Avenel man indicted in 2003 double murder
Father, sister charged with witness tampering
BY KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer

WOODBRIDGE - A Middlesex County grand jury indicted a former Avenel man on two counts of murder and three other charges last week.

Michael E. Ross II, 23, formerly of Chestnut Avenue, was indicted on Oct. 31 on two counts of first-degree murder, one second-degree count of possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, one third-degree count of unlawful possession of a weapon, and one count of hindering his own apprehension.

"The grand jury found the charges to be appropriate," said Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Julie Davidson. "In the upcoming weeks, a pretrial will be held and he will either enter into a plea deal or decide to go on trial."

Davidson said Ross' father, sister and friend were also charged with witness tampering after Ross was charged with the two murders.

Michael E. Ross Sr., 61, and Rasheena Ross, 22, of Chestnut Avenue in Avenel, were charged with third-degree charges of witness tampering and face between three to five years of probation, she said.

Nicholas Simeon, 19, of Avenel, was charged with second-degree charges of witness tampering and faces between 5 to 10 years in jail, Davidson said.

"The allegations are Michael's father and sister confronted a witness that deals with this case," she said. "Nicholas threatened to harm the same witness dealing with the case."

Ross, known as "Sixty," was arrested and charged on Sept. 11 at Mid-State Correctional Facility in Wrightstown, in connection with the deaths of Aleksy Bautin, 26, Forest View Drive, Avenel, and Sergey Barbashov, 21, Edison, authorities from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said.

He was already serving an 18-month prison sentence since March 29 for aggravated assault and theft charges, according to state Department of Corrections authorities.

Ross pleaded not guilty to the two counts of murder and two counts of weapons charges at his arraignment Oct. 5. Ross' attorney, Anthony Cariddi entered the pleas.

He is being held on $1.55 million bail with no 10 percent option.

Both men were found shot to death in the front seat of a red 1999 Volkswagen parked near the Forest View apartments. Each man had been shot several times, according to authorities.

The arrest came after witnesses' statements and a "tireless investigation" by Detective Christopher Lyons of the Woodbridge Police Department and Investigator Mark Clements of the Prosecutor's Office, authorities have said.

Police were dispatched to Yardley Avenue inside the apartment complex at 10:58 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2003, after a resident called police about gunshots in the area, according to police reports.

Bautin, a computer programmer for TheaterMania in New York City, was pronounced dead at the scene only a few hundred feet from his parents' third-floor apartment.

Barbashov died several hours later on Oct. 31, 2003, at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey [UMDNJ] in Newark. He was employed by Olger Motors in Bridgeton.

Ross faces up to 30 years to life in prison if convicted of the murder charges, authorities said.

Ross' pretrial date is set for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 8 at state Superior Court in New Brunswick.