Dana Ewell (born January 28, 1971, Fresno, California) is an American convicted triple murderer, sentenced to three life sentences for ordering the killing of his mother, father, and sister in 1992. Dana Ewell's father, businessman and multi-millionaire Dale Ewell, his mother Glee (née Mitchell), and his older sister Tiffany were murdered so he could access the family fortune. A 9-mm pistol with a homemade silencer was used by Ewell's roommate at Santa Clara University, Joel Radovcich, to murder the family on Easter Sunday in their home in the Central Valley as they returned from a long weekend on the coast. Dana Ewell was sentenced on May 12, 1998, alongside friend and classmate Joel Radovcich, who was promised a part of the family fortune in return for murdering Dana's family. Ernest Jack Ponce (who procured the murder weapon) was also charged with the murders, but he obtained a dismissal in exchange for his testimony and was later licensed as an attorney. At the time of the murders, Dana Ewell still lived at home in the family's comfortable Sunnyside-area home near Fresno. In his freshman year at San Joaquin Memorial High School, Ewell claimed his goal was to be a multi-millionaire by age 25, but at age 21, he was still being supported by his parents. The murders took place on Sunday, April 19, 1992. Dana had been lying to his friends, claiming that he was personally financially successful. Dana claimed to be a stock-market wiz and he also claimed to own his own airplane transport company. Dana's father found out that his son had been going around lying and bragging. Dana's father told him that he was getting cut off financially that summer, when he was expected to graduate from Santa Clara University. Dana was angry and this is what led him to plot the murders, although ironically it was ultimately revealed to Dana during the reading of his father's will that his father instructed that the family fortune be given to Dana but in installments. Ewell's furious reaction to not gaining his full inheritance and his lack of grief over the deaths of his parents and sister led to his uncles informing investigators about the possibility that Dana was behind the murders. Fresno County Assistant District Attorneys James Oppliger and Jeffrey Hammerschmidt prosecuted Ewell and Radovcich in a jury trial that took more than eight months. Ewell and Radovcich are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole; their appeals have all been denied and exhausted. Ewell is housed in the Protective Housing Unit of California State Prison, Corcoran.

• published: 08 Apr 2017
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