Robert Ross, born in the middle, was the conciliator among his five siblings — a full-time job.
When he moved away to Atlanta, the family suffered, two of his sisters said Friday.
“He was the peacemaker whenever we got into it, and we always did,” said older sister Cassandra Riley.
For that very reason, Ross briefly returned to Chicago but ended up back in Atlanta in 2011, hoping for “a fresh start.”
Within two months, the 46 year old was dead, brutally assaulted as part of a gang initiation by three young men he didn’t know. His body, discovered in a Tucker motel room, was so badly mutilated that paramedics could not determine his sex or race, according to prosecutors.
On Friday, Darrius Aderhold, 25, accepted a plea deal to forego a death penalty trial, following the lead of his two accomplices, Jonathan Ray and Christopher Foreman, who took plea deals earlier this year. All three were sentenced to life in prison, with Aderhold receiving an extra 25 years.
“I want to apologize for victim’s family for a situation that shouldn’t have taken place,” Aderhold said after sentencing. “I’m not asking for their forgiveness because I don’t think they should. I just feel in my heart I should say I’m sorry.”
Ross’ sisters weren’t ready to accept his amends.
“I truly hope he is getting some rehabilitation while he is locked up,” Riley said. “I think he still has a long way to go.”
Yolanda Ross, the youngest of the six siblings, found Aderhold’s apology insincere.
“You never saw one tear fall,” she said.
Tears are a daily reality for Ross’ family. Their mother, 72, hurts the most, say her daughters.
“He was the favorite,” Riley said, her sister nodding in agreement.
Mother and son talked on the phone daily. In fact, Mary Rogers and her second husband had planned to move Atlanta to retire be close to Robert, or Andre as he was called by his family. He was already looking for a place for them to live.
Rogers was in court when Ray and Foreman were sentenced. There, she heard the details of how her son died, tied to a chair, beaten with a clothes iron. Yolanda Ross said she couldn’t stand to go through that again.
“I left with a picture in my head that I’ll never forget how my son suffered the last hours of his life. I nearly lost my mind,” Rogers said in a victim impact statement read by Yolanda Ross.
The callousness of Ross’ death was tragic enough. The reason for it was just as senseless.
According to DeKalb Deputy Chief District Attorney Anna Cross, the three killers had come to Midtown on Jan. 7, 2012 knowing it was an area popular with gay men, who they considered “easy targets.”
They encountered Ross, asking him for a ride back to their motel where, according to prosecutors, they intended to see whether Foreman was truly Bloods material. Kill someone and you’re in. Ross was their guinea pig.
DeKalb District Attorney Robert James said Ross’ murder underscores “the increase in gang-related activities in DeKalb and surrounding counties.”
It’s a problem Ross’ family knows well, living in Chicago.
“It’s like an epidemic,” Riley said. “You become numb to it, like it’s the norm. We have to reach our young people.”
Meanwhile, Ross’ sisters say the family is trying to stick together. They recently held their first family reunion since Andre’s death.
“We needed him,” Riley said.
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