Timeline: History of a Killer

SOMERS, Conn. – A chronological look at Michael Ross' crimes, convictions and sentences:

— May 1981: Dzung Ngoc Tu, a 25-year-old student, is killed in Ithaca, N.Y.

— August 1981: A 25-year-old woman is raped and beaten in Rolesville, N.C.

— September 1981: Ross attacks a 15-year-old girl in La Salle City, Ill. He is convicted of unlawful restraint, fined $500 and put on probation.

— January 1982: Tammy Williams, 17, of Brooklyn, is raped and killed.

— March 1982: Paula Perrera, 16, of Wallkill, N.Y., is raped and killed.

— April 1982: A 26-year-old off-duty policewoman is attacked after answering her door in Licking County, Ohio. Ross is arrested the next day and charged with assault.

— June 1982: Debra Smith Taylor, 23, of Griswold, Conn., is raped and killed.

— August 1982: Ross pleads guilty in the Ohio assault case. He is fined $1,000 and sentenced to six months in jail.

— November 1983: Robin Stavinsky, 19, of Norwich, Conn., is raped and killed.

— April 1984: Leslie Shelley and April Brunais, both 14 and of Griswold, Conn., are killed. Brunais was sexually assaulted.

— June 1984: Wendy Baribeault, 17, of Lisbon, Conn., is raped and killed.

— June 1984: Police arrest Ross after a witness reports seeing a blue car at the Baribeault crime scene. He confesses to killing Baribeault and leads police to the bodies of Shelley and Brunais.

— June 1984: Ross leads police to Williams' remains. He is charged with Baribeault's murder.

— July 1984: Ross is charged with the deaths of the five other Connecticut victims.

— November 1985: Ross pleads guilty to murder in the deaths of Williams and Taylor. He later receives life sentences.

— July 1987: Ross is sentenced to six separate death sentences for killing Baribeault, Stavinsky, Shelley and Brunais.

— July 1994: The U.S. Supreme Court upholds Ross' convictions but overturns the death sentences because the judge hearing the case at the time incorrectly excluded a letter from a psychiatric report. The court orders a new penalty phase.

— April 2000: Jurors in the second penalty hearing reject Ross' defense that a mental disorder drove him to rape and kill. He receives six death sentences.

— October 2004: Ross' execution date is set for Jan. 26, 2005, after Ross says he does not want to pursue any more appeals.

— December 2004: A Superior Court judge rules that Ross is mentally competent to make the decision to die. Connecticut's public defenders and Ross' father continue legal attempts to stop the execution.

— Jan. 24, 2005: A federal judge stays Ross' execution after a psychiatrist testifies that Ross may not have been competent because of the mental effects of years in seclusion on death row.

— Jan. 25, 2005: The state Supreme Court rejects further appeals, but the justices are divided over whether to postpone the lethal injection until a study of the state's death penalty can be completed. Officials delay the execution until Jan. 28.

— Jan. 26, 2005: A federal judge issues a restraining order that would prohibit the state from executing Ross for at least 10 days, even as the U.S. Supreme Court considers lifting the stay.

— Jan. 27, 2005: The U.S. Supreme Court lifts the stay of execution. The execution is rescheduled for Jan. 29.

— Jan. 28, 2005: A federal appeals court lifts the restraining order, but delays the execution one more day to give Ross' father a chance to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court rejects the appeal.

— Jan. 29, 2005: Ross' attorney receives a delay of execution until Jan. 31 to address a possible conflict of interest. Prison officials say they were bound by state law to honor his request.