Serial Killer Documentary - Michael Ross

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In the early 1980s, young women in and around the
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state of Connecticut were disappearing without a trace. Their families
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were left in the dark about their loved ones' final moments.
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I assumed it was probably related to drugs or something
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like that. I was not prepared for a serial killer.
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After several missing persons were reported, police finally had a lead.
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Witness descriptions of a man in a car stalking a
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woman sparked a statewide manhunt.
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The detectives start with one case, and then they find
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another case, and they begin to join the dots.
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Police found a car matching that description, belonging to a
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man named Michael Ross.
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The way he appeared, he was tall, very thin.
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You wouldn't think Michael was capable of this.
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Because he was just like the guy next door, like
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he didn't give off that vibe, where you would be
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tentative about maybe getting into a car, you know, befriending him.
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Despite his unassuming demeanor, Michael Ross was revealed to be
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one of Connecticut's most prolific offenders, as gruesome details about
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his sexual sadism unfolded.
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Each time he would continue to rationalize again, and then
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as the cravings returned, his willpower diminishes and the pattern repeats.
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Michael Ross had been exposed as one of the world's
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most evil killers. In June 1984, Connecticut State Police were
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able to track down 24-year-old Michael Ross, the man responsible
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for the murder of teenager Wendy Baribo. However, they would
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be shocked to discover that she was not his only kill.
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He led the police to believe that he was probably
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the person they were looking for, even before they had
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a sense that that was the case.
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Throughout his crime spree, you could see where there was
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that escalation, right? He started raping women, and then it
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did turn into killing them.
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Ross was sentenced to death in April 2000, the first
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man in Connecticut in over 40 years to be given
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such a punishment. The decision to execute the serial killer
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sparked controversy, but his victims' families were just relieved to
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see justice served.
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Supporters on one side of the road, the others, they're
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driving down. You know, it's wrong to kill people.
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He deserves it. There was just so much give and
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take on it.
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I don't care what they would have done to him.
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Either execute him or let him live the rest of
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his life in prison.
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Regardless of his fate, Michael Ross's senseless killings would haunt
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his victims' loved ones forever.
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If he would have adjusted his radio and drove by her,
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she'd be alive. If she turned around because she forgot
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her purse at her boyfriend's house, she'd still be alive.
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That is what haunted me from the time I found
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out it was opportunistic killing.
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This killer's story begins on the 26th of July, 1959,
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in the small town of Brooklyn, Connecticut. Much of what
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we know about Ross's childhood came from his own accounts.
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Michael Bruce Ross was the eldest of four children and
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didn't have the smoothest of upbringings.
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Ross was brought up on a chicken farm.
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He grew up in a home that, whether he realized
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it or not, the parents weren't getting along.
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Ross was raised in a relatively troubled family. His mother
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had some psychiatric issues and she left the family to
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go and be with an old flame. And as a result,
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his father would find her, bring her back, and psychiatrically
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hospitalize her.
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Even when his mother returned from hospital, the family dynamic
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failed to improve.
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There were concerns that his mother and his father were,
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in some ways, whether intentional or not, emotionally abusive.
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She wasn't very affectionate. She didn't really bond very well
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with Ross.
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Mothers in and out of institutions, and I think he
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was beaten by his parents.
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At the age of eight, Ross was made to work
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on the chicken farm. One of his jobs was to
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wring the necks of ill and deformed chicks.
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There's strong evidence that this environment was impacting on Ross.
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because he started to have some of the signs very
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young that we would associate with somebody whose mental health
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is getting problematic.
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It sounded like an absolute horrible upbringing.
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I think his family was so broken.
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So it's hardly surprising by the time he gets to
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the age of 12, he becomes violent himself.
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As Ross reached puberty, his behavior took a dark and
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sinister turn.
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Ross started to struggle with sexual deviance at.
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A very early age.
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He's caught molesting a young girl. His father responds really
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badly to this and beats him and then takes him
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to the doctor, kind of saying, there's something wrong with you.
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The doctor thinks there's something wrong, but he also says, well,
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this is nothing to worry about, really.
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He's starting to go through puberty.
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Some of that behavior was frowned upon and looked at
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as deviant by his mother. So his mother would not
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approve of this behavior and she would shame him and
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humiliate him.
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I think simply punishing him in a very stern physical
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fashion was not going to be helpful. That kind of
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punishment isn't going to erase any kind of unusual sexual
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urges he's having. And then when seen by a professional
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to simply say, in effect, there's nothing to worry about,
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I think also was not the proper way to address this.
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Despite this worrying behavior, Ross was able to progress into
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a model student and graduated high school in 1977. He
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then set his sights on New York and got accepted
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into Cornell University to study agricultural science and economics.
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If you have that kind of opportunity, to go to
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an Ivy League school and you're that bright. Some things
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that I read that his IQ was like 155 or something.
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So that's extraordinarily high.
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Just because he's smart and he can go to college
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didn't take away, I don't think, the underlying sociopathic behavior
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that he had displayed throughout his upbringing.
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Ross had several relationships with women whilst at university, and
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although he started off as the perfect student, his grades
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began to slip as his sexual impulses emerged once again.
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It appears that he had a very strong sex drive.
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One that would masturbate frequently with girlfriends, one that would
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have sex maybe twice a day, and so on. Some
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of his girlfriends felt that he wanted sex more than
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they would have liked. not only because of the unusual
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and qualitatively different nature of his sexual makeup, but also
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because in addition to that, he had a very high
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sexual drive.
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21-year-old Ross graduated from Cornell in 1981 and immediately found
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work in his preferred profession.
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He graduated and got a job in Lewisburg. He's still
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trying to fit into the family business of egg manufacturing.
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Ross asked his college girlfriend to leave Cornell and move
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out to North Carolina. However, she wasn't prepared to make
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the move.
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In one case, when they had an argument, she had
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pushed him and he slapped her. At that point, she said,
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if you ever do that again.
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It's over. In August 1981, his girlfriend says it's all over.
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That's enough.
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Ross.
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probably upset at the destruction of what he hoped might
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have been some kind of perfect relationship.
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Michael Ross's life was spiraling out of control. After the
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breakup of his own relationship, his parents were soon divorced.
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Ross's reaction was to lash out.
