The investigation into the 2013 assassination of state prisons chief Tom Clements — which the El Paso County sheriff recently told fellow law enforcement officials was being closed — will continue for now.
A spokeswoman for Gov. John Hickenlooper said Wednesday the investigation continues.
“We are just beginning to review and understand the scope of the investigation,” Kathy Green said after an extraordinary meeting in Denver between Hickenlooper, El Paso County Sheriff Bill Elder, state Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and other officials.
“We will continue to review and meet with law enforcement until we have a full understanding of the case, which, for the time being, remains open,” Green said.
Elder’s office sent a letter to other law enforcement agencies that “the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office will begin the process of formally closing this investigation. We would like to thank all of our public safety partners for their assistance and cooperation in the investigation of this case over the last three years.”
The letter, dated June 7, asked other agencies to notify the sheriff’s office if they had objections or concerns about closing the investigation. The sheriff’s office said the process of closing the investigation “will be lengthy and take time.”
The Clements assassination, among the highest-profile murders in Colorado history, has been mired in conflict between prosecutors and a sheriff’s office distracted by office politics, sexual scandals and possible criminal wrongdoing.
The sheriff at the time of the murder, Terry Maketa — along with two fellow top officials including Juan San Agustin —on various corruption charges. Maketa stepped down in late 2014.
San Agustin, who led the departmentap Clements investigation for 19 months before he resigned in 2014, has criticized the decision by Elder, the current sheriff, to reduce the number of investigators on the case to just one deputy. San Agustin and Maketa have said they asked District Attorney Dan May’s office to bring charges against 211 Crew members in the case, but he refused.
White supremacist parolee Evan Ebel, the son of one of Hickenlooper’s closest friends, murdered on March 17, 2013. Two days later, Ebel killed Clements — whom Hickenlooper had appointed to the prisons job — at the doorstep of his Monument home. Ebel was later killed in a shootout with Texas law enforcement.
Elder had planned specifically to discuss with Hickenlooper that the hierarchy of the 211 Crew, a white supremacist prison gang, ordered Ebel to kill Clements, said Jacqueline Kirby, Elder’s spokeswoman.
The May 27 report in The Post cited documents including a 77-page report revealing a web of hundreds of phone calls between Ebel and fellow members of the 211 Crew in the days before and after Clements’ killing. Some of those calls came two days later, while Ebel was leading Texas lawmen on a 100 mph chase that led to the shootout.
After investigators retrieved phone numbers from the phones Ebel had been using, authorities in Texas and Colorado made six arrests, half of them never previously reported. The arrests stemmed from the gang members’ dealings with Ebel, but none was linked directly to Clements’ killing, which remains officially unsolved. Texas Ranger James Holland’s report identifies a dozen suspects who allegedly were involved to the level of ordering Clements’ assassination and helping Ebel flee to Texas.
that he has “no information to dispute that Ebel acted alone.”
There are critics of Elder’s analysis. San Agustin, who conducted or ordered hundreds of interviews since the Texas report was completed, said the investigation overwhelmingly verified that members of the white supremacist prison gang conspired with Ebel.
In addition, several key witnesses cited in the Texas Rangers report told The Post that they had not been interviewed since Elder became sheriff, including 211 Crew captain. Christopher Middleton, who said he had brunch with Ebel hours before Ebel shot Clements. Middleton was released in February after serving nearly three years in prison on a parole violation because of his association with Ebel. He said he arranged for Ebel to stay with a friend in Fountain the night before the murder. Middleton denies knowing about Ebel’s murder plans.
Coffman declined to comment about Wednesday’s meeting. Elder did not returned several phone calls. May, the 4th Judicial district attorney, also attended the meeting but did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Hickenlooper, Coffman, Elder and other law enforcement investigators met for more than an hour Wednesday morning. Hickenlooper did not ask Elder to extend the investigation, Green said.
Agents from the FBI were not invited to the meeting, even though the agency worked closely with El Paso County in the investigation, said Deborah Sherman, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Denver.
Bernadette Alness, Leon’s mother-in-law, said no one has ever contacted his family about developments in the case, including Elder’s recent announcement that he was closing the investigation. Alness said her daughter, Katie Leon, Nathan’s husband, was too upset Wednesday to comment about the developments. Alness said the family believes Ebel did not act alone.
“I don’t think Evan Ebel was smart enough to put it all together. Somebody gave him that money. His options were limited. Somebody told him to do it,” Alness said.
Alness said the family has always believed they weren’t important enough for Hickenlooper to reach out to them.
“Apparently, Tom Clements is not important enough either,” she said.
