Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - “The Roadside Strangler” Michael Bruce Ross Pt. 2

Episode Date: December 9, 2021

Like many serial killers who get caught, Michael Bruce Ross became more reckless — attacking teenagers and young women in high-traffic areas, and often returning to where he dumped their bodies. He was later deemed to be a sexual sadist, and agreed to be chemically castrated. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, rape, sexual assault, and suicide that some people may find offensive. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. On August 25, 1981, 22-year-old Michael Bruce Ross was driving back to his home in Lewisburg, North Carolina. He'd just dropped off his fiancé Olivia at the airport after a disastrous weekend together. They'd spent the whole time fighting. As he drove, Michael gripped the steering wheel tightly, his knuckles turning white. The fights with Olivia were only getting worse, and now the end seemed inevitable.

He couldn't bear it. There was only one thing he could think of to relieve his stress, hunting for his next victim. According to Michael, as he drove through the town, searching for the right prey, he spotted a woman leaving the post office. She was perfect. He followed her in his car, watching the way she walked, aroused by the thought that she had no idea he was there. When the woman, who will call Erica, got home, she disappeared inside for a few moments. But eventually she came back outside, her seven-month-old baby in her arms.

That's when Michael made his move. He came at Erica from behind, wrapped a belt around her neck, and dragged her to the ground. Michael started punching the mother repeatedly. He reportedly told her that if she didn't. do what he said, he'd smash her baby's head against the wall. With that terrifying thread hanging over them, he dragged her into a field behind the house and sexually assaulted her. After that, he beat Erica unconscious and left her for dead, her baby crying next to her.

As Michael walked back to his car, he realized that all the tension from earlier was gone. It felt good. Now he was back in control. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today we're wrapping up the life of serial killer Michael Bruce Ross. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. Last time, we discussed Michael's traumatic childhood, his evolving, fantasy, to see World and his steady escalation of violence against women on the Cornell University campus. Today we'll delve into Michael's quickly unraveling life, his violent murder spree, and the investigation that brought him to justice. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a

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The biggest prize in Yamaba's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29th. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. In May of 1981, 21-year-old Michael Bruce Ross raped and killed fellow student Zungnok 2. He'd been fantasizing about strangling a woman to death for more than a year. And now that he'd done it, he felt conflicted. On the one hand, he felt guilty for hurting Zung. He wasn't a bad person, he reasoned.

It's just that there was a monster inside him that made him do bad things. But all the same, the act of killing had given him a shot of the most intense, exhilarating pleasure he'd ever experienced. Still, as he neared the end of his time at Cornell, perhaps Michael told himself that he would get his urges under control, that he would never hurt another woman. But he was about to leave school to enter the real world, and that was about to be tested. After graduating in June of 1981, Michael moved to Lewisburg, North Carolina for his new job at Cargill Inc., one of the biggest farming corporations in the country, but he wasn't excited for the adventure.

He was stressed about leaving his fiancé Olivia behind at Cornell. Everything about their relationship felt so uncertain, and as soon as he left, the pressure only got worse. Despite the promise he'd made to control his urges, Michael began stalking women in North Carolina almost immediately. regularly he'd make the 45-minute drive to Raleigh and find women walking alone. Then he'd follow close behind them, aroused by their fear. But although he enjoyed his perverse hobby, it wasn't enough. Craving real companionship, he flew Olivia to North Carolina to spend a weekend with him that August, but they spent the entire time fighting about what their future would look like.

Michael wanted a simple life on his family farm, but Olivia wanted more. and neither of them would give any ground. After Michael said goodbye to Olivia at the airport, he was overcome by rage. He needed to feel a sense of power to feel like he was in control of something, just one thing. And if it wasn't Olivia, it would be someone else.

Vanessa is going to take over in the psychology here and throughout the episode. As a note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. The reasons why a serial killer chooses his victims usually depends on a number of different factors. According to a research study conducted by the FBI, a victim may symbolize a person in the killer's life. They fantasize about killing or harming the person they know, then carry out the violence on someone else.

