Bloodline Detectives - Episode 17 - The Murder of Helene Pruszynski | Forensic Files

[MUSIC PLAYING] Tonight, a young woman on her way home, raped and stabbed multiple times.
Leads are sparse. But can the latest techniques in forensic science bring her family answers and catch the killer?
It's January 1980, Englewood, Colorado. A young woman goes missing on her way home from work.
They were very worried that something bad happened because it was so uncharacteristic of Helene
to-- to not come home. NANCY GRACE: Her body is soon discovered. She has been the victim of a terrifying and brutal ordeal.
She was found naked from the waist down and sexually assaulted. The sheer brutality of this event, the kidnapping,
the sexual assault, and then ultimately a murder, was a shock. NANCY GRACE: Detectives are concerned the murder is linked
to other assaults in the area. There had been a number of other sexual assaults on young women in that area of about a five block area off
of Broadway. Obviously people were concerned. Someone had been abducted from a bus
stop in a major suburban area, and ended up stabbed to death. NANCY GRACE: A major investigation launches,
with investigators using every tool at their disposal, and reviewing the evidence routinely.
Frustratingly, the case remains unsolved almost 40 years. Detectives at the time had exhausted all the leads
that they had within the first few weeks, a few months of the investigation. And it went cold.
We waited. And about every six months, we would check with CODIS. And we didn't have any hits.
This is the story of Helene Pruszynski, the extensive and decades-long investigation into her murder,
and how a new breed of investigators, armed with the latest forensic science, solve a case
that seems to be unsolvable. I'm Nancy Grace. And this is "Bloodline Detectives."
[THEME MUSIC] January 16, 1980, the police in the city of Englewood, Colorado, received an emergency call.
21-year-old Helene Pruszynski has not returned home after work, and her aunt and friend are deeply
concerned for her safety. When Miss Pruszynski failed to show up for some time, they went to go look for her.
They went up and down the Broadway Corridor, and-- and looked at the bus stops, and could not locate Helene.
So they phoned the Englewood Police Department and filed the missing person report.
Miss Pruszynski had been doing an internship at KHOW radio station. She was here from Boston.
She went to Wheaton College. JOHN KELLNER: She was really a very punctual young lady.
She always took the same route. She arrived at home on time. She wasn't going out late at night.
So when she didn't show up that night, her aunt was very concerned. SHANNON JENSEN: She was due home around 6:30, between 6:30
and 6:45 PM on January 16. When she didn't arrive, that alarmed Miss Blixt and Kitsey
Snow, her friend who was also here on an internship from Boston. They were scared.
This wasn't like her. It was very uncharacteristic. They were very worried something bad happened
because it was so uncharacteristic of Helene to-- to not come home. NANCY GRACE: With Miss Blixt clearly distraught,
the case is immediately escalated to a missing persons investigation. The Englewood Police Department mobilized pretty
quickly to look into this case. Because, you know, when somebody calls and they m this is not
normal behavior for someone, police generally stand up and-- and listen. Now, they were concerned about where she might be.
But they also knew to get some more information, information from her co-workers, information about what bus routes she took.
So they tried to work backwards and recreate, OK, when did she get on the bus, leaving work?
What time would she have arrived? And where would that be? They also had to look into whether or not
she had an unknown boyfriend or other people that she liked to hang out with. And really quickly they realized that just wasn't the case.
TONY SPURLOCK: In those days, it was like, well, could she have gone here, could she have gone there?
And unfortunately, where she was supposed to get off on the bus and where she got on the bus, they
were in the same jurisdiction. That was a pretty populated, you know, urban area.
And the Englewood Police Department did what they would normally do. And that is search the general area, search the bus stops,
any restaurants that she might have gone to with information from the family and friends.
And then obviously she was nowhere to be found. NANCY GRACE: While officers are following up
on all possible leads, they get a call. A body's been found. ATTILA DENES: She was found naked from the waist down
and sexually assaulted off of Daniels Park Road, which at that time, was a very rural dirt road.
The area was a-- um, a rural field, essentially. It was a cold day. She was found off the west side of the roadway,
fairly considerable distance, a couple of hundred feet. SHANNON JENSEN: It was a cold morning in January.
