GUILTY CO - Helene Pruszynski, 21, Castle Rock, 16 Jan 1980 *Arrest*

[Legally Bland]

Helene Pruszynski
Case Details
Case Type: Homicide

Height: 5' 1"

Case Status: OPEN

Weight: 115 lbs

Aliases:

Identifying Marks:

Incident Date: 01/16/1980

Occupation:

Agency: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

City: Castle Rock

Date of Birth: 04/06/1958

County: Douglas

Date of Death: 01/16/1980

Agency Case #: 801281

Age: 21

Judicial District: 18th Judicial District

Gender: Female

Year Solved:

Race: Caucasian

NamUs Case #: Unknown

Eyes: Blue

NCMEC Case #: Unknown

Hair: Brown

About this Case:
On January 16, 1980, 21 year old Helene Pruszynski was found stabbed to death in a field on Daniels Park Road. It is believed she was abducted near Union Avenue walking from the bus stop, returning home from her internship. Anyone with information regarding this case, is asked to please contact the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.

Colorado Cold Case Files - Case Detail: Helene Pruszynski

 

[Legally Bland]

A suspect has been arrested in the 1980 homicide of Helene Pruszynski, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office announced Monday morning. The suspect has been identified as 62-year-old James Curtis Clanton. Investigators used genetic genealogy to link him to the crime.

[...]

She moved from Massachusetts and had only been in Colorado for a few weeks when she was raped and murdered, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock said at a news conference held Monday morning.

James Curtis Clanton Arrested In 1980 Murder Of Helene Pruszynski

 

[Legally Bland]

When he moved to Englewood, Clanton was on parole. He’d been convicted in 1975 of raping a woman at knifepoint in her Arkansas home. He forced the woman to drive him to a bus stop in Little Rock and then let her go; she went to police and he was arrested at the bus stop within the hour, according to the affidavit.

Although Clanton was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with 10 years suspended, he was released on parole after just four years.

[...]

Clanton was arrested in Union County, Florida, where he had been living, and was transported to Douglas County, where he was booked into jail. He is scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Detectives watched Clanton for several days around Thanksgiving, looking for an opportunity to secretly collect his DNA so it could be tested against a sample taken from the crime scene. On Nov. 30, Clanton went to a bar and drank several beers; detectives worked with the bartender to secretly collect a beer mug he’d used.

Testing of that mug showed Clanton’s DNA matched the DNA in the sample taken from the crime scene, according to the affidavit.

Arrest made in 1980 cold-case murder of Helene Pruszynski, Douglas County sheriff announces

More details at link.

 

[Legally Bland]

Press conference from today (starts at about 55 seconds):

 

[Legally Bland]

From the press conference posted above:

Helene's only surviving immediate relative is her younger sister.

Clanton booking photos:


The DA said the maximum sentence in Colorado at the time of the murder was eligible for parole after 20 years. This is confusing, the DA later says the death penalty was in force in 1980.

In 1980 Clanton was called James Alan White and has since had a legal change of name.

 

[Periwinkl3]

The DA seemed too beside himself to be talking to the press. Other LE present were clearer and more composed.

 

[Legally Bland]

The DA seemed too beside himself to be talking to the press. Other LE present were clearer and more composed.

Yeah, it was pretty cringeworthy from the DA, I'm not sure his cultural references to Star Wars etc. were necessary, people know when 1980 was, he said he'd talked to the victim's mother when it was her sister, contradictory on the potential penalties...

LE seemed very professional.

 

[weepingangel]

Suspect arrested in 1980 killing of 21-year-old Wheaton College student Helene Pruszynski

 

[jaejae]

Here is another report about the developments in this case:

NY Daily News - We are currently unavailable in your region

 

[Niner]

Next court date:

Date Len Name Hearing Type Case # Location Division
2/21/20
8:30 AM 1H CLANTON, JAMES Preliminary Hearing D182019CR1316 Douglas County DIV 1

link: Seventh Judicial District » Docket Search

 

[jaejae]

Here is another recent report about the arrest in this case:

Clanton is charged with murder but not sexual assault directly because the statute of limitations has expired, 18th Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler said. However, Spurlock said investigators are looking into whether Clanton could have been responsible for other sexual assaults reported in the Englewood area around the time she was killed.

Spurlock noted that most of Pruszynksi’s close relatives have died over the course of the investigation, leaving her sister as the only one who could appreciate the news of an arrest.

“So many people are gone and don’t get to hear this,” he said

DNA Websites Break Open A 40-Year-Old Colorado Cold Case

 

[jaejae]

Here is another report about this case:

39 years after a Massachusetts resident is killed in Colorado, a man is charged in her death.

 

[DSCrime]

A Florida truck driver has been arrested and charged in the killing of a college student working as an intern for a Denver radio station nearly 40 years ago, a break in the cold case that authorities on Monday credited to the analysis of DNA information shared on genealogy websites combined with old fashioned police work.

DNA Websites Break Open A 40-Year-Old Colorado Cold Case

As authorities investigate, I hope they share more info about this guy's routes as a truck driver. He could have victims all over the country & Canada, etc.

 

[PayrollNerd]

And another one's caught.... Yay!

'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

“It always comes back to haunt you.”

That’s 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.

“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.

“There are crimes yet unsolved today that I have great optimism because of cases like this, that we’re 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.”

 

[jaejae]

Here is a recent video about the developments in this case:

 

[JerseyGirl]

True Crime Podcast Leads to Arrest in 40-Year-Old Cold Case

 

[UncoolNegated]

Looks like he had an arrest for assault in 2001. Florida Today. September 13th, 2001. Page 37.

 

[Niner]

Friday, February 21st:
*Preliminary Hearing (@ 8:30am MT) –CO - Helene Pruszynski (21) (found Jan. 6, 1980 in a field near Daniels Park Rd, Castle Rock) - *James Curtis Clanton (aka Curtis Allen White & James Alan White) (62/22 @ time of crime) arrested & charged (12/9/19) with 1st degree murder & kidnapping.
GEDMatch DNA Parabon Nanolabs match
Clanton been convicted in 1975 of raping a woman at knifepoint in her Arkansas home. He forced the woman to drive him to a bus stop in Little Rock & then let her go; she went to police & he was arrested at the bus stop within the hour, according to the affidavit. Although Clanton was sentenced to 30 years in prison, with 10 years suspended, he was released on parole after just four years.
12/16/19 Update: He appeared in court Monday (12/16/19) for his first appearance & is scheduled to return on Feb. 21 for preliminary hearing.

 

[Niner]

Man pleads guilty in 1980 murder for Colorado's first conviction through genealogy testing

Posted: 10:46 AM, Feb 21, 2020
Updated: 11:20 PM, Feb 21, 2020

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — A Florida man has [pleaded guilty in the 1980 killing of a young woman in Douglas County in what is believed to be the first conviction in Colorado resulting from a new investigative technique that uses genealogical research to identify killers through their relatives.

James Curtis Clanton, 61, known as Curtis Allen White at the time of the killing, pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Helene Pruszynski, of Castle Rock. Three other counts of murder and a kidnapping charge were dismissed in the plea, according to court documents.
[.....]
Clanton was not charged with sexual assault in the case, since the statute of limitations had expired. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 10. Clanton faces up to life prison; however, because of the law in place in 1980, Clanton can apply for parole after serving 20 years.

 

[Niner]

Date Len Name Hearing Type Case # Location Division
4/10/20
2:00 PM 1H CLANTON, JAMES Sentencing Hearing D182019CR1316 Douglas County DIV 1

link: Seventh Judicial District » Docket Search