Thomas Gross guilty of first-degree murder in death of mother

UPDATED at 1 p.m. to add sentence of life.

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) - A jury has found Thomas Gross guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his mother in 2012.

Deliberating about an hour, the jury returned the guilty verdict Friday morning in Manatee County Court. The trial started May 3.

Gross was immediately sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Thomas Joseph Gross allegedly stabbed his mother, Ina Gross, to death in the garage of her Lakewood Ranch home in January 2012.

Investigators with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office say Ina Gross died from homicidal violence. An arrest warrant was not issued for Thomas Gross until September 2014 and by the time a grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder charges, Gross had fled to his family’s home in Israel.

Gross was extradited back to the U.S. to stand trial in 2019 and was booked into the Manatee County Jail, where he has remained without bond.