Roman Catholic monastic community in West Redding, Connecticut. Ross was executed by lethal injection on May 13, 2005, at Osborn Correctional Institution in Somers, Connecticut. He was 45 years old. Ross did not request a special last meal before facing his execution, thereby dining on the regular prison meal of the day: turkey à la king with rice, mixed vegetables, white bread, fruit, and a beverage. When asked if he would like to make a last statement, he said, without opening his eyes, "No, thank you." Ross was pronounced dead at 2:25 a.m. His remains were buried at the Benedictine Grange Cemetery in Redding, Connecticut. After execution After the execution, Dr. Stuart Grassian, a psychiatrist who had argued that Ross was not competent to waive appeal, received a letter from Ross dated May 10, 2005, which read "Check, and mate. You never had a chance!" Ross's execution was the first in Connecticut and in all of New England since 1960. It was also the first and only execution in Connecticut administered by lethal injection. As of June 2020, Ross is the last inmate executed in Connecticut; the death penalty was abolished in Connecticut on April 25, 2012. Vivian Dobson, whom Ross was alleged to have raped, became a vocal opponent of the death penalty in an effort to save Ross's life. The execution of Ross was the first in Connecticut in 2005, the first execution in Connecticut since 1960, the 22nd execution in the United States in 2005, and the 966th execution in the United States since 1976. Ross was a suspect in rapes and murders in the state of Indiana. Candace Farris, while vacationing in Indiana, was allegedly taken at gunpoint and raped, yet managed to escape and was later found by her friends in a nearby cornfield, distraught and without clothing. Her friends had seen her driving off with a man that fit Michael Bruce Ross' description. Popular culture Michael Ross appeared in a British television series about serial killers in 1995. The filmmakers who produced the segment gave him the nickname "The Roadside Strangler" because the other killers in the series had nicknames. One of the producers of the series said the name may have been the result of a brainstorming session at a motel bar. Ross was not called "The Roadside Strangler" by the Connecticut media or by local law enforcement while he was alive. In