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50-Year Cold Case Solved: Women's Murders Linked by DNA
5 Nov
Summary
- Two women were sexually assaulted and strangled decades ago.
- DNA technology linked the unsolved murders after 50 years.
- The identified killer died of natural causes in July 2023.
Fifty years after their deaths, the murders of two Pennsylvania women, Susan Rush and Brenda Ritter, have been solved. Both victims were sexually assaulted and strangled. Rush disappeared on Thanksgiving Eve in 1976, and her body was found the next day. Ritter was murdered less than a year later, in May 1977.
James Richard Clark Sr. was identified as the killer using advanced DNA technology. Clark, who was 19 and 20 at the time of the murders, died of natural causes in July 2023 at the age of 66. He had been a long-haul trucker and was not previously considered a suspect.
Investigators utilized funding for cold-case DNA testing, submitting evidence to national databases. This led to the confirmation that Rush and Ritter were killed by the same individual, whose DNA was found at both crime scenes. Police believe Clark may have had more victims, but cannot confirm this without his testimony.
