Stroba kidnapped his ex-wife and their son, Shawn, 6, from their home in Havana, Fla., on Monday and was headed for his mothers home in Liberal. They began tracking William Strobas car after Michelle Stroba left a note, pleading for someone to call her father in Florida, scribbled on a paper towel in a Pizza Hut restaurant bathroom in Munfordville, Ky., on Monday. The note also contained the description and license plate number of William Strobas car. A customer found the note around 5 p.m. Monday, Pizza Hut server Nanetta Trulock said. A debit card receipt later placed William Stroba in Missouri. A deputy then spotted his car at a Junction City motel near Interstate 70. Four hours later, Geary County Sheriffs Department negotiators were trying to convince William Stroba to release Michelle Stroba and Shawn. William Stroba emerged from the standoff unarmed, though Godwin said the man had two guns. Law enforcement authorities investigating the abductions found the bludgeoned body of Robbie Brown, 29, of Tallahassee, Fla., inside Michelle Strobas house, Godwin said. Hours before the abduction, William Stroba had been released from Gadsen County Jail, where he had been lodged since Feb. 16 on charges of sexual battery and false imprisonment of Michelle Stroba, Godwin said. Police tried to notify Michelle Stroba of her ex-husbands release but got no answer when they called her house.