And a woman had located what she thought was a body in a-- an open field in Douglas County,
which is now Highlands Ranch. A lady was driving by and saw something in the field,
and contacted a road worker, who went into the field and verified there was a body out there.
NANCY GRACE: Homicide detectives and forensic experts go to the crime scene. At the time, we were very small.
We used a combination of our staff and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation to conduct the investigation.
THOMAS BORELLA: The only thing that she had on below her waist was a pair of socks.
She had a jacket on. Her blouse was, uh, pulled up. Her breasts were exposed. It looked like there was some rope or something
around her neck area. And her hands were tied behind her back. She was looking up in the sky.
She was stabbed. And she had a type of material around her neck that was believed to have been used as a partial gag.
She was wearing a white turtleneck, green pullover sweater. And she had knee socks on, green as well.
They couldn't determine, at the time, that she was sexually assaulted. But that was a presumption based on the way her body was found.
The Douglas County Sheriff's Office crime scene investigators took a plaster, um, cast of a suspect boots,
or a cowboy boot. It was between a size nine and 11, and kind of set that aside for later investigation.
There was semen also collected from Miss Pruszynski and her clothing. News of the horrific murder quickly spreads
throughout the small community. ATTILA DENES: This case garnered quite a bit of news media attention.
And obviously people were concerned. Someone had been abducted from a bus stop in a major suburban area, and ended up
stabbed to death on a rural roadway in Douglas County. There was obviously concern in the community about that.
The sheer brutality of this event, the kidnapping, sexual assault, and then ultimately a murder,
was a shock. NANCY GRACE: Englewood Police began a major crime investigation, determined to find the killer
before he strikes again. There had been a number of other sexual assaults on young women in that area of about a five block area off
of Broadway. MITCH MORRISSEY: There's one actually, the body was found in Denver.
It was the same thing, a young woman got off a bus. But the last time she was seen was in basically the same area.
And then there's another case where there was a fairly well known car dealer whose granddaughter
was walking down a road. She'd gotten off the bus. And she was found murdered. So they were interviewing a lot of people that rode buses, bus
drivers, those kinds of things. There were some of them that were attempts, attacks.
There were others that were sexual assaults. And there was one, specifically, where a knife was displayed.
And of course, in Helene's case, all three of those things occurred. There were a lot of different people
whose names came up that they interviewed. There was a lot of gumshoe, old school work being done on it.
And they were hitting up every known sex offender, every known burglar in the area, and, uh,
interviewing them, trying to see if they can identify who the killer was. It was unclear if this was somebody who knew her,
or if it was a stranger. And I think the investigators were looking at anybody and everybody they could to solve this crime.
Investigators must first determine if the attacks are linked and if the killer may
be living among the victims. So many of the other attacks are similar. Could they be related?
That's next on "Bloodline Detectives." [MUSIC PLAYING] It's January 1980. And Englewood Colorado Police launched an investigation
into the brutal rape and murder of 21-year-old Helene Pruszynski. On her way home from work, she's assaulted,
stabbed, and bleeds to death. Police are keeping their investigation wide to generate
as many leads as possible. It was just a truly random violent act. And this was a young woman who deserved justice.
It was unclear if this was somebody who knew her or if it was a stranger. And I think the investigators were
looking at anybody and everybody they could to solve this crime. NANCY GRACE: A number of witnesses have come forward.
And detectives are piecing together Helene's last movements. She had worked that day.
I believe she had a milkshake and a salad, uh, for lunch. She left KHOW radio, uh, a little before 6:00.
She was seen in the elevator, and then exiting the elevator. And investigators were able to establish that there were
a couple of riders that rode the bus with her from Denver to Englewood. She got on the bus, was coming home.
And was going to get off the bus, and then walk seven or eight blocks home from the bus stop,
and then turn and go up to her aunt and uncle's house, like she did for the last week, and only had a couple
more weeks left in her internship. They were casting a very wide net because clues
were few and far between. They were lucky enough to have a good Samaritan who thought
they'd seen somebody in that field on January 16 around 10:00 PM. And that person did a suspect composite sketch.
But leads really didn't generate from that. And of course, this is really pre-DNA, pre advanced
forensic sciences, pre things like, you know, our national databases where you could search for suspects.
So it was a lot of shoe leather detective work back then, asking people, neighbors door
to door, had they seen anyone. They certainly looked at other possible suspects in and around the country.
