Indiana man released 13 years early for brutal 2015 murder of 6-year-old Kentucky boy

An Indiana man who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2018 for the brutal murder of a 6-year-old boy in his family’s Kentucky home has been released from prison on parole. He has been released from prison early on good behavior and education credits. 

On the night of December 6, 2015, Ronald Exantus, a former dialysis nurse, traveled from Indianapolis to Versailles, Kentucky and entered the Tiptons’ home through an unlocked door as they slept. The family said that Exantus was a total stranger to them, per the Daily Mail. 

Exantus, armed with a large kitchen knife, launched into an attack on the family, repeatedly stabbing the boy in the head with such force that it bent the blade. The boy’s father and two sisters were also attacked but survived. Exantus later admitted to officers that he had fatally stabbed the child. 

In 2018, he was found not guilty for murder by reason of insanity, but was found guilty but mentally ill on assault charges. Per LEX18, Exantus’ defense attorney had said that his client was in a state of psychosis when the attack occurred.

Logan’s mother, Heather Tipton, told the outlet, "He didn't just kill my son. He killed every member of my family, every single one of us, and every person that's sitting here today is a completely different person than they were when they went to bed December 6."

She said that the state had not contacted the family to see if they needed extra protection in the wake of Exantus’ release. 

"Nobody from the state has contacted us to ask us if we thought about needing security, extra protection, anything like that," she said. "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."

Dakota Tipton, who shared a bedroom with Logan, recalled Exantus stabbing her in the back and stomping on her head. "And I remember waking up across the room, not where I was at, and I looked and he was killing Logan and Logan was screaming."

Logan’s father, Dean Tipton, said that regardless of Exantus’ mental state, his sentence was inadequate. "You took a human being's life, not just a human being, a 6-year-old boy who had yet to even begun, to begin to live. You know, so my thing is, mentally ill or not, you should be you take a life. Your life should be at least life in prison without the possibility of parole."

He added, "As a father, I fear that he may come back and try to finish what, because, if I remember right, he told Koral that he was going to kill everyone." 

"It just seems like a 6-year-old's life is worth more than 10 years in prison."

Koral, the eldest sister of Logan, said, "I will say that till I turn blue in the face every day I breathe, I will talk about how the judicial system of Kentucky has ruined our family."

Close friends of Exantus recalled at the trial him acting erratically in the days before the killing. Exantus had told officers that he saw a sign for Gray Street, and that it reminded him of the medical television show Grey’s Anatomy, and that he believed he needed to "re-enact surgery" inside the residence. He said the street name "made him think of knives for surgery."

Testimony at the trial said that Exantus entered the home and went upstairs to where the children were sleeping and fatally stabbed the young boy. When one of the boy’s siblings ran downstairs to get help from their father, and a fight broke out.

Exantus became eligible for parole in 2019 due to credit for time served, but it was pushed back to 2021. It was deferred in 2023 for two years. Exantus will remain under probation and parole supervision until his sentence ends next year, and will carry out mandatory re-entry supervision in Florida.