COLD CASE
Truck driver suspected in sex assault and murder of radio intern, 21, four decades ago is finally arrested
A TRUCKER accused of stabbing a young radio station intern to death 40 years ago has been arrested after cops used DNA evidence to track him down.
James Curtis Clanton, 62, of Lake Butler, Florida, was arrested in the 1980 cold case slaying and sexual assault of Helene Pruszynski, 21.
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Clanton was finally nabbed four decades after Pruszynski's brutal murder in Denver on Jan. 16, 1980.
The Massachusetts native's older sister, Janet Johnson, is her only relative left as the cold case comes to a close.
“So many people are gone and don’t get to hear this,” Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock told
Spurlock said more than 22 detectives pursued the cold case, partnering with state, local and federal cops and Crime Stoppers USA.
Pruszynski worked as an intern for KHOW-AM for just two weeks when she was found stabbed to death in a field now known as Highlands Ranch.
So many people are gone and don’t get to hear this.
Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock
Cops believe she was abducted as she walked from a bus stop after work to her aunt’s house in Englewood, where she was staying with a friend.
Pruszynski was found naked from the waist down with her arms tied behind her back, the reported.
Clanton was on parole for rape in Arkansas after a four-year prison stint at the time of the murder, court documents state.
He was released and allowed to live with a former counselor in Denver.
Clanton was working for a landscaping business in Colorado at the time of the murder, according to the Times.
Although investigators preserved male DNA from the scene, no analysis was done after the stabbing, the arrest affidavit stated.
A DNA profile was created in 1998 and uploaded to a criminal database but even as more people were added to it, no match was revealed.
But forensic investigators turned to forensic genealogy in 2017 to try to locate family members who uploaded their DNA profiles to online public databases.
Their renewed effort involved compiling a family tree of potential suspects using semen recovered from Pruzynski's body.
Cops uploaded the suspect’s DNA information to GEDmatch.com and potential distant relatives were identified in the system.
Two top matches allowed investigators to access family trees on Ancestry.com which led to cops eliminating several other relatives.
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Clanton - known as Curtis Allen White in 1980 - soon became the investigation's focus because his DNA profile matched Helene's killer.
The affidavit also referenced a composite sketch of Pruszynski’s killer based on an interview with a woman who saw the suspect and a car near where the body was found.
The sketch resembled Clanton’s booking photo when he was arrested on a domestic violence charge in Florida, the document said.
Investigators headed to Florida to get a sample of his DNA last month.
Although a milk carton he threw in the trash didn't turn out to have his DNA on it, the affidavit said a beer mug yielded a sample.
Speaking about the case at a press conference on Monday, local district attorney George Brauchler said: “There’s DNA that’s a big part of this case.
"But don’t misunderstand that it’s like, ‘Hey we just entered DNA into some voodoo database and out popped this guy.'"
Clanton is charged with murder - but not for sexual assault since the statute of limitations has expired.
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Cops are investigating, however, whether he could be responsible for other sexual assaults in the Englewood area when Pruzynski was murdered.
Clanton's next court date is scheduled for Feb. 21 2020.
It's not clear at this time if he has a lawyer representing him
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