Killer Violated Parole Before Murders, Authorities Didn't React for Six Days

Evan Ebel, the now deceased suspect in the murders of Colorado Department of Corrections Chief Tom Clements and pizza delivery man Nathan Leon, violated the terms of his parole on March 14 by removing his ankle monitor. 

It was not until six days later on March 20 that the Colorado Department of Corrections issued a warrant for his arrest, but by then it was too late. Leon was murdered on March 17, three days before the warrant was finally issued, while Clements was murdered on March 19.

Under the terms of his parole, Ebel was required to wear the ankle bracelet and check in with his parole officer on a daily basis. He was also prohibited from either drinking or driving.

On Tuesday, spokesperson Alison Morgan defended the slow response by the Department of Corrections to Ebel’s violation of his intensive parole terms. “Ebel had been fully compliant up until that first alarm [on March 14],” she said. 

Consequently, an immediate response to Ebel’s violation of parole by the Department of Corrections “was not warranted,” she added, even though no one from the Department of Corrections knew where he was or had any communication with him after March 14. Until that time, Morgan claimed, “Ebel was not exhibiting any risks.” 

However, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Ebel wrote a letter in prison in which “he fantasized about killing prison staff.” That letter was used by the Deputy District Attorney during the successful prosecution of Ebel in 2008 for assaulting a prison employee.

As Breitbart News reported on Tuesday, Ebel pled guilty to that charge and was supposed to serve an additional four years in prison, keeping him behind bars until January 2017. Instead, he was released on January 28, 2013 due to what the Pueblo Colorado Commissioner Buffie McFadden on Monday called a “tragic clerical error.”

While in prison, Ebel’s violent tendencies were well known to his fellow inmates, who referred to him as “Ebel Evil.” Due to his violent behavior during his incarceration, Ebel served extensive time in solitary confinement.

Ebel was killed in a shootout with Texas law enforcement authorities on March 21.