Rochelle Denise Battle

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Baltimore County Police Department Md (MD)

Missing From:

Baltimore, MD

Summary:

Rochelle Denise Battle, a 16-year-old female with black hair and brown eyes, was last seen in Baltimore, Maryland on March 6, 2009. She had a tattoo of a skeleton on her right forearm. She told her mother she had taken the subway and bus to Eastpoint Mall at 10:00 p.m. In April 2010, Jason Matthew Gross was arrested and charged with her murder. Gross was convicted in October 2011, although her body has never been found, and was sentenced to the maximum term of forty years in prison.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Rochelle was last seen in Baltimore, Maryland on March 6, 2009. She spoke to her mother on her cellular phone at 10:00 p.m. and said she'd taken the subway and a bus to eastern Baltimore County to go to the Eastpoint Mall. She said she was shopping and would be home soon. Later, Rochelle called a female friend to say she was with a "white friend." Authorities believe she wasn't en route to the mall and was in fact in the company of Jason Matthew Gross, a 34-year-old local man with whom she'd connected earlier. Cellular phone records placed the two together at around the same time, 9:00 p.m. When Rochelle's mother repeatedly tried to call her later, at first the phone went to voice mail, then it was turned off. Rochelle has never been heard from again.

Additional Details:

Rochelle first met Gross in an adult online chat room. Gross has a prior criminal record for assault and sex offenses. Authorities believe he killed her at his home. After over a year of gathering evidence, police arrested and charged Jason Gross with Rochelle's murder in April 2010. He pleaded not guilty and went to trial in October 2011. A 13-month investigation included extensive use of technological tools, such as examining cell phone records, security footage and even aerial photos to trace the final moments of Battle's life. According to prosecutors, at some point not long after that last phone call, Gross killed her and had her body incinerated at a nearby landfill where he worked off Earls Road in Chase. At his trial, Gross claimed Rochelle was a prostitute who solicited clients over an adult chat line. He admitted he had arranged to meet her at a bar near his home, but said she never showed up. Gross was convicted of the murder in October 2011, although Rochelle's body has never been found. Gross will be required to serve at least 20 years before being eligible for parole after he received the maximum sentence—30 years for murder and 10 years for an unrelated sex offense against another victim. Gross plans to appeal his murder conviction. Rochelle's mother acknowledged that her daughter had her faults, but her life was taken before she could have remedied her mistakes. She also said that her daughter wanted to one day become a business owner and loved writing poetry and cooking.

Case Last Updated:

Apr 26, 2026