Editorial: Cold cases like Cassandra Gross’ can’t be forgotten
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Where is Cassandra Gross?
This is a question that the Unity woman’s family and law enforcement have been asking for four years. On April 7, 2018, she had lunch with a friend at the Parkwood Inn in Southwest Greensburg, called her mom as she was driving home along Route 30 and was never seen again.
Except that’s not true. Someone saw her. Someone has to have seen her. Whether they know it or not, someone saw something. And if Gross met with foul play, there is definitely one person who knows that.
This is the truth of cold cases — crimes or unexplained events that were investigated aggressively in their early days but over time are moved further down the line as newer, more urgent, more likely to be solved cases take priority.
While this might seem callous, it’s a reflection of reality. The longer it takes to solve a mystery, the less likely it is to be solved. Every day, police are faced with the need to balance their assets against their demands.
Our communities and our history are littered with stories that have no ending. Murders are tragic because we know the end result. But disappearances like that involving Gross can be even harder for family to overcome. They are not just cold cases. They are open wounds that cannot heal as long as their loved ones have an aching fear of the worst mixed with a desperate hope for the best.
Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli says she and her department remain resolved to finding the answers to Gross’ disappearance.
“This is one of the cases that was at the forefront of my mind when I took office (in January),” Ziccarelli said. “We are very committed to this case.”
Kathe Gross has been frustrated with the lack of an arrest in her daughter’s disappearance. Police have had a suspect for years, but no charges have been filed.
Authorities are bound by what they can prove within the framework of the courts and the Constitution. That can make finding closure for families hard.
But Ziccarelli’s insistence that the case remains important is encouraging. Finding answers to what happened to Cassandra Gross would be even better.