Robert Gross, long suspected in KC killings, to be accused in Northland woman’s death
Federal prosecutors plan to accuse Robert Gross, long suspected in a series of killings over the past 40 years, in the 2016 killing of a woman in the Northland, according to court documents.
The accusation is expected to come in a Dec. 16 court hearing where Gross will be sentenced for stalking and gun crimes. Prosecutors wrote in a memo that they will present evidence that Gross “brutally murdered and decapitated” a woman inside a Kansas City, North apartment.
The memo does not include the victim’s name, but Gross has long been suspected in the Aug. 6, 2016 killing of a woman named Ying Li, who was found slain in her living room.
Gross has not been charged in the killing. Federal law allows prosecutors to present information about uncharged crimes at sentencing.
Gross has never been charged in a homicide, but has been suspected in four. The Star published a six-part series about the crimes last year.
No arrests have been made in Ying Li’s killing. It remains under investigation.
“Ying Li’s murder continues to be an important case,” said Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd. “Although charges have not been brought, it remains a priority for police and prosecutors.”
Series of crimes
Li had advertised herself online as a massage worker, which possibly linked her death to a series of crimes that began in the 1960s, according to authorities. Homicide detectives suspected that her killer was a man known as a violent predator.
Gross, 68, was found guilty at trial in May of stalking women who worked at massage parlors in Johnson County and in Lawrence. He was also convicted of possessing guns as a convicted felon and other firearms violations.
The eight crimes he was convicted of in May carry sentences of five to 10 years each. Prosecutors asked that those sentences run consecutive to each other for a total of 55 years.
“The similarities between the defendant’s murder of this woman, and the nature and circumstances of the crimes for which the jury convicted him at trial are disturbing, and demonstrate the defendant’s future dangerousness,” prosecutors said in the sentencing memo to the court.
Since the late 1970s, Gross has been suspected in the double shotgun slaying of a woman and her husband in 1979, the disappearance of a woman he once dated in 1981 and the Ying Li killing.
Though never charged, Gross became a target for scores of local and federal investigators over the years.
Prosecutors said those crimes and previous felony convictions show that Gross, if released from prison, is likely to commit other violent crimes, especially those against women.
“Thus, it is imperative that the defendant be incarcerated for the remainder of his life in order to ensure the safety of the community from his future crimes,” federal prosecutors said.
Read the series:
The memo makes reference to crimes Gross has been convicted of in the past, which include drug and gun offenses in the 1980s, along with a conviction for terroristic threats against a former girlfriend in Johnson County, Kansas.
“...the defendant has demonstrated through his history of convictions for crimes involving violence and terrorizing women that he will always be a threat to others, especially women, when he is not incarcerated,” according to the memo.
Janet Manuel was one of those women. Manuel dated Gross 40 years ago. She broke off their relationship after Gross nearly killed her in a Kansas City parking lot.
“This guy has too much of a history and I’m just real lucky that he didn’t hurt me,” Manuel said by phone from Florida.
Gross needs to remain in prison for the rest of his life, she said.
“He was in prison before and that didn’t help,” Manuel said. “I don’t think he should be out on the streets anymore. He likes to hurt others.”
Seeking revenge
During the criminal trial in May, jurors convicted Gross of stalking multiple women between Oct. 1 and Dec. 22, 2017. During that period, Gross captured the attention of law enforcement in a rash of property crimes and stalking reports by workers at massage parlors in Olathe and Lawrence.
Video played to jurors at trial showed Gross walking around a Lawrence massage parlor in 2017, at times naked, while berating a worker.
Women working at the massage parlors told police their cars were keyed, screws drilled into their tires and their windows smashed out.
Gross studied which type of firearms would avoid law enforcement detection. He bought two 12-gauge shotguns from a man in a dark parking lot after he removed the license plates from his car. Gross had also “stockpiled” at least eight sets of handcuffs at a Kansas City, Kansas, surplus store after he was told the business did not carry leg shackles.
Investigators said Gross purchased two balaclava-style masks and black shirts with markings similar to law enforcement and the word “SECURITY” on them.
“The defendant’s own criminal history provides insight regarding his intent obtaining these items, he was going to exact his revenge on the women who turned him down like he had done, and attempted to do in his past,” prosecutors said.
In Gross’s mind, prosecutors said, “the victims in this case wronged him and they owed him something, which angered him and he was not going to forget it.”
Threats of rape and torture
Prosecutors pointed to Gross’ long history as a suspect in the 1979 slaying of Wanda Conkling and her husband William Cadwalader.
Gross also was a suspect in the disappearance of Cheryl Morris in 1981. Morris had gone out with Gross a couple of times but then rejected him.
He had previously served 15 years in federal prison drug and firearms convictions. He was also convicted of federal drug and firearms.
“The defendant’s underlying conducted consisted of threatening to rape and torture a former girlfriend and her sister, and burn down the victim’s house,” the sentencing memo said. “The defendant also threatened to cut the victim’s sister’s head off and leave it on the victim’s waterbed.”
Gross had previously been convicted of burglary after he broke into the house of a former girlfriend and stole a .380 caliber handgun. The victim was the same woman Gross had been convicted of making terrorist threats toward, according to prosecutors.
“The evidence presented at sentencing will also show that the defendant’s history of threatening to dismember a woman, was eventually carried out by him.”
In their memo, prosecutors asked the court to consider the nature and circumstances of the crimes Gross has been convicted of as well as his prior convictions and behavior.
Past prison sentences had not deterred Gross from committing other violent crime towards women, they said.
“Only a sentence of effective life imprisonment imposed by this Court would be appropriate in this case,” prosecutors concluded.
This story was originally published November 18, 2019 at 2:18 PM.
