All language subtitles for A.U.S01E21.1080p.WEB.h264-CASUALTY_track3_[eng]

(tense music)

- [Narrator] A young woman
doesn't drive home after work.

And is found raped and murdered.

(siren wails)
(tense music continues)

- She was supposed to
be here for a few weeks

and she was killed during her
second week here in Colorado.

- [Officer] Negative.

- [Narrator] A witness helps
to make a composite sketch,

but the killer isn't found.

- This is not what
officers were hoping for.

(tense music continues)

- Police have very
little to go on.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Years pass
and technology advances.

It's a case no one could forget.

(tense music continues)

- I have to dig in there and
figure out if I can solve this.

- [Narrator] A killer
who walked in the shadows

is on the radar.

(tense music continues)

- They're not gonna
let her memory fade

and they're not gonna give
up looking for her killer.

- [Narrator] Once he
had the advantage.

Now he's the unsuspecting one.

- He nearly got away with it.

He could have just
disappeared into the night.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] When justice
stalks the predator.

(tense music continues)

- The unsolved ones,
we have to stand up.

- And approach these cases
in a way outside the box.

- Let the world know
is those out there

that did commit a murder,

you know there are people
that are coming after you.

- There's just a lotta
good people trying

to do the right thing.

- Because it's something

that you have to be
passionate about.

- Solve this, bring some
peace to the family at least.

Just doing my job.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] It's a
sharp biting winter night

in Englewood, Colorado.

Helene, a punctual,
reliable young woman

should have come home
straight after work.

(tense music continues)

Her routine every day
is like clockwork,

but they're still
waiting for her.

(tense music continues)

- Her shift at the radio
station ends at 5:30 PM.

From there, she walks
two blocks to a bus stop

at the corner of 14th
Avenue and Broadway

and catches a bus to Englewood.

She gets off in
front of a pizzeria

at Union Avenue in Broadway
and walks six blocks

to a home where she's staying
with her aunt and uncle

and a classmate.

This gets her home
at about 6:30 PM.

(tense music continues)

- Right away the
people waiting for her

believe that something is wrong.

They waste no time.

They drive to her bus stop,

go along the streets where
they know she'd walk,

and call her work.

They walk up and down the
street looking for any clue

as to what may have
happened to Helene.

- [Narrator] When they
can find no answers,

they call police.

(tense music continues)

It's 10:30 PM when
an officer arrives

to take a missing
person's report.

- [Glen] They've done everything
they can at this point

and are forced to just wait.

- [Narrator] At 11:00 PM
Helene's friend, Kitsey Snow,

writes an entry
into her journal.

"This day has been the longest
and worst day of my life.

I'm writing because I
don't know what else to do.

We waited for Helene to
come home and waited."

Kitsey Snow.

The night drags on for the
people who love Helene.

At 1:00 AM, her friend
writes another journal entry.

"Still nothing.

Will this night ever end?"

Kitsey Snow.

- They have some difficult
decisions to make

and at 3:00 AM Kitsey
makes another entry.

- [Narrator] "We
are trying to decide

when to call her mum and dad.

We know something is very wrong.

I think we should call them.

If it was my daughter,
I'd want to know."

(tense music continues)

- Their instincts have
been right all along.

Something is very wrong.

Tragically, it
couldn't be worse.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Approximately
9:00 AM the next morning,

a woman and her son drive
along Daniels Park Road

in Northern Douglas County.

- The boy says, "Mom,
there's a body out there."

It's an empty field of brown
scrub with patches of snow,

but in the distance
there's something

that appears to be a body.

(tense music continues)

- A female passerby had
noticed her body in the field

and alerted a county man
who was driving a snowplow,

a county worker, and
he called the police.

- [Narrator] 9:18 AM, Douglas
County Sheriff's Department

receives the report of the body,

found about 1.6 miles south

of the Colorado Highway, I-470.

(siren wails)
(tense music continues)

(camera shutter clicking)

- By 9:41 AM, investigators
are roping off the scene.

