Winter Haven, FL: MAY BE MISSING MOTHER, DAUGHTER

Forensic Tests Won't Answer All Questions About Murdered Mother and Daughter
Forensic lab will determine if skeletons found in Haven grove are related, but won't identify them.


By Rick Rousos
THE LEDGER

Published: Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 11:36 p.m.
WINTER HAVEN | The Medical Examiner's Office is awaiting DNA tests from a University of Florida forensic lab on two skeletons police say are a murdered mother and child.

But the results of those tests will most certainly leave unanswered questions for authorities in Polk County.

Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Nelson said he "can't imagine it will be much longer" for the tests to be done.

Winter Haven police say Lester Ross, 32, the father of Masarah Ross, 3, killed her in May 2009 and kept the dead child in a freezer.

Police Chief Gary Hester said the girl's mother, Ronkeya Holmes, grew tired of excuses and drove to Winter Haven in October 2009 to find her daughter.

Hester said that when Lester Ross killed Holmes, he retrieved Masarah from the freezer and had his wife, Sharon Ross, drive him and the corpses to an east Winter Haven orange grove.

Two skeletons, one of them tiny, were unearthed in the grove in December.

Lester Ross is being held without bond in the Polk County Jail on a charge of tampering with a witness.

He is accused of threatening Sharon Ross, the woman who led police to the gravesite.

Winter Haven police say Lester Ross wrapped a cord around his wife's neck and threatened to strangle her if she told anyone what she'd seen.

Nelson said there is virtually no chance of not finding DNA from the skeletons. He said that is sometimes difficult when bones are very old and brittle.

"If they can get the DNA of Abraham Lincoln ..." Nelson said.

But Nelson said the tests will only establish if the two female skeletons are mother and daughter.

It will be up to Nelson's office, with the help of police, to establish their identities.

Hester said Holmes and Masarah Ross were reported missing at the same time, and police collected DNA from Holmes' relatives for a national missing person's database. That is standard for missing-children cases.

That DNA will likely be used by Nelson to establish identity.

As for Lester Ross, Hester said, "we know where to find him and we can get his DNA anytime we want."

[ Rick Rousos can be reached at rick.rousos@theledger.com or 863-401-6968. ]