Masaraha Ross -- Found Deceased 12/16/09

Police Searching for Missing Girl



WINTER HAVEN | Winter Haven police said they are searching for a 2½-year-old girl who they described as “missing and endangered.’’

Police said Masaraha Ross was last known to be with her mother, 29-year-old Ronkeya Holmes, 29, who is also missing. Police would not say why they consider the child to be endangered.

The child and Holmes, who is from Georgia, were last seen Oct. 18 at a Walmart store in Haines City, said Winter Haven police Detective Amity McGee.

Holmes came to Polk to pick up her daughter who was visiting with relatives. When family members did not hear from Holmes, they notified police, McGee said.

Police said there are conflicting stories as to the last known location of the mother and daughter. However, witness statements place them in either the Winter Haven or Haines City area.

Multiple law enforcement agencies are involved in this case, according to police.

Anyone with information about the missing pair can contact Detective Sgt. Chris Ford at 863- 291-5733 or 863- 412-5973 and Detective Amity McGee at 863-291-5312 or 863- 287-1961.

http://www.theledger.com/article/20091028/NEWS/910289949/1410?Title=Police-Searching-for-Missing-Girl#

Help Find My Child - Masaraha's page

http://www.helpfindmychild.net/masaraha-ross

Reward Offered for Pair's Return
Ronkeya Holmes and her daughter have been missing for two months.
Published: Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 10:02 p.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 10:02 p.m.
http://www.theledger.com/article/20091208/NEWS/912085036/1134?Title=Reward-Offered-for-Pair-s-Return#

WINTER HAVEN | The family of missing 29-year-old Ronkeya Holmes and her 3 1/2-year-old daughter have set up a $2,000 reward for their return.

In addition to posting the reward for Holmes and Masarah Ross, who have been missing for two months, the family has set up an account at SunTrust Bank to help with expenses associated with the search, said Edith Fletcher, Holmes' mother. Fletcher said her family is holding bake sales and selling T-shirts to raise money to add to the reward.

"Anything we can do to raise money ourselves, we're going to do it," Fletcher said.

Fletcher said she occasionally speaks with Winter Haven police detectives, but nothing significant has happened in the case.

"I haven't heard anything and it is driving me crazy," she said. "One time I thought I was going to give up, but I said no. As long as they keep telling me there is no body, I'm really going to keep the faith and stay prayed up."

Early last month, Fletcher and her family printed T-shirts with information about her daughter and granddaughter's disappearance and circulated fliers in the Florence Villa community. Fliers have also been posted in Haines City.

The case is ineligible for Crimestoppers reward money because investigators haven't been able to determine that foul play is involved, said Winter Haven police Sgt. Brad Coleman.

"We haven't been able to get search warrants because the lack of probable cause," Coleman said.

Investigators are puzzled by the case because there are inconsistencies in statements from Holmes' family and Masarah's father, Lester Ross. Investigators consider Holmes and Masarah "It's at a complete standstill," Coleman said about the case.

Holmes came to Winter Haven from Savannah, Ga., Oct. 14 to try to pick up her daughter from Lester Ross, 31, who lives in Winter Haven and is Holmes' ex-boyfriend. Lester Ross told investigators he last saw Holmes and his daughter Oct. 18 at the Haines City Walmart where he turned the girl over to her mother, police have said. Haines City police detectives reviewed the surveillance tapes from Walmart and found no evidence that Holmes or her daughter were there.

The last time Holmes' mother and her sister, Nafateria Fletcher, heard from her was Oct. 20, when she said she had been stopped by police in Sanford and needed paperwork on her 1992 Ford Escort.

When the Fletchers came to Florida from Savannah, Ga., looking for Holmes, they learned Joseph Wilcox, the cousin of Masarah's father, was the one stopped by police. Wilcox initially told detectives he didn't know whose vehicle it was and that his cousin had asked him to drive the Escort to Florida's east coast, Coleman has previously said.

Wilcox is being held in the Polk County Jail for violation of probation after Lake Mary police arrested him Oct. 19 for driving with a suspended license. Investigators haven't been able to find Lester Ross since he was questioned about Holmes and her daughter's disappearance.