The coroner arrives
nine minutes later

and pronounces the
unidentified victim dead.

By 10:20, the Colorado Bureau
of Investigation arrives

on the scene to join police.

(tense music continues)

- Helene's hands had been
tied behind her back.

She was naked from
the waist down.

She was still wearing her coat
and her turtleneck sweater.

- [Narrator] It is
clear that the victim

has been stabbed and
sexually assaulted.

Officers examine
the scene for clues

when an unexpected ID is made.

(tense music continues)

- [Glen] One of the Arapahoe
County sheriff deputies

who works part-time at a
local radio station arrives

and immediately
recognizes the new intern

at the radio station,
Helene Pruszynski.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Helene
Pruszynski is born in 1958.

Her parents are
Henrietta and Chester

and she's the youngest
of three children.

Her brother, Chet,
and her sister, Janet,

who considers Helene
her best friend.

She's a huge baseball fan

and memorizes the team's
players and positions.

Her father, a veteran,
works as an engineer.

In 1972, he takes a new job

and the family moves to Hamilton

when Helene is a
high school freshman.

Helene attends Hamilton-Wenham
Regional High School.

She's an A student, active at
school, aspiring journalist,

and belongs to a singing
group called Club Harmony.

She's known as kind,
strong, involved, and happy.

She attends prom with her
boyfriend, Jonathan Shailor.

Helene looks to be on track

for an exceptionally
bright future.

- She was everything that
you'd want your child to be.

She was a leader.

She was beautiful.

She was kind.

She was talented, smart.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Helene Pruszynski
goes to study journalism

at Wheaton College in
Norton, Massachusetts.

- In late 1979,

Helene and classmate,
Kitsey Snow,

leave the confines of their home

to put their
learning into action

and get some work experience
in Denver, Colorado.

(tense music continues)

- She came out here
to do an internship

with her friend Kitsey.

They lived with Helene's aunt
down in Englewood, Colorado.

(tense music continues)

- Helene is thrilled
to be working

in the news department
of a Denver radio station

and is quickly
assigned a big story,

a follow up to the killing
of a Secret Service agent

in the field office.

In fact, the day
before her murder,

her boss singles
her out for praise.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] In the
dirt along the edge

of the two-lane road,

they find tire tracks,

one set from a motorcycle

covered by a set of impressions
from a car or truck.

- There were some cowboy
boot tracks leading

from the road to her body.

They were able to determine
around about size of the boot

and that it was
a a Western boot.

(tense music continues)

- Her hands are bound
with vinyl straps.

Investigators later collect
hair and semen evidence.

- [Narrator] There is a
pool of blood under her body

on the ground

and a large bloodstain
on the back of her coat.

- In 1980, there wasn't
such a thing as DNA, right?

And the Colorado Bureau
of Investigations came out

to the scene.

In those days, they
processed scenes like this

for local agencies 'cause
the sheriff's office,

we just didn't have
that technology.

We didn't have crime
scene investigators.

So they came out and
they processed the scene.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Detectives
take plaster casts

of the tire tracks
and footprints.

Also gathered from the scene
are an empty milk carton,

some bread, and an old can.

- In a restroom
at a nearby park,

there's clothes
burning in a toilet.

Officers recover what's
left of a pant leg,

a box container for a stove,

and several burnt
rolls of toilet paper.

- They just found
some burned clothes

in a bathroom near
where she was killed,

but they weren't able
to ever determine

if they were related or not.

And they think, ultimately,
they decided no,

they were not related.

(tense music continues)

There wasn't a lot
of information about
that in the case,

but it was definitely a
red herring, so to speak.

- Around noon,
Helene's aunt and uncle

and Kitsey Snow have
heard on the news

about a woman's body being found

and they're desperately
trying to stay positive.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] But police
arrive at 1:30 PM

to break the news that

the victim is, in fact,
Helene Pruszynski.

