MUNCIE, Ind. - Nearly three decades after he killed his ex-wife in Delaware County, Tom Ross has admitted to harassing a woman in Lafayette.
Ross, now 65, last week pleaded guilty to harassment, a misdemeanor, in Tippecanoe Superior Court 4. He was received a 180-day jail term.
Under the terms of a plea agreement, a felony count of stalking was dismissed.
However, Ross' dealings with the Lafayette woman apparently could result in his return to prison.
The former Delaware County resident continues to be held in the Tippecanoe County jail on a parole violation. An Indiana Department of Correction website lists his earliest possible release date as Sept. 21, 2038.
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Ross was granted parole in March 2021 after spending more than a quarter-century in prison for the October 1994 killing of his 28-year-old former spouse, Paula Arbogast Ross.
Testimony at his murder trial in 1995 indicated Ross had stalked and repeatedly threatened to kill his ex-wife before fatally shooting her outside Gaston Elementary School, where she had dropped off their 6-year-old daughter.
After his release from prison, Ross lived in Mishawaka in northern Indiana's St. Joseph County.
He met the Lafayette woman through an online dating service. After they went on three dates, she told Ross she did not want to have further contact with him.
However, investigators said Ross continued to contact the woman, placed items in her mailbox and went to her home without permission.
He was arrested by Mishawaka police last August, and has since been held in the Tippecanoe County jail.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter for The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Convicted killer Ross convicted of harassment, remains in custody
