Investigators in Colorado have charged a Nevada inmate with killing a woman and a family of three, including a 7-year-old girl, with a hammer in attacks in suburban Denver more than 30 years ago.
Law enforcement officials announced Friday that Alexander Christopher Ewing is being transferred from a Nevada prison to face charges in the 1984 slayings of Patricia Louise Smith in the Denver suburb of Lakewood and three members of the Bennett family in nearby Aurora.
According to court records, Ewing is facing 18 total counts: three counts of first-degree murder after deliberation; three counts of felony murder; one count of attempted first-degree murder after deliberation; two counts of aggravated sex assault; one count of assault with a deadly weapon; two counts of sex assault on a child; one count of first-degree burglary with a weapon; three sentence enhancers for a violent crime causing death; and two sentence enhancers for a violent crime involving a weapon.
Ewing is serving a 40-year sentence at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center for attacking Christopher and Nancy Barry with an ax handle in Henderson in 1984 after escaping from deputies in an Arizona case.
The two cases were tied together by DNA evidence in 2002.