- Helene's parents fly in
and arrive at the house

around 4:00 PM.

When they see a priest
waiting, they know the worst.

Later, Kitsey writes
in her journal...

- [Narrator] "I couldn't
cry, just shake.

I couldn't stop shaking."

Kitsey Snow.

- The news of the murder breaks

and then the police get a lead.

(tense music continues)

- A woman driving
on Daniels Park Road

around 10:20 PM the
night Helene disappears,

sees a man, 20 or 30 years
old, possibly Caucasian,

medium-length brown
hair over the ears

with possibly a mustache.

- Authorities
realize how crucial

this chance sighting is and
they put her under hypnosis.

(tense music continues)

She recalls even more detail.

- A witness had seen
some type of muscle car,

possibly a Mustang,
yellow or white,

and they were able to
do a composite sketch

of the face of the person,

the man who was seen at
the trunk of the car.

- [Narrator] Armed
with a detailed sketch,

the authorities now
have something concrete

that they may be able to
use to catch a killer.

(tense music continues)

(dramatic music)

(tense music)

A young woman is
found in a field,

brutally raped and murdered,

but a passerby gets a clear view

of a man in the
vicinity of the killing.

Using hypnosis, a highly
detailed composite sketch

is made public

Police comb the area around
Helen Pruszynski's bus stop

where they believe she was
likely to have been abducted.

- You're racing the clock
when you've got a homicide

and every officer knows it.

You want to get a lead
in the first 48 hours

while people's minds
are still fresh

and the evidence hasn't yet
been degraded or destroyed.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] The radio
station where Helene

was interning offers a reward
for the capture of the killer.

- [Announcer] Is
offering a reward

for anybody who knows
any information.

- [Narrator] And
officers are inundated

with tips from the public.

- Police canvass
all possible areas

and follow up on
each and every lead.

With such a detailed
composite sketch,

someone must have
seen something.

(tense music continues)

- A mass is held for Pruszynski

in St. Paul's Church in
Hamilton, Massachusetts

and a memorial mass
the following month.

Pruszynski's friends and family,

her former classmates,
her teachers,

they're all in total shock.

- [Glen] The autopsy reveals
that Helene Pruszynski is raped

and stabbed multiple
times in the back.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Forensic
officers process a swab taken

from the victim.

Forensics also examined
the footwear casts taken

from the crime scene.

(tense music continues)

- They appear to have been
left by a Western-style boot

with a size range of 9 to 11.

As police try to put
all the clues together,

an eerie similarity to two
other cases becomes obvious.

(tense music continues)

- There were several murders

up and down the
Broadway corridor

during that time in Colorado.

It was a dangerous area.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] In 1968 and 1970,

there are two other similar
murders in the same area.

- In just a few weeks earlier,

a woman is raped not far
from Pruszynski's bus stop.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] The very night
Helene Pruszynski vanishes,

another woman is
grabbed when she tries

to get off a nearby bus.

(tense music continues)

It seems likely that
all of these cases

could be related to Helene's
disappearance and murder.

- But is there any connection

between the women
who were attacked?

(tense music continues)

- She was supposed to
be here for a few weeks

and she was killed during her
second week here in Colorado.

- Which makes it likely
her killer was a stranger.

A random attack is one of
the the most difficult cases

to solve, especially in 1980

before DNA is used the
way we've come to expect.

(tense music continues)

- The composite sketch
isn't getting any results.

As the days pass, police
have very little to go on.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] "We're
doing everything we can

to run down leads,

but after that, you
know the way it goes,

especially when the
victim is new in town."

Carl Whiteside,

deputy director of the Colorado
Bureau of Investigation.

Investigators believe
there is a link

between Helene
Pruszynski's murder

and the two other slayings

in the Denver metropolitan
area years earlier.

- But there's
nothing they can do

to prove their theory
or find the killer.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Despite
the preserved samples

taken from the body,

technology does not allow
authorities to connect the dots.