There were people that had confessed to this crime over the years that clearly did
not commit the crime itself. But each and every single one of them was looked at.
NANCY GRACE: The autopsy reveals all the details of the brutal attack. SHANNON JENSEN: Dr. Galloway had done the autopsy down
in Castle Rock. It was determined that she was sexually assaulted. She had been stabbed nine times in the back.
She died of exsanguination, which is blood loss. NANCY GRACE: Helene's family and friends
are devastated at her loss, and at knowing how much she suffered. Helene was a remarkable young woman.
Um, I think it was evident to everybody and anybody who ever read this case, or had any kind of connection
to this case in any way, that she was a very kind soul. She was brilliant. She was a leader.
She was talented, intelligent. She had all the qualities of a human being that you would want your own child to have.
JOHN KELLNER: I can only imagine the pain that her family went through. Police were in contact with her family.
They did tell her family about some of the things that they knew. Police naturally, though, in these investigations,
try to withhold some information because they can use this as a way to determine whether or not somebody is truthfully
confessing to a crime because they know evidence or information that other people might not.
NANCY GRACE: Detectives now go to extraordinary lengths, even hypnotizing a witness in the hope
of getting a more detailed description of the killer. It was a sketch that was done by a witness,
Miss Frizé, or "Freeze." They had gotten the description of the suspect using hypnosis.
A white male, mustache. I believe the Adam's apple was pretty distinct in the photo,
um, in the composite drawing. A full head of hair, mustache at a very distinct angle going on it, wearing, I believe, jeans.
But in many ways, a fairly common face, especially with, you know, facial hair being what it was back then.
Nothing resulted from that, uh, composite sketch at the time. NANCY GRACE: Despite using all the tools available to them,
detectives run out of leads. And the case goes cold. They recovered the DNA, which in 1980, nobody really
understood DNA like we do now. And, uh, kept that preserved for all these years.
Detectives at the time had exhausted all the leads that they had within the first few weeks, a few months,
of the investigation. And it went cold really until about 1998, when there were some advancements in DNA technology.
Well, in 1998, if you-- if you think about the OJ Simpson trial that had happened a few years earlier,
DNA was really becoming developed as a forensic science tool. And so of course, most of the people in law enforcement
knew that in 1998, this is a time for us to start looking at some of these old cases and try to revive them,
try to find a new way to investigate it. They were fortunate they were able to actually get a DNA
profile, using an old DNA method now, in 1998, that would then go into CODIS, which is a combined DNA system that is run
by the FBI, and then searches on a periodic basis to see if any other suspects or any other potential
suspects in other cases matched the DNA profile from Helene. ATTILA DENES: It was put into CODIS.
And there were no matches found. And there was a certain amount of frustration, undoubtedly, among the investigators
who were working the case. There was always some hope that the perpetrator perhaps
had left DNA behind at other crime scenes, or had been identified through a buccal swab
at the time of arrest. But there were no matches in CODIS. We waited. And about every six months, we would check with CODIS.
And at the time, that program was-- it was developing itself. So I think on a couple of occasions we reloaded the data
into CODIS to look for any hits from anyone that might have been put in there by other criminal behavior.
And we didn't have any hits. Having reached another dead end, the case goes cold again until 2013, when Sheriff Spurlock
creates another task force. Douglas County dedicated an investigator full time to reviewing their cases within the jurisdiction.
ATTILA DENES: Sheriff Spurlock was instrumental in forming the Cold Case squad, which was a collaborative effort of not
only Sheriff's office employees, but also community volunteers with specialized expertise
who came forward to assist. I put together a cold case review team. And this was a group of multidisciplinary folks
with police officers, attorneys, a doctor, business professionals. All of these are people that I knew
in the community, that were dedicated to being a part of trying to do better. They all have different perspectives
that aren't identical to how law enforcement thinks. JOHN KELLNER: And what that enabled us to do
was work together, not just from the investigative side, but from the legal side, to try and find a way that we could
take everything we knew, and use it to identify and prosecute a suspect. We looked at all those unsolved sexual assaults
in the Englewood area, trying to find some thread between them that we could find suspects.
And we searched different people. We found possible suspects, some of whom had been deceased.
We got blood cards from places in California to look at possible suspects. But we kept on hitting a dead end.
