Quiet serial killers may hide in plain sight as DNA unmasks dead 1970s Pennsylvania strangler, expert says
Quiet serial killers may be hiding in plain sight, an expert warns, after new DNA technology helped unmask a Pennsylvania man authorities say killed at least two women in the 1970s.At a Thursday news conference, Pennsylvania State Police identified James Richard Clark Sr.as the man who sexually assaulted and strangled Brenda Ritter, 18, and Susan Rush, 21, in the 1970s.Rush vanished on Nov.
24, 1976, after leaving a shopping mall, according to the City of Washington Police Department.She was supposed to meet her family at church but never arrived.
Her brother spotted her car along a street the next morning, Thanksgiving Day, and her body was discovered in the trunk.TED BUNDY LINKED TO ANOTHER DECADES-OLD HOMICIDE NEARLY 40 YEARS AFTER HIS EXECUTIONPennsylvania State Police identified James Richard Clark Sr., who died in 2023, as the man who killed Brenda Ritter and Susan Rush in the 1970s.(Pennsylvania State Police)Ritter disappeared from her boyfriend's house in 1977, police said.
Her body was later found on a hillside, and authorities determined she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.The suspect, Clark Sr., died at 66 on July 17, 2023 of natural causes.DNA BREAKTHROUGH LEADS TO ARREST IN GRISLY 33-YEAR-OLD COLD CASE INVESTIGATORS NEVER GAVE UP ONIn late 2028, evidence from Ritter's killing was sent to the state police crime lab, which produced an unknown male DNA profile.The DNA was put into an FBI database, CODIS, which was searched weekly with no match.
In May 2025, testing at Cybergenetics' laboratory showed the same man was responsible for the deaths of both women.Clark left DNA at both crime scenes, according to police, and advances in testing at several labs, including Identifinders International, helped investigators zero in on him before more testing sealed the match.SIGN UP TO GET THE LATEST TRUE CRIME NEWSBrenda Ritter, 18, disappeared from her boyfriend's house in 1977 and was later found sexually assaulted and strangled on a hillside, police...