BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) “Time cannot close our wound; we cannot heal without knowing who and why he was taken from us by this senseless murder,” said recently widowed, Amy Ellis. “We struggle with need to understand before the healing can truly begin.”
Over three years ago, Officer Jason Ellis, 33, was ambushed in the early morning hours as he headed home after finishing his shift for the Bardstown Police Department. To be exact, the date was Saturday, May 25, 2013 when a twisted plot ended his life.
“It has been two years since our family was devastated by this senseless ambush of my husband Jason, a dedicated law enforcement officer who spent his life in service to others,” said Amy in a video released by the Kentucky State Police at the two year mark. It continues to be shared countrywide in a social media campaign via YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
It’s an open wound that is felt by his surviving sons, Hunter, 6, and Parker, 7, as well as 27 officers at the Bardstown Police Department—a wound that festers since the cause of origin remains unknown.
According to police, Jason encountered debris, which had been deliberately placed on Exit Ramp 34 of the Bluegrass Parkway outside the city limits in Nelson County. There, he sought to provide basic public service by removing tree limbs from the roadway. There, he saw no threat, just a traffic hazard. There, he was targeted for slaughter as he got out of his cruiser. And there, some perverted individual fulfilled a twisted fantasy by gunning him down.
A passing motorist, who shouted into Jason’s police radio, discovered him. The shrieking call for help from a citizen over a police radio is a sound like no other.
Officer Michael Medley and fellow officer Andrew Riley arrived instantly. “[I]t seems like it was just yesterday,” said a soft-spoke Medley as he recently stood at the makeshift memorial on the Exit 34 off-ramp. “I miss him every single day. There are days or times when things come up and remind me of him instantly. I still find myself wanting to call him. I don’t know if that will ever go away.”
Jason’s murder has led to an outpouring of grief in the Nelson County seat. There is a cumulative lament that has been experienced by so many good people.
Jason Ellis joined the Bardstown Police Department in 2006 and became a K-9 officer about two years later. “He wanted drugs off the street,” said Kris Phillips, mother-in-law of the late officer.
In 2012, Bardstown was named “the most beautiful small town in America” by Rand McNally, the map and atlas company, as well as USA Today. It’s difficult to believe reports of this gravity occurring in such a town. But that goes to show how a single crime of violence can stain a beautiful canvas.
“Daddy is not coming back,” were dreadful words that Amy spoke when she agonizingly shared the news with her sons, who idolized their father.
“He wanted to make sure everybody was having a good time around him,” shared Amy. “He was a dedicated family man. He loved our boys. He loved me.”
I believe it was a hit,” said Bardstown City Council member Tommy Reed. “(Ellis) was putting a dent into somebody’s drug trade, and they finally got tired of it and put a hit out on him. I think he was under surveillance so they would know his routine. They knew he would stop to pull that brush out of the road.”
Amy drafted a letter shortly after Jason’s murder. It can be viewed below:
A letter from Amy Ellis… wife of fallen Brother, Jason Ellis, of the Bardstown Police Department http://t.co/MQr5KhTHwm
— BlueLineAcrossAmer (@BlueLineAcross) September 6, 2013
The FBI announced a reward of $185,000, for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the individual(s) responsible for the murder of Officer Jason Ellis.
LET would like to encourage readers to take action. Share this story. Very few criminals operate in a vacuum. If you have any information concerning this case, please contact KSP Elizabethtown Post at (800) 222-5555 or your local FBI office. Tips may also be sent to ElliscaseEtips@ky.gov.
Photo Kentucky State Police Video – Jason Ellis