We never found our suspect. NANCY GRACE: At this stage, Colorado investigators are beginning to wonder if they'll
ever find the person responsible for killing Helene Pruszynski. One wasn't going to do it.
The DNA would help, but you would still need to do some good police work. And good police work wouldn't do it itself,
you were still going to need some DNA. NANCY GRACE: An unsolved murder from 1980, a determined sheriff
who reopens the cold case in 2013, but still no breakthrough until the very latest forensic weapon
comes into play. That's next on "Bloodline Detectives." [MUSIC PLAYING] 2019, Englewood, Colorado, detectives investigate the 1980
murder a 21-year-old Helene Pruszynski, almost giving up after hitting numerous dead ends
over three decades. But now they're about to try out the latest forensic science.
In 2019, investigators learn of a ground breaking new crime-fighting tool, genetic genealogy.
MITCH MORRISSEY: They retained Parabon. And they were selling a product that produced a composite.
So they had sequenced the DNA. And really, all they had to do then, was put that in GEDmatch,
and see, with a genealogist, if they could solve those cases. I make it sound simple, but it's-- it's not simple.
What they did is gave us a whole new avenue to look at in regards to looking for suspects when we have DNA.
Simplistically put, a DNA tree has many, many vines off of it. You just keep narrowing it down to looking for someone who
might be a second cousin or a first cousin, and then get it into the family where you can get
closer into the family tree. NANCY GRACE: Despite there being no match to the suspect,
a number of his potential relatives are identified. MITCH MORRISSEY: Well, they were going down a family tree.
And the genealogy and the DNA really looked like this woman was potentially the mother of the person that was responsible for this.
They assumed, based on a very common name, that this individual in Arizona was the person.
Parabon had given the detective at the time a possible name. And we all hopped on a plane and went to Arizona.
I think there were eight of us. And we conducted some surveillance. THOMAS BORELLA: One day, on a Saturday,
he went to this store, and went to a couple different places. And we followed him around.
And when we looked in the car, he had a water bottle, a Poland Spring water bottle.
I believe it was seltzer. That Saturday night, he went to pick up pizza. And, uh, Detective Jensen was sitting
in the car with her partner at the time, and saw him get out and lean back, and like make a drinking motion, and throw
something in the garbage. So, uh, the rest of the group jumped in our cars, continued to follow him.
They went up, and sure enough, that water bottle that we saw in the car was laying right on top.
So we grabbed it. We were hopeful. We flew back the next day with it. Everybody came home.
So the work in Arizona, which we thought was a suspect, was not a match to our DNA that we could connect to genealogy.
NANCY GRACE: At this stage, Metro Denver Crime Stoppers get involved and fund the investigation.
Mitch Morrissey had really pioneered the use of DNA to solve many crimes in the Denver area.
And so when his company had a possible new suspect, or a way to look at this DNA evidence and find
a different part of the family tree, we were all in to try again. I had done my digging, my police work digging,
and came up with some possible relatives of the mother, June Estes. And I interviewed her half sister.
And got a little bit of information. She had remembered that June did have two boys with a husband.
She couldn't remember his name. And she didn't know what happened to the boys. They were abandoned, left with an uncle.
The uncle then abandoned them a little later on in their lives. They were raised by some people they weren't
even related to for a while. THOMAS BORELLA: They got put in a foster home. And, uh, there was a teenage son there.
Him and his brother was there too, and some other kids. And that-- that kid was a pedophile.
He was a sex offender pedophile. And all the kids were assaulted by-- including him-- by this--
this person in that house. So he just grew up a very angry, non trusting of women kid.
I ran both brothers. Um, and yes, they both had criminal histories. William White, he had been charged and/or convicted
of all kinds of things, property crimes, burglary, theft, also criminal sex acts.
He had just been convicted in California of attempting to lure a child for the purposes of sex.
I believe that's how the statute's written. William White was in CODIS. So we knew he wasn't our guy.
I ultimately could never put William in Colorado. But I did put Curtis in Colorado.
In fact, I put him in, um, Douglas County during the time of Helene's murder. I was elated.
I mean, when I ran his criminal history, I saw the-- the rape conviction from Arkansas.
And it was rape by knifepoint. Then when I put him in Douglas County, he'd been paroled out here in 1979.
