After Year-And-A-Half Extradition Fight, Alex Christopher Ewing Appears In Colorado Court
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) - A man accused of killing four people with a hammer in two attacks in the Denver area more than 35 years ago made his first court appearance in Colorado on Monday after a year-and-a-half extradition fight. Alex Christopher Ewing, 59, appeared in Arapahoe County District Court on several charges, including three counts of first-degree murder, stemming from the 1984 slayings of Bruce and Debra Bennett, 27 and 26, and their 7-year-old daughter Melissa at their home in Aurora. The couple's 3-year-old daughter, Vanessa, was severely injured.
Ewing said in court he understood a protection order barring him from contacting, harassing or intimidating witnesses in the case, and from possessing weapons or ammunition. He also faces charges in Jefferson County for the slaying of 50-year-old Patricia Smith, who was attacked in her Lakewood home six days before the Bennetts were killed.
Ewing, who is being held at the Arapahoe County jail, is represented by the Colorado State Public Defender's office, which bars its attorneys from commenting on cases.
He has been in prison in Nevada since 1985 on a 40-year sentence for trying to kill a couple with an ax handle. Investigators announced in 2018 that DNA evidence tied Ewing to the four deaths, and Nevada's Supreme Court ordered authorities to transfer him to Colorado.
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