Train Gang Member Still A Suspect

A suspected freight train gang member from Spokane is riding the rails again because Texas and Washington authorities declined to extradite him.

Hugh T. Ross, 47, was released from jail last week in La Crosse, Wis.

He remains a “prime suspect” in the October 1995 killing of a transient in Saginaw, Texas, authorities said.

That case, however, suffered a major blow recently when the key witness for authorities died after being run over by a train.

“Without that (witness), we just did not have enough probable cause” to file a murder charge against Ross, said James Neale, a detective with the Saginaw Police Department.

“But I have not gone away by any means. We’re still investigating the case, and (Ross) is the prime suspect. We have some real good leads.”

In a July 19 segment of “America’s Most Wanted,” Ross was described as an enforcer with the Freight Train Riders of America, a gang authorities believe may be responsible for killing up to 300 transients nationwide since 1984.

On July 20, La Crosse County sheriff’s deputies picked up Ross at a hobo camp for questioning about the Saginaw murder as well as one in Big Springs, Texas.

While Ross is wanted in Washington state for a parole violation stemming from a robbery conviction, authorities declined to extradite him.

Until recently, Ross was a suspect in a February 1994 killing in Big Springs. That case unraveled when detectives discovered that Ross was in jail at the time of the killing.

In a July 30 story, The Spokesman-Review erroneously reported that Ross was wanted for both Texas murders.

Ross has denied being involved in the train gang or any of its alleged violence.

An expert on the gang, Spokane police officer Bob Grandinetti, said the transient slayings are tough to prosecute.

“There is very little evidence. These people are very hard to find,” he said.

Ross told La Crosse authorities that he was headed back to Spokane.

, DataTimes