For Michael, Olivia represented a force that made him feel weak and out of control. He was unable to dominate her, to make her bend to his will. That made him feel powerless. This was at least what doctors like Dr. Walter Borton, who later examined Michael, believed. It's true, he often fantasized about the sexual assault she survived, and it became a recurring theme in his own acts of violence. These same doctors thought that to compensate for his lack of control, Michael sought out other women or girls he could terrorize.

With them, Michael could make them feel or do whatever he wanted. He would make them fear him, projecting his violent fantasies onto their body. bodies in terrifying ways. This horrific violence made Michael feel like he was the one with all the power, and after a frustrating weekend with Olivia, he was desperate for that feeling back, so he set out to find someone to terrorize. According to Michael, as he drove, he noticed a woman leaving the post office. The woman, we'll call Erica, was pushing a stroller and enjoying the warm summer day.

She didn't notice the monster lurking behind her. Michael followed Erica all the way home, then watched as she went inside. She emerged a few minutes later with a broom in one hand and her baby in the other. Michael didn't give her a chance to even start sweeping. He rushed forward and grabbed her from behind. He wrapped a belt around her neck, making it easier to drag her to a secluded area away from the street, where he'd have the privacy to do whatever he wanted to her. He punched her repeatedly, then sexually assaulted her.

Afterwards, he forced her to get onto her stomach like he had with sung. Then he pulled hard in the belt that was around her neck, strangling her. Thinking she was dead, Michael ran back to his car and drove home. But Erica was still alive. She woke up two hours later to the sounds of her baby's cries. Despite her battered state, she dragged herself to a neighbor's house for help. While Erica struggled with the trauma of what was done to her, Michael carried on with his life like nothing had happened.

A few weeks later, he headed to Illinois for a business trip. On the first night there, his co-workers hung out at the hotel watching football, but Michael was in the mood to hunt. So he told his colleagues he was going to a bar and slipped out to his rental car. He drove down the street looking for someone who fit his criteria. That's when he spotted a teenage girl we'll call Maria walking down the road. When she stopped at a motel to get a pack of cigarettes, Maria noticed the car parked outside and could see Michael watching her from behind.

behind the wheel. It was creepy. If she felt threatened, she must have shaken it off because she headed back to the road and began the walk home. Michael got out of his car and followed the teen on foot, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. When they got close to a wooded area, he lunged forward and grabbed her. Maria screamed and Michael panicked. He put a knife to her throat as he dragged her into the trees and told her not to make any noise. When they were deep in the woods, he stuffed a handkerchief in her mouth and fastened his belt around her throat.

But before Michael could do anything else, they were interrupted by the unmistakable sound of police cars. A neighbor had heard Maria's screams and called the police. Now the cops were in the woods investigating. Stardled, Michael stood up and ran. The police found Maria just minutes later, bound and gagged, exactly as Michael left her. Then, on her way home, Maria spotted Michael's car and alerted the police. When Michael returned to pick up the car later, he was a little, he was The cops were waiting for him. It seems likely that he would have raped and killed Maria if he hadn't been interrupted,

but Michael was only charged with unlawful restraint, and his sentence was just two years probation. After his trial, he left his job and moved back home to Brooklyn, Connecticut, to live with his mother and work at the family farm. He wanted to get his life together, but things only got worse. Michael never told Olivia about the arrest or the incident with Maria, but his mother Pat made sure she knew. That's probably why Olivia called off their wedding that Christmas.

