LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Despite a more than $200,000 reward, hundreds of tips and massive resources, the murder of Bardstown Police officer Jason Ellis remains unsolved.
There still have been no arrests in the murder of Ellis, but his widow, Amy, now Amy Brown, believes the people in charge of the investigation will bring the killer to justice a decade later.
Ellis was on his way home from a shift in 2013 when he was ambushed, shot and killed near the Bluegrass Parkway. Strangers happened upon the scene and used Ellis' own radio to call it in.
It's been 10 years since a knock at the door changed her life forever.
Amy Brown, Jason Ellis' widow, speaks to WDRB News on May 24, 2023.
"I had never met the chaplain before that night," Brown said. "It was the chaplain and another officer."
The chaplain and officer were there to deliver devastating news, that her husband had been killed.
"They just said, 'I'm sorry there's been an accident' and I'm like, 'What do you mean there was an accident?'" Brown recalled. "I said, 'Is he okay?'"
Brown was 30 years old when her husband was killed.
"The other officer had tears, he said, 'No, he didn't make it,'" Brown said.
On May 25, 2013, Brown lost her college sweetheart and father of her children. The couple had been married nine years.
"I did not think in my wildest dreams that we would not have answers, I thought we would know within that first few months or a year," Brown said.
But months eventually turned to years.
"No, I didn't think we would be here 10 years later," Brown said.
There are memorials outside of the Bardstown Police Department. Inside Ellis' old department, a hallway is painted with a thin blue line. The wall is covered with pictures and mementos to honor the department's fallen hero.
"Every year it seems like we feel like 'Okay, they feel like maybe they're closer,'" Brown said.
The reward now stands at nearly $250,000 and the case is being investigated by Kentucky State Police and the FBI. There hasn't been an arrest and police don't know why it happened.
"It just never pans out," Brown said. "I to this day still don't understand why him, he was well-liked."
Before joining the police department, Ellis played minor league baseball for a Cincinnati Reds affiliate. Ellis coached his son's team just hours before he was murdered.
"He was very sweet and kind and he had a big heart and he would do anything for anybody," Brown said.
The couple who met in college had dreams for each other.
"We had plans, things that we wanted to do and accomplish and where we wanted to be and yes, growing old together," Brown said.
Although the dream had a tragic ending, Brown doesn't believe it's how the story will end.
"I know that they are wholeheartedly and tirelessly working on it, and I do trust that one day it will be solved," Brown said.
She has since moved away from Bardstown, remarried and her boys are now teenagers. The boys, Parker and Hunter, were only 6 and 7 years old when they were robbed of their dad
Brown still returns to Bardstown at least once a year to visit the memorial honoring her late husband.
The FBI and Kentucky State Police continue to investigate the case. Anyone with information is urged to call Kentucky State Police Post 4 at 270-766-5078, or email tips to EllisCaseTips@ky.gov.
Anonymous tips can also be submitted to the FBI by CLICKING HERE.
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