Jury finds man Westmoreland County man guilty of murder

For the MVI

A Westmoreland County jury found Thomas Stanko guilty in the death of Cassandra Gross.

The jury found Stanko guilty of first-degree murder after several hours of deliberations on Wednesday at the county courthouse.

Officials said prosecutors presented roughly 400 pieces of evidence over the course of five days, including burned remnants of Cassandra Gross’s glasses, clothing, magazines, and a vial of her dog’s insulin.

Stanko, 55, of Unity Township, faces a mandatory prison sentence of life without parole.

“There’s not words for what I’m feeling right now. It took me eight years to get him. I’m just so happy that the DA did a wonderful job,” Gross’ mother, Kathe Gross, said outside the courtroom.

Asked if she feels closure now, Kathe Gross said, “Some. But I want to know what he did with her.”

The verdict comes one day after Stanko took the witness stand in his own defense and testified that he did not kill Cassandra Gross.

“It was nothing but lies, one lie after another, and he tripped himself up, every lie,” Kathe Gross said. “But we won.”

Westmoreland County Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar prosecuted the case. He said he was surprised Stanko took the stand in self-defense during the trial.

“The jury saw through his lies,” he said. “There was no strategy. It was just a matter of demonstrating the lies and who he is as a person. It was challenging because [Stanko] destroyed every piece of evidence that we would want. Luckily, they were able to find most of the remnants of what he destroyed. This was a long, long fight. We’re just happy that the Gross family has the closure that we could never get them out of Tom Stanko.”