Disturbing new details are emerging about the gruesome murder of a Garland man last week.
Johnny Mack Ross, 53, was a father, friend, and a heavy metal musician, according to longtime friend Ronnie Majors.
“Almost every single friend in his life, including me, they've all known him, some have known him as long as elementary school. That says a lot about a person in itself,” said Majors.
She describes Ross as loyal, dependable and funny, and as more is learned about who was lost, an arrest affidavit describes the circumstances surrounding Ross’s death.
Inside his condo on Chaha Road in Garland, police say Ross's body was found tightly bound in a spare bedroom closet days after his death.
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According to an arrest affidavit, 20-year-olds Haley Barber and Leo Moore, both Mesquite residents, "Had a plan to rob the decedent [Ross] for his cars and money,” and that Ross "was asleep on the couch when Moore approached him with a knife and stabbed him in the neck."
The affidavit says Barber and Moore left the condo then returned "8 to 10 hours later but discovered the decedent [Ross] was not dead yet, so Moore stabbed the decedent again to finish him off."
“Moore said Barber told him to finish the decedent off because she did not want to see him still suffering,” the affidavit states.
Ross's wrapped body was discovered after the affidavit says Barber showed the body to a friend who'd purchased a Corvette from Barber days earlier. The friend told police Barber told him the Corvette was her grandfather's who passed away and that the body he was shown was Barber's grandfather. The friend said he needed the spare key to the Corvette and was told by Barber to come to the condo to pick it up.
The friend told his mother what he’d seen and they reported it to police, the affidavit said.
Police responded to the condo at about 1 a.m. A downstairs neighbor reported hearing people running around when police knocked on the door but never answered the door, so police walked away.
A short time later, the neighbor told police he saw two people who appeared to be Barber and Moore run downstairs from the condo and drive off in a Mercedes owned by Ross.
Barber and Moore were later arrested after a vehicle pursuit in the Mercedes.
“It is the hardest thing that I have gone through in my entire life,” said Majors.
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Majors say Ross and the suspect, Barber, were dating and that Barber lived at the condo.
“Johnny was a very generous person. If he loved you and he cared about you, he's going to take care of you and help you out and I definitely think she took advantage of that,” said Majors.
Barber and Moore face capital murder charges and remain in the Dallas County jail.