And he had been out here for almost two years. And he was here during Helene's murder.
It was-- it was exhilarating. The next day I come to work, and Shannon's like, I know-- know who it is.
I'm like, no, you don't. And she's like, I do. I'm like, are you sure sure? She's like, I'm sure.
I'm like, how can you be sure? She gave the rundown. And I was like, oh, my God, I--
I think we have the guy. Uh, we need to go talk to the Sheriff. When doing further background checks,
detectives learned that the man named Curtis is in the database and has changed his name.
And they get more detailed accounts of the crimes he's committed. SHANNON JENSEN: He was born Curtis Allen White.
He moved to Florida, where he assumed the identity of James Curtis Clanton. He had changed his birth date and his social security number
as well. He just assumed this whole new person. In Arkansas in 1975, Mr. Clanton entered a home
without permission. He violently raped a woman at knifepoint, and then took her with him.
He asked her to, uh, drive him to a bus station. And, uh, he was apprehended shortly thereafter
because the victim reported the crime while he was still at the bus station. So from there, he was convicted of rape
and was sentenced to the Department of Corrections in Arkansas, to a 20 year sentence.
While he was in jail, there was a pastor that was kind of mentoring him. His name was Darryl.
SHANNON JENSEN: That counselor had convinced the court that he could provide a stable and healthy home for him,
and that he would benefit from it, and-- and be able to change his life. And so the parole board agreed to parole,
um, Curtis White out here to that home, to live with that family. He was released four years into his sentence,
paroled at four years. Four years for a violent crime like that is incredibly shocking.
And not just shocking, it's unjust. And it puts more people at risk. It put Helene Pruszynski in the path of a murderer.
The laws in Colorado and throughout the country were not as robust as they are today.
Um, and that's just the fact that we have to deal with. The fact that he was paroled from prison in Arkansas
to Colorado, of course, opened up the opportunity for this crime to have occurred.
Uh, and that's certainly upsetting to those of us in the Douglas County community.
I had had a number of-- of cases where people were bringing stuff to me, and it didn't work.
And then all of a sudden, we started with genealogy. And we started to get more and more.
And yes, when I-- I had hopes, and then when they brought me the file, um-- I remember it to this day.
I was in my office. And it was at the end of the day. And they brought me the file.
And we said, we have the suspect. We know it's him. And we sent down a team of detectives to, one, locate him.
And then once they located him, we sent down a second team of detectives with a ruse to contact him.
JOHN KELLNER: We would surveil him, see what his normal patterns were, and try to approach him,
and ask him questions to see if he could affirm whether or not he was actually in Colorado in 1980,
and if he knew Helene Pruszynski. NANCY GRACE: After almost 40 years, can Colorado investigators finally identify
Helene Pruszynski's killer? You know, it was hopeful again. You get your hopes up again.
But you're guarded now, you know, because you've been hurt in a-- in a weird way.
And, uh-- but you have to press on. When I found out that he was still living, and he was alive and well and living in Florida,
that was very exciting for me. NANCY GRACE: Next, almost 40 years after 21-year-old Helene
Pruszynski's brutally raped and murdered, the bloodline detectives head 2,000 miles
to surprise a previously undetected killer and bring him to light and to justice.
[MUSIC PLAYING] December 2019, detectives from Englewood, Colorado, fly to Florida to track the suspected killer of Helene
Pruszynski, a 21-year-old woman, raped and murdered in a vicious assault in 1980.
A team of detectives went down there that were assigned to the surveillance. And in one case, they--
they followed him to a gas station, where he would go in and get, um, have a-- a milk
and buy something else. And so Mr. Clanton got back in his truck and drove to a lot
where he, um, discarded the milk into a trash bin. The detective looked in the dumpster
and saw a milk bottle on top. Wasn't sure if it was Mr. Clanton's because it had been dark.
It was early morning. And, um, he retrieved that milk bottle, and sent it-- sent it back to me.
And I shipped it up to CBI. And they had it analyzed. And it was not a match to the unknown suspect DNA
left at the scene. They were asked to stay down there a few days longer to see if they could get another sample.
