Ex-Nevada inmate gets another life sentence in Colorado

GOLDEN, Colo. — A former Nevada prison inmate was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison for sexually assaulting and killing a suburban Denver woman with a hammer in 1984.

Last week, jurors found Alex Ewing guilty in the death of Patricia Smith in Lakewood, eight months after he was found guilty of killing three members of a family in another Denver suburb six days after Smith was killed.

Ewing was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for killing Bruce and Debra Bennett and their 7-year-old daughter Melissa in Aurora. Prosecutors said he was armed with a hammer and knife.

Ewing was identified as a suspect in both cases in 2018 through DNA evidence while in prison in Nevada, where he was convicted of attacking a couple in Henderson in 1984 with an ax handle in their bedroom. The results of a DNA sample taken from Ewing were linked with DNA eventually developed from evidence taken from the scenes of the Colorado killings.

Public defender Stephen McCrohan had asked the judge to consider the age of the case and Ewing’s good behavior in the time since the murder, saying he is not the same person he was, The Denver Gazette reported.