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On September 28th of 1981, Ross went on a road
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trip to Illinois and he abducted a woman. This is
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where we start to see Ross really display his hatred
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and his misogyny towards women. Something had gone wrong in
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his life, and he decided to take his rage out
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on a complete stranger.
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He not only attacked her, grabbed her, he changed location.
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He dragged her into a wood.
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A neighbor heard the young woman screaming and called the police.
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As Ross fled the scene and the police escorted the
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16-year-old back home, she spotted his vehicle that was parked
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on the same street.
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She recognizes the vehicle, she recognizes Ross, and he's rapidly arrested.
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What he was effectively charged with was unlawful restraint, and
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he's only fined $ 500.
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He's treated incredibly leniently. He is treated as if, you know,
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boys will be boys. And that lenient sentence would have
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given him the message that he can get away with this.
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And at some level, he's not abnormal.
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Despite the lesser punishment from the authorities, Ross was fired
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from his job. Nearly five months later, he found work
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at an egg farm in Croton, Ohio. But this fresh
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start was soon tainted once again.
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Ross spotted another young woman. He stalked her, followed her home,
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knocked on her door and beat her repeatedly.
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Something must have spooked Ross in the middle of this
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horrible assault because he ran off and the woman was
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able to call the police. The police then located witnesses
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that had seen a man fitting Ross's description and were
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able to trace him back to his vehicle.
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Ross denied the attack. But of course, he couldn't in
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the long run. She'd identified him. He stands trial and
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is indeed given six months in jail and a $ 1, 000
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fine for the attack.
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Ross has what we call maladaptive coping skills, and he
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takes them to the next level. He's incapable of sitting
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with his distressing emotions. And so for him, it's logical
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to go ahead and commit crimes in order to make
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himself feel better, in order to make that pain and
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that distress go away.
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Ross's life was starting to fall apart as his sexually
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motivated attacks on young women were seemingly escalating with no
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signs of slowing down. Over in Connecticut, police also had
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a lot on their plate when they received a call
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about a horrifying discovery. In June 1982, near Danielson, Connecticut,
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23-year-old Deborah Smith Taylor was driving home with her husband
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when their car ran out of gas.
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A state trooper drove the couple to a gas.
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Station in Danielson.
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While they were there, they got into an argument and
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Deborah decided she was going to make her own way home.
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The trooper saw Deborah walk across to a bandstand and
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accept a ride from a young man, but she'd never
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make it home.
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Her husband reported her missing, but the police had no
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leads on the case.
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Over four months later, on the 30th of October 1982,
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Deborah's body was discovered in a wooded area near Brooklyn, Connecticut,
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an area located close to a family-run chicken farm.
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The body is found in a site quite close to
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where the Ross family used to dump chicken waste, chicken excrement.
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Police made their way to the Ross family farm and
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interviewed Michael Ross's father and brother. They also interviewed other
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employees on the farm, but no one there knew of
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Deborah or knew what could have happened to her.
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And at that point, Michael Ross is still in jail
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for the attack in Ohio.
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Despite a promising lead, the case soon went cold. It
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joined a pile of other cold cases, one of which
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had begun nearly 10 months earlier in the same county.
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In January of 1982, a 17-year-old girl by the name
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of Tammy Williams was leaving her friend's apartment to make
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the three-mile walk home. When she never arrived home, her
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father reported her missing.
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Over 140 miles west of where Tammy Williams was last seen,
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a young high school student in Montgomery, New York, had
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also seemingly vanished in March, 1982.
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A girl called Paula Pereira, who was age 16, left
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school early because she said she wasn't feeling well. She
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wanted to go see her new boyfriend. Paula's mother reported
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her missing to the police. Her body wasn't found for
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a very long time.
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Meanwhile, after a reduced four-month stint in prison for assaulting
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a woman, 23-year-old Michael Ross's life appeared to be returning
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to normality. By May of 1983, he'd got a job
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at an insurance company in Norwich, Connecticut.
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Ross's relationship, which had been on and off with a
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girl throughout this period, One part of him was trying
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to create a natural life, normal life, and the other
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part of him knew that he wasn't. He wasn't in
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any way normal.
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He rented an apartment in Jewett City and he managed
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to have a girlfriend, but that relationship began to sour
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pretty quickly.
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In November 1983, a young woman who also worked in
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the Norwich area had left her boyfriend's house to return home.
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19-year-old Robin Stravinsky's family were eagerly waiting to hear if
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she'd be coming to the family home for Thanksgiving.
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Robin was my middle sister's stepdaughter. Her and her half-sister
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moved in when I was in the second or third
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grade We grew up in the same neighborhood.
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We would bike ride. We'd go down to the lake.
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We'd go out in the boats.
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00:16:03.750 --> 00:16:07.049
There was a constant flow of kids back and forth.
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00:16:08.690 --> 00:16:12.090
Robin functioned more like an older sister. She was 18
250
00:16:12.090 --> 00:16:16.830
months older than me. She would look like just about
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00:16:16.889 --> 00:16:22.250
any college athlete. She was naturally strong, as many of
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00:16:22.269 --> 00:16:24.370
the boys in the neighborhood that tried to cross her
253
00:16:24.690 --> 00:16:25.090
found out.
254
00:16:26.529 --> 00:16:30.210
After she left school, Robin had moved in with her boyfriend,
255
00:16:30.629 --> 00:16:34.330
but would still come back to visit the family regularly.
256
00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:40.919
I was coming home that Tuesday or Wednesday morning, right
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00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:45.259
before Thanksgiving, and my last comment was, everybody coming home
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00:16:45.279 --> 00:16:47.220
for Thanksgiving, have you talked to Robin?
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00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:48.820
Is everybody coming back?
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00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:51.419
And the last thing my sister said to me about
261
00:16:51.539 --> 00:16:53.419
that was that she hadn't heard from Robin and the
262
00:16:53.460 --> 00:16:58.419
plans weren't set. My sister was concerned that she hadn't
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00:16:58.460 --> 00:17:01.639
responded and that maybe she was in trouble. There was
264
00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:05.319
definitely some concern from not hearing from her. It was
265
00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:10.309
probably about a week they lost communication with her. Somebody
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00:17:10.349 --> 00:17:12.549
reported her missing. It could have been my sister or
267
00:17:12.589 --> 00:17:13.230
her boyfriend.
268
00:17:15.109 --> 00:17:20.289
On the 23rd of November, 1983, seven days after Robin
269
00:17:20.359 --> 00:17:25.279
was reported missing, the Stavinsky family finally got the news
270
00:17:25.700 --> 00:17:27.059
that they'd been dreading.
271
00:17:29.420 --> 00:17:32.000
The police called my sister and said, we think we
272
00:17:32.039 --> 00:17:32.680
found Robin.
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00:17:34.680 --> 00:17:38.710
Robin's body is discovered by a jogger and she's partially clothed.
274
00:17:40.450 --> 00:17:42.950
They found her in the wooded area. She had been
275
00:17:43.190 --> 00:17:45.819
raped and murdered. and they have no clue as to
276
00:17:45.859 --> 00:17:50.180
who or why or anything like that. I'm 18 years old.
277
00:17:50.539 --> 00:17:53.539
I remember not being able to process it, and I
278
00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:58.049
just remember sitting in disbelief for five or ten minutes.
279
00:17:59.490 --> 00:18:04.549
After the Stavinsky family identified Robin's body, detectives were keen
280
00:18:04.589 --> 00:18:07.380
to find out who had done this to her.
281
00:18:08.099 --> 00:18:11.039
The first thing they did in this situation was They
282
00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:14.420
investigated and talked to her boyfriend, and clearly he didn't
283
00:18:14.460 --> 00:18:15.069
do it, right?
284
00:18:15.140 --> 00:18:17.190
And so they found that. So, I mean, this thing
285
00:18:17.230 --> 00:18:18.609
went cold.
286
00:18:18.190 --> 00:18:20.910
As ice, like, quick.
287
00:18:22.309 --> 00:18:25.289
They were working behind the scenes and following up on things,
288
00:18:25.410 --> 00:18:26.690
but there was no leads.
289
00:18:26.750 --> 00:18:30.130
I mean, there was nothing. There was no media about it.
290
00:18:30.150 --> 00:18:32.049
There was no newspaper articles about it.
291
00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:36.039
The thing that was the hardest early on was how
292
00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:38.980
somebody that was part of your family and you cared
293
00:18:39.019 --> 00:18:40.779
about so much could be just kind of wiped off
294
00:18:40.819 --> 00:18:43.119
the earth with not a speck of evidence or any
295
00:18:43.220 --> 00:18:44.730
kind of suspect.
296
00:18:47.829 --> 00:18:51.549
Five months after the murder of Robin Stavinsky on the
297
00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:57.599
22nd of April, 1984, two schoolgirls from Griswold, Connecticut, were
298
00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:04.269
planning a trip to Dewitt City. 14-year-olds April Brunei and
299
00:19:04.329 --> 00:19:05.200
Leslie Shelley.
300
00:19:06.829 --> 00:19:12.910
Leslie was born December 1st. She was an ordinary teenager,
301
00:19:14.150 --> 00:19:17.910
liked music, was just getting into boys.
302
00:19:19.970 --> 00:19:21.910
She was fairly good in school.
303
00:19:22.829 --> 00:19:26.170
April was in her first year of high and Leslie
304
00:19:26.210 --> 00:19:29.890
was in her eighth grade. And they used to catch
305
00:19:29.970 --> 00:19:33.690
the bus together and from there it just became a friendship.
306
00:19:34.450 --> 00:19:37.910
Either April was down our house or Leslie was up
307
00:19:38.049 --> 00:19:39.019
April's house.
308
00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:43.880
The pair had even pretended to adopt each other as
309
00:19:43.960 --> 00:19:49.970
sisters using fake adoption papers. It wasn't uncommon for children
310
00:19:50.569 --> 00:19:52.880
at that time to be out on their own.
311
00:19:52.890 --> 00:19:54.700
It was safe.
312
00:19:55.700 --> 00:20:00.180
Even Jet City you would think was safe. There was
313
00:20:00.420 --> 00:20:04.420
very little crime. There was a lot of kids around.
314
00:20:05.720 --> 00:20:10.319
I had gone to work. And as I was driving
315
00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:13.089
up the hill, April was coming down to our house.
316
00:20:14.589 --> 00:20:17.890
April said that her mother was going to bring them
317
00:20:17.970 --> 00:20:23.650
down and pick them up. My husband at the time
318
00:20:23.769 --> 00:20:30.119
didn't realize that April's mother had a three- or four-month-old
319
00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:33.819
baby and a four-year-old.
320
00:20:33.420 --> 00:20:37.140
Son at home. So there was no way she was
321
00:20:37.220 --> 00:20:38.319
going to pick them.
322
00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:42.579
Up the girls had actually walked the three-mile journey to
323
00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:46.960
Jewett City by themselves, despite what they'd told both of
324
00:20:47.019 --> 00:20:47.720
their parents.
325
00:20:49.579 --> 00:20:55.940
When I got home, I went into Leslie's room, and
326
00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.529
of course she wasn't there.
327
00:20:58.849 --> 00:21:01.569
Les never had done anything like that before.
328
00:21:01.990 --> 00:21:05.349
Usually when they said they were going to go somewhere
329
00:21:05.549 --> 00:21:09.210
and come home, At, say, 9 o'clock, they were home
330
00:21:09.309 --> 00:21:10.269
at 9 o'clock.
331
00:21:11.759 --> 00:21:15.400
That same evening, both of the girls' parents called the
332
00:21:15.460 --> 00:21:20.799
police to report their disappearances. But the police had no leads.
333
00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:27.349
I couldn't imagine what was going on. Every rumor that
334
00:21:27.730 --> 00:21:32.670
April's mother and I decided to follow, it proved untrue.
335
00:21:35.369 --> 00:21:40.150
We also had a poster around Judd City that my
336
00:21:40.210 --> 00:21:44.779
husband had made up of April and Leslie's picture on it,
337
00:21:44.940 --> 00:21:45.859
and a reward.
338
00:21:47.450 --> 00:21:51.230
Just like in the case of Robin Stavinsky, the families
339
00:21:51.269 --> 00:21:54.099
were left in the dark about what could have happened
340
00:21:54.170 --> 00:21:58.319
to Leslie and April. Had the two 14-year-olds simply run
341
00:21:58.380 --> 00:22:01.660
away from home or was something more sinister going on?
