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‘It’s hell living through it’: family wants answers 4 years after Cassandra Gross disappearance
Update on our local news tonight. Nothing I caught that was new though.
14 November (Lower) Court Date
Thomas George Stanko, 52Homicide Defendant:
Lower Court Docket:
[Contribution # 8604
Thread # 370859]
.
25 January (Upper) Court Date
Thomas George Stanko, 52Homicide Defendant:
(Lower) Court Docket:
[Contribution # 8627
Thread # 370859]
Thomas Stanko maintains he did not kill Cassandra Gross, said his attorney, Marc Daffner, during a pretrial hearing Monday.
Gross, of Unity, was last seen in April 2018 and was declared legally dead a year later.
“They have jurisdiction problems. Thus far, no one has been able to say for certain that anything has occurred or where it occurred,” Daffner said.
Stanko, 53, was charged a year ago with criminal homicide, reckless burning, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence in connection with Gross’ death. Her body has never been recovered. She was last seen April 7, 2018. Her Mitsubishi Outlander was found burned days later in a wooded area near Twin Lakes Park, east of Greensburg.
Prosecutors claim Stanko killed her and covered up the crime. Through evidence presented at a preliminary hearing last year, they suggested he burned and discarded her remains.
“We will file pretrial motions but, ultimately, it will be a trial,” Daffner said. “He denies he had anything to do with any of this. There is no body and no forensic evidence. A lot of that you’d see in a homicide case. We don’t have it here.”
During the preliminary hearing, prosecutors presented evidence that Stanko and Gross communicated a day before she went missing. Days later, Stanko appeared to have burn injuries, police said.
Lawyer for Unity man charged with girlfriend's killing claims authorities can't prove crime was committed
The lawyer for a Unity man charged with killing his former girlfriend more than four years ago said authorities may not have jurisdiction to prosecute the case in Westmoreland County. Thomas Stanko maintains he did not kill Cassandra Gross, said his attorney, Marc Daffner, during a pretrial...triblive.com