The killer of two cold case murders from the 1970s has been identified after several decades, but will face no repercussions for his heinous crimes because he died in 2023. Authorities say that DNA technology identified James Richard Clark Sr. as the culprit in the rape and strangling of Susan Rush in 1976 and Brenda Ritter in 1977.
Two Young Lives Stolen
Two cold cases have been solved after 50 years of wondering what happened to the two Pennsylvania women in the 1970s, who were found sexually assaulted and strangled to death. On November 25, 1976, Susan Rush was 21 and heading to a church event on Thanksgiving Eve in Washington, Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, Rush never arrived at the event, and her brother found her the next day dead in the trunk of her car. Police said she had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Less than a year later, police found 18-year-old Brenda Ritter in a similar manner.
Ritter was leaving her boyfriend’s home at the time of a thunderstorm on May 18, 1977, and was found the next day sexually assaulted and strangled. Her naked body was discovered a mile from her empty car in South Strabane, Pennsylvania.
DNA Technology Solves Cold Cases
On Wednesday, November 4, 2026, the Pennsylvania State Police’s Troop B criminal investigation assessment unit identified the two women’s killer as James Richard Clark Sr., who died of natural causes at age 66 in July 2023.
“These cases never go away,” said Corporal James Petrosky with Pennsylvania State Police’s Troop B criminal investigation assessment unit during a press conference on Wednesday. “They remain open. Our unit strives to try to progress these cases forward.“
It was not until 2025 that DNA technology confirmed the women from separate cold cases were killed by the same person. “This testing confirmed there was a serial killer in Washington County during this timeframe,” Petrosky said.
Decades-Long Investigations
Clark was not a previous suspect in the murder investigations, as he was a long-haul trucker. DNA technology identified him as the alleged killer. The cold case investigation, spanning decades, never stopped. In 2008, investigators submitted DNA evidence from Ritter’s case to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) and checked it weekly for several years, but it yielded no results.
The Washington County District Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Prosecuting Cold Cases Using DNA program granted further funding for cold-case DNA testing in August 2021 and May 2022. By May 2025, the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) confirmed that both cases had matching offender profiles.
Petrosky said that Clark’s “DNA was left at both crime scenes.” He said that Clark would have been 19 at the time of Rush’s murder and 20 at the time of Ritter’s. However, a motive remains unknown, and it is unclear whether there was a connection between him and the victims, or if they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Investigation Continues
“We don’t know at this point, and unfortunately he died, so we don’t have the opportunity to arrest him and interview him,” Petrosky said, while confirming that the cold cases have been solved, but there is more to uncover. Police are continuing their investigation into Clark and his motives.
The families of the victims are Petrosky credited the solve to advances in technology. “We’re constantly revisiting these cases, trying to go through and see if there’s additional evidence that can be tested or retested and different disciplines of DNA testing or fingerprinting examination,” he said.
While no other victims have been identified, Petrosky believes there are more. “Once a serial killer, always a serial killer. I believe there could potentially be more victims out there,” he said.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
