Convicted Kentucky child killer Ronald Exantus, 42, extradited from Florida after arrest
MARION COUNTY, Fla. (ABC36 NEWS NOW) – The man acquitted by reason of insanity in the brutal killing of 6-year-old Logan Tipton is back in Kentucky after being extradited from Florida on Tuesday.
Authorities say 42-year-old Ronald Exantus was arrested earlier this month in Marion County, Florida, after failing to register as a violent felony offender. Deputies found him living less than 40 yards from a local school.
Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said his office was alerted by Florida State Attorney Bill Gladson after learning Exantus had relocated to the area. “This despicable individual murdered a 6-year-old child,” Woods said. “He should never see the light of day, and I definitely do not want him in Marion County.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier called the case a “miscarriage of justice,” criticizing the system that allowed Exantus’s release from a mental health facility after only seven years.
“The facts are tragic — a 6-year-old brutally stabbed in his sleep,” Uthmeier said. “A plea of insanity does not erase moral responsibility.”
Exantus was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 2015 killing of Logan Tipton, who was stabbed to death inside his family’s Versailles home. He was, however, found guilty but mentally ill of assaulting Tipton’s sister and father during the same attack.
Florida officials confirmed that the White House had been briefed on the case because of its interstate nature. Exantus now faces parole violation proceedings in Kentucky.
