CLAYTON, Mo.—Paul H. Borroni went to prison at age 17 for stabbing a St. Louis high school student to death because she wouldn’t date him.
He spent about 38 of the last 39 years in prison — and apparently, police say, he wanted to go back.
That’s why Borroni took a MetroLink train to Clayton, Mo., last week, police say, and walked into a bar popular with judges and lawyers.
He held up a bar employee — hiding his right finger beneath his coat and pretending it was a gun. He told her to give him cash or he would shoot her. Then, police say, he ordered her to call police so he could be arrested. Do it, he told her, or he’d shoot her.
Later at the police station, in an interrogation room with detectives, Borroni explained himself.
“He just came right out and said it, ‘I want to go back to jail,'” said Police Capt. Stewart Glenn.
Freed from prison a month ago, Borroni said he had tried to get a bed at the Biddle House homeless shelter in downtown St. Louis but there was no room.
“He said he wasn’t going to be homeless,” Glenn said. “He doesn’t want to be out here.”
Borroni, 57, got his wish. He is now locked up at the St. Louis County Jail in lieu of $250,000 cash-only bail. Prosecutors charged him last Wednesday with first-degree robbery. His next court hearing is set for March 26.
Court papers list his home address as the same building that houses Father Dempsey’s Charities, which provides transitional housing and a “fresh start to men without a home.” His court-appointed attorney, Jemia Steele, could not be reached for comment.
Diane L. Kramer, 17, was a student at Bishop DuBourg High School. She lived in the 6000 block of Marquette Avenue in southwest St. Louis. On an evening in June 1978, her father found her face down on the bedroom floor of the home. The medical examiner’s office said Diane was stabbed at least 38 times. There was no evidence of sexual assault.
Later that night, police arrested Borroni after witnesses gave police a description of a young man walking away from the home and driving off. Borroni, of the 5600 block of Tholozan Avenue, had a cut on his hand and told police he was injured playing baseball. Police say he later confessed that he stabbed her because she refused to date him.
Borroni was a friend of Diane’s old brother and had been at the home several times before the killing. Her father said Diane was not interested in dating; her main interests had been school and her activities as an Explorer Scout.
In January 1979, Borroni pleaded guilty of second-degree murder in St. Louis Circuit Court.
Garry Brix, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said Borroni began serving a 35-year sentence for murder on Feb. 15, 1979, and was released from prison in September 2004. He returned to prison twice more after parole violations, but he was only free a total of about 15 months. Borroni was last released from prison on Feb. 8 — 26 days before he walked into the Clayton bar.
After he got out of prison, Borroni’s exact movements aren’t clear. But at some point, he ended up in transitional housing at Father Dempsey’s Charities, in the 3400 block of Washington Avenue. The housing is not a homeless shelter for one-night stays but instead meant for longer stays. It has a strict zero tolerance policy on alcohol and drug use, said Gabe Jones, a spokesman for the St. Louis Archdiocese.
Jones didn’t say how long Borroni stayed at Father Dempsey’s, but “he’s not been a resident there for about seven days,” Jones said.
“He was violating some of the policies and was informed he could stay there anymore,” Jones said.
Jones said Father Demsey’s tried to set him up with help for substance abuse counseling, “but he did not accept that.” Jones said the charity doesn’t just turn somebody onto the streets. He said Biddle House has its own intake policies. Jones said, “We can recommend alternatives but it’s up to them (the homeless person) to follow through.”
Leaving Father Dempsey’s seven days ago would have been around the time Borroni rode MetroLink to Clayton, on March 6.
No one was injured in the robbery at C.J. Muggs, 200 South Central Avenue. Glenn said Borroni told police he picked the bar at random after riding MetroLink to the Clayton stop. He began walking up South Central Avenue and was planning to walk into the first business he came across.
“He had already made a decision he was going to do this,” Glenn said. “And the first establishment he went to was C.J. Muggs. He walked up to the bar and told the employee, ‘Give me all your money or I’m going to shoot you.'”
He held the money in his left hand and continued to stand at the bar. With his right finger, implying he had a gun, he ordered her to call police.
Glenn said the officers who arrived knew only they had an armed robbery in progress with people in the bar. It was at about 9:30 p.m. Glenn said there were three of four witnesses.
Glenn applauded his three officers who were first to arrive — Officer Ron Keel, Officer Mike Talbott and Officer Ryan Riley. Glenn said, “Keep in mind, the officers had no idea it’s just a guy who wants to go back to jail. It’s an armed robbery with people in there.”
“They kept control of the situation,” Glenn said. “An armed robbery can amp up anybody’s response. But they handled it very professionally.”
The ordered Borroni to the ground.
“The guy immediately gave up,” Glenn said.
Displayed with permission from Tribune Content Agency
