Who killed Elena Sanchez Hawkins? | TheNewsEnterprise.com
COLD CASE ON THE MURDER OF ELENA SANCHEZ HAWKINS – kentuckystatepolice.org
Recent attack may help police solve 1992 murder case
Elena Sanchez Hawkins was a 29 year old wife and mother of 2 children raising her family in Elizabethtown KY, a small town approximately 45 minutes south of Louisville KY. She was brutally murdered in her home on January 8, 1992. Her hands were tied behind her back, she was sexually assaulted and her neck was slit. Her 3 year old child was at home at the time of her murder. Her husband was at work and had called her at 7am. She put her eldest child on the bus a little after 7am. A neighbor spotted a black Datsun truck (the truck was modified in a way that should have made it easily identifiable) in her driveway around 7:30am. Her husband called again at 10 am and their 3 year old answered the phone and said that “Mommy was bleeding”. Her husband rushed home from work to find his wife dead and their 3 year old alone with her. Kentucky State Police investigated the case and collected DNA but never named a suspect. It remains a cold case. Her husband, Michael Hawkins, was cleared almost immediately. Tragically, he passed away in 2004 at 42.
In 2008 in neighboring Breckenridge County, a woman was brutally attacked, raped and left for dead in what was described as “eerily similar” to the 1992 unsolved murder of Elena Sanchez Hawkins. The victim’s grandchild was at home during the attack. The woman played dead and her attacker left her believing he had killed her. The victim called 911, identified her neighbor Ernest D. Pine as her attacker and was flown to University of Louisville hospital with life threatening injuries. She survived. Ernest D. Pine was 58 years old, married, retired military and had no previous arrests. He was charged, plead guilty and sentenced to 17 years in prison. He has been named as a person of interest in Hawkins murder but has never been questioned or formally named a suspect. In addition, Pine was living in Elizabethtown in 1992 at the time of Hawkin’s murder. He will be eligible for parole in either 2025 or 2028 (conflicting information).
COLD CASE ON THE MURDER OF ELENA SANCHEZ HAWKINS – kentuckystatepolice.org
Recent attack may help police solve 1992 murder case
Elena Sanchez Hawkins was a 29 year old wife and mother of 2 children raising her family in Elizabethtown KY, a small town approximately 45 minutes south of Louisville KY. She was brutally murdered in her home on January 8, 1992. Her hands were tied behind her back, she was sexually assaulted and her neck was slit. Her 3 year old child was at home at the time of her murder. Her husband was at work and had called her at 7am. She put her eldest child on the bus a little after 7am. A neighbor spotted a black Datsun truck (the truck was modified in a way that should have made it easily identifiable) in her driveway around 7:30am. Her husband called again at 10 am and their 3 year old answered the phone and said that “Mommy was bleeding”. Her husband rushed home from work to find his wife dead and their 3 year old alone with her. Kentucky State Police investigated the case and collected DNA but never named a suspect. It remains a cold case. Her husband, Michael Hawkins, was cleared almost immediately. Tragically, he passed away in 2004 at 42.
In 2008 in neighboring Breckenridge County, a woman was brutally attacked, raped and left for dead in what was described as “eerily similar” to the 1992 unsolved murder of Elena Sanchez Hawkins. The victim’s grandchild was at home during the attack. The woman played dead and her attacker left her believing he had killed her. The victim called 911, identified her neighbor Ernest D. Pine as her attacker and was flown to University of Louisville hospital with life threatening injuries. She survived. Ernest D. Pine was 58 years old, married, retired military and had no previous arrests. He was charged, plead guilty and sentenced to 17 years in prison. He has been named as a person of interest in Hawkins murder but has never been questioned or formally named a suspect. In addition, Pine was living in Elizabethtown in 1992 at the time of Hawkin’s murder. He will be eligible for parole in either 2025 or 2028 (conflicting information).