StemCell Therapy

It always comes back to haunt you.

Thats what Union County Sheriff Brad Whitehead says of crime in general, after his office helped detectives in Colorado arrest a suspect, at last, in a 40-year-old rape-murder case.

On January 16, 1980, Helene Pruszynski a 21-year-old radio intern was raped and murdered in a vacant field in Douglas County, Colo. Her body was found the next morning.

Finding a suspect would take much longer.

It was a combination of DNA, existing technology that was available, but then the dogged police work, 18th Judicial District Attorney (CO) George Brauchler said at a press conference almost 40 years later, upon the arrest and formal charging of James Curtis Clanton, now 62.

It was an investigation that turned up occasional suspects but just as many dead ends. Clanton, who at the time of Pruszynskis death went by the name Curtis Allen White, had been convicted of rape in Arkansas in 1975 but was paroled less than four years later. He also was arrested in Palm Beach County, Fla. on a domestic battery charge in 1998.

But despite DNA found at the crime scene, investigators couldnt connect Clanton to the crime in Colorado, at least not until some of those dead ends spawned different approaches.

RELATED: Florida man charged with murder, kidnapping in 1980 death of Colorado radio intern

In one key instance, investigators had begun to suspect a man named William White Jr., who had a criminal history. Whites DNA would prove to be an imperfect match with evidence at the Pruszyinski murder scene and he was cleared. But then detectives used a relatively new technique called genetic genealogy, which allows investigators to essentially climb "up" a family tree from an eliminated suspect to ancestors often with the help of online DNA databases to find viablesuspects among common descendants. It would turn out, White and Clanton are brothers.

Eventually, it was determined that Clanton was living in Lake Butler, Fla. and had resided there at least a decade. According to Whitehead, Clanton had no encounters with local law enforcement during those years.

In a town where Whitehead says many people grow up together and know each other, it wasnt difficult to learn that Clanton was a regular at the Full House Lounge on Fourth Avenue.

He was always a laid-back, cool guy," Tom Christakes told First Coast News at a bar. "I dont know him other than just coming here and playing pool.

Christakes added that hed been acquainted with Clanton for about five years.

I actually taught him how to bank playing pool, just a couple weeks ago,: he said. But Im, like, completely shocked.

Investigators in Douglas County, Col. asked the Union County Sheriffs Office to try getting a sample of Clantons DNA. Thats when a deputy who knew the owner of the Full House Lounge arranged a plan to retrieve a beer mug after Clanton used it. The mug was retrieved Nov. 30.

Within days, Whitehead says a DNA match was confirmed. Police arrested Clanton without incident at his home Dec. 11.

He parked his truck where he normally always does, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said in a press conference Dec.16. Got out of his truck and was walking away from it, when he was taken in to custody.

Whitehead added, I believe once he saw us, that he felt like he knew his past had caught up with him.

Clanton was extradited to Colorado, where he was formally charged with four murder-related counts and one of kidnapping on Monday, Dec. 16. The District Attorneys office in Colorados 18th judicial district tells First Coast News its still considering whether to pursue the death penalty against Clanton.

Whatever that decision will be, District Attorney Brauchler offered a stern-yet-satisfied summation of Clantons arrest particularly the modern methods that he says solved the cold case.

There are crimes yet unsolved today that I have great optimism because of cases like this, that were going to end up solving, Brauchler told the media. And I think the public ought to feel good about that, and I think murderers ought to be scared to death of it.

In a statement on Facebook, a woman named Janet Johnson, who says Helene Pruszynski was her sister, asked that her familys privacy be respected, offering the following statement:

"I want people to know what a special person Helene was. My sister was my best friend. She was a loving daughter, sister, aunt, & friend. Helene was on track to do great things, she had a bright future ahead of her. There has not been a day that goes by that we haven't missed her. The detectives and everyone else who helped to make this day happen are my heroes. I look forward to justice being served.

More here:
'I think murderers ought to be scared to death of it...' Genetic genealogy leads to arrest of Florida man in 40-year-old cold case murder -...

This entry was posted on December 23, 2019 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Genetics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |