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Karen Clarke papers

 Collection
Identifier: RG069_178

Scope and Content

The collection is arranged into nine series which include correspondence, legal documents, transcripts, press files, publications, photographs, film and video, a sound recording, and notes.

Series 1. Correspondence, 1986-2000, undated, consists of letters Michael Ross wrote to Karen Clarke from prison. He also enclosed pamphlets, reports, articles, and newspaper clippings, as well as correspondence he received from others.

Series 2. Legal Documents, 1982-1994, undated, includes various briefs, mittimus warrants, motions, and transcripts of testimony concerning the State of Connecticut v. Michael B. Ross trials.

Series 3. Transcripts, 1987, consists of 34 books of transcripts from the proceedings of the State of Connecticut v. Michael B. Ross trial held in the Superior Court of Judicial District of Fairfield at Bridgeport from May 4-July 6, 1987.

Series 4. Press Files, 1962-1998, contains clippings and photocopies of newspaper articles written by Karen Clarke and others pertaining to Michael Ross, including his court trials, his imprisonment, his victims, the insanity defense, and the death penalty; newspaper articles about G. Sarsfield Ford, the judge who presided over Michael Ross's 1987 trial; and published and unpublished editorials and commentaries written by Michael Ross.

Series 5. Publications, 1988-1995, contains The Weekly Scene newsletters (February-March 1988), Connecticut Magazine issues profiling Michael Ross (March 1990), the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (Autumn 1993, 1995), and The Other Side magazine with an article written by Michael Ross (January/February 1995).

Series 6. Photographs, 1984-1991, undated, includes media photographs of Michael Ross being transported by police and at a river, various formal and candid photographs of one of his victims, and a photo sent to him in prison by a male correspondent.

Series 7. Notes, 1985-1988, undated, includes Karen Clarke's handwritten notes taken during the 1987 trial; a transcript and written permission for her to publish excerpts from 60 Minutes CBS's airing of "The Deadliest D.A." on December 22, 1985; case materials Michael Ross collected for an appeal to Amnesty International, and their response; and copies of anti-capital punishment quotations compiled by Michael Ross.

Series 8. Film and Video, 1989, contains a videocassette recording of death row interviews, including an interview with Michael Ross, by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc.

Series 9. Sound Recording, undated, contains a cassette tape recording titled, "As it Happens CBC Radio Serial Killer."

Dates

  • 1962-2000
  • Majority of material found within 1988-2000

Language of Materials

The records are in English.

Biographical Note

Karen Clarke is a former staff writer for the New London Day. She covered the murder trials of Michael Bruce Ross and corresponded with him from 1986 to 2000.

Michael B. Ross was an insurance salesman who kidnapped, raped, and strangled six young women across Connecticut and either attacked or killed four more from other states from 1981-1984. He was apprehended by Michael Malchik, the state police detective investigating the Connecticut murders. Ross pleaded guilty to killing two of the Connecticut women in 1985 and was initially given two life sentences. In 1987, he was convicted of killing the other four Connecticut women and sentenced to death in the electric chair. He spent the next 18 years on death row and was executed by lethal injection in 2005. Michael Ross was the last person to be executed before the state of Connecticut abolished the death penalty in 2012.

Extent

7.5 cubic feet

Abstract

Karen Clarke is a former staff writer for the New London Day. She covered the murder trials of Michael Bruce Ross and corresponded with him from 1986 to 2000.

Arrangement

Series 1. Correspondence, 1986-2000, undated

Series 2. Legal Documents, 1982-1994, undated

Series 3. Transcripts, 1987

Series 4. Press Files, 1962-1998

Series 5. Publications, 1988-1995

Series 6. Photographs, 1984-1991, undated

Series 7. Notes, 1985-1988, undated

Series 8. Film and Video, 1989

Series 9. Sound Recording, undated

Provenance

The papers were donated by Karen Clarke to the Connecticut State Library on November 25, 2015.

Related Material

None.

Bibliography

Newspapers
Clarke, Karen, The hunt for Ross: Skilled police work, determination, led to killer, The Day, July 2, 1987, p. A1-A4.
Clarke, Karen, Ross sentenced to death, The Day, July 7, 1987, p. A1-A8.
Mahony, Edmund, Ross Fails In Suicide Try: Serial Killer In Hospital After Being Found In Cell, The Hartford Courant, November 3, 1998, p. A3.
Barry, John, 10 years after execution of Michael Ross, state's death penalty in limbo, May 9, 2015.
Websites
CBS News. Connecticut governor signs death penalty repeal, April 25, 2012.
  • Clarke, Karen, The hunt for Ross: Skilled police work, determination, led to killer, The Day, July 2, 1987, p. A1-A4.
  • Clarke, Karen, Ross sentenced to death, The Day, July 7, 1987, p. A1-A8.
  • Mahony, Edmund, Ross Fails In Suicide Try: Serial Killer In Hospital After Being Found In Cell, The Hartford Courant, November 3, 1998, p. A3.
  • Barry, John, 10 years after execution of Michael Ross, state's death penalty in limbo, May 9, 2015.

Processing Information

Sarah Morin processed the papers in July-September 2016.

Title
RG 069:178, Karen Clarke Papers
Subtitle
Inventory
Author
Finding aid prepared by Sarah Morin.
Date
2017
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the Connecticut State Library Repository

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