Read The Ivy League Killer Online
Authors: Katherine Ramsland
Tags: #True Crime, #Murder, #Serial Killers, #General
The Ivy League Killer (6 page)
Chapter 17: It’s All About Me
On April 14, 2005, the competency hearing that public defender T. R. Paulding had launched took place. Six days of testimony commenced, involving four psychiatrists. A special counsel argued that Ross had elected to be executed because he could not deal with a broken engagement that had flowered while he was on death row. He had not been trying to ease the pain of the victims’ families, as he’d long stated, but to escape a narcissistic bruising. Ross’ many self-centered publications, which had kept him in the limelight and added to the families’ agony, supported this claim. His supposed compassion for them seemed to be just pretense. In addition, said the special counsel, changing his mind would undermine his sense of self-importance and reduce his status to just another lifer. Therefore, he was not competent to make such a weighty decision for himself.
Two psychiatrists offered support for Ross’ narcissistic personality disorder compelling him to choose death to avoid looking like a coward. Dr. Eric Goldsmith had interviewed Ross for 10 hours, as well as talking with people who’d been close to him. “He is unable to change his mind,” Goldsmith concluded, “because it would be too overwhelming emotionally to be seen as losing.” Thus, Goldsmith decided, Ross was not competent.
Harvard psychiatrist Stuart Grassian, an expert on Death Row Syndrome, compared Ross to Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and the Columbine High School shooters. He videotaped a four-hour interview, in which Ross was evasive and contemptuous. Grassian repeatedly referred to Ross’s own writings about how he could no longer tolerate being in prison and concluded that Ross hoped to go out in a “blaze of glory” like a martyr. “Michael Ross is an actor,” Grassian stated. “He puts on a show, but what he’s saying has no relevance to what he truly feels.” He agreed that Ross’ incompetence arose from his pathological narcissism.
To understand this notion, we can look at the criteria for such a disorder. Narcissists’ disdain for others arises from a smug sense of superiority that allows them to thoughtlessly exploit others for their own gain. Each relationship is just an avenue for acquiring admiration or resources, and if it flags or grows demanding, they move on. With great skill, they seduce others into buying into their self-regard… at least initially. As with Ross, it’s relatively easy for narcissists to start a relationship; it’s not easy for them to keep one.
Sigmund Freud, who first used the term “narcissism” as a psychiatric concept, hypothesized that a certain amount of narcissism is innate, perhaps as a survival mechanism. The child naturally feels omnipotent and the parents affirm it. To distinguish the pathological version, some have labeled it “malignant narcissism,” a self-love that maintains itself at others’ expense. Such people tend to develop repetitive antisocial behavior, especially with paranoid and sadistic features. They look for people they can easily dominate.
Sigmund Freud
Life Magazine 1992
Narcissists cannot distinguish their idealized self from their actual self, because flaws are intolerable to them. The driving force, often eroticized, is the need for control. They direct their rage at others, to make
them
feel helpless and out of control (which was pretty much Ross’ modus operandi).
One more aspect of narcissism that applied to Ross was an extreme form of narcissistic immunity. This notion arises from the belief that one is untouchable, which develops in reaction to a world that feels too capricious, dangerous, or harsh. Narcissists think they’re not accountable, because they’re smarter than the police, and even if they’re caught, they’ll figure a way out. They think they’re skilled at duping people, and they truly believe that no one can spot their manipulation.
The irony is that while narcissists believe they’re special and thus set apart, they desperately need others to affirm their superiority. Beneath their apparent self-confidence, their egos are in fact quite fragile, and they respond badly to being challenged or humiliated. They harbor grudges and blame others whenever something goes wrong.
Despite their annoying self over-estimation, narcissists attract an entourage of admirers. They can inspire others to believe that everything is under control, and they will act as if they have considerable influence, whether or not they actually do. Some even manage to gather a cult of followers. They’re also resilient, recovering quickly from stress, because they generally experience the invincible feeling of always being right or having a significant impact on the world. Ross certainly fit the criteria.
Paulding dismissed the notion that Ross’ bid for execution was a narcissistic inability to deal with reality, rejection, or losing face. He stated that Ross’ longstanding desire to be executed, dating back to his original pact with prosecutor C. Robert Satti Sr., spoke for itself.
Two of the four psychiatrists agreed, insisting that Ross was competent: He knew what he was doing. Judge Clifford, who’d presided over the December hearing, decided that Ross was competent and that the execution could proceed.
www.crimescape.com
Chapter 18: Checkmate
Ross’ sister made a last-ditch effort to save him. In early May, she claimed that he suffered from long-term confinement. Another man, Antonio Ponvert III, sought a restraining order to stop the execution because of how it could spread a “suicide contagion” among inmates. Neither appeal succeeded. Ross was going to die.
Ironically, in a high school yearbook, Ross had been quoted as saying, “It’s not that I’m afraid to die; I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
For his last meal, he requested nothing special. During his last day alive, he received last rites and read his Bible. He reportedly believed that God had forgiven him, although he had never asked the grieving families to do so.
On Friday, May 13, 2005, when he was 45 years old, Michael Bruce Ross was strapped down in the execution chamber at the Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers, Connecticut. More than 300 anti-death penalty advocates demonstrated outside. Ross looked at none of the 20 witnesses, half of whom were the grieving relatives of his victims. He closed his eyes and refused to give a final statement. A call was made to the governor that inexplicably lasted five minutes. There would be no reprieve. Ross received the fatal mix of drugs and was pronounced dead at 2:25 AM. It was the first execution in New England in 45 years, and the first time Connecticut had used lethal injection.
Osborn Correctional Institution, Somers, CT
Courtesy State of Connecticut, Dept. of Corrections
On May 10, Ross had sent a letter to Dr. Stuart Grassian, one of the psychiatrists who’d found him incompetent. The letter said, “Check, and mate. You never had a chance!” He’d picked an Ivy League psychiatrist to trump, once again establishing his sense of superiority.
Ross also sent a letter to Susan Powers in which he admitted that he’d wanted to die because he could not face a lifetime in prison. When Grassian heard about this, he commented that Ross had finally told the truth. Despite his overblown religious sentiments about his need to give the victims’ families a sense of peace, in the end, it was all about him.
Ross had become an Oblate of the Benedictine Grange, a Roman Catholic monastic order, and his remains were buried in a Benedictine Grange cemetery in Redding, Connecticut. He was never charged in the murder of Dzung Ngoc Tu.
www.crimescape.com
Photo Index
Norwich Hospital, Admin. Bldg.
April Brunais and Lesley Shelley
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