They were supposed to get married the following June, but she told Michael that she couldn't go through with it. However, they didn't break up. Still, Michael was broken by Olivia's decision. Everything he wanted was slipping from his grasp and he couldn't do anything about it. He felt powerless to control the direction of his own life. He needed an outlet, something to lessen his feelings of inadequacy,

And since he couldn't control Olivia, he had to find another way to feel a sense of authority. And there was only one way he knew to do that. Up next, Michael goes on a hunt for his next victim. Hello, I'm Hannah Maguire. And I'm Sarutie Bala. And we're the hosts of the new Spotify original from Parcast, Sinister Societies. You may know us from the very creepy and excellent podcast red-handed, but now we've teamed up with Parcast for a podcast.

an unprecedented look at history's most nefarious groups. Some preach extreme religious practices, others warn of impending doom, and then there are those whose endgame is far more diabolical. Every Tuesday on Sinister Societies, we take a peek behind the curtain and discover the most ominous organizations the world may or may not have known. Learn how entrepreneurial sects made fortunes off their brand, how charismatic cult leaders caught the eye of celebrities and why strange orders of the extraterrestrial

or collegiate kind attract the most unlikely of followers. Some groups convene in the shadows. Others operate in plain sight. All are absolutely sinister. Follow sinister societies free and only on Spotify. Now back to the story. In January of 1982,

Michael Bruce Ross was living with his mother in Brooklyn, Connecticut. He was working on the family farm and trying to get his life back on track following his conviction the previous year. But there was no denying it. His life was a mess. He'd lost his job and his relationship with his fiancé Olivia was falling apart. He was desperate to feel in control. Meanwhile, another Brooklyn local was figuring her life out too.

17-year-old Tammy Williams had dropped out of high school and was working in the camera section of a department store, a job she loved. Though she was young, she was fiercely independent. She regularly checked in with her parents, but they weren't controlling by any means, and that was how she liked it. On the morning of January 5, 1982, Tammy was walking home to Brooklyn from her boyfriend's house in Danielson, a town about five miles away. That's what she was doing when she caught Michael's eye. He was driving along Ruth Six when he spotted her walking along the side of the road. He felt an urge stir inside him, so he pulled over, hoping to be out of view of passing cars.

Then he ran up behind the teen and put her in a chokehold. His arm clenched tight around her neck. The two wrestled for a bit before he pulled Tammy into the woods, dragging her to the treeline trail where he was parked. He looked around hesitantly. He realized he needed to find somewhere more remote, somewhere private. Several passing drivers saw the attack, but assumed the two were just having a couple.

spat, so they drove by without stopping to help. So he bound Tammy's hands and put her in the car. When he found his spot safe from prying eyes, he pulled her out and they walked into the woods. He forced Tammy to undress, sexually assaulted and raped her. Then he told her to lie on her stomach. When she was lying still, Michael climbed onto her back and strangled her to death. Once she was dead, he drove to a swamp and buried her body under some foliage. After the murder, Michael felt relieved, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. But the thought of Tammy's body, buried in the woods, kept creeping into his mind. He wanted to go back and visit his handiwork, but he knew he couldn't yet.

The area was swarming with police. Someone had found Tammy's purse lying by the side of the road and reported it. In light of her disappearance, authorities searched the area where Michael had grabbed her. But finding nothing, they eventually called off. the hunt. That meant Michael could visit her body at last. He told journalist Martha Elliott, who later wrote in her book, The Man in the Monster, Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer, that he never got close enough to touch Tammy. He said, I just had this need to go to her, to be with her. Then, once he got back home, he'd fantasize about what he'd done,

masturbating to the memory. Even as he lived in the past, Michael's life moved forward. A few months after the murder, his mother got him a job as an assistant complex manager for Croton Egg Farms in Ohio, but he had a bit of time before he had to start the new job, so he decided to drive to Cornell to surprise Olivia. He didn't get the reception he was hoping for. Not knowing Michael was at her apartment waiting for her, Olivia came home with another man, who she insisted was just a friend, but Michael wasn't buying it. He was jealous, and she was annoyed at him for showing up unannounced. They spent the entire weekend fighting, the chasm between them growing even larger.

