Thomas G. Stanko took the witness stand Tuesday and disavowed any role in the disappearance or murder of his former girlfriend, Cassandra Gross.

During more than three hours of testimony in Westmoreland County court, he attempted to place blame for her fate on another man and repeatedly offered to take a lie detector test to prove his innocence.

He is likely the final witness to testify in the trial, in which prosecutors are attempting to prove Stanko killed Gross on April 7, 2018, burned her body and discarded her remains. Gross, 51, of Unity has never been found. A Westmoreland County judge declared her legally dead in January 2019.

The jury is expected to begin deliberations Wednesday after attorneys for the prosecution and defense make closing arguments in the morning.

Stanko, 55, also of Unity, is facing charges of criminal homicide and reckless burning. He will receive a mandatory life prison sentence if he is convicted of first-degree murder.

Stanko was the lone defense witness to testify. He told jurors he and Gross were together during the late afternoon and early evening of April 7, when they worked together to sort through boxes of belongings and burn items she no longer wanted in a barrel in the yard of his Macey Road home.

Gross’ designer Coach eyeglasses accidentally fell from her head and into the burn barrel, Stanko claimed. He testified Gross left his home sometime after 7 p.m. to go shopping and he never saw nor heard from her again.

Defense attorney Marc Daffner asked Stanko if he killed Gross.

“No, I could never hurt anyone, especially her,” Stanko testified.

He suggested a man he and Gross had a dispute with during a visit in 2017 to the Tin Lizzy bar in Youngstown was responsible for her disappearance and murder. That incident resulted in Stanko being charged with simple assault of the man whom he accused Tuesday in Gross’ death. A Westmoreland County judge dismissed the assault charge against Stanko based on a legal technicality.

Stanko continued to deny involvement in Gross’ disappearance during a lengthy and contentious cross-examination from Assistant District Attorney Jim Lazar. Stanko three times interrupted Lazar’s questioning to ask that he be administered a lie detector test.

“You know what would correct all of this? How ’bout we go downstairs right now and take a polygraph, right now,” Stanko said.

Lazar confronted Stanko with a letter penned in October 2017 in which he promised to not emotionally or physically abuse Gross; evidence that she never wore an engagement ring he bought her; recordings of an angry voicemail he left her in October 2017 in which he accused her of cheating; and internet and cellphone records that revealed he researched background information on Gross and her son in the days before she disappeared.

Stanko attempted to explain each, claiming he wrote his promise letter at Gross’ behest after she disclosed a series of bad relationships and marriages, disputing suggestions she was not excited about his marriage proposal, and downplaying his voicemail as a bump in the road of a generally happy and loving relationship.

Lazar accused Stanko of repeated attempts to cover up his actions in the days that immediately followed Gross being reported missing and during his lengthy jail stays following his arrest on unrelated charges and eventually for Gross’ alleged murder.

Stanko repeatedly attempted to deflect Lazar’s questions.

“You’re manipulating people from jail all the time. I am trying to establish you killed Cassandra Gross,” Lazar said.

“I did not, and you know that,” Stanko responded.

Ex-wife testifies

Prosecutors presented 32 witnesses and more than 360 court exhibits in the case against Stanko, including testimony Tuesday from Stanko’s former wife.

Cathy Vokes, 54, whose sister also was married to Stanko in the 1990s, testified she was a victim of Stanko’s temper and was physically and emotionally abused during their courtship and after they married in 2015. Through tears, she detailed multiple incidents of abuse, including beatings she said he inflicted when she tried to break off their relationship.

In one incident, Vokes said, Stanko grabbed her by the arm, put his hands around her neck and tried to choke her. Another incident occurred after she told Stanko she would leave him.

As Stanko’s mother watched from the front porch, he tried to flatten her tires with a screwdriver, jumped on top of her and repeatedly punched her before she was able to get away, she told jurors.

“I thought my life was going to end that day,” Vokes testified. “He told me he would kill me or my family. He told me he would kill me and no one would ever find me.”

Prosecutors are expected to tell jurors Stanko’s behavior with Vokes was similar to his actions with Gross. She described Stanko as a jealous and possessive man who would stalk and harass her during breakups and divorced him in 2016.

“He wanted me for himself and didn’t want me to be involved with any friends and family,” Vokes testified.

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