Police: Man, a former punk rock record producer in Rhode Island, killed in Austin hotel

Robert Joseph St. John Jr., 54, was a key part of the punk rock scene in Rhode Island in the 1990s before he moved to Austin, said his friend. He had his own record label that featured local bands, said Jeff Bellucci.

Bellucci said he was shocked to find out that St. John had been killed in an Austin hotel room on Feb. 19.

Indira Kamil Zink, 25, of Austin has been charged with murder in St. John's killing, police said. The charge is a first-degree felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison.

An arrest affidavit said St. John had listed Zink as an emergency contact on his driver's license information. It did not say how he knew her.

Police were notified after they received a call that a man, later identified as St. John, was not breathing at 5:04 p.m. Feb. 21 in a room at the InTown Suites at 12989 U.S. 183 North in Austin, the document said.

Officers found St. John's body with a stab wound, police said. Staff said St. John had been staying by himself at the hotel since December, according to the affidavit. Police saw a knife near his body, as well as blood on the outside of the room's front door, the document said. Residents in nearby rooms said they had heard a disturbance in St. John's room Feb. 19, two days before his body was found, the affidavit said.

It said surveillance video from the hotel's lobby showed St. John meeting a woman later identified as Zink at 12:42 p.m. Feb. 19. The video then showed St. John stepping briefly out of his room at 5:35 p.m. but then returning, police said. He then stepped out of the room again at 6:49 p.m. "holding his midsection and walking slowly, as if he is in pain," the affidavit said. St. John, in the video, stood outside of the room for several minutes before going back inside it, police said.

The video then showed that Zink stepped out of the room at 7:07 p.m. and stayed in the hallway for about 10 minutes before reapproaching the room's door, the affidavit said. It said Zink appeared to knock on the door, and, when it opened, she "produced a small thin object in her left hand and reared it back behind her waist as if to prepare to swing it forward."

The video showed she then stepped quickly inside the doorway before she backed out about two seconds later and walked toward the elevators, the affidavit said. It said police think she was holding a knife. The video surveillance showed that Zink used the elevator at 7:11 p.m. to go to the first floor, where she left the hotel, the affidavit said.

Detectives later found three cellphones in St. John's room, including one that belonged to him, the affidavit said. It said his phone had messages on it from someone named "Twooky," later identified as Zink. Zink had also sent St. John pictures of herself on the phone, police said.

The Lone Star Fugitive Task Force found and arrested Zink on Feb. 24, police said.

She was being held Thursday at the Williamson County Jail with bail set at $250,000. The incident happened in part of Austin that is in Williamson County.

Anyone with information on the case can contact the Austin Police Department at 512-974-TIPS. People can also submit tips anonymously through the Capital Area Crimestoppers program by visiting austincrimestoppers.org or by calling 512-472-8477.

Bellucci said St. John was supposed to meet him for lunch in Austin on Feb. 26. He said Bellucci had reached out to him on Facebook wanting to meet. They both had moved to Austin separately around 2006 or 2007 but had not kept in touch recently.

"I was hoping to find out where he's been," Bellucci said. "Nobody had heard from him for the last five and a half years because he didn't have a phone."

Bellucci said he had never heard St. John speak about Zink and didn't know who she was.

Bellucci said he first met St. John around 1993 when they both lived in Providence, Rhode Island, and played in punk rock bands. St. John at that time was a drummer in a band Gringo, his friend said. St. John helped punk rock bands by throwing shows in basements and warehouses and by featuring them on his record label called Roachender Records, Bellucci said.

"He was a very big guardian of us because if you were walking down the street with dyed hair and piercings and a leather jacket at 16 years old in 1993, people were going to mess with you," said Bellucci. "Bob had our backs and gave us places to go and stay out of trouble. He was a very key part of all of us growing up in that scene. He touched a lot of lives. There's a lot of people back home that are hurting right now."

St. John moved to Austin in 2006 or 2007 but wasn't part of the local music scene, said Bellucci.

Another friend, Jenn Lombari of Providence, said St. John had told her he was planning to move back to that city soon. She said she had met him in 1995 in Providence and played in shows with him.

"I was so excited for him to come back to Providence because everything is so much different, and I wanted to see the expression on his face."

She said St. John had expressed no fears about his safety to her.

Bellucci said he recently went to help another friend collect St. John's belongings from the hotel room to send them to St. John's sister in Boston. St. John had a lot of his records in the room in perfect condition, Bellucci said.

"He had held on," Bellucci said, "to every little treasure from the 1990s of the amazing Rhode Island music scene."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Former punk rock producer in Rhode Island killed in Austin hotel room