GUILTY CO - Bruce, 27, Debra, 26, & Melissa Bennett, 7, murdered, Aurora, 16 Jan 1984 *inmate arrest 2019*

[Ontario Mom]

"On Tuesday morning, The Denver Post received a tip that a DNA match had recently been made between the suspect in the Lakewood and Aurora killings and a prison inmate in Nevada. The tip included the prison booking number and the name of the offender serving a lengthy prison term for attempted murder and use of a deadly weapon.

Brooke Santina, spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Corrections, said she could not comment on any link between the Nevada inmate and the Colorado murder cases. Santina confirmed that an inmate matching the name and prisoner number The Post provided is incarcerated in Nevada and is eligible for parole in 2021.

Well that was just some anon person leaking the suspect info to the Denver Post. I mean... the way this reads, I'm not seeing LE dropping tips to the media that they have a suspect. Not usually the way they do things, especially when they have a presser scheduled for tomorrow.

 

[dotr]

Well that was just some anon person leaking the suspect info to the Denver Post. I mean... the way this reads, I'm not seeing LE dropping tips to the media that they have a suspect. Not usually the way they do things, especially when they have a presser scheduled for tomorrow.

Agree, was just trying to provide a link for another poster's assertion.
Friday should be the big reveal!

 

[Betty P]

Such fantastic news! This perp looks like a textbook psychopath - capable of being friendly and charming when he wants to manipulate people, but underneath a violent, vicious animal who kills innocent people without feeling any guilt. Good thing he was eventually captured and imprisoned. He seems to have no self-control and is compelled to kill again and again.

Arapaho County LE and prosecutors deserve so much praise for continuing to pursue these cases. They were such horrific, senseless murders.

 

[Ontario Mom]

If he is in fact the same man who brutally attacked the Bennett family and PS, I do have to wonder why he left the man in Kingman and the couple in Henderson alive. He didn't seem to have much care about killing in CO. Or, maybe he just left them for dead the same way he left little VB?

Just thinking out loud. Really looking forward to hearing the presser tomorrow.

 

[LR1]

I've looked today for pre 1/84 unsolved cases between Co and Cali that have similar aspects to the CO and AZ cases without much luck. There were a couple similar cases that I found a long time ago while looking at these CO crimes but I cant remember for the life of me what state or years they took place. It was a western state or states and they were home invasions is all I remember. So, from this I gather they were post 1/84 crimes which falls outside the time frame I was searching. Maybe these were his first and only crimes of this nature but I wouldn't bet on it. I'm looking for what brought him to CO and from where did he come. Also what set this January spree off.

 

[Ontario Mom]

I've looked today for pre 1/84 unsolved cases between Co and Cali that have similar aspects to the CO and AZ cases without much luck. There were a couple similar cases that I found a long time ago while looking at these CO crimes but I cant remember for the life of me what state or years they took place. It was a western state or states and they were home invasions is all I remember. So, from this I gather they were post 1/84 crimes which falls outside the time frame I was searching. Maybe these were his first and only crimes of this nature but I wouldn't bet on it. I'm looking for what brought him to CO and from where did he come. Also what set this January spree off.

He was quite young when all this madness began (23 is pretty young for a brutal serial killer/rapist) and he was originally from the Sac area in CA. I've dug around a lot and I cannot find a solid connection to CO. Hopefully the presser tomorrow uncovers that connection.

 

[Ontario Mom]

This is heartbreaking:

"Vanessa Bennett sat under a picnic shelter on a muggy Arizona morning and talked for the first time about the physical and emotional toll she bears as the only surviving victim of one of Colorado’s most brutal crimes. Bennett is 38 now, and the scars of the 1984 hammer attack that left her clinging to life are visible."

(video interview at the link) Survivor of Aurora hammer attack tells her story

 

[Ontario Mom]

"No further information can be released at this time, but we expect to provide more information at a news conference that will be hosted by the Aurora Police Department on Friday, Aug. 10, at 10 a.m." (12 noon east coast time) Aurora Police Department

I haven't seen anything about a live stream but I assume there will be one, likely at the APD's FB page since they're the ones hosting the presser.

 

[LR1]

This is heartbreaking:

"Vanessa Bennett sat under a picnic shelter on a muggy Arizona morning and talked for the first time about the physical and emotional toll she bears as the only surviving victim of one of Colorado’s most brutal crimes. Bennett is 38 now, and the scars of the 1984 hammer attack that left her clinging to life are visible."

(video interview at the link) Survivor of Aurora hammer attack tells her story

Good to see Vanessa finally, what a little fighter she is to have survived this and the turmoil that followed. I hope today brings some peace to all the families involved, it's been a long time coming.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Present at the PC are detectives still working this case and retired detectives who once worked the case. This has to be such a tremendous relief for them.

Live stream Aurora TV - Aurora, CO

 

[Ontario Mom]

Confirmed DNA match made in July.

 

[JPlott]

Confirmed DNA match made in July.

Codis match-interesting

 

[leilarose68]

So this was a CODIS match and not a genetic genealogy match, correct? I had to miss the beginning of the press conference

 

[Ontario Mom]

Codis match-interesting

The states that STILL don't have prisoner's DNA uploaded to CODIS need to take a page from this case and get on it. Yesterday.

 

[JPlott]

So this was a CODIS match and not a genetic genealogy match, correct? I had to miss the beginning of the press conference

Yes that is correct.

 

[Ontario Mom]

So this was a CODIS match and not a genetic genealogy match, correct? I had to miss the beginning of the press conference

I'm honestly a little fuzzy on the whole genetic genealogy thing and how that played into things. From what was said at the presser, the DNA submitted to CODIS was a match for DNA already on file from PS's case and the Bennett family case.

 

[JPlott]

The states that STILL don't have prisoner's DNA uploaded to CODIS need to take a page from this case and get on it. Yesterday.

Amen to that...Here is an article about those states although ironically one of them is Nevada and from what the one DA said in the press conference they had the law since 2013 but the department of corrections wouldn't execute it until the AG issued an opinion letter on it.

Hidden in Prison: 7 States Have Thousands of Inmates Not in DNA Databases

 

[Ontario Mom]

Amen to that...Here is an article about those states although ironically one of them is Nevada and from what the one DA said in the press conference they had the law since 2013 but the department of corrections wouldn't execute it until the AG issued an opinion letter on it.

Hidden in Prison: 7 States Have Thousands of Inmates Not in DNA Databases

The DA at the presser specifically mentioned Montana, for some reason. At this point, there is zero reason for these states not to get on board with this. If it's a matter of funds, juggle things around and shoot this process to the top of the list.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Mug shot of Alexander Ewing in 1985 from Nevada Department of Corrections. He is now charged in the hammer murders in Aurora from 1984 and the murder of a Lakewood woman that same year. #Denver7
Eric Lupher on Twitter

 

[Ontario Mom]

For anyone who missed it, the presser is here Nevada prisoner to be charged in connection to 1984 Colorado cold case murders