342
00:22:02.299 --> 00:22:04.920
It would take two months for the shocking truth to
343
00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:08.940
finally be revealed, in which time even more teens across
344
00:22:09.000 --> 00:22:22.900
Connecticut would vanish into thin air. On the 13th of June, 1984,
345
00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:26.720
less than two months after the disappearances of Leslie Shelley
346
00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:31.089
and April Brunet, another young woman in the Dewitt City
347
00:22:31.210 --> 00:22:33.150
area was reported missing.
348
00:22:34.130 --> 00:22:38.009
A 17-year-old girl named Wendy Barabo left a note indicating
349
00:22:38.069 --> 00:22:40.029
that she was going to walk down to the local
350
00:22:40.069 --> 00:22:44.980
grocery store. She was last seen around 4.30 in the
351
00:22:45.059 --> 00:22:50.700
afternoon walking on Route 12. When she didn't return home,
352
00:22:50.869 --> 00:22:53.450
her mother went out looking for her, and at 10.30
353
00:22:53.450 --> 00:22:55.670
in the evening, she reported her missing to the police.
354
00:22:58.309 --> 00:23:01.910
In the meantime, detectives were beginning to look for comparisons
355
00:23:02.029 --> 00:23:08.019
in previous missing persons cases across Connecticut, namely Tammy Williams
356
00:23:08.579 --> 00:23:09.940
and Deborah Smith-Taylor.
357
00:23:11.220 --> 00:23:13.400
These two girls had a lot of similarities. They had
358
00:23:13.420 --> 00:23:15.640
a similar build. They both had dark hair, and they
359
00:23:15.660 --> 00:23:17.690
were both last seen in Danielson, Connecticut.
360
00:23:19.140 --> 00:23:24.450
There are no obvious fingerprints on the victims. We haven't
361
00:23:24.490 --> 00:23:27.930
got some of the tools that we have now. We
362
00:23:27.990 --> 00:23:31.470
are talking about 1984, a very long time before CSI
363
00:23:31.529 --> 00:23:34.759
or the Behavioral Science Unit or any indeed of the
364
00:23:34.779 --> 00:23:39.000
great innovations in tracing serial killers had happened.
365
00:23:40.680 --> 00:23:43.539
That detective was then assigned to the Wendy Barabo case
366
00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:45.700
before he had a chance to look further into it.
367
00:23:47.170 --> 00:23:51.460
After a two-day search to find Wendy Baribo, a fireman
368
00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:54.599
discovered her body just a quarter of a mile away
369
00:23:54.700 --> 00:23:59.559
from her home in Lisbon, Connecticut. Detectives finally had a
370
00:23:59.640 --> 00:24:03.509
lead about what may have happened to the 17-year-old.
371
00:24:05.910 --> 00:24:08.789
A witness claimed that he had seen a car parked
372
00:24:08.869 --> 00:24:11.539
on the side of the road and a man following
373
00:24:11.710 --> 00:24:17.160
Wendy Baribo. He heard shouting between the two of them
374
00:24:17.220 --> 00:24:19.599
and thought nothing of it, assuming that they were just
375
00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:24.039
a couple arguing. But the next day, when he saw
376
00:24:24.119 --> 00:24:26.480
Wendy Barabo on the news, he went to the police
377
00:24:26.549 --> 00:24:28.410
to give a description of the man and the car
378
00:24:28.450 --> 00:24:28.970
he had seen.
379
00:24:30.130 --> 00:24:33.609
They try and track down cars that look alike, and
380
00:24:33.630 --> 00:24:36.630
they come up with a list of cars, and they
381
00:24:36.690 --> 00:24:38.170
work methodically down it.
382
00:24:41.019 --> 00:24:46.000
After 13 days of gathering witness descriptions, detectives had a
383
00:24:46.119 --> 00:24:48.420
profile for the potential killer.
384
00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:52.930
The police are looking for an attacker who is probably
385
00:24:53.329 --> 00:24:54.569
white Caucasian.
386
00:24:55.910 --> 00:25:00.410
A six-foot-tall male with a medium build, clean-shaven and with
387
00:25:00.450 --> 00:25:00.930
dark hair.
388
00:25:02.250 --> 00:25:05.750
Probably in his late 20s or early 30s and drives
389
00:25:05.789 --> 00:25:06.750
a particular kind of car.
390
00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:12.359
The detective asked the vehicle licensing department for a list
391
00:25:12.420 --> 00:25:16.079
of similar vehicles and their owners that live locally to
392
00:25:16.140 --> 00:25:18.099
Wendy in the town of Griswold.
393
00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:23.940
On that list was Michael Ross. The police turn up
394
00:25:24.009 --> 00:25:27.450
at the door of Michael Ross. When the first police
395
00:25:27.470 --> 00:25:30.490
officer goes to discuss the case with him, Ross is
396
00:25:30.869 --> 00:25:33.289
patently not a suspect.
397
00:25:34.660 --> 00:25:39.369
Ross's car didn't entirely match the description given by witnesses,
398
00:25:39.849 --> 00:25:44.470
and the composite drawings didn't include glasses, which Ross was wearing.
399
00:25:45.049 --> 00:25:48.690
Police were almost convinced this was not their man.
400
00:25:49.630 --> 00:25:55.779
Ross is not a suspect until Ross says to the detective, well,
401
00:25:56.099 --> 00:25:59.680
what if the man who was committing these crimes was
402
00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:03.390
to say he was insane? does that mean he would
403
00:26:03.450 --> 00:26:07.579
escape the death penalty? And at that point, the detective
404
00:26:07.630 --> 00:26:11.099
realizes that Michael Ross is a great deal different from
405
00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:12.119
the way he may appear.
406
00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:16.539
When originally interviewed by one of the police officers, he
407
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.680
volunteered the fact that he'd had some other charges against
408
00:26:19.740 --> 00:26:21.619
him in the past, something at that point they had
409
00:26:21.720 --> 00:26:25.519
not yet known about. The police officer had the sense
410
00:26:25.559 --> 00:26:29.339
that maybe Mr. Ross was wanting to give him those clues.
411
00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:34.259
Conveniently, Ross was able to give very detailed accounts of
412
00:26:34.299 --> 00:26:37.609
his movements on the day that Wendy Baribo went missing,
413
00:26:38.230 --> 00:26:42.730
but couldn't remember what he did before or after that date.
