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By James Bickerton
News Reporter
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Pennsylvania State Police said it has identified the "serial killer" behind the Pittsburgh area 1976 and 1977 murders of Susan Rush and Brenda Ritter using DNA evidence. Both victims were raped and fatally strangled in Washington County.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Corporal James Petrosky from Pennsylvania State Police's Troop B criminal investigation assessment unit said officials were able to identify the alleged killer as James Richard Clark Sr., a long-haul truck driver who died of natural causes in July 2023.
Newsweek contacted the Pennsylvania State Police for comment via email on Thursday outside regular office hours.
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Who Were Susan Rush and Brenda Ritter?
Susan Elizabeth Rush disappeared on November 24, 1976, after leaving her job at the G. C. Murphy store near what was the Washington Mall in Washington County. There are contrasting accounts of her age at this time, with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporting she was 19, while CBS News gives her age as 21. Pennsylvania State Police has been asked for clarification.
According to Petrosky, Rush was last seen shortly after 6 p.m. and had been due to meet her family for a dinner and church service the night before Thanksgiving. When she didn't turn up, her family reported her missing that night. The following day, Rush's car was spotted by her brother around 10 a.m. about a quarter mile from where she worked. Her body was subsequently found in the trunk.
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Citing authorities, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported at the time that Rush had been strangled, possibly by a piece of leather or shoestring.
Almost six months later, on May 18, 1977, 18-year-old Brenda Lee Ritter left the home of her boyfriend, Larry Bonazza, in Chartiers Township.
Ritter's mother initially suspected she had stayed at Bonazza's home due to a storm, but she reported her missing the following morning after learning this wasn't the case.
A subsequent search found Ritter's body near Roupe Road on a hillside. A coroner later concluded she had been strangled.
Finding Breakthrough in Serial Killer Case
According to Petrosky, the breakthrough began after evidence from both cases was sent for DNA testing in 2008. Following technological breakthroughs and additional funding in May 2025, a new test confirmed the "same offender murdered both Susan Rush and Brenda Ritter." Petrosky added, "This testing confirmed that there was a serial killer in Washington County during this time frame."
Further testing identified Clark as the suspect. The long-haul trucker was 19 years old when Rush was murdered and 20 when Ritter was killed. Petrosky said Clark hadn't previously been considered a suspect in the case. He said the families of Rush, Ritter and Clark had been informed about the findings.
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Petrosky said other victims may be linked to Clark. "I believe that once you're a serial killer, you're always a serial killer," he said. "I believe there could potentially be more victims out there."
Referring to the two murders, he added, "We're constantly revisiting these cases, trying to go through the evidence and see if there's additional items that can be tested and retested."
Pennsylvania’s 1970s Murder Spree
Rush and Ritter were two of five young women and girls who were murdered in the Pittsburgh area between November 1976 and June 1977.
The other victims were 17-year-old Deborah Capiola, who was sexually assaulted and strangled after leaving to catch her school bus; 16-year-old Mary Gency, who was sexually assaulted and died of fracture wounds; and Roberta Elam, 26, who was raped and strangled.
David Robert Kennedy and Robert William Urwin Jr. were ultimately convicted of murdering Capiola and Gency, respectively. Elam's killing remains unsolved.
In 2021, serial killer Edward Surratt, who was convicted of two murders, told Pennsylvania State Police that he was responsible for a string of six murders that took place in 1977 and 1978 during home invasions in the state.
US’s Decades-Long Surge in Serial Murder
According to data from the Radford University/Florida Gulf Coast University Serial Killer Database, the number of suspected serial-killer victims increased dramatically in the United States over three decades—rising from 621 during the 1960s to 2,092 in the 1970s and peaking at 3,079 in the 1980s before falling in subsequent decades.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Shakeema Edwards.
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