To donate to the search, visit any SunTrust Bank and ask for the Holmes/Fletcher Benevolent Fund. To send letters of encouragement or prayers, contact 5405 Robinson Circle, Apt. A, Savannah, Ga, 31406.

Police dig at missing girl Masaraha Ross' Winter Haven home

13 hrs ago 10/19/10

Winter Haven, Florida - On Tuesday morning, crime scene evidence technicians set up tents and slipped on gloves so they could dig in the back yard of a home where a 3-year-old girl -- missing for a year -- supposedly lived for six months.

The police chief for the Winter Haven Police Department, Gary Hester, says, "This is part of our investigation to eliminate the possibility - to make sure there's no evidence of any bodies buried in the backyard."

The house is located at 703 Hemenway Drive NE in Winter Haven.

It was a year ago, back on October 18 of 2009, when 3-year-old Masaraha Ross and her mother Ronkeya Holmes, were supposedly last seen in a Haines City Walmart parking lot.

Read more:
http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=151765&catid=8

Police dig for bodies of missing Savannah mom, child

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - The search for a missing Savannah mother and her daughter may come to an end on Wednesday.

Evidence technicians are at a dig site in Florida, where they believe the bodies of the pair may be located.

Winter Haven police are digging in Orange Grove.

Ronkeya Holmes, 29, and her daughter 3-year-old Masaraha Ross went missing in October 2009 and haven't been seen since.

In April 2009, Holmes left her daughter with the child's father, Lester Ross, who lives in Winter Haven, so she could focus on her classes at Savannah Technical College.

Six months later, Holmes returned to Winter Haven to pick up her daughter and the two simply disappeared.

Ross told investigators he handed over his daughter to Holmes at a Wal-Mart store in Haines City.

No one one has seen or heard from either of them since, and there is no evidence that the exchange ever happened.

Read more: http://www.wtoc.com/Global/story.asp?S=13727515

Bones found in Winter Haven orange grove

Published: December 22, 2010

WINTER HAVEN - Investigators found skeletal remains of two humans on Thursday in a Winter Haven orange grove after receiving a tip on a year-old case of a missing mother and her daughter.

The Winter Haven Police Department also issued a warrant and arrested the father of the missing girl. Lester Ross was charged Thursday with tampering with a witness in the case of the two missing persons. Ross, 32, hasn't been charged in their deaths, police said.

"We have a great deal of suspicion surrounding him," said Winter Haven police Chief Gary Hester. "We certainly think he plays a key role in their murder and the disposing of their bodies here in this grove."

The police said it received an anonymous call earlier in the week about the disappearance of 29-year-old Ronkeya Holmes and 3-year-old Marsaraha Ross. The tipster told investigators that they would be able to find evidence at the orange grove at the intersection of Dundee and Sage roads.

Cadaver dogs searched the location and investigators sifted through the dirt by hand. They discovered the shallow grave and the human remains after noticing some softer ground in the area, police said.

It will take weeks to identify the skeletal remains. Investigators will take the remains to a Tampa lab, where they will be analyzed to determine gender, age and race, police said.

Read more: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/dec/22/221529/bones-found-in-winter-haven-orange-grove/news-breaking/

This is so sad......

Merry Christmas in Heaven, Lil' Princess...........

Wife gave tip that led to discovery of bodies in grove

~Snipped~

According to an affidavit, it was Ross's wife who gave authorities directions to the orange grove where the two bodies were found.

Sharon Ross told an FDLE agent that she returned home in May 2009 to find Masaraha dead. She said her husband told her it was an accident.

Sharon Ross said she believed her husband kept the little girl's body in a deep freezer in their home for several months.

In October 2009, around the time Ronkeya Holmes was last heard from, Sharon Ross said she watched her husband struggle to load two items wrapped in sheets into a vehicle, and that he then directed her to drive to an orange grove off Dundee Road, according to the affidavit.

Sharon Ross said her husband removed the items from the trunk and carried them into the orange grove, then after several minutes returned empty-handed.

She said later when they returned home, Ross wrapped a cellphone power cord around her neck and told her he would kill her if she ever told anyone what happened.

Read more: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/dec/23/wife-gave-tip-that-led-to-discovery-of-bodies-in-g/news-metro/