An Indiana man released only 10 years into a 20-year-sentence after confessing to the fatal stabbing of a six-year-old Kentucky boy during a home invasion was released from prison in October only to be arrested weeks later for violating his parole.
More striking, convicted felon Ronald Exantus, 42, is due to be released again in 2026, this time with no parole restrictions, the New York Post reported.
Despite confessing to killing young Logan Tipton in his Versailles home, about 15 miles west of Lexington, Exantus was found not guilty by reason of insanity at trial, according to news reports.
Instead, the jury found him guilty of assaults against other family members during the break-in.
Exantus’s parole in October came after he accumulated credits that allowed him to reduce his prison time. With the heinous homicide of a child involved, the early release even got the attention of the White House.
“Something needs to be changed because it cannot be that easy,” Logan’s sister Kora Tipton told the Post. “You’ve committed a very heinous crime, and it’s just given to you.”
Logan’s family blasted the ordeal as they prepared to commemorate what would have been the slain boy’s 16th birthday over this weekend and expressed shock that his confessed killer might be returned to the streets next year.
“There’s no reason for any of us to have to walk down the street, and possibly see our son’s murderer,” father George Tipton told Lex 18 news.
After his release, Exantus moved to Marion County, Florida, but was arrested eight days later for failing to register as a convicted felon with the local sheriff’s office within 48 hours of arriving, according to the Post.
Exantus was able to reduce his sentence “five years … for following the rules, two years for exceptional meritorious service and 10 months for educational programs he completed,” according to the Post.
Ronnie Bowling, top prosecutor in Whitley and McCreary counties and president of the Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Association, told the Lexington news outlet inmates know how to work the prison good time system.
“I’ve seen people get good time credit for learning to play guitar,” he said. “It was considered an educational credit which reduced the time of their sentence.”
At the time of Exantus’s release, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Trump administration was looking into the case.
“I can confirm the White House is looking into this. It’s wholly unacceptable for a child killer to walk free after just several years in prison,” she wrote on X at the time in a post that included the child’s father talking about his boy’s last breaths.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
