The Bennett family.Photo: 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office
A 61-year-old man learned this week he’ll die behind prison bars after being sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the 1984 murders of a Colorado couple and their 7-year-old daughter, PEOPLE confirms.
In 2018, a DNA match linked Alex Ewing to the Jan. 15, 1984, killings of Bruce and Debra Bennett, as well as their daughter Melissa. All three were beaten to death with a claw hammer.
Ewing, 23 at the time, killed the 27-year-old husband and his 26-year-old wife, as well as their daughter, inside their Aurora home.
The slain girl’s younger sister, Vanessa Bennett, who was 3 at the time, survived the life-threatening injuries she sustained in the vicious beating.
Alex Christopher Ewing.Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Ewing, who was convicted of the murders on Aug. 6, broke into the family’s new home the night of the killings.
Investigators said he also sexually assaulted Melissa before she died from being beaten.
Before he was sentenced, Ewing declined the chance to speak to the victim’s family members, who were present in the courtroom — including Vanessa Bennett, who is now 41.
KUSA reportsthat Vanessa recounted for the courtroom how the critical head injuries she survived left her with a lifetime of problems, including depression, anxiety, anger and struggles with heroin abuse.
“I didn’t just lose my parents and my sister,” Vanessa opened up. “I lost the person who I was supposed to be.”
Alex Ewing in court.Philip B Poston/AP/Shutterstock
She added: “I lost my sanity. I look in the mirror every day and look at myself and I hate who I am. And I hate what I had to go through and still go through. I hurt myself. I was a drug addict for so many years. I’m a very strong person, though, but when it comes to my family that was the most important thing to me in the whole world.”
Arapahoe County District Judge Darren Vahle spoke directly to Ewing before announcing the sentence.
“I have seen all kinds of evil and wickedness … nothing compares to the level of depravity that your actions show in this case,” Vahle told Ewing. “There is no punishment that is too harsh for you … and I will do everything in my power to make sure you never draw a free breath ever again.”
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District Attorney John Kellner said the murders had shocked the community, adding that he was glad to see justice for the victims after 37 long years.
source: people.com