Michael left confused, angry, and upset. He began the long drive back to Connecticut, but he couldn't shake the fury raging within him. So when he drove past a teenage hitchhiker along Route 211 in New York, he pulled over and offered her a ride. Little did she know, he had no plans to drop her off. Paula Pereira was a smart 16-year-old with an outgoing personality. She'd left school, school early that day, planning to hitch her ride to her boyfriend's house, just a few miles away. After she got into his car, Michael made friendly conversation and pretended to listen to the directions Paula gave him. All the while, his eyes searched the road for a suitable place to

stop. It's impossible to say how Paula reacted when she realized Michael wasn't taking her where he promised. She must have panicked when he turned off the road and slowed the car to a stop in a deserted area. He told Paula to get out and undress. he sexually assaulted and raped her before flipping her onto her stomach and wrapping his hands firmly around her neck. He squeezed until he felt her finally stopped breathing. Once he was done, he left Paula's strangled body behind. Then he got into his car and finished his drive back home to Brooklyn, as if nothing had happened. A few days later, he moved to Ohio to start his new job, barely thinking about his latest victim. He had enough on his mind as it was. It was around this time that

Olivia told Michael she had stopped wearing her engagement ring. The news set him off once more, and he began stalking women almost daily. But just seeing the fear he caused wasn't enough for him anymore. On the night of April 26, 1982, Michael saw a woman will call Cynthia leaving a laundromat. That's when he did something he hadn't tried before. He watched her get into her car, then followed her home. Until now, all the women Michael had stalked, attacked, and picked up, were walking. It had made them easier targets. But on this day, for whatever reason, Michael decided to change things up. After he watched Cynthia, led herself into her house, Michael got out of his car and knocked on the door. It's unclear why, but he introduced himself using his real name and said he

was having car troubles. He asked if he could use her phone to call a mechanic. When she returned with a phone book, Michael grabbed her by the neck and wrestled her to the floor. What Michael didn't know was that Cynthia was a police officer with the Columbus Police Department and she wasn't going down without a fight. Despite his much bigger size, Cynthia put up enough of a struggle that Michael got up and ran.

Cynthia got up and gave chase, but he escaped. After he sped off, she quickly called her colleagues at the police department and gave them her attacker's name and description. A few days later, investigators showed up at Michael's work to ask him if he knew anything

about the attack. tack. Trying to play it cool, he said he didn't, and hoped he was in the clear. But a few days after that, the cops showed up again, this time at his house. They asked him to step outside, where Cynthia was sitting in a police car. She quickly identified him as her attacker, sealing his fate. Michael was arrested the next day and had to ask his sister to bail him out. After that, he headed back to Connecticut to wait for his trial. Michael's life was in shambles, and in May of the day,

that year, it got worse. Olivia asked him not to attend her graduation. As he dealt with that rejection, his mother got in a jab of her own. She told him she wasn't going to attend his trial. Michael felt burned by the two most important women in his life, and he decided that someone else needed to pay for their sins. On June 15th, he picked up 23-year-old Deborah Taylor outside of Danielson. She'd been arguing with her husband when their car broke down. Frustrated, they separated, each going in opposite directions. Michael told Deborah that he'd drive her to Jewett City, about 15 miles away from Brooklyn, but of course he had no intention of doing that.

Instead, he drove her to an area near his family farm, where he sexually assaulted, raped and strangled her to death. Then he dumped her body near a field where workers dumped chicken manure every day. Like he had with Tammy, Michael often returned to the burial site to visit Deborah, body, staying as long as he could. Maybe it helped him forget about his upcoming trial, where he'd be sentenced for his attack on Cynthia. But the distraction was only temporary, and that summer, things crumbled just a little bit more. On July 26th, his birthday, Olivia showed up with something for him. But it wasn't a gift. She was returning her engagement ring. They were over

