Slain officer’s wife says he’ll be family’s hero forever

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Amy Ellis, wife of slain Officer Jason Ellis, talks with the news media Tuesday, May 28, 2013, about the loss of her husband.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013, 1:30 p.m. (Updated 2:20 p.m.) — Supported by family, friends and members of her extended law enforcement family, Amy Ellis, the wife of slain Bardstown Police Officer Jason Ellis, spoke lovingly of her husband’z devotion to his career and his family at a press conference Tuesday morning.

“He loved his job and he loved the people he worked with,” she said. “He was truly an amazing man.”

She thanked the community for outpouring of support for her and her family. Ellis said she has felt the support of the prayers on her behalf in the community.

OFFICER JASON ELLIS

“I didn’t want to live one second without him,” she said. “I don’t have the strength to pray right now, but I know many others are.

“I have to be strong for my kids,” she said. Without the support she’s received she told the media she wouldn’t have been part of Tuesday’s press conference.

Ellis said she met her husband on Valentines Day 12 years ago. “We fell in love and have been inseparable ever since.”

She described her husband as a “by the book” officer who believed in his work as a law enforcement officer was making a difference in the community. But when Officer Jason Ellis was off-duty, his wife described him as being “really goofy” at times, and as a man who loved making people laugh.

She recalled how he and another officer decided to wear ugly Christmas sweaters at the police department Christmas party. “Everyone else was dressed up, and he was wearing an elf hat and Christmas sweater.”

Early in their marriage, Jason Ellis was pursuing his dream of playing professional baseball. He loved the Cincinnati Reds, and he played for the Billings Mustangs, a minor league team affiliated with the Reds.

But when that dream didn’t pan out, Amy Ellis said she worried about how leaving baseball would affect her husband. But he explained that he realized it was something he had to do for the good of his family.

“He told me he had lots of dreams, and one of the other dreams he had was to be a police officer,” she said.

Ellis said her husband loved his job and he loved helping people — something she said she observed during the times when she rode with him in his cruiser.

Bardstown Police Chief Rick McCubbin speaking at Sunday’s press conference at the KSP Post 4 in Elizabethtown.

She described her husband as her best friend. For her and her sons, she said simply, “He’ll be our hero forever.”

NO NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN INVESTIGATION. Bardstown Police Chief Rick McCubbin said there were no new leads in the investigation of Officer Jason Ellis’ murder. He said the Kentucky State Police were tirelessly pursuing any tips in the case. “They’ve not had much sleep and a whole lot of Red Bull,” an energy drink, he quipped.

HOW TO DONATE. if you to make a donation to the family of Officer Jason Ellis or to the reward fund for information regarding this investigation, two funds have now been authorized and established Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #43 and the family of Jason Ellis.

Donors may drop donations off at the Bardstown Police Department, or contact the main branch of Wilson and Muir Bank, 107 North Third St., Bardstown, KY 40004, (502) 349-9100, or stop by any of their branch banks. Visit www.wilsonmuirbank.com for more information.

Make checks payable to the fund of your choice, the Officer Jason Ellis Memorial Fund, which will help his family, or the Officer Jason Ellis Reward Fund, which will be used to pay for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for his murder.

If you wish to use a check, make it payable to Officer Jason Ellis Memorial Fund or Officer Jason Ellis Reward Fund. Please be specific as to which fund you choose to donate to.

At present the reward fund totals more than $10,000.

FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS. Visitation for Officer Jason Ellis is 2-8 p.m. Wednesday, May 29, 2013, at Parkway Baptist Church.

The funeral is 11 a.m. Thursday, May 30, 2013 at Parkway Baptist Church, 2580 Springfield Rd. in Bardstown.

Due to the heavy amount of traffic anticipated for both the visitation and funeral, police are advising motorists who plan to travel in the area of US150 and the Blue Grass Parkway interchange to select an alternate route and avoid the area entirely.

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