THORNTON – The suspect in a series of hammer attacks that left four people dead is fighting extradition orders to return to Colorado from Nevada.
On Monday, a Nevada judge ordered Alex Ewing transported back to Colorado to face charges for the killing and rape of Patricia Louise Smith in Lakewood, as well as a vicious hammer attack that left Bruce and Debra Bennett and their daughter Melissa in Aurora dead. The Bennet’s three-year-old daughter was left with serious injuries to her head. The attacks took place in 1984.
Ewing is also suspected in two other hammer attacks in Aurora, including one in which a woman was sexually assaulted, beaten and left for dead. He was not charged in either of those cases.
He was arrested in Kingman, Arizona, 11 days after the 1984 Bennett murders. He was accused of breaking into a home there and beating a man with a slab of granite.
Fast forward to August of 2018, where DNA left behind at the crime scenes was matched to Alex Ewing. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper signed extradition warrants for Ewing issued by prosecutors in Jefferson and Arapahoe counties.
