Man accused of stabbing woman, dumping body in Kettering dumpster due in court

Terrel Ross

Credit: MONTGOMERY COUNTY JAIL

Credit: MONTGOMERY COUNTY JAIL

Terrel Ross

A man accused of stabbing a Springfield High School graduate to death and putting her body in a Kettering dumpster is due in court Monday for a motion to suppress hearing.

Terrel Ross, 37, is charged in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court on counts of murder, felonious assault, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $1 million bond at the Montgomery County Jail, according to records.

Ross allegedly told police that he killed his girlfriend, 24-year-old Sierra Woodfork, on Jan. 12 and first placed her in a closet and then inside the refrigerator in her Kettering apartment before moving her body to the dumpster. Kettering police officers responded Jan. 18 to an apartment building on Aberdeen Avenue after her body was discovered in the dumpster, prosecutors said.

In the motion to suppress filed in April, the defense asks the judge to block Ross’ statements to police from court.

“Defendant contends that he was in custody when he was questioned and should have been issued his Miranda warnings,” the motion says. “Defendant also contends that he did not voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently waive his rights when answering questions. Defendant also contends that his statements were the product of coercion, overreaching or promises.”

An original hearing date was set in July, but that was canceled after Ross was quarantined in the Montgomery County Jail in connection to the COVID-19 virus, records say.

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