officially. And the hits kept coming. A few days later, Michael was sentenced to six months in jail for his attack on Cynthia, but he was released that December, after serving just four months. For a little while after that, Michael lived a relatively quiet life. It's possible that his incarceration sobered him and made him understand that his actions could have consequences. With that in mind, he moved to Jewett City. He got an apartment, and in the fall of 1983, he started dating a woman, we'll call Denise. Things in Michael's personal life seemed steady, but he was a ticking bomb, one triggered by the slightest hint of disrespect. As Thanksgiving approached that year, Michael asked his father if he could bring Denise to dinner,

but Dan said there wasn't enough room, which wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. Once again, Michael felt that familiar, all-consuming rage. On November 16, 1983, 19-year-old Robin Stavinsky was walking home from work. Since she didn't have a car, she often hitchhiked rides. When Michael saw her walking along a busy stretch of Route 32, he pulled over. He got out and jogged to catch up with her, trying to use his charm to disarm her. He walked alongside her for a little while, chatting casually. Robin was fit, an athlete.

She did shot putt and her friends called her the Hulk woman. Michael could see she was strong. He'd learned his lesson after his struggle with Cynthia. He didn't want to take any chances. not again. He waited until she was comfortable with him, entertaining her conversation about her boyfriend, who she was upset with.

When he sensed that her guard was down, Michael grabbed Robin by the neck and choked her until she passed out. With no one trying to stop him, Michael dragged Robin into the woods where he raped and strangled her. When she was dead, Michael stared down at Robin's body

trying to figure out what to do next. The area was busy with traffic and he couldn't risk being spotted dragging a body to his car, figuring it was his only option, he buried Robin under some leaves. When that was done, he headed back to his car and drove home. As he did after every murder, Michael moved on with his life like nothing had happened. Around that same time, he applied for a job as an insurance salesman, but when he got the job, he didn't feel like celebrating.

The reality of what his life had become was stark and demoralizing. His dream of one day running the family business seemed out of reach. as his father firmly held on to the position. Unable to build something for himself, he reluctantly took the job, but that did nothing to alleviate his feelings of failure. The life he was living was nothing like the one he'd dreamt of, and he began drinking heavily to assuage his shame and battered ego. He also lied to his family about work.

He claimed he was a top performer, when in reality he was barely scraping by. In fact, his performance at work was so poor that in spring of 1984, they asked Michael to take some time off to get his act together. He decided to go on a vacation with his girlfriend to Disney World. But the trip was cut short when Denise received word that her father had passed away. Michael was incredibly upset by the news. Oh, he didn't care about Denise's pain.

He was just annoyed that they had to end their vacation early. They fought the entire 1,500-mile drive home. When they got back, Denise left to be with her family. Her father's wake was planned for her. Easter Sunday. Since they'd been fighting, Michael guessed that he wasn't welcome to attend. Incensed at the rejection he'd invented in his head, Michael decided to go for a drive, but he wasn't just blowing off some steam. He was looking for his next victim. Coming up, Michael's irrational anger turns deadly for two teens. Now back to the story.

On April 22nd, 1984, 14-year-old Leslie Shelley went to Easter Sunday services in Griswold, Connecticut. Leslie usually enjoyed church, but that day she was eager to leave so she could hang out with her best friend, April Brunei. The teens had a plan. Leslie told her parents they were going to see a movie and that April's parents would drive them. April told her parents they were going for pizza and they'd be getting a ride from the Shellies. In reality, the girls went to Jewett City a few miles away. It's unclear what they did there, but after a few hours, they headed for home. Not wanting to miss their curfews, the girls decided to hitchhike.

Unfortunately for them, Michael was on the prowl that day. He saw the friends walking on the side of the road and stopped to pick them up. He said he'd drive them to a gas station where they'd presumably continue the rest of their trip on foot. But when Michael drove past their destination, the girls panicked. April pulled out a knife she had hidden in her purse and threatened him. Alarmed, Michael demanded she hand the weapon over. Scared for their lives, Leslie convinced her friend to do as their abductor said. April gave up the knife, making any chance of escape impossible.