414
00:26:43.650 --> 00:26:46.869
This would have set alarm bells ringing for detectives. And
415
00:26:46.930 --> 00:26:49.839
they asked him to go with them to the police headquarters.
416
00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:54.380
When the officer said that for the sake of the victims,
417
00:26:54.460 --> 00:26:56.460
if he'd done this, it would be important that he
418
00:26:56.519 --> 00:26:58.960
acknowledge it. And at that point, he didn't ask for
419
00:26:58.980 --> 00:27:02.349
an attorney He simply waived his rights and confessed.
420
00:27:05.289 --> 00:27:10.920
The detectives couldn't believe their luck. They had little evidence
421
00:27:10.980 --> 00:27:17.299
to suggest that unassuming 24-year-old Michael Ross was behind Wendy's murder.
422
00:27:18.700 --> 00:27:21.609
Here's a man who was confessing the very serious crimes
423
00:27:21.809 --> 00:27:24.630
under circumstances where it wasn't clear at that point that
424
00:27:24.650 --> 00:27:27.329
there was even much evidence against him that would be incriminating.
425
00:27:31.049 --> 00:27:35.420
Ross seemed to revel in reliving the crimes that he
426
00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:40.000
had committed. He also had quite a narcissistic disposition and
427
00:27:40.039 --> 00:27:43.539
a large ego, which I suspect was one of the
428
00:27:43.619 --> 00:27:47.240
reasons that he was so willing to confess and willing
429
00:27:47.299 --> 00:27:50.440
to talk to the police officers about what he had done.
430
00:27:52.170 --> 00:27:54.670
There's a couple of reasons why this might happen. Now,
431
00:27:54.710 --> 00:27:59.730
with some serial killers, they're bragging. They just want to say, yeah,
432
00:27:59.769 --> 00:28:02.440
this is what I've done. I'm actually quite proud of it.
433
00:28:03.170 --> 00:28:06.609
For others, and Ross might fall more into this category,
434
00:28:07.250 --> 00:28:10.819
they're almost relieved that they've been caught because the compulsions
435
00:28:10.930 --> 00:28:15.440
and the killing is not necessarily easy for them to
436
00:28:15.500 --> 00:28:15.960
live with.
437
00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:23.180
Incredibly, Michael Ross was only just getting started. Not only
438
00:28:23.240 --> 00:28:26.819
did the 24-year-old admit to the murder of Wendy Barryboe,
439
00:28:27.670 --> 00:28:32.599
But he also confessed to killing Tammy Williams, Deborah Smith Taylor,
440
00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:39.140
Robin Stavinski, and the murder of 14-year-old friends, April Brunet
441
00:28:39.640 --> 00:28:40.599
and Leslie Shelley.
442
00:28:42.420 --> 00:28:45.700
Leslie and April, they encounter a man who offers them
443
00:28:45.740 --> 00:28:48.230
a lift to get home quickly.
444
00:28:50.529 --> 00:28:52.910
Ross had offered to drive April and Leslie to a
445
00:28:52.950 --> 00:28:56.029
gas station, but he passed the gas station and kept
446
00:28:56.109 --> 00:28:56.609
on driving.
447
00:28:58.430 --> 00:29:01.410
The first thing he does is he takes Leslie, ties
448
00:29:01.450 --> 00:29:03.130
her up and puts her in the trunk of the car.
449
00:29:04.309 --> 00:29:08.490
Then he attacks April and forces her into the well
450
00:29:08.509 --> 00:29:09.750
of the passenger seat of the car.
451
00:29:11.390 --> 00:29:14.390
After killing April, he took Leslie out of the trunk
452
00:29:14.630 --> 00:29:18.319
and strangled her. He put her body back in the
453
00:29:18.380 --> 00:29:20.980
trunk and began driving around looking for a place to
454
00:29:21.019 --> 00:29:22.460
dispose of their lifeless bodies.
455
00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:27.950
Ross takes them back to Connecticut. and dumps them in
456
00:29:27.970 --> 00:29:28.410
a culvert.
457
00:29:31.579 --> 00:29:34.819
Ross told detectives where they could find the bodies of
458
00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:39.849
the two teens. Investigators then had to break the tragic
459
00:29:39.869 --> 00:29:42.450
story news to April and Leslie's families.
460
00:29:43.849 --> 00:29:48.160
I was at work and my supervisor came up to
461
00:29:48.220 --> 00:29:51.579
the floor and told me that there was a detective
462
00:29:51.640 --> 00:29:53.640
downstairs that wanted.
463
00:29:53.319 --> 00:29:56.539
To talk to me. And that's when I found out
464
00:29:56.619 --> 00:30:03.980
about Leslie. It was horrible. It was just terrible. And
465
00:30:04.099 --> 00:30:07.190
I had got home. My husband got home a few
466
00:30:07.230 --> 00:30:08.130
minutes later.
467
00:30:08.990 --> 00:30:12.690
And then a different detective came down to question us.
468
00:30:13.089 --> 00:30:14.190
It was a nightmare.
469
00:30:16.130 --> 00:30:20.950
We were so busy with detectives that you didn't really
470
00:30:21.009 --> 00:30:23.170
have time to think.
471
00:30:23.450 --> 00:30:24.470
You really didn't.
472
00:30:25.170 --> 00:30:29.240
I couldn't believe it at first that somebody in this
473
00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:32.079
quiet town could do something like that.
474
00:30:33.380 --> 00:30:37.119
It wasn't just the Shelley and Brunet families that received
475
00:30:37.180 --> 00:30:42.849
the devastating news. Robin Stavinsky's loved ones finally found out
476
00:30:42.920 --> 00:30:45.750
what had happened to the 19-year-old athlete.
477
00:30:47.009 --> 00:30:47.789
They have a guy.
478
00:30:47.809 --> 00:30:51.289
They think he killed other women. Robin's not the only one,
479
00:30:51.789 --> 00:30:53.049
and it's going to be on the news tonight.
480
00:30:54.569 --> 00:30:58.569
We were elated. They found him. But the elation was
481
00:30:58.690 --> 00:31:02.690
short-lived because it was random. If he would have adjusted.
