40 Years Later: A Guilty Plea in the Murder of a KHOW Radio Intern

62-year-old James Curtis Clanton entered a guilty plea in the murder of 21-year-old Helene Pruszynski, 40 years after he sexually assaulted her and stabbed her to death.

Pruszynski was an intern at KHOW radio. She was last seen by her colleagues when she left work to take a bus home. A day later her body was found in a Douglas County field. Her hands were tired behind her back. She had been sexually assaulted and stabbed in the back several times.

The case went cold for several years and semen DNA samples were never matched. But using the new genetic tool, investigators found Clanton's brother and eventually found him living in Florida.

With the possibility that this murder could become a death penalty case, Clanton decided to plead guilty.


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