The case stalls and the
tragic killing look fated

to be filed away with
other unsolved murders.

- But despite all appearances,
this story isn't over yet.

Pruszynski's family and friends

are not gonna let
her memory fade

and they're not gonna give
up looking for her killer.

- [Narrator] "I saw
Helene's parents

and I just promised them
that I would not stop

for as long as I was living

and doing everything in my
power to find Helene's killer."

Kimberly La Tourette,
friend of Helene Pruszynski

The following year,

the investigation into Helene
Pruszynski's murder goes cold

and it will stay cold
for almost two decades.

- But as we know,

some of the most daunting cold
cases have a way of thawing.

(tense music continues)

- Helene's case was well
known in the sheriff's office

and in the area
in Douglas County.

Whoever worked on it was
passionate to find her killer

and bring them to justice.

Director of CBI at the
time was forward thinking.

They saved the DNA
and stored it properly

over the next several decades.

- And because family, friends,

and police never forget
this brilliant young woman

who had her life
cruelly ripped from her,

the unbelievable happens.

(dramatic music)

(tense music)

- [Narrator] The case of
a brutal rape and murder

of a bright young
student goes cold.

Her friends and family vow

to never stop haunting
for the killer.

Evidence taken from the crime
scene waits on the shelf

while technology
slowly advances.

(tense music continues)

- By the late 1980s, DNA is
commonly used to solve crimes,

but its reach is still limited

and Pruszynski's case
remains a cold file.

(tense music continues)

- But the search for her
killer comes into view again

when a dark avenue of
investigation comes to light.

- There were several
possibilities or similarities

to other cases, but they
weren't Helene's killer.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] In 1976, Kenyon
Battles Tolerton tries

to abduct Janelle Shepherd
from a mall's parking lot

by hiding in the
backseat of her car,

but is foiled by a passerby.

Tolerton is arrested.

He's also a suspect in the
murder of Holly Andrews, age 16,

who disappears on
December 26th, 1976

after leaving her mother's
home in Littleton.

Her naked body is found
by skiers the next day.

She has been sexually
assaulted and stabbed to death.

(tense music continues)

In 1980, the same year
as Helene's murder.

Donna Waugh's half-dressed
corpse is discovered

in a field in Arapahoe
County, Colorado,

an area less than an hour from
where Helene's body is found.

- Tolerton is out on probation

when he is charged with
the first-degree murder

and rape of Donna Waugh.

In 1981, he pleads guilty
to second-degree murder

to avoid the death penalty.

But by 1991, he is
again out on parole.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] In September, 1993,

14-year-old Cissy Foster's
partially-clad body is found

in a remote area of Denver.

Like Helene Pruszynski,

she is raped and
stabbed multiple times.

- [Glen] Police arrest
Tolerton when they find a link

to Cissy Foster's murder

from a blood sample
taken from Tolerton

when he was serving
his 1980 sentence.

- [Narrator] In
1994, he is sentenced

to life plus 48 years for
the murder of Cissy Foster.

- Authorities make
the connection

that the killings
perpetrated by Tolerton

and Pruszynski's rape and
murder are eerily similar.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Almost
two decades later,

Douglas County's sheriff
forms a taskforce

that includes the Englewood
Police Department and the CBI.

They reopened Helen
Pruszynski's case.

(tense music continues)

There's a re-examination

of all the evidence
from 20 years earlier.

(tense music continues)

- They have Helene's coat
from the crime scene,

but discover it's never been
submitted for DNA testing.

- They were able to take
that coat, take that DNA,

and send it to a private
lab who extracted the DNA

from that sample and
create a DNA profile.

- [Narrator] The
results are uploaded

to the FBI's Combined DNA
Index System, known as CODIS,

a national DNA
information repository.

- There are millions of profiles

from known criminals
and unsolved crimes

where state labs and local
crime labs compare DNA profiles,

like the profile
of Kenyon Tolerton.

- There was some
hope there, right?

Oh, great.