And on a Sunday afternoon, I believe, they went into a local bar at Lake-- in Lake Butler,
where Mr. Clanton was drinking. He had been drinking out of a beer mug. One of the detectives that was in the bar
was sitting there and-- and watched those beer mugs like a hawk. I called a local Sheriff down there that we knew was friends
with the owner of this bar, and said, hey, you know, we need a favor. Uh, you know, we don't want to blow our cover,
but we need to get this glass. The owner was close by, came in, sent the bartender away, grabbed the glasses,
put them in the back for us. And, uh, they flew them home. We didn't want them leaving their sight.
Out of the three beer mugs, the first one was not a match. It had a couple of samples on it,
a couple donors, DNA donors. But it was not a match. The second-- the second beer mug, um,
was not a match either. And the third-- the third mug, um, had several-- I think three or four different DNA samples on it,
and one of them was a match. NANCY GRACE: Investigators finally get the news they've been waiting for decades to hear.
TONY SPURLOCK: So it took a couple of days. And then we got the phone call that we had a match.
What the lab said is, is that what you need to do now is you need to get his DNA, and that would be 100% positive.
THOMAS BORELLA: I was like, holy crap, no freaking way. And-- and Shannon's like, I knew it was him.
I knew it was him. And I'm-- I'm glad she knew it was him. But it still didn't sink in yet with me
because I was so worried, like, what if this isn't him? So we coordinated to have a plane
from the state of Colorado to fly him back as soon as he was willing. ATTILA DENES: We came up with a ruse, which
was that we were investigating a securities fraud crime that had occurred in Colorado, in which someone had used his name,
date of birth, and social security number in the commission of a financial crime,
and that in investigating this financial crime, we had been unable to find a direct connection between Mr.
Clanton and Colorado. We had no records of his having lived here, worked here, those types of things.
Detectives finally get a chance to interrogate Helene's killer. I asked if he had ever been in Colorado,
had ever done business in Colorado, lived in Colorado. And he admitted right away that he
had been paroled from prison in Arkansas to Colorado in 1979. And I said, oh, paroled?
Do you mind if I ask what you were paroled for? And he leaned forward and said, rape.
That just blew my mind. I was very surprised that he was willing to admit that. JOHN KELLNER: So the conversation was winding
in so many different ways. And I was anxious. I was wanting them to get to the point
because I was worried that he would shut down this interview before we asked the all important question.
Finally, they did it. They slid the picture of Helene across the table, and asked him, do you know this woman?
Had you ever seen her before? THOMAS BORELLA: His demeanor completely changed. He knew something was up for sure.
And he looked at it and he said, I don't know who that is, but if I think you're accusing me of what I think
you're accusing me of, then I-- I want an attorney. I'm done talking. And I said, however, I do need to advise you of something.
And he said, I know, I'm under arrest. And I said, yes, as a matter of fact, um,
we have a warrant for your arrest for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Helene Pruszynski.
And he said, for what? And I said, the kidnapping and murder of Helene Pruszynski.
And he said, you've got the wrong guy. And I said, well, we have your DNA in her and on her.
To which he said, OK. We were able to secure the use of a Colorado State Patrol twin engine turbo prop aircraft.
He was coming back from his, uh, meeting with his parole officer, that he said, you're going to get your ass thrown back
in jail if you don't knock off this love triangle with Darryl and Gale. He had learned that anger masks pain.
He just kind of came at an angle and met her. And as he was coming toward her, he showed her
the knife in his hand. And, uh, he went up and put his arm around her, and said,
I have a knife. She said, I saw it. And he goes, come with me. And she said, I'll go.
Took her to an area where he, uh, raped her. And then he took her to the field and killed her.
When you stabbed her, did she ask you why or did she just-- I don't think she expected me to.
But I told her, to get down on her knees. And I told her-- I said, don't get up until you know I'm gone.
And that's when everything else went a totally different way. Before he stabbed her, she said, I just want to go home.
And he said, you will, but you're going to have to walk from here. Get on your knees.
And then when he stabbed her, she just gurgled. The incredible science behind genetic genealogy
allows the bloodline detectives to catch predators and killers who have long evaded justice, and to close
cases that are decades old. But the groundbreaking science does not explain the psychology of the killer,
the why of the crime. As we see next, that's still left for the human mind to answer.
