On Thursday, Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Steven Dankof sentenced Ross to serve life in prison. He will have to serve 16 years before he becomes eligible for parole.
“Mr. Ross has always expressed genuine remorse for his actions,” defense attorney Lucas Wilder said in a statement to the Dayton Daily News. “He deeply regrets taking Sierra’s life and apologizes to her and her family. He has accepted responsibility and will serve his time in prison trying to better himself and others.”
Authorities responded on Jan. 18, 2020, to Woodfork’s Aberdeen Avenue apartment building when her body was discovered. An investigation led them to Ross who was charged in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court with murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse before entering his plea.
Friends and family previously remembered Woodfork as a caring person who never bothered anyone and stayed to herself. They said that she deserved better treatment.
The case worked its way through the justice system for almost two years before the plea was entered. A hearing on a motion to suppress evidence was continued due to the coronavirus pandemic. That motion, which sought to stop prosecutors from using statements Ross allegedly made to police during their investigation, was mostly denied by Judge Steven Dankof earlier this year.
The judge also ruled that prosecutors would be allowed to use a statement allegedly made by Ross after the interrogation.
“During the booking process, (a detective) remarked to a corrections officer that he couldn’t believe anyone could act normally with a dead body in a nearby refrigerator,” a court document says. “(The detective), unaware that the windowed door was opening and closing frequently, did not realize Mr. Ross heard this remark until Mr. Ross knocked on the window, motioned (the detective) over to him, and stated, ‘I heard what you said. I didn’t just watch movies. I ate food, too.’”
Wilder said that Ross was experiencing many emotions at the time of Woodfork’s death including sadness and fear.
“If he could take back what he did he would,” Wilder said.
Ross had remained in Montgomery County Jail since his arrest last year.
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