482
00:31:02.369 --> 00:31:05.069
His radio and drove by her, she'd be alive. If
483
00:31:05.150 --> 00:31:07.950
she turned around because she forgot her purse at her
484
00:31:07.970 --> 00:31:11.009
boyfriend's house, she'd still be alive. That is what haunted
485
00:31:11.049 --> 00:31:14.400
me from the time I found out it was opportunistic killing.
486
00:31:14.519 --> 00:31:16.099
There was no reason behind it.
487
00:31:18.859 --> 00:31:22.559
Michael Ross went into detail about how he spotted Robin
488
00:31:22.619 --> 00:31:25.819
walking home alone that evening and offered.
489
00:31:25.619 --> 00:31:30.609
Her a lift. Ross attacks her and she passes out.
490
00:31:31.380 --> 00:31:33.480
But she comes round and she begins to fight.
491
00:31:34.559 --> 00:31:37.480
Ross tried to strangle her, but Robin was a strong woman.
492
00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:39.329
She was an athlete at school and she put up
493
00:31:39.369 --> 00:31:44.390
a fight. Unfortunately, Ross eventually overpowered her.
494
00:31:46.950 --> 00:31:50.430
She's dumped. As though she was no more than a
495
00:31:50.450 --> 00:31:51.190
piece of garbage.
496
00:31:56.339 --> 00:32:00.400
On the 29th of June, 1984, Ross was taken to
497
00:32:00.480 --> 00:32:04.950
Norwich Superior Court by police after being charged with Wendy
498
00:32:05.009 --> 00:32:09.930
Baribo's murder and confessing to Robbins. Family members of the
499
00:32:09.990 --> 00:32:11.589
victims were at the hearing.
500
00:32:13.430 --> 00:32:15.259
As they marched him in and he was thin and
501
00:32:15.720 --> 00:32:17.680
had that glasses on and we were just like, you've
502
00:32:17.960 --> 00:32:19.740
got to be fucking kidding me.
503
00:32:19.839 --> 00:32:20.799
He killed Robbins.
504
00:32:21.599 --> 00:32:23.759
Like, we were, I think most of us were in
505
00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:25.740
disbelief that Robin didn't kick the shit out of him,
506
00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:26.460
to be honest with you.
507
00:32:27.559 --> 00:32:28.559
She was a tough girl.
508
00:32:28.579 --> 00:32:32.549
He must have either got her down or surprised her
509
00:32:32.630 --> 00:32:34.250
because he did not look like a strong guy to me.
510
00:32:35.910 --> 00:32:40.309
After his shocking confessions, detectives were able to charge Ross
511
00:32:40.390 --> 00:32:44.029
with not one, but six murders. But there was no
512
00:32:44.150 --> 00:32:49.390
time for jubilation. the prosecution had to prepare for one
513
00:32:49.430 --> 00:33:03.259
of the biggest murder trials in Connecticut's history. Michael Ross
514
00:33:03.319 --> 00:33:07.180
would have to face two separate court cases across two
515
00:33:07.319 --> 00:33:13.730
jurisdictions in Connecticut. The 26-year-old had a plan to avoid
516
00:33:13.809 --> 00:33:14.690
the death penalty.
517
00:33:16.099 --> 00:33:20.309
In November 1985, to the murders of Tammy and Deborah
518
00:33:20.349 --> 00:33:25.690
in Wyndham County in Connecticut, Ross pleads no contest and
519
00:33:25.730 --> 00:33:28.150
receives a sentence of 120 years.
520
00:33:28.150 --> 00:33:33.990
18 months after his conviction, Ross was back in court
521
00:33:34.089 --> 00:33:37.490
charged with four murders in the county of New London.
522
00:33:38.369 --> 00:33:42.109
For fairness, due to the amount of pre-trial publicity, the
523
00:33:42.170 --> 00:33:46.200
case was moved to Bridgeport County. And this time, it
524
00:33:46.259 --> 00:33:48.440
was the killer's life that was.
525
00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:53.859
On the line. In May 1987, Michael Ross stands trial
526
00:33:53.900 --> 00:33:57.279
for the murders of Wendy, Robin, and the two 14-year-olds,
527
00:33:57.740 --> 00:33:58.579
Leslie and April.
528
00:33:59.920 --> 00:34:03.420
Ross tried a different ploy for avoiding the death penalty.
529
00:34:04.109 --> 00:34:07.190
His defense asked for a verdict of not guilty by
530
00:34:07.319 --> 00:34:12.880
reason of insanity, but the tactic ultimately failed. On the
531
00:34:13.099 --> 00:34:17.380
5th of June, 1987, it took the jury just 86
532
00:34:17.380 --> 00:34:20.780
minutes to convict Michael Ross on all counts.
533
00:34:22.500 --> 00:34:26.820
Ross, of course, is serving 120 years. He's already been given.
534
00:34:27.460 --> 00:34:29.090
He's now confronting the death penalty.
535
00:34:30.690 --> 00:34:34.670
Connecticut law stated that if a defendant was found guilty
536
00:34:34.789 --> 00:34:38.389
of a capital felony, the jury must then decide whether
537
00:34:38.429 --> 00:34:40.409
to impose the death penalty.
538
00:34:41.809 --> 00:34:42.860
But there was a catch.
539
00:34:44.420 --> 00:34:48.739
If an individual had a psychiatric disorder, that was by
540
00:34:48.820 --> 00:34:53.019
statute in Connecticut supposed to mitigate against him getting the
541
00:34:53.059 --> 00:34:53.639
death penalty.
542
00:34:55.380 --> 00:34:58.800
The defense team had to rely on the testimonies of
543
00:34:58.880 --> 00:35:04.559
behavioral scientists to determine if Michael Ross had a mental disorder.
544
00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:08.820
One of those experts was Dr. Fred Berlin, who'd met
545
00:35:08.900 --> 00:35:11.739
and analyzed Ross on several occasions.
546
00:35:12.659 --> 00:35:14.539
I had had an interview with him in the prison
547
00:35:14.559 --> 00:35:18.289
where he'd been incarcerated at that time. My first impression
548
00:35:18.369 --> 00:35:20.690
was that if I didn't know about the nature of
549
00:35:20.730 --> 00:35:23.599
the crimes that he's committed, There was nothing in seeing
550
00:35:23.659 --> 00:35:26.699
him or in interacting with him that would have suggested
551
00:35:26.739 --> 00:35:28.949
to me that he was a particularly dangerous individual.