[MUSIC PLAYING] February 21, 2020, the trial of James Curtis Clanton in the murder of Helene Pruszynski
begins in Douglas County, Colorado. It's a 40-year-old case that's only been solved now because of a forensic science breakthrough
called genetic genealogy. He stated from the very beginning that he wanted to plead guilty.
And he-- he-- he did so. And-- and that was the right thing to do. He-- he felt that that was the right thing to do.
He didn't want to drag Helene's family and friends through the experience again.
I wasn't expecting to see, uh, much remorse. Uh, but Mr. Clanton cried quite a lot.
And my perspective on it was that he was genuinely grieving. SHANNON JENSEN: He did have remorse during the sentencing
when several people, including Helene's sister, Janet Pruszynski, was-- they were reading their victim impact statements.
It was extremely moving. And you could see, um, on the camera that Mr. Clanton had been emo-- he was also emotional.
He had used a tissue to wipe his nose. He appeared to be crying. I think that once the cuffs were on him,
he became remorseful. I don't believe he was remorseful until that time. SHANNON JENSEN: He was sentenced to life in prison
with the possibility of parole at 20 years. It's very gratifying. He's 62 years old.
And he'll probably die in prison. To know that we found justice for Helene. ATTILA DENES: I was on the Zoom for the sentencing.
There were several witnesses who testified, uh, about the impact that this crime had had on them, friends and family of Helene.
And they were very heartfelt, very emotional testimony. And after the witnesses presented their impact
statements, Mr. Clanton was asked if he wished to make a statement. He said that he didn't.
And the judge pronounced sentence of life in prison. JOHN KELLNER: I think the 40 years he got to spend living
his life was an injustice. This is a person who cruelly kidnapped, raped, and murdered a young lady who had
her entire life ahead of her. And he took all those possibilities away from her, marriage, kids, a career, happiness.
And he got to have all those things. I think the overarching theme about Helene was that she was
a very loving, um, energetic person, who was well-liked, charismatic, just a salt
of the Earth kind of person. And her loss has been felt, uh, very viscerally for 40 years.
Absolutely he deserves the death penalty if we had one. Absolutely. No doubt about it.
You-- you-- you murdered an innocent, young little girl for no reason, other than your selfish anger.
Is it possible that he was involved in other crimes? Absolutely. And is that something we're still on the lookout for?
Absolutely. He felt that he needed to find a woman to punish because he felt like women were at the root of all of his life problems
that he had had, starting from his being given up shortly after his birth by his mother, um, and all the problems,
legal problems and otherwise that he had had throughout his life, he-- he blamed on women.
And so he felt that he needed to punish women. NANCY GRACE: Helene's case would likely
have remained unsolved if it was not for genetic genealogy. We have a number of other unsolved murders.
And we received a number of phone calls from their loved ones who said, hey, are you doing that in our case?
So it gave hope. JOHN KELLNER: I can say with confidence, this case wouldn't have been solved
without genetic genealogy. And it's going to continue to be the key that brings justice for more cold case
victims and their families. NANCY GRACE: Helene's life was cut short. And there is an irreparable hole in the hearts
of her friends, her family. But bringing the killer to justice offers, at least, some answers.
Helene's death, and so many others like hers, are tragedies, devastating murders shrouded in mystery.
Genetic genealogy is only one of the latest tools available for investigators today to help bring people
like James Curtis Clanton to justice and give clarity to those that have lost their loved ones.
I'm Nancy Grace. This has been "Bloodline Detectives." [THEME MUSIC]

Brief Summary

The episode details Helene Pruszynski's murder and how genetic genealogy led to her killer's identification after nearly 40 years.

Key points

The Disappearance of Helene Pruszynski. Helene Pruszynski goes missing on her way home from work, raising alarms among her loved ones.
Brutal Discovery. Helene's body is discovered, revealing the horrific nature of her murder.
Cold Case Revival. In 2013, investigators reopen Helene's cold case, seeking new leads after decades of dead ends.
Curtis White's Troubling Past. Curtis White had a history of violent crimes, including rape by knifepoint.
DNA Match After Decades. Detectives finally get a match for Helene's murder after decades of searching.
Clanton's Admission. During interrogation, Clanton admits to being paroled for rape, shocking investigators.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The sheer brutality of this event was a shock.

Describing the nature of Helene's murder.

8:17WatchApr 1, 2021

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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