Martha Elliott - The Man in the Monster: An Intimate Portrait of a Serial Killer

PENGUIN PRESS

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Copyright 2015 by Martha Elliott

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ISBN 978-1-101-59599-2

Names of several people were changed by the author to protect the identities of those who were romantically involved with Michael or the survivors of his attacks.

Cover design by Cardon Webb

CONTENTS

For my children, Hadley, Hannah, and James

And for the eight women whose lives were so tragically cut short

PREFACE

No one in her right mind invites a serial killer into her life. Who would want to know that kind of evil? For more than a decade, this is exactly what I did. I never imagined that I would consider someone like Michael Ross, a convicted serial rapist and murderer, a close friend. But from 1995 until his death by lethal injection in 2005, that is exactly what I did and what he became to me.

I deplore violence, and I do not wish to mitigate what Michael Ross did before his 1984 arrest. He took eight lives, and he ruined many more. Over the course of my investigation into this case, I got to know many of the people whose lives he forever altered. Some of the families of his victims became friends of mine as well. I wrote this book as much for themand for the daughters they lostas I did for myself.

The courts and the state of Connecticut have rendered justice in the case of Michael Ross. But until we see the man in the monster, we cannot begin to comprehend why he did what he did or to make a personal judgment as to whether sentencing Michael to death was a just punishment. Many books have been written on the topic of how someone can become a serial killer. This book grapples with the question of why this man, Michael Ross, turned to violence so many times. I hope that what I learned will help identify others like him before they turn down the same murderous path.

Michael Ross was my partner in this investigation. He opened up his life to me so that together we might tell his story. I believe he worked with me for so many years as a kind of atonement for what he had done. His life was full of contradictions. He was a moral man who committed heinously immoral acts, a man capable of great bravery who was also cowardly, an intelligent man whose stubbornness defied reason. All of these facets dwelled within this man.

To the best of my ability, I have told his story.

I became intrigued by Michael Rosss case in the summer of 1995 during my tenure as the editor in chief and publisher of the Connecticut Law Tribune . When the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned the six death sentences that he had been given in 1987, he began lobbying to accept a death sentence to spare the families of his victims the pain of going through another trial. I was puzzled by his unusual offer, and I was intrigued by the complexities of mental illness and the death penalty, which I have always strongly opposed. I wrote asking for an interview for an article for the Tribune , even though the thought of him petrified me.

The man I met was nothing like what I had expected. He wasnt insane according to the legal definitionsomeone who lacks the capacity to understand the wrongfulness of an act because of mental disease or defect. Quite the contrary, this sensitive, articulate Cornell graduate was also a devout Roman Catholic who would profusely express his remorse for his crimes to anyone who would listen.

His crimes were horrific. Michael had raped and murdered eight women, and there were other victims of sexual assault as well. To report his story I had to read thousands of pages of court testimony and police reports and interview lawyers, psychiatrists, family members, friends, and the victims families. I also consulted experts who had evaluated him and cited behavioral, chemical, and psychological origins of Michaels murderous behaviors.

At various times, experts had argued that Michael suffered from a variety of afflictions that might explain his criminal behavior, including sexual sadism, brain lesions, and childhood trauma. I found that his was a case without simple answersas are so many that involve mental illness. I have no doubt that all of the factors cited by the experts involved in his case contributed to Michaels actions, but I dont believe they tell the whole story. It took a decade with Michael for me to even begin to do so.

My reasons for taking on the assignment were complicated and personal. I was distressed that my home state of Connecticut might be the first New England state to execute someone in four decades. I had been brought up to be strongly opposed to capital punishment, yet even for me, Michael Rosss crimes raised the question of the death penalty. I saw all too vividly the pain and suffering of the parents and loved ones of the young women he had murdered. As a parent, I sympathized with their need to get justice for their daughters. After I met some of these parents and siblings, those feelings became even stronger. Michaels case was not just a daunting task to report on as a journalist, but also to deal with as a human being.

When I filed my article in 1996, I didnt intend to think about Michael Ross ever again. But after it was published, he kept calling, desperate for human contact. Id been talking to him at least once a week during the nine-month research process, and it seemed cruel to stop taking his calls. I decided that continuing to talk with him was a small effort compared with what it meant to this lonely, haunted man. Over time, we became friends, something that was very hard for me to admit for many yearseven to myself.

Our conversations encompassed much more than the details of his crimes and the legal aftermath; we talked about his childhood, his regrets, his lonely life on death row, and, at times, about my life. Our decade-long relationship had two faces. Sometimes we were focused on the serial killer. We talked about Michaels past, about the murders, about his first trial, about the demons that had invaded his mind. He told me in conversations and letters about the possible origins of his mental illness, the monster, which began and progressed in college, about the violent fantasies that plagued his mind, and about the murders. After he was convicted and put on death row, he had received medication, hormone therapy, that he said quieted his violent sexual fantasies. Yet the relief also had its costs; it freed his mind so that he had to face his horrific acts. That was the man I got to know. I never actually met the serial killer, even though I met Michael face-to-face more times than I can count.

As I became friends with Michael, our conversations became more personal. We joked, talked about the weather or politics. One journalist listening to a tape of a phone conversation between Michael and me commented, Its too normal. You sound like youre talking to your next-door neighbor. We were talking about an impending snowstorm and whether Id be able to fly from California to Connecticut to visit him. Michael was worried that the snow would delay my flight and was concerned about my safety. Promise me youll drive safely. Dont rush up here from the airport.

Often over the years, I would be at a party when someone would ask what I was working on. A book. Id hesitate. As soon as Id say it was about a serial killer, the questions would ping in rapid fire. Everyone wanted to know who, what, and why. Why? was a question I could not answer for many years.