552
00:35:30.090 --> 00:35:34.210
Despite his meek appearance, Ross didn't hold back on the
553
00:35:34.269 --> 00:35:37.690
details of his brutal and sadistic crimes.
554
00:35:38.869 --> 00:35:41.050
It was also very clear in looking at that, we're
555
00:35:41.210 --> 00:35:44.530
likely talking about a serial killer who was acting in
556
00:35:44.610 --> 00:35:48.849
ways that included sexual involvements with his victims, and that
557
00:35:48.889 --> 00:35:53.420
individual has recurrent intense in which he is turned on
558
00:35:53.460 --> 00:35:56.849
sexy by the suffering, the degradation, the pain, even the
559
00:35:56.909 --> 00:35:58.610
death of another human being.
560
00:36:00.110 --> 00:36:00.809
I didn't have.
561
00:36:00.690 --> 00:36:04.230
Any doubt that he had the diagnosis of sexual sadism.
562
00:36:05.469 --> 00:36:10.380
The prosecution argued that Ross was a calculating killer who
563
00:36:10.500 --> 00:36:13.920
raped and strangled his victims for sexual pleasure.
564
00:36:14.980 --> 00:36:17.239
A lot of the times people have this misconception that
565
00:36:17.280 --> 00:36:21.900
strangulation is quick and easy. It's not. Strangulation takes a
566
00:36:21.940 --> 00:36:23.900
lot of rage. It takes a lot of force. It
567
00:36:23.940 --> 00:36:27.789
takes a lot of personal up-close contact with the victim.
568
00:36:28.190 --> 00:36:31.769
And so Ross really was the epitome of a psychopathic
569
00:36:31.829 --> 00:36:34.389
serial killer. And had he not been stopped, he would
570
00:36:34.429 --> 00:36:36.239
have kept on going. He admitted that himself.
571
00:36:39.099 --> 00:36:42.460
For the families of the victims, seeing their loved one's
572
00:36:42.579 --> 00:36:46.300
killer in the flesh brought up a mixture of emotions.
573
00:36:47.659 --> 00:36:51.400
Leslie Shelley's father was one of those in attendance.
574
00:36:52.599 --> 00:36:55.050
There was anger, there was sadness, there was all of that.
575
00:36:56.110 --> 00:37:03.989
I just remember Mr. Shelley painfully raging. As much pain
576
00:37:04.130 --> 00:37:06.150
as we were in, I don't think I've ever seen
577
00:37:06.210 --> 00:37:09.500
another man in as much pain. That stood out to me.
578
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:15.059
On the 6th of July, 1987, the jury found Michael
579
00:37:15.139 --> 00:37:19.260
Ross to be deserving of the death penalty. But Ross's
580
00:37:19.300 --> 00:37:23.849
defense team appealed to the Supreme Court. And seven years later,
581
00:37:24.269 --> 00:37:27.889
they ruled that a critical error made by the prosecution
582
00:37:28.250 --> 00:37:32.550
should overturn his sentence, reducing it to life in prison.
583
00:37:33.690 --> 00:37:37.630
The prosecution was subsequently chastised because they'd held back the
584
00:37:37.670 --> 00:37:41.920
fact from the jury initially that even the government's evaluator
585
00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:45.599
agreed that he had this kind of mental disorder. And
586
00:37:45.659 --> 00:37:47.599
so that's one of the reasons they had to have
587
00:37:47.639 --> 00:37:52.960
a second sentencing. Yes, he was having these cravings in
588
00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:55.449
the same way a drug addict might have cravings, but
589
00:37:55.650 --> 00:37:57.550
could he have been able to control it?
590
00:37:58.849 --> 00:38:04.489
The second sentencing took place in April 2000. After five
591
00:38:04.550 --> 00:38:09.219
weeks of testimonies and nine days of deliberations, the jury
592
00:38:09.360 --> 00:38:11.340
finally reached their verdict.
593
00:38:12.619 --> 00:38:15.920
The jury decided that they felt he could have controlled it,
594
00:38:15.940 --> 00:38:17.940
that he was criminally responsible.
595
00:38:19.619 --> 00:38:23.570
What happens is that jury confirms the death penalty that's
596
00:38:23.590 --> 00:38:27.409
been given in Bridgeport County. Ross finds himself on death row.
597
00:38:28.860 --> 00:38:33.480
Robin Stravinsky's uncle Morgan Hills couldn't attend the trial, but
598
00:38:33.519 --> 00:38:36.099
was eagerly awaiting the result at home.
599
00:38:36.119 --> 00:38:40.119
I don't think it was relief.
600
00:38:41.280 --> 00:38:43.940
I never recall anybody saying that when this guy dies
601
00:38:44.000 --> 00:38:46.920
or is executed or convicted, we can kind of start
602
00:38:46.940 --> 00:38:47.800
to get back to normal.
603
00:38:47.860 --> 00:38:48.860
There was no normal.
604
00:38:50.389 --> 00:38:55.409
Normal was being redefined every day from November 23rd on
605
00:38:55.449 --> 00:38:55.969
for everybody.
606
00:38:57.010 --> 00:39:01.070
Whilst in prison, Ross revealed in several interviews with a
607
00:39:01.150 --> 00:39:06.150
psychologist that his murderous rampage had actually started a lot
608
00:39:06.369 --> 00:39:11.949
earlier than originally thought, back in May 1981, during his
609
00:39:12.030 --> 00:39:14.190
time at Cornell University.
610
00:39:15.369 --> 00:39:20.889
A Vietnamese-born young woman called Zung Tu, she's 25, she's clever.
611
00:39:21.789 --> 00:39:26.429
She's absolutely marvelous, vivacious young woman.
612
00:39:27.909 --> 00:39:31.190
Zune was last seen leaving the camp. library, and her
613
00:39:31.230 --> 00:39:33.650
body was found in a stream next to a house
614
00:39:33.670 --> 00:39:36.230
that Ross was living in. But there wasn't enough evidence
615
00:39:36.269 --> 00:39:36.909
to indict him.
