Israel preparing to extradite man wanted for murder in US

JERUSALEM – Israel is preparing to extradite a 63-year-old citizen to the United States, where he is wanted on suspicion of killing his mother.

The state prosecution says Monday it has asked the court to declare Thomas Joseph Gross fit for extradition. The American extradition request says Gross travelled to Florida in 2012 to visit his mother. The night before his return to Israel he allegedly drugged her and stabbed her to death in her car outside her Lakewood Ranch home. The next morning he called 911, saying he had found her body, and tried to portray the scene as a suicide or robbery gone wrong.

Gross’ Israeli lawyer says he was previously questioned and released by authorities and the extradition is a shaming attempt by his sister over an inheritance battle.