Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Couple arraigned on murder charges in death of missing Henderson cab driver

Family planning search for missing man in Lake Mead desert area

Couple Arraigned in Missing Cabdriver Case

Steve Marcus

Christopher Ross leaves the courtroom after an appearance in Henderson Justice Court Monday, April 17, 2012. Christopher and Georgene “Cookie” Ross are accused of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, in the death of Keith Goldberg, a Henderson cab driver who has been missing since Jan. 31.

Couple Arraigned in Missing Cabdriver Case

Christopher Ross and Georgene Ross stand during an appearance in Henderson Justice Court Monday, April 17, 2012.  Christopher and Georgene Launch slideshow »

Friends and relatives of Keith Goldberg — the 54-year-old missing Henderson man involved in a love triangle that police say turned deadly — plan to search again for his body this weekend in the desert near Lake Mead.

Meanwhile, the two others involved in the triangle, Georgene "Cookie" Ross, 56, and her husband, Christopher Ross, 52, both appeared Tuesday morning in a Henderson courtroom on murder charges related to Goldberg's death.

Police said there was probable cause to believe that the Rosses killed Golberg, because they each had an argument with him inside his Green Valley apartment on Jan. 31, and Goldberg has not been seen or heard from since.

Goldberg had been recently living with Cookie Ross at the apartment, but their relationship had ended and he was in the process of moving out of the apartment they had shared, witnesses told police.

Witnesses told police Goldberg was last seen at his apartment on Jan. 31, when he allegedly had physical altercations with both of the Rosses.

Police recovered his car Feb. 10.

Detectives say they tracked Christopher Ross' cell phone movements to the desert in the Lake Mead Recreation Area the day after neighbors reported noise from an altercation at the apartment.

Dressed in blue jail jumpsuits Tuesday morning, the Rosses both stood silently as their arraignments began in Henderson Justice Court. They each quietly answered the questions posed to them by Justice of the Peace David S. Gibson.

Both said they understood the charges against them concerning Goldberg — murder and conspiracy to commit murder. And both said they couldn’t afford an attorney.

Gibson appointed the Clark County public defender’s office to represent Cookie Ross. He appointed the special public defender’s office to represent Christopher Ross.

Gibson also kept their bail the same — $145,000 cash-only for each of them.

The judge set their preliminary hearing on the charges for 9:30 a.m. May 2 in his court. He also set a status check in the case for 9 a.m. April 23.

Watching Tuesday morning's proceedings, Cheryl Sirote, a friend of Goldberg’s and an acquaintance of Cookie Ross, wrote all the information down and quickly went outside the courtroom.

Sirote said she was asked to get the information for Goldberg’s relatives, two of whom are expected to arrive in Las Vegas tonight.

Sirote said Goldberg’s sister, Jodi Goldberg, and his brother, Jeff Goldberg, are coming in from the East Coast to try to continue the search for their missing brother.

The family has offered a $5,000 reward to recover Goldberg. They have up a facebook page, Find Keith Goldberg and a similar online blog.

One of the latest items on the facebook page says a Red Rock search and rescue group “will deploy again April 21 to the Lake Mead Area to continue the search for Keith Goldberg."

Goldberg's family hired a private investigator to try to find him and filed a missing persons report with Metro Police.

Police said cell phone records showed Christopher Ross spent almost the entire night of Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 at the Green Valley apartment, contrary to what Ross told detectives. Officers also said Georgene Ross had been in possession of Goldberg's phone and car keys, which have never been recovered.

The police report also said phone records showed Christopher Ross spent more than six hours in the desert area surrounding Sunrise Mountain and Lake Mead Recreation area on Feb. 1, in contradiction to his statement he was moving furniture all that day.

Officers said Goldberg's vehicle was eventually located by police Feb. 10 in the 2600 block of Van Patten Street in Las Vegas.

"The car was dirty and had some scratches on the sides which appeared to be consistent with being driven in the desert," the police report said.

The police report also said that Cookie Ross had told her sister that minutes after the police were called by neighbors about the Jan. 31 fight at the Green Valley apartment, that she and Christopher Ross intentionally didn't answer the door because "Chris was on Keith."

The police report said Christopher Ross called in sick to his job as a valet at the Fiesta three minutes after police had left the apartment. Then an hour later, Cookie Ross called in sick for Goldberg to his job at Lucky Cab, the report said.

Also, the report said Cookie Ross had told one of her friends that Christopher Ross had punched Goldberg, knocking him to the ground, and that she then had kicked Goldberg in the head.

Officers said there was blood recovered from the apartment and on the bumper of the victim's car.

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