UPDATE: Process of closing prison chief’s murder case set to begin
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office says that it plans to begin closing the investigation into the 2013 slaying of Colorado prisons Chief Tom Clements. Gov. John Hickenlooper and El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder met on Wednesday to discuss the status of the case and if it was time to close it.
The sheriff’s office says that the process of closing the case will be lengthy, and that as of right now it remains open.
On June 7, the sheriff’s office sent out letters to all of the agencies involved with the investigation. The letter was to inform them that the process of closing out the investigation is going to begin. We have posted a link to the letter under the “related content” section of this article.
Evan Ebel, a Denver parolee, killed Tom Clements at his Monument home in March 2013. Days earlier, Ebel killed pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon. Ebel died in a shootout with law enforcement in Texas in the days after Clements’ death. Texas investigators found a pizza delivery uniform in Ebel’s car and it is believed Ebel may have worn the uniform to get Clements to open his door.
On Tuesday, Hickenlooper told KRDO NewsChannel 13’s Emily Allen he and Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman would meet with Elder to review the case.
“I want to see what they’ve got,” said Hickenlooper. “What their point of view is.”
Ebel had ties to the 211 Crew, a white supremacist prison gang. In the years since Clements’ killing, investigators have tried to figure out if Ebel acted alone, or carried out the crime with the help of 211 Crew members.
So far, investigators with the Sheriff’s Office have not found evidence to suggest Ebel acted in conjunction with other 211 Crew members. KRDO NewsChannel 13 asked Hickenlooper how he’ll respond if Elder says he wants to close the case.
“I (have) got to see what he says first. I think that, from what I understand — I just know what I read in the newspaper — but he that he acted on his own. I want to hear the evidence of that. Obviously this case is very close to my own heart emotionally. You just can’t help that. Some things affect you in very powerful ways emotionally. For Tom Clements’ widow, I think it’s important to all of us that we get closure but the closure that is appropriate,” the governor said.
Hickenlooper had a close relationship with Clements as well as with longtime friend and attorney Jack Ebel, Evan Ebel’s father. In the past, Hickenlooper has fielded questions that he helped Evan Ebel get out of prison early. When asked about those allegations, Hickenlooper told KRDO NewsChannel 13 it’s not true and that this case has been difficult for him.
“I didn’t even know he was out,” said Hickenlooper. “I couldn’t breathe for almost a minute. I couldn’t believe that the world had constricted down to such a tiny little space that the son of one of my oldest friends killed one of my closest friends at the time. That is just inconceivable. It’s still inconceivable. I still can’t believe that.”
