3-year sentence for Santa Rosa man who took skull from decomposing body in abandoned home

Robert Melvin Ross III, a Santa Rosa man convicted of carrying around a skull he took from a decomposing body in the vacant home where he was squatting, was sentenced in Sonoma County court Monday to three years of jail time and supervised release.

Ross, 25, pleaded no contest last month to one count of possessing a memento from human remains.

“This is particularly egregious to this court. The facts of the case showed that Mr. Ross was under the influence of methamphetamine day in and day out and lived in a vacant home for months with a dead body,” Judge Peter Ottenweller said at Monday’s sentencing. “I think it shows a particular callousness. It’s an unbelievable way to be living someone’s life.”

Ross wore his blue jail-issued smock and his red hair grown out. He interjected multiple times with protests and questions.

Before the hearing, Ross had entered a motion to withdraw his no contest plea, saying he made it “under duress, meaning the contract is null and void.” However, his court-appointed lawyer said he had no legal basis to withdraw, and the conviction stood.

Prosecutors charged Ross in May after a woman’s discovery of a human skull in her bushes led Santa Rosa police to a home in the 300 block of Hendley Street. They found what was left of Robert Enger’s remains under a pile of trash at the base of a home-made guillotine.

Enger had killed himself using the contraption, authorities said, and his body was decomposing in his home when a homeless man named “Red,” later identified as Ross, started squatting there.

According to investigators, Ross occupied the home for several months as the homeowner’s body decayed, apparently unbeknownst to Ross. Then, at the beginning of 2020, witnesses said that Ross had taken Enger’s skull, attached it to a wire handle, wrapped it in his sweatshirt and took it with him to a nearby convenience store. At some point shortly after, he abandoned the skull in the shrubbery where it was found, prosecutors and detectives said.

Ross was already in Sonoma County Jail on a domestic violence assault charge by the time police tracked him down in the spring.

“Mr. Ross has an extensive criminal history since his juvenile days,” which became more violent as he got older, Ottenweller said during sentencing.

While the man had substance use issues, the judge continued, “the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors”

Ottenweller sentenced Ross to a maximum term of three years in prison. Under the state’s correctional realignment, aimed to reduce California’s incarcerated population by allowing defendants to fulfill prison sentences in local detention centers, Ross got credit for his time already served in local jail. He will serve the remaining two years of the sentence under mandatory supervision.

Ross was to be released from custody Monday and immediately report to the county probation department.

Ottenweller also required Ross to participate in and complete mental health counseling; take all prescribed drugs; avoid narcotics, weed, alcohol and weapons; provide blood and saliva for testing; seek education or employment after the end of his sentence; and stay away from the house on Hendley Street.

The judge did not order Ross to pay restitution to the victim’s family. Probation Officer Michael Janezic said that a letter was sent to Enger’s son but did not receive a response.

You can reach Staff Writer Emily Wilder at 707-521-5337 or emily.wilder@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @vv1lder.