NOT-SO-COLD CASE

‘Hammer Man’ Killer Found Guilty of 1984 Family Murder

The jury found Alex Ewing guilty of six counts of murder for killing a 7-year-old and both her parents.

The trial of the “Hammer Man” killer concluded Friday with a guilty verdict. The Arapahoe County jury found Alex Ewing, 60, guilty of murdering Melissa Bennett, age 7, and her two parents, Bruce and Debra, in 1984 with a hammer and a knife. Vanessa Bennett, just 3 years old at the time, survived. Connie Bennett, mother of Bruce and grandmother to the two Bennett children, told the Denver Post, “A weight was lifted off today. We’ve been waiting a long time for this.” The jury found that Ewing was guilty of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of felony murder. He is expected to be sentenced to life in prison, though he had already been serving a 40-year sentence in Nevada for attempted murder. New DNA evidence brought authorities to Ewing in 2018.