What happened next is disputed, but Michael later told journalist Martha Elliott that after driving to a remote area in Rhode Island, Michael told April to get into the backseat of the car. Once the girls were separated, he bound Leslie's hands, and bundled her into the trunk. Then he sexually assaulted, raped, and strangled April, and put her body in the passenger seat. The details about what happened to Leslie are a little less clear,

since Michael changed his story a number of times. What we know for sure is that he strangled her and placed her body in the car. He later said that Leslie's murder always bothered him, more than the others. Part of the reason may have been because of her tiny stature. She was only 4.11 and 85 pounds. And Michael said that when he was strangling her, she didn't resist at all, which, quote, took the excitement out of it. Michael drove back to Connecticut and dumped both the girls' bodies in a culvert. For the next little while, he liked to go back to visit the site as often as he could.

Unsurprisingly, murder didn't solve any of Michael's problems. By May of 1984, his relationship with Denise had unraveled, and he was back to stalking women every night. Michael knew there was no controlling the monster inside him. He would kill again. But the thing is, he didn't want to. He wanted to stop. He thought about going to the police but couldn't bring himself to do it. He also contemplated suicide, but couldn't go through with that either.

This state of mind might explain why he did what he did next. On June 13, 1984, Michael was driving along a busy stretch of Route 12 in Lisbon, Connecticut, when he spotted Wendy Barabault walking by herself. He quickly whipped his car around, made a hard U-turn, and parked on the other side of the street. His erratic driving caught the attention of several people who thought his tire must have blown out. He ran to catch up with 17-year-old Wendy. Then, in broad daylight, he grabbed her by the neck and dragged her into the woods. As he'd already done several times before, he sexually assaulted, raped, and strangled her to death.

Then he buried her underneath some rocks and walked back to his car and drove home. Throughout the entire encounter with Wendy, Michael made very little effort to hide, which wasn't like him. Several people noticed his reckless driving and initial assault on Wendy. Afterwards, some of those concerned witnesses provided descriptions of both Michael and his car to police. Despite being reported missing the same day she was killed and the numerous calls to police about the roadside encounter, Wendy's body wasn't discovered for almost two weeks. At that time, Detective Michael Malkich was assigned to the case. Using descriptions from the dozen witnesses who saw Michael's car that day,

Malchick quickly located his chief suspect. Early on the morning of June 28th, Malchick knocked on 24-year-old Michael's door. The killer wasn't surprised to see police that day. He'd read about the discovery of Wendy's body in the papers and knew they were looking for his car. For his part, Detective Maltich was a man. doubtful that the man standing before him could be a killer. He was unassuming and seemed so normal. But when Michael willingly revealed his past convictions for sexual offenses, Malchik invited him

down to the station for questioning. Within a few hours, Michael had confessed to murdering Wendy Baribault. Then he shocked them by confessing to the murders of five others. The next day, he took police to where he buried the bodies of Tammy Williams, Leslie Shelley, and April Brunei. All missing up until that point. The police charged Michael with the rape and murder of six women, but despite his confession, the case against him proved to be anything but simple. Over the next three years, Michael was examined by five psychiatrists for both the defense and the prosecution.

Doctors John Segalis and Walter Borden served as cheap witnesses for the defense. It was their job to convince the jury that Michael's urges, which compelled him to sexually assault and kill, were impossible for him to ignore. All of the doctors agreed that Michael had sexual sadism disorder, a diagnosis recognized in the DSM-5. According to the manual, a person can be considered a sexual sadist if they have recurrent and intense sexual fantasies about physically or psychologically harming another person. While the fantasies themselves do not constitute a disorder, acting on them does.

All the doctors, including those on the side of the prosecution, agreed that Michael was a sexual disorder. sadist. However, their perspectives on that diagnosis was where they differed. The defense used the diagnosis and argued that Michael's condition was so extreme that he even had a sadistic personality disorder, a diagnosis no longer recognized by the DSM-5. They argued this to prove that Michael couldn't control his urges and therefore couldn't be found guilty. The prosecution, on the other hand, argued that his condition proved Michael was dangerous. They discussed his deadly urges, and his fantasies about raping and strangling women, but not the uncontrollable effects it had on him.