We have this new tool and maybe
we can catch him that way.

Unfortunately, when they
put Helene's killer's DNA

in CODIS, there was no match.

- But not only is
Tolerton ruled out,

there are also no matches
for her killer at all.

This is not what
officers were hoping for.

(tense music continues)

- But in 1998, it's
still a limited process

that works best at comparing
specific DNA profiles.

In terms of casting a wide net,

the technology just
isn't there yet.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Years
pass and the case

is reexamined again and again

when finally there's a result.

- DNA leads to eight women
who may have been related

to the killer, but
it's another dead end.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] In 2017,
genetic genealogy

has been integrated
into DNA searches.

- DNA can now be uploaded
to an open-source database

and officers can now find people

who are related
to a perpetrator.

From there, a family
tree can be built up

with the person being sought
residing somewhere within.

(tense music continues)

- When that family tree is
large, it's a massive task.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] In 2019, Douglas
County Sheriff's investigator,

Shannon Jensen, begins that work

in the Helen Pruszynski case.

The DNA produces a match
of 3,000 individuals

who are related to the killer.

- As a detective, I remember
feeling a little overwhelmed.

I have to dig in there and
figure out if I can solve this.

So it's a little overwhelming.

You need to be meticulous
and tenacious and patient.

(tense music continues)

- And it really comes down
to old-fashioned sleuthing

with a huge swath of people.

There are, understandably,
some false starts.

(tense music continues)

- We have law
enforcement databases,

a couple that I
used in particular,

that you could just
type in someone's name

and try to get their
address and information.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator]
Detectives find another

possible suspect in Arizona.

- She sees him toss a water
bottle into the trash.

She grabs it and
sends it to the lab.

(tense music continues)

- The detective work is
painstaking, time consuming,

and it must be done.

(tense music continues)

This time, there's no match.

He's not the man.

So she goes back to the
list and tries again.

- [Narrator]
Meanwhile, Jessi Still,

a Georgian woman with a
fascination for true crime,

buys a DNA kit and
loads her information

onto an ancestry site.

(tense music continues)

- But within two
months, she is contacted

by the Douglas County Sheriff's
Department in Colorado.

Ms. Still is identified
as a distant cousin

to a suspect in
Helene's murder case.

- Still is aware
of ethical concerns

over genetic DNA
sites being used

for criminal investigations.

But she opts in on the website,

allowing law enforcement
to use her DNA profile.

- [Narrator] "First,
I thought maybe it

was a joke or a prank.

Nobody ever wants to
think about being related

to the killer."

Jessi Still.

(tense music continues)

No one in Still's immediate
family knows the suspect.

- So she was raised by her aunt

and she told me a story
about these two boys

that her Aunt June had had.

There was a talk
show back in the 90s

that wanted to reunite family
members for Thanksgiving.

Because of the talk show, they
had found her long lost son.

So he came out.

She told me he was
very different.

He acted funny.

He was strange.

He came and then he just bailed.

And she said there was a
newspaper article written about

that visit and it had both
of the son's names in them,

but I can't remember
what they are.

My aunt might have the article.

So she went back to her
aunt and she said, "Yes,

my aunt has the article."

I said, "Great. Can
she share it with me?"

She said, "Yes."

So she sent me the article

and it had both of
her sons' names in it,

William and James Clanton.

I had this feeling
in the morning,

and it sounds a bit
corny or cliche,

but I had come to work and
I just had this feeling

that I was gonna know the
name of her killer very soon.

(tense music continues)

I was filled with adrenaline.

My mind was moving
faster than my body.

I wanted to run their names

and get their
criminal histories,

which I did right away.

I was frantic, in other words,

I wanted to figure out
which one of these guys

was her killer.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] DNA reveals
that William White Jr.

has a history of
deviant sexual behavior,

but is not a match.

But White's younger
brother, Curtis Allen White,

has been convicted of raping
a woman at knife point

in Arkansas in 1975.

He moves to Colorado in 1979.

