DNA links late trucker to two murders nearly 50 years apart from answers
Pennsylvania State Police say DNA evidence identifies James Richard Clark Sr. as the man responsible for the 1976 murder of Susan Rush and the 1977 murder of Brenda Ritter.
- Development
- 4 November 2026
- Coverage
- Cold-case development
- Current status
- Investigation updated
- Source record
- 4 verified sources
Police identify one man in two unresolved murders
Pennsylvania State Police announced on November 4 that DNA evidence had identified James Richard Clark Sr. as the person responsible for the killings of Susan Rush and Brenda Ritter in Washington County. The women were killed about six months apart in 1976 and 1977.
Clark had never been identified publicly as a suspect while he was alive. He died of natural causes in July 2023, so he cannot be prosecuted or questioned. Investigators said he lived in the Washington County area at the time and later worked as a long-haul truck driver. [1] [2] [3]
Susan Rush disappeared before a church gathering
Rush, 21, left her job at the G.C. Murphy store near Washington Mall on November 24, 1976. She planned to meet relatives for a Thanksgiving Eve dinner and church service but never arrived. Her family reported her missing that night.
The next morning, Rush’s brother found her locked car on North Avenue in Washington. Her body was in the trunk. Investigators determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Police developed leads and examined people of interest, but the case remained unresolved for decades. [1] [2] [3]
Brenda Ritter was killed six months later
Ritter, 18, left her boyfriend’s home in Chartiers Township on the night of May 18, 1977, during a thunderstorm. When she did not return home, her family contacted the boyfriend’s household and learned that she had left the previous evening. Her abandoned car was found the following day.
A police helicopter located Ritter’s body on a hillside in South Strabane Township. Authorities said she had also been sexually assaulted and strangled. The similarities raised questions about a connection, but the available forensic methods did not identify an offender. [2] [3] [4]
Preserved evidence produced the DNA breakthrough
Investigators submitted evidence from Ritter’s case to a crime laboratory in 2008 and developed an unidentified male DNA profile for the FBI’s CODIS database. Regular searches did not produce a match. Later grants allowed police to pursue additional analysis, and testing in 2025 linked the offender profiles from the two murder investigations.
Othram said it received original evidence from Rush’s case in August 2026 and used forensic genome sequencing to develop a broader SNP profile. The laboratory returned the profile to law enforcement, which used identity-inference work to identify Clark. Police then connected that finding with the evidence in Ritter’s case. [1] [2] [3]
Investigation remains open for possible additional cases
State police described the two homicides as resolved through the identification of Clark, but their wider investigation remains active. Authorities have not publicly said whether Clark knew either woman or explained every step used to confirm the final identification.
Investigators are reviewing whether Clark could be connected to other unsolved crimes, partly because he worked as a long-haul truck driver. No additional victim has been attributed to him in the sources reviewed for this report. The confirmed finding is limited to the DNA link in the Rush and Ritter cases, and police have asked anyone with relevant information to contact investigators. [1] [2] [3] [4]
Sources & further reading
- After Decades, a Pennsylvania Serial Killer is Now Identified ↗Othram / DNA Solves · 2026-11-09 · Primary source
- Serial killer responsible for 2 unsolved murders of young women in Pittsburgh area, police say ↗CBS Pittsburgh · 2026-11-04
- DNA evidence identifies serial killer in 2 1970s murders ↗WPXI-TV · 2026-11-04
- Two young women were strangled outside Pittsburgh 50 years ago ↗CNN via KSL · 2026-11-08
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