Post by Joanna on Aug 8, 2018 12:48:11 GMT -5
Suspect in 1984 Bennett Family Murders
AURORA, Colo. – Investigators have a potential suspect in the brutal January 1984 murders of an Aurora couple and their young daughter and, by extension, the slaying of a woman in Lakewood that same month. The man, who is incarcerated in another state, is being looked at by investigators in the killings of Bruce and Debra Bennett and their 7-year-old daughter, Melissa, who were beaten to death with a hammer in their Aurora home on Jan. 16, 1984. The couple’s other daughter, Vanessa, was seriously injured, but survived.
A decision as to whether there is enough evidence to file charges could come any time. Officials from the district attorney’s office in the 18th Judicial District, the Aurora and Lakewood police department and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation all declined to comment. Aurora police officer Bill Hummel declined to comment “based on the sensitivity of our open investigation and not wanting to do anything to jeopardize a heinous case that occurred 34 years ago.” However, multiple law enforcement sources confirmed the existence of the potential suspect.
A 2010 DNA test tied the Bennett murders the attack on Patricia Louise Smith in Lakewood, who was beaten to death with a hammer and sexually assaulted. That Bennett attack was the fourth similar incident in the metro area in January 1984 – in each case, authorities knew or suspected a hammer was used.
“I haven’t really been told anything yet,” Constance Bennett, who discovered the bodies of her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, confirmed. She was expecting to meet with prosecutors later in the day and hoping to learn more about where the investigation stands. “Maybe they have something to tell me – I hope,” she added. “It’s been my hope that before I die that I can take a look at whoever this monster is. I don’t want to know why because there’s no good why. But I’d like to know who, so I’m hoping to find out something.”
The first assault occurred around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 4. A young couple was in bed in Aurora when they awakened to discover a man in their bedroom who hit each of them with a hammer before fleeing. Both were injured but survived. Investigators at the time believed the man entered through an open garage door.
Late on the night of Monday, Jan. 9, or early the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 10, a flight attendant was attacked just after pulling into the garage of her Aurora home. The woman was beaten – possibly with a hammer – and sexually assaulted, but she, too, survived.
Later on Jan. 10 – someone attacked Smith, 50, in the Lakewood condo she shared with her daughter and grandchildren. She was sexually assaulted and beaten to death with a hammer, which was left at the scene. She had apparently just stopped at a nearby Wendy’s and picked up a hamburger and French fries. Her daughter and grandchildren found her body when they returned home that evening.
Then came the attack on the Bennett family, which occurred sometime during the night of Sunday, Jan. 15, or early morning of Monday, Jan. 16. Constance Bennett, Bruce Bennett’s mother, went to the couple’s home after they didn’t arrive for work at a family-owned business. She walked into a scene of incredible horror – Bruce Bennett, Debra Bennett and their daughter Melissa all dead, their 3-year-old daughter Vanessa clinging to life.
Detectives expected another attack could occur on the same six-day pattern and braced for trouble on Jan. 22, 1984, but it didn’t happen. At the time, investigators suspected the killer might have traveled the Alameda Avenue corridor because the Bennett home and Smith’s Condo, while on opposite ends of the metro area, were not far off that major road.
The cases vexed investigators for decades, but on June 14, 2002, then-Arapahoe County District Attorney Jim Peters took a highly unusual step: He obtained an arrest warrant for the killer in the Bennett case based on the man’s DNA profile. The warrant accused the man of six counts of first degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of sexual assault, one count of sexual assault on a child, one count of physical assault, one count of burglary and five counts of committing a crime of violence.
Source: Kevin Vaughan and Nicole Vap, KUSA, August 7, 2018.
See also Mystery Location No. 83: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/7886/mystery-location-83-january-2018