Four women are facing first-degree murder charges for the killing of 55-year-old Ralph Cross on Aug. 1. The night before the incident, Cross was helping the women change their Flat Tire according to a report from International Business Times.
Brittany Curry, 28, Lauteshia Dotson, 23, Ponesha Taylor, 23 and Johniesha Simmons, 19, stayed at Cross’s home in Missouri while he purchased a replacement for the flat tire. All four women are said to be adult entertainers.
Cross’s body was discovered Tuesday morning by police officials with a gunshot wound on the back.
The death of a Good Samaritan
According to the report by the International Business Times, witnesses revealed that they saw Cross arguing with three of the women at 6:30 AM on the day he was killed. The other woman was sitting inside a white Nissan parked outside his home.
A witness recounted that he heard noises coming from inside Cross’ home and saw the women leaving as they entered the white vehicle and fled.
At the crime scene, police officials were able to discover 9mm shell casings and the acting Mississippi county sheriff has told reporters that Cross has been shot with a 9mm handgun, KFVS 12 reported. He also speculated that the crime might have been motivated by robbery as witnesses recalled to seeing Cross with a large sum of cash which has not been recovered by the police.
In addition, officials saw the pockets of Cross’s pants were inside out, indicating that the women committed robbery as well.
The four women turned themselves in to give their side of the story
Curry, Dotson, Taylor and Simmons were all convinced by their relatives and friends to turn themselves in. They all went to the sheriff’s office in Mississippi County on Aug.
3 and reportedly explained their side of the story.
None of them admitted to having killed Cross, although they do admit to having stayed at the house. However, according to witnesses, Curry was the one who shot Cross inside the home. Witnesses also told investigators that Taylor saw the whole thing take place.
All four women are being detained in different locations and are held without bond.
According to the community that Cross has left behind, he was a 'Good Samaritan' who was always looking to help others, especially kids. Cross would help out children by giving them school supplies and sometimes gives them cash to buy food.
One of Cross’s neighbors said, “Ralph was a cool person, he’d give you money if you didn’t have it.” He added, “It touches my heart in many ways but I gotta stay strong.”
