N.S. man awaits bail decision on murder charge, woman’s mother says ‘there is never closure’

A man accused of killing a Nova Scotia woman will soon learn if he’ll get bail.

A Nova Scotia man is awaiting a decision from a judge on whether he will be granted bail on a second-degree murder charge stemming from a woman’s death more than eight years ago.

The body of Laura Ross, 27, was found in a burned-out garage at her property on Highway 202 in South Rawdon, N.S., on April 3, 2017. The RCMP said investigators determined the fire had been intentionally set and Ross’s death was ruled a homicide.

“Laura was intelligent, she was wise, she was athletic, she was strong,” said Kathy Ross, Laura’s mother, in an interview with CTV News Atlantic on Friday. “She was determined. She admired her family, her children, her friends.”

Three months after Ross’s death, Joshua Crowell was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. But the Crown ultimately dropped the charge in 2019.

But there was another development in the case this past fall. On Oct. 2, Crowell was arrested when RCMP said “new evidence” led them to lay a second-degree murder charge again. There was no detail on what the evidence was.

Police have never said what the relationship was between Ross and Crowell.

On Friday, Crowell appeared in Nova Scotia Supreme Court for a bail hearing before Justice Joshua Arnold.

He sat between sheriffs, dressed in a hoodie and jeans, next to defence lawyers Brandon Rolle and Anna Mancini.

Testimony from Friday’s witnesses is under a publication ban.

Justice Arnold reserved his decision until Jan. 9, 2026.

For Kathy Ross, there will be no such thing as closure, regardless of court proceedings.

“Grief is the cost of having loved someone,” she says. “And when you love a child, that love never goes away.

“You love that child forever. And because of that, the grief is forever. And because of that, there is never closure.”

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