Background: Investigators search for Cassandra Gross after she went missing in April 2018 (YouTube/KDKA). Inset top: Thomas Stanko (YouTube/KDKA). Inset bottom: Cassandra Gross (Pennsylvania State Police Troop A).
New details have been shared in the Pennsylvania case of a man accused of killing his girlfriend, hiding her body, and then torching her vehicle.
Thomas Stanko, 55, has been charged with criminal homicide in the presumed death of 51-year-old Cassandra Gross, court records show. He also stands charged with reckless burning, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse.
Stanko”s trial began this week in Westmoreland County court. Though Gross’ body has not been found, prosecutors have maintained that the defendant killed her in the spring of 2018 and then worked to destroy all evidence of his crimes. He has pleaded not guilty.
As Law&Crime previously reported, Gross was last seen in the city of Greensburg on April 7, 2018. Her vehicle was found burned the following day about 5 miles away in Unity Township, and her dog — blind and diabetic — was discovered wandering nearby.
Stanko was arrested days later, but he wasn’t formally charged in Gross’ disappearance until October 2022. Still, he has been in jail since his 2018 arrest and is serving a federal sentence on gun charges, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported.
Since neither Gross’ body nor a murder weapon has been found, prosecutors are relying on circumstantial evidence, including witness testimony, photos, and text messages. They have painted a picture of a threatening man, according to local ABC affiliate WTAE.
Voicemails were played in court, with one from October 2017 reportedly containing Stanko asking Gross where she was. “You’re a cheater,” he allegedly said after cursing. “A liar. I’m done.”
Harry Berkey took the stand, saying he lived between Stanko and Stanko’s mother and that in 2018 as he was preparing his house to move in, the defendant came up to him and said “I just want to warn you. I run this area. You’re going to have to play by my rules.”
The neighbor added that he knew Gross’ red Mitsubishi SUV because she would often visit her boyfriend, the TV station reported. She was set to meet him at his home on April 7, 2018, the day she was last seen, authorities contend.
Berkey apparently also recalled that, on April 8, 2018, he saw the red SUV pull up to Stanko’s mother’s residence, though he couldn’t make out who was driving. About 20 minutes later, Stanko’s white pickup truck came by with a backhoe attached to a trailer.
The Mitsubishi then left the defendant’s mother’s house slowly, Berkey said, per WTAE, and the mother and son returned home later that day. Authorities believe Stanko killed Gross and then disposed of her body with the help of his mother, who has since died.
Gross’ mother, Kathe Gross, also took the stand this week, and she said her daughter’s relationship with Stanko began after the missing woman found a note on her apartment door from him stating, “If you want a friend, call this number,” according to local CBS affiliate KDKA.
According to Kathe Gross, her daughter called her multiple times crying and upset, saying Stanko was ringing her doorbell, standing at her kitchen window, or pounding at the home to get in. “If anything happens to me, make sure b knows how much I love him,” Cassandra Gross reportedly wrote to her friend, referencing her son.
The defense has argued that prosecutors have no evidence, with Stanko’s attorney reportedly stating his client had “no motivation” to kill Cassandra Gross.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