Their argument wasn't that he didn't kill because he had cravings he couldn't ignore, they believed he killed just to cover up his sexual assaults. Despite the conflicting, nuanced arguments from both sides, it seems the jury only saw a monster before them. They declared Michael guilty of six capital felony charges, and he was sentenced to death on July 6, 1987. Michael was dismayed. He told author Martha Elliott that he wasn't even upset about being condemned to die, but at the guilty verdict.

He said, freedom didn't interest me, life didn't interest me. All that was really important to me was to prove that I wasn't the cold-blooded animal that everyone portrayed me to be. But Michael would have more than enough time to contemplate his guilt. While his lawyers got to work launching appeals, he struggled with his new life in prison. For most of his life, Michael had been constantly plagued by his violent sexual urges and fantasies. But at least outside, he could do things to distract himself. In prison, there was no way to escape the ceaseless barrage of images running through his mind. He masturbated obsessively several times a day. That's when Dr. Berlin, a psychiatrist who'd been the chief defense witness in Michael's case, suggested a controversial treatment, chemical castration.

Berlin treated sexual sadists at his clinic at John Johns Hopkins University. He administered Depo Provera, a drug typically prescribed as a contraceptive for women that acts as a hormone suppressant in men. It's important to note that this practice is widely controversial, and there's a lot of debate on the ethics of the treatment. That said, Michael was desperate for relief, and on November 15, 1989, he began taking the drug. Though he said the effects happened gradually, his sexual urges and fantasies diminished significantly. This is what Michael had to say about the experience.

I often describe it as living with an obnoxious roommate. What the Deborah Povera did was move the roommate to his own apartment down the hall. He still had to deal with him, but it was much easier without him always being in your face. Now that the fantasies that had been plaguing him since childhood were finally manageable, Michael focused on fighting his upcoming execution. He remained on death row for eight. 18 years, spending almost two decades going through the appeals process, trying to get his sentence commuted.

Around 2004, Michael changed his mind. He decided that continuing to fight for his life would only bring more pain to the families of the girls and women he'd killed. So he surrendered to his fate. On May 13, 2005, 45-year-old Michael was executed by lethal injection. It's impossible to know what he was thinking in those final moments. He'd spent most of his life surrendering to his impulses. Giving in had been so much easier than restraining himself for the sake of what was right.

It's likely that even at the end, he still had the urge to live. But perhaps, at the end of it all, he decided to ignore his basest impulses. Just that once. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. For more information on Michael Bruce Ross, amongst the many sources we used, we found Martha Elliott's book, The Man in the Monster, Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer, extremely helpful in our research. You can find all episodes of Serial Killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify.

We'll see you next time. Have a Killer Week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, sound designed by Nick Johnson, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Joshua Kern. This episode of serial killers was written by Sarah Hussein

with writing assistants by Joel Callan, fact-checking by Adriana Romero, and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood. Serial killers stars Greg Paulson and Vanessa Richardson. You aren't supposed to know about them, unless they want you to. Powerful groups with their own very specific agendas. And if you find yourself on the inside,

good luck getting out. Hi, I'm Hannah Maguire and I'm Sarutibala. Join us every Tuesday for our new Spotify original from Parcast, Sinister Societies. Whether it's Doomsday Predictions, Deadly Greed or World Domination, each week we're exposing the beliefs and actions of the most ominous organizations the world may or may not have known. Follow Sinister Societies free and only on Spotify. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed.

Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm global news crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Do you want to hear something spooky? Some monster, it reminded me of Bigfoot. Monsters Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal.

One of the boys started to exhibit demonic possession. Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snake-like lifted its head out of the water. Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow I lost eight whole hours. Listen now on Spotify or wherever. You get your podcast.