A stranger who broke into a family’s Kentucky home and murdered their six-year-old son has been freed from prison after serving just half of his sentence.
Ronald Exantus, 42, was released from prison early for good behavior after being sentenced in 2018 for stabbing Logan Tipton to death.
The killer traveled from Indianapolis to Versailles on the night of December 6, 2015 then randomly entered the Tiptons’ home as they slept.
The family said that Exantus, a former dialysis nurse, was a complete stranger to them and gained access to the home through an unlocked door.
Armed with a large kitchen knife, he launched a vicious attack on the household, murdering Logan and severely injuring his father and two young sisters.
Logan was stabbed repeatedly in the head with such rage that the blade of the butcher’s knife bent out of shape. Exantus later admitted to officers that he had stabbed and killed the child.
He was sentenced to 20 years in 2018 after being found not guilty by reason of insanity for murdering Tipton. He was deemed guilty but mentally ill on assault charges.
Speaking with Lex18 this week after news of his early release broke, the family said Exantus caused them untold heartache.
Logan’s mother Heather said: ‘He didn’t just kill my son. He killed every member of my family, every single one of us.
Logan was stabbed repeatedly in the head with a butcher knife at his home in Kentucky
Exantus, seen here in his most recent prison mugshot, was released early for good behavior
‘Every person that’s sitting here today is a completely different person than they were when they went to bed December 6.’
She added: ‘It just feels like a six-year-old’s life is worth more than ten years in prison.’
One of Logan’s sisters, Dakota, told the outlet that Exantus stabbed her in the back and then proceeded to stomp on her head.
‘I remember waking up across the room, not where I was at, and I looked and he was killing Logan and Logan was screaming,’ she added.
The boy’s father Dean Tipton said the sentence handed down was inadequate regardless of Exantus’s mental state at the time.
He said: ‘You took a human being’s life, not just a human being, a six-year-old boy who had yet to even… to begin to live.
‘As a father, I fear that he may come back and try to finish what… because, if I remember right, he told Coral [Logan’s other sister] that he was going to kill everyone.’
According to Heather, officials in the state had failed to contact the family and asked if they needed extra protection.
She added: ‘If you’re a victim and there’s something like a violent criminal that’s going to be released that is in connection to you or your case, or whatever, I think you should be offered some sort of security or protection, or at least just a phone call.’
The family said Exantus caused them untold heartache in an interview with Lex18 this week
The boy’s father Dean Tipton said the sentence handed down was inadequate regardless of Exantus’s mental state at the time
He traveled from Indianapolis to the Tiptons’ home in Versailles in December 2015 where he carried out a series of stabbings
At trial, close friends recalled Exantus acting strangely in the days before the disturbed killing.
Evidence shown also pointed to him driving to Florida where he has family, before he somehow ended up in Versailles.
Exantus told officers he had seen a sign for a Gray Street and it reminded him of the medical TV show ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.
The Tipton family said that Exantus was a complete stranger to them and gained access to the home through an unlocked door
He told police at the time that he believed he needed to ‘re-enact surgery’ inside the Tiptons’ home and that the street name ‘made him think of knives for surgery’.
Trial testimony said he entered the home, went upstairs to where the children were sleeping and fatally stabbed Logan.
After one of the boy’s siblings ran to get their father Dean downstairs, a fight broke out between Exantus and Dean.
Prosecutors disagreed with Exantus’ insanity defense, arguing in court that he was in such a state due to his use of synthetic drugs.
Exantus became eligible for parole in 2019 due to credit for time served and had his parole knocked back in 2021. It was then deferred in 2023 for two years.
He will remain under probation and parole supervision until his sentence ends next year, and will carry out mandatory re-entry supervision in Florida, the family said.
