ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) – Closing arguments began Thursday morning in the murder trial of Alex Ewing.
Ewing is accused of attacking the Bennett family inside their Aurora home with a hammer back in 1984.
Seven-year-old Melissa Bennett was violently raped and killed. Her parents, Bruce and Deborah Bennett, were also killed. The 3-year-old sister, Vanessa, was the only survivor.
The so-called ‘hammer killings’ terrorized the entire Denver area at the time. Five people were killed in a 12 day period.
After almost four decades, investigators were able to pin Ewing to the Bennett murders using DNA found at the scene.
Ewing is also suspected of killing a 28 year old Aurora woman, a 50 year old woman in Lakewood and beating another couple in Aurora. They survived the attack.
According to the Associated Press, Ewing had been in prison in Nevada since 1984 for attacking a Las Vegas-area couple after escaping while being transported to Arizona on an attempted murder charge.