616
00:39:37.880 --> 00:39:43.380
In October 2001, Ross pled guilty to the March 1982
617
00:39:43.380 --> 00:39:47.360
murder of Paula Pereira and was sentenced to another eight
618
00:39:47.380 --> 00:39:52.269
to 25 years in prison. Although he confessed to killing
619
00:39:52.289 --> 00:39:56.099
Zung Nok Tu during his time at Cornell University, he
620
00:39:56.119 --> 00:40:01.800
was never prosecuted for her death. Prison warden Ann Kornoyer
621
00:40:02.119 --> 00:40:06.000
worked as Ross's counselor during his time at the Department
622
00:40:06.039 --> 00:40:07.840
of Correction in Connecticut.
623
00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:14.730
My first impression was that he was really arrogant. I
624
00:40:14.769 --> 00:40:20.349
don't ever think that Michael Ross felt... that he was
625
00:40:20.409 --> 00:40:23.570
like the other people on death row. I think he
626
00:40:23.670 --> 00:40:27.360
always felt that he was above them. He talked to
627
00:40:27.400 --> 00:40:31.139
me a little bit about remorse and hurting families, and
628
00:40:31.860 --> 00:40:34.360
I never got that to be a genuine statement from him.
629
00:40:34.420 --> 00:40:36.760
I felt like he was trying to manipulate me.
630
00:40:37.719 --> 00:40:42.610
Contrary to his previous appeals, Ross himself expressed his acceptance
631
00:40:42.849 --> 00:40:47.269
of the death penalty to the people evaluating him behind bars.
632
00:40:48.429 --> 00:40:48.739
Mr.
633
00:40:48.800 --> 00:40:51.480
Ross said that he did not want the families of
634
00:40:51.500 --> 00:40:54.179
the victims to go through that and decided not to
635
00:40:54.260 --> 00:40:55.860
appeal the death penalty.
636
00:40:56.619 --> 00:40:58.949
His attorneys wanted to say that he wasn't fit to
637
00:40:58.989 --> 00:41:01.710
make those decisions, and I don't agree.
638
00:41:03.480 --> 00:41:08.909
On the 13th of May, 2005, Michael Ross was executed
639
00:41:09.010 --> 00:41:13.650
by lethal injection at the age of 45. He was
640
00:41:13.730 --> 00:41:17.610
the last person in Connecticut to receive such a penalty
641
00:41:18.050 --> 00:41:22.750
after capital punishment was repealed in 2012.
642
00:41:22.750 --> 00:41:27.469
Michael kept his glasses on and his eyes closed. He
643
00:41:27.570 --> 00:41:32.889
never turned to look at any of us. That was
644
00:41:32.949 --> 00:41:33.610
the end of it.
645
00:41:36.659 --> 00:41:42.780
After Ross's execution, the Shelley family suffered further heartbreak. For
646
00:41:42.840 --> 00:41:46.880
Leslie's father, the loss of his beloved daughter was too
647
00:41:46.940 --> 00:41:47.980
great to bear.
648
00:41:48.960 --> 00:41:52.940
It changed my husband. He never really got over it.
649
00:41:53.760 --> 00:41:59.260
It was like he was isolating him and myself. from
650
00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:05.800
his children, his grandchildren, his great-grandchildren. And then in 2010,
651
00:42:05.800 --> 00:42:11.969
he committed suicide. He never got over Leslie, and he
652
00:42:12.050 --> 00:42:15.849
always fights himself. He changed so much.
653
00:42:18.349 --> 00:42:21.539
Over the course of two years, Ross had murdered at
654
00:42:21.639 --> 00:42:25.889
least seven innocent women and girls. Even when he was
655
00:42:25.949 --> 00:42:30.809
behind bars, he claimed that his deviant urges couldn't be contained.
656
00:42:32.610 --> 00:42:34.889
He went on medication because he was afraid that even
657
00:42:34.929 --> 00:42:38.340
in prison, he would attack some of the female guards
658
00:42:38.360 --> 00:42:40.880
that were in there because of the cravings he was experiencing.
659
00:42:41.880 --> 00:42:43.900
He said that he would likely do the same to
660
00:42:43.940 --> 00:42:46.929
me if he had the opportunity. The fact that he
661
00:42:46.969 --> 00:42:49.429
thought about it, you know, it was a little unsettling
662
00:42:49.449 --> 00:42:49.690
for me.
663
00:42:50.739 --> 00:42:55.400
The execution of Michael Ross had left families with mixed emotions.
664
00:42:56.980 --> 00:42:59.780
There was even victims' families that didn't advocate for the
665
00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:03.550
death penalty. But for those who did, I think it
666
00:43:03.590 --> 00:43:08.590
did probably bring some sort of closure to their nightmare
667
00:43:08.630 --> 00:43:09.469
that they have to live.
668
00:43:11.409 --> 00:43:16.070
As far as trying to understand Michael, to this day,
669
00:43:16.090 --> 00:43:20.920
I don't hate him. but I don't like him neither
670
00:43:20.940 --> 00:43:22.940
for taking my daughter away.
671
00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:24.420
It's odd.
672
00:43:25.900 --> 00:43:29.219
Robin's loss left a gaping hole in a lot of people,
673
00:43:29.300 --> 00:43:32.090
just as you would imagine. You know, she had quite
674
00:43:32.110 --> 00:43:36.190
a large family that cared about her, and the loss
675
00:43:36.289 --> 00:43:40.610
was felt for many generations. I think he's your classic
676
00:43:40.809 --> 00:43:44.150
sexual predator and psychopath, and their body's telling him they
677
00:43:44.210 --> 00:43:46.630
have to kill, he has to kill, and Robin walked
678
00:43:46.670 --> 00:43:48.570
into his crosshairs.
679
00:43:51.170 --> 00:43:54.940
Ross was a savage and dangerous predator who would stop
680
00:43:54.980 --> 00:44:00.039
at nothing to fulfill his twisted carnal urges. He attacked
681
00:44:00.199 --> 00:44:04.179
numerous innocent young women and girls, over half of whom
682
00:44:04.280 --> 00:44:09.130
would never see the light of day again. The 45-year-old's
683
00:44:09.130 --> 00:44:13.030
2005 execution put an end to a life of sexual
684
00:44:13.110 --> 00:44:18.150
deviancy and undoubtedly makes Michael Ross one of the world's
685
00:44:18.210 --> 00:44:19.730
most evil killers.