LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Nelson County community has stepped up to help temporarily restore a memorial for a Bardstown police officer whose murder remains unsolved more than nine years later.
According to the Bardstown Police Department someone vandalized Officer Jason Ellis' memorial sometime between Oct. 9 and Oct. 13.
On Oct. 15, the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office said someone removed the metal memorial flag and damaged property located at the ramp of Exit 34 at the Bluegrass Parkway.
On Thursday, Bardstown Police said a local business donated a Thin Blue Lives flag to temporarily hang up in place of the one that was stolen.
"We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to our friends at Motorola for sending us this Thin Blue Line flag to temporarily hang up in place of the vandalized Jason Ellis Memorial," police said in a Facebook post. "We say temporarily, in hopes that the original flag will be returned to its rightful place."
Authorities have called the theft “deliberate” and “calculated” as the flag was bolted to a metal fastener and anchored into a rock.
“This is yet another blow to Jason’s family and our community as a whole,” the Nelson County Sheriff's office said.
Ellis was murdered in what appeared to be an ambush-like shooting. He was fatally shot in the early morning hours of May 25, 2013, as he removed branches placed in the roadway.
If you have any information regarding this theft or might have seen anything unusual, you are asked to call the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office at (502) 348-1840.
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