Lakewood Ranch woman was killed in 2012. Her son has been extradited from Israel
A man accused of killing his mother seven years ago has returned to Manatee County to face charges after being extradited from Israel, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
Thomas Gross, 64, was indicted on charges of first-degree murder by a Manatee County grand jury in 2015 in connection with the death of his mother, 78-year-old Ina Gross.
Gross, who is a dual American and Israeli citizen, was visiting and staying with his mother in her Lakewood Ranch home at the time she was killed.
On the morning of Jan. 9, 2012, he called 911 reporting that he had found his mother dead inside the garage of her Riverwalk Hammock home.
When Manatee County sheriff’s deputies arrived, investigators said they determined Ina Gross had been murdered. She had been stabbed multiple times in the neck with a 10-inch blade cheese knife from the knife block in her kitchen, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Gross returned to Israel immediately after the funeral on Jan. 16, 2012. Meanwhile, detectives said evidence began pointing to him as the killer.
A detective noted in a 2014 arrest warrant affidavit that the motive for the killing likely was financial.
Gross’ father, was a renowned pediatric oncologist and left Ina Gross an estate worth millions when he died, just 18 months before the murder, court documents detailed. Gross had already received an advance on his share of the money he was set to inherit and his mother loaned him more money, more than $156,000.
It was not until 2014, however, that detectives developed enough probable cause to obtain a warrant charging Gross with murder. He was indicted by a grand jury on a first-degree murder charge in 2015.
There was no evidence of an intruder in the home and Gross provided many conflicting statements to detectives.
A neighbor witnessed Gross doing something inside his mother’s vehicle inside the garage between 10:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m, later than he admitted last being in the garage. According to that neighbor, he had started to close the garage door but stopped the door when he was spotted.
An autopsy revealed that the victim had high levels of Ambien in her system, even though she had never been prescribed the drug. But her son had been prescribed Ambien four times between 2011 and 2012, according to his Israeli medical records obtained by detectives. He could not explain why his mother had vomited the Ambien in her car.
Gross was arrested on Nov. 10, 2017, by the Israeli International Police unit at his home in the coastal city of Herzliya.
He was booked into the Manatee County jail Thursday.
During his first appearance in court Friday afternoon, Gross told Circuit Judge Teri Kaklis Dees he could not afford an attorney and the public defender’s office was appointed to represent him. According to records from his court appearance, Gross listed his job for the last 25 years as financial consultant.
Gross will remain in jail without bond.
This story was originally published April 5, 2019 at 11:25 AM.