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The Ewell Family Murders
Sunday, April 19, 1992 was a mild, partly sunny day in Sunnyside, California, a perfect Easter Sunday afternoon. Sunnyside, just over five miles from bustling Fresno — the most populated city in the Central Valley and fifth largest in the state —was a small bedroom community in the San Joaquin Valley, comprised mostly of Caucasians.
Dale Ewell had been born in Ohio during the Depression, a hard worker who knew the value of a dollar. Perhaps his upbringing in a family that endured the Depression fueled his drive and fire but Dale became a successful and wealthy businessman, following a stint in the Air Force. He was president and owner of Western Piper Sales, Inc., a company that sold small aircraft. He used some of the profits from Western Piper to invest in several farms, further bulking up his financial portfolio. He had married the former Glee Mitchell and the two became parents to Tiffany in 1967 and Dana in 1971. His success allowed the Ewells a comfortable family home in Sunnyside, a beach house in Pajaro Dunes, luxury vehicles and designer clothing.
Dale, his wife Glee and their daughter Tiffany had spent that Easter weekend at the beach house. Glee and Tiffany had returned directly to Sunnyside by car, while Dale chose to fly his private plane to his hangar and then pick up his car and head home.
Glee and Tiffany had no way of knowing that someone waited for them, as they concluded their two and a half hour journey and entered the home. They were ambushed almost immediately, shot as they came through the door. Tiffany, a 24-year-old Fresno State graduate student, died first, shot in the head. Glee, 57, a former teacher and very well liked civic activist, was shot four times.
Thirty minutes later, as Dale pulled into the drive, he had very little time left to live. The killer of his wife and daughter had stayed in the house, waiting for the final target. Dale, 59, was shot once, as he opened the door from the garage into the home, before he knew what had…
