Man Accused Of 1984 Hammer Killings Extradited Back To Colorado

JEFFERSON COUNTY, CO — A man who's accused of 1984 homicides has been extradited to Colorado. He was held in a Nevada prison since 1985 on an unrelated case, and his motion to stop his extradition was denied by the Nevada Supreme Court.

Alexander Christopher Ewing, 59, is accused of two hammer attacks in Aurora and Lakewood that left four people dead.

Patricia Louise Smith, 50, was raped and beaten to death with an auto-body hammer in her Lakewood home Jan. 10, 1984. There were also several other similar hammer attacks on people in their metro Denver homes around the same time, but those victims survived. In 2018, DNA testing linked Ewing to Smith's death, officials said.

Six days after Smith was killed, three members of the Bennett family — Bruce, Debra and their 7-year-old daughter, Melissa — were murdered with a claw hammer in Aurora. Only one Bennett family member survived — 3-year-old Vanessa.

Ewing was serving a 110-year sentence in Nevada for an ax-handle attack on a Henderson couple. He has returned to Colorado to face four counts of first-degree murder.

He appeared in Arapahoe County District Court Monday and he's being held without bond in the Arapahoe County jail.