In 1982, he starts
going by a new name,

James Curtis Clanton.

Detective Shannon Jensen
traces Clanton's life,

and after almost four decades,

the dots finally connect.

(tense music continues)

- I went back to my law
enforcement databases

and we ran their names
and learned quickly

that Mr. Clanton was in
Colorado during that time

near where she was
abducted and killed.

(tense music continues)

- [Glen] She tells
Lieutenant Tommy Barella,

who is an experienced officer,

but new to cold case work,

"I know who he is."

(tense music continues)

- What they need now is a plan

to find James Curtis
Clanton, a truck driver,

and to collect a
sample of his DNA

to back up their theory.

(tense music continues)

(dramatic music)

(tense music)

- [Narrator] The
Helen Pruszynski case

has an incarcerated
serial killer

as her likely
rapist and murderer,

but DNA rules him out.

Detectives form a task
force and enter the DNA

of Helene's killer
into a database

where the search comes
back without success.

(tense music continues)

But when a genetic
DNA produces a match,

officers believe they
have this public enemy

in their sights.

(tense music continues)

- Detectives need to collect DNA

to confirm the
killer's identity.

Douglas County deputies
trace Clanton to Florida

and follow him for days,
waiting for their chance.

- Then Clanton goes
into a bar near his home

outside Lake Butler, 30
miles north of Gainesville.

He doesn't know a
police are on his trail.

(tense music continues)

- It was decided that, although
Thanksgiving was coming,

they asked if they could stay
out there a few more days

to see if they could get
anything else from him.

That's when he went into that
bar on a Sunday afternoon

and had a beer
outta that beer mug.

(tense music continues)

- The bartender has been
alerted and when Clanton leaves,

he carefully stores
the mug under the bar.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Detectives
seize the mug

and bring it to
Colorado for testing.

And this time it's a match.

(tense music continues)

Just before 2:00 PM, two Douglas
County Sheriffs stand alone

in a quiet road outside
Lake Butler, Florida

waiting as Clanton
drives up in his truck.

- Detectives come up with a ruse

to make Clanton commit
to certain facts.

It's a preemptive strike

against possible claims
Clanton might come up with

to protect himself,

like that he had consensual
sex with Pruszynski.

- [Narrator] James Curtis
Clanton is informed

that they suspect his
identity has been stolen

and that someone
has mixed him up

in a multimillion-dollar
securities fraud case.

- These detective, I
mean, right off the bat,

they look like IRS agents.

They went up to him and
they came up with this ruse.

We just wanna make
sure that, you know,

you're not connected
to this in any way

or, you know,
you're not a victim.

(tense music continues)

- Clanton agrees to an interview

to confirm he is not involved.

- [Narrator] The officers
continue on with the ruse.

- After an hour,
the officers believe

they have what they need
to cover their bases.

Then they reveal what the
interview has really been about.

They slide a picture of
Helene across the table

and ask if he recognizes her.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] James
Curtis Clanton denies it

and requests an attorney.

It is then he is advised,

"We actually have your
DNA in her and on her,"

Sergeant Attila Denes.

(tense music continues)

- [Glen] He's arrested
for first-degree murder

and kidnapping, handcuffed,
and taken to a Florida jail.

(tense music continues)

- He made a phone
call to his daughter

and said, "I did
something a long time ago.

I got caught.

I'm gonna go away for a while."

(tense music continues)

- After 40 years, they
have a killer in custody.

And it turns out
that composite sketch

from 1980 was
incredibly accurate.

(tense music continues)

- Clanton waives extradition

and agrees to be flown back to
Colorado to face his charges.

But there's another
big surprise.

- At the airport, Clanton
tells Lieutenant Barella

that he wants to talk.

Barella takes out his
phone, hits the record,

and reads Clanton his rights.

Unprompted, Clanton tells him

that he knew the
interview the previous day

was about murder.

- [Narrator] "'Cause I
knew that was gonna come up

and get me one day."

James Curtis Clanton.

- Completely unprompted,
Clanton makes a big confession

to the officer.

- [Narrator] "I killed the girl

they're accusing me of killing,"

James Curtis Clanton.

- He was planning on kidnapping

and raping a woman that night.

He had identified a victim first

who got off the
bus before Helene.

She looked right at him
and seemed too confident,

so he decided not to attack her.

And he saw Helene
get off the bus

and he decided to
make her his victim.

(tense music continues)

- Clanton tells a
horrifying story

of abducting Pruszynski
on the street,

threatening her with a knife,

and binding her hands
while inside his vehicle.

He tells her he's gonna
ransom her to her parents.

She tries to tell him
they have no money.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] James Curtis
Clanton drives Helene Pruszynski

to a remote woodshed
and rapes her.

Then he pulls to the side
of Daniels Park Road,

walks her through the field,
makes her get on her knees.

- He said, "Don't turn around
and don't call the police.

Don't turn around.

I'm gonna leave.

I don't want you alerting
anybody that this happened."

And then he proceeded to stab
her in the back nine times.

He told investigators
that he blacked out

or flashed, so to speak.

Just stabbed her and kept
stabbing her and stabbing her

and left her there to bleed out.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] "And as
it happened with me

on several occasions, for
some reason or another,

I just kind of step
out of myself and
watch myself do that."

James Curtis Clanton.

(eerie music)

Clanton describes a
childhood of abandonment

and abuse at the hands of a
pedophile in a foster home.

- I showed him that
newspaper article

with the picture of his mom.

I let him read it and
then he looked up at me

after he was done and he said,

"That's the first picture of
my mother I've ever seen."

- He admits to the abuse
and murder of small animals.

In 1975, he rapes a
woman at knife point

and then the police pick him up.

He's sentenced to 10 years

and then receives
parole after four years,

due to a prison oversight.

(eerie music continues)

- A former counselor
tries to help Clanton

and finds him a place to live.

In a tragic twist of fate,

it's mere blocks from
Pruszynski's bus stop

and her home with
her aunt and uncle.

(tense music)

- Clanton manages
to escape justice

for Helene's rape and murder.

But then in Florida in 1998,

he's arrested for
domestic violence battery

and then in 2001 for
domestic violence assault.

- [Narrator] "That rage
has always stayed with me.

I mean, it's, I think every
time something hurts me

that bad that I
can't deal with it.

I learned anger covers up pain.

That's pretty much the basis
of everything I've ever done."

James Curtis Clanton.

(tense music continues)

- Now, the man who was compelled
to keep on hurting women

has finally been stopped.

But that's for the
courts to decide.

Clanton has managed
to get paroled before.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] James Curtis
Clanton heads back to Colorado,

the scene of his crime
40 years earlier,

to meet the fate he always
knew was waiting for him.

(dramatic music)

(tense music)

Rapist and killer,
James Curtis Clanton,

is captured and returned to
the place of his brutal crime.

This is done by a group
of dedicated officers

who are part of an investigative
team that spanned 40 years.

(tense music continues)

- And now Clanton will have
to face the consequences.

- After prosecutors agree

to take the death
penalty off the table,

James Curtis Clanton
pleads guilty

in a Castle Rock,
Colorado courtroom.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] Clanton's
hearing is delayed

by the COVID-19 pandemic.

- But several months later,

he appears before the
district judge virtually.

By pleading guilty, he
agrees to a life sentence,

and that portion is wrapped
up in about 15 minutes,

but there's much more ahead.

(tense music continues)

- A sentencing hearing
serves multiple purposes.

It is a place where the victim

and the perpetrator
can be heard.

(tense music continues)

- Helene's best friend,
her sister Janet,

has survived her parents, their
brother, Chet, and Helene.

- Janet was the
only living relative

in her nuclear family
that was still living.

That's why it was so important
to me to be able to tell her,

hey, we got him.

- [Narrator] Over a dozen
people who loved