Episode 106: Michael Bruce Ross
In photo order from left to right: Dzung Ngoc Tu, 25, Tammy Williams, 17, Paula Perrera, 16, Debra Taylor, 23, Robin Stavinsky, 19, April Brunais, 14, Leslie Shelley, 14, Wendy Baribeault, 17
Michael Bruce Ross was born in Putnam, Connecticut and grew up on a chicken farm with three younger siblings. His mother abused all four of the children but was especially abusive to Michael, and she ended up being admitted to a psychiatric facility at least twice. A lot of Michael’s other family members believe his uncle also molested him as a kid for several years before committing suicide at the age of 14.
Possibly related to the trauma he grew up with, Michael developed an antisocial personality at a very young age, and he developed fantasies about kidnapping, raping and murdering women. As he grew older these thoughts became more violent and more intense. Michael began stalking women on Cornell’s campus where he went to school and was responsible for a string of rapes at the school as well. He then escalated to the brutal murders of eight women.
Dzung Ngoc Tu was a 25-year-old student at Cornell University from Vietnam who was excelling in her studies and was known as being very kind. On the night Dzung was killed she had been studying in Warren Hall, the same campus building where Michael had been working. Her body was found in a creek in the bottom of a gorge on May 12th, 1981, close to the school. The gorge was a known spot for people jumping and Dzung’s death was initially thought to be a suicide. Her case was cold for several years before Michael confessed to her murder during a 1987 session with a psychiatrist, although he was never charged.
17-year-old Tammy Williams from Brooklyn, Connecticut was murdered by Michael on Jan. 5, 1982 after he abducted her on her walk home from her boyfriend’s house. Her body was found with evidence of sexual assault and she had also been strangled. Tammy’s best friend Tina stated "I can still remember the way she laughed. She had a heart of gold. I still remember her giggle. She was a fun person to be around." The two girls had gone to school with Michael and used to take short cuts right by his family’s chicken farm.
16-year-old Paula Perrera from Wallkill, N.Y. was not a stranger to hitckhiking and felt like she could trust most people, especially because she lived in a small rural area. She was murdered by Michael in March of 1982 after he picked her up on his way to Connecticut from Cornell. He raped her and dumped her body on a side road in a marshy area near Interstate 84, and she wasn’t found until 18 days later. Paula’s childhood friend Barbara has said that it frustrates her how Paula is usually mentioned only in a footnote when talking about Michael’s crimes and that “She was such a wonderful person. She had a whimsy, an innocence."
23-year-old Debra Smith Taylor and her husband were driving near Danielson, Connecticut on June 15th, 1982 when they ran out of gas. The two split up and went opposite ways in search of a gas station, and this is when Michael kidnapped Debra. He raped and then strangled her, discarding her body in a spot that took four months to find after a jogger came across her skeletal remains.
19-year-old Robin Stavinksy from Norwich, Connecticut was hitchhiking on November 19th, 1983, Thanksgiving day, when she never made it to her destination. Michael kidnapped Robin, dragging her into a wooded area on the grounds of the State Hospital in Norwich where he sexually assaulted her. He then strangled her before covering her body with leaves. Joggers found her body a week later. Robin’s murder was the missing puzzle piece for investigators who realized that her murder matched Debra’s and Tammy’s and that there was a serial killer targeting young girls.
April Brunias and Leslie Shelley, both 14-years-old and from Griswold, Connecticut, were walking home together from the movies on April 22nd, 1984, Easter Sunday. Michael offered them a ride and kidnapped them both, driving them past their destination. April pulled out a knife and told Michael to stop the car but Michael quickly disarmed her and kept driving until they got to Rhode Island. He parked his car at Beach Pond where he bound the girl’s hands and feet before sexually assaulting April and strangling both girls. Michael then put their bodies into his trunk before dumping them in a culvert in Preston, Connecticut.
17-year-old Wendy Baribeault from Griswold, Connecticut was last seen walking down State Highway 12 on her way to a convenience store on June 13, 1984. Michael had been following Wendy in his car and got out, began talking to her and then pulled her over a stone wall into a wooded area that led to an open field. This is where he sexually assaulted her, then forced her to turn over onto her stomach before strangling her. Wendy’s body was found two days later. On the day she disappeared, witnesses told police that they saw a thin white man wearing glasses and driving a blue subcompact Toyota following Wendy. Witness descriptions led police to Michael Bruce Ross.
Michael was sentenced to a total of 120 years in prison for the murders of Tammy Williams and Debra Taylor on June 5th, 1987. On June 26th, 1987, he was convicted on charges for the murders of April Brunais, Leslie Shelley, Wendy Baribeault and Robin Stavinksy and sentenced to death just ten days later. After multiple appeals and much debate, Michael was executed by lethal injection on May 13th, 2005, the first person executed in New England in 45 years.
Michael didn’t end up being charged with Paula Perrera’s murder until the fall of 2000, receiving 8 to 25 years in prison almost a year later.
Image sources:
murderpedia.org - “Michael Bruce Ross”