El Paso County sheriff sounds off on Denver Post criticism

El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder is setting the record straight after a Denver Post article that is highly critical of his office, and its performance in the Tom Clements murder investigation.

Clements was the state’s prisons chief. He was killed at his Monument, Colorado, home more than three years ago.

The Post, citing Texas authorities, is reporting that Evan Ebel was the killer, and the murder was orchestrated by Ebel’s prison gang.

After the murder, Ebel fled to Texas and was killed in a shootout with police.
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office has never named Ebel as the murderer, and has refused to comment on the case because it’s an active investigation.

According to Sheriff Bill Elder, the Post is doing the public a disservice by reporting the information before the investigation has wrapped up.

“In my opinion, it’s inappropriate for the Denver Post to go to the lengths that they have gone to,” Elder told NewsChannel 13 Friday.

“We are constantly looking for leads to follow up,” he said. “We’ve taken a top-to-bottom look at both of these cases, once I took office. My investigations unit has found things that needed to be added to both (the Ebel and Kara Nichols) cases, and we have done so.”

Elder says the Post’s criticism of his department’s handling of both cases is unfair because the investigations began several years before he was elected to office in November 2014.

Sheriff Elder says his office recently checked out a lead just one month ago.

He says if anyone has information on the case, they are still encouraged to call the Sheriff’s Office at 719-390-5555