Friends of man stabbed to death in Austin hotel room are 'devastated'

AUSTIN, Texas - A prominent Rhode Island punk rocker of the 1990s was stabbed to death in Austin earlier this year. 

Friends said they’re devastated and want the woman police said is responsible for his death to go to prison for the rest of her life.

"He was a character. Let's just put it that way," Robert Joseph St John, Jr.’s friend Mike Brown said.

Robert Joseph St John, Jr., 54, was a drummer in a punk band and had a record label.

"We were the pioneers of what we did, we were doing that before these guys are doing it now," Brown said.

At one point, Brown and St John, Jr. were roommates in Rhode Island.

"What was that like?" FOX 7 Austin crime watch reporter Meredith Aldis asked Brown.

"A zoo, we were young, so it was crazy, it was a good time," Brown replied.

About 10 years ago, St John, Jr. left the northeast for Austin.

"We were all a little iffy about that, being up here in New England, and we're very close and very small, and we know each other, and everybody knows everybody," Brown said.

Brown said St John, Jr. was doing well for several years, but then he told Brown it was time to come home.

"He never made it home," Brown said.

On Feb. 21, 2024, around 5 p.m., Austin police found St John, Jr. dead inside a room he had been staying in for a little over a year at a hotel off 183 in Northwest Austin. Next to him was a knife and on the door outside, there was blood. 

Residents in nearby rooms said they heard a disturbance in St John, Jr.’s room two days earlier. Surveillance footage showed St John, Jr. meeting with a woman in the lobby and going up the elevator to his room. About five hours later, St John, Jr. is seen outside the room holding his midsection and walking slowly as if he’s in pain. 

Robert Joseph St John, Jr., 54

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Court documents said about 30 minutes later, the woman steps out of the room, hangs around, then knocks on the door and when it’s opened, she had what is believed to be a knife in her left hand. She then reared it back behind her waist, as if to prepare to swing it forward, while she stepped quickly inside the doorway, then backed out about two seconds later and walked toward the elevators.

"Devastated," Brown said.

Brown said he had just talked to St John, Jr. a couple of days before and it was oddly brief.

"He would have gone into a more of a lengthy conversation after I told him what I told him, but there was nothing. I had the feeling that something was wrong. That was the last time, the very last time," Brown said.

Indira Zink, 26

Indira Zink, 26, was the woman police said stabbed St John, Jr. to death. Court documents said the victim had listed Zink as an emergency contact on his driver’s license information.

"Maybe he'd known her for a year, so he didn't know very well," Brown said.

Zink is charged with his murder.

"You're lucky you're in Austin, Texas. You're very lucky because here you wouldn't have survived and that's not a threat, that's a promise," Brown said.

Zink’s attorney, Rick Flores, said in a statement: "The backdrop of this case is that of a volatile and toxic relationship. We look forward to a thorough investigation that will uncover the events that led to this terrible tragedy."

Zink faces up to 99 years in prison.