Priest about to head on cruise found dead after locals hear terrifying screams
Priest about to head on cruise found dead after locals hear terrifying screams
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A pensioner who was brutally killed inside his holiday apartment has been identified as a "loving" priest who was about to head on a cruise holiday. Richard Gross, 80, from Wrentham, on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts, endured a brutal blow to the head before being suffocated. He was holidaying in Malaga, Spain, when neighbours heard terrifying screams close to the apartment. They said the noise sounded like he was "being killed.".
Police rushed to the scene but couldn't locate where the noise was coming from. They returned the following day after someone made the tragic discovery. Police are now investigating whether it could have been down to a robbery that went wrong. Richard had arrived on holiday alone, just hours earlier, on January 21 to board a cruise the next day. His rucksack and suitcase were missing from the flat, leading detectives to suspect he’d fallen victim to a violent robbery. However, no residents recalled seeing anyone suspicious enter or leave the building on the night in question.
A post-mortem examination gave his cause of death as asphyxiation. He became a priest in 1976. Over the years, he worked at a number of schools and institutions as a chaplain, minister, and teacher. He was affectionately known to his nieces and nephews as “Uncle Duke”. His nephew, Dicky Barrett, paid tribute in an emotional statement. Speaking about his beloved uncle, he said: "He was very good and loving to me and my entire family. I was 12 or 13 when I was an altar boy at his first Mass, which took place in his hometown of Wrentham. He officiated 98% of the weddings and baptisms in my family since his ordination in the 1970s. He was an educator who taught History and Theology in educational institutions like Phillips Andover Academy and Boston College High School.
