Teen murder case moving from St Joe Co.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The trial of a St. Joseph County couple charged in the death of their then-16-year-old daughter -- who was found chained to a bed after a house fire -- will move to another county, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Calista Springer, 16, died in the February 2008 fire at the family's Centreville-area home. Anthony and Marsha Springer face charges of murder, first-degree child abuse and torture.

A change of venue is needed because, after interviewing 125 potential jurors in two days, St. Joseph County Circuit Judge Paul Stutesman was unable to seat a jury, he told 24 Hour News 8.

Too many would-be jurors answered that they were aware of the case and they would be unable to render an unbiased and fair decision, Stutesman said. The judge had denied an earlier change-of-venue motion.

The State Court Administrative Office, which the judge said had been contacted, will decide where to assign the case. Stutesman, who said this was the first change of venue he had seen in four years on the bench and 18 years of trial experience, said he could not speculate on how long a decision may take.

When firefighters first arrived at the home on Feb. 27, 2008, Marsha Springer was in the front yard of the home yelling that her daughter still was inside. The girl's body was found chained to an upstairs bed.

Her father claimed Calista had special needs and the restraints were necessary to keep her from leaving the house at night.

Target 8 uncovered that Child Protective Services workers received four complaints within a few days in 2004 about alleged abuse of Calista, who was 12 at the time. One of those complaints included allegations of being chained to the bed.

Some of those CPS workers allegedly thought that action had been OK'd by another agency and probably was in the best interest of Calista, who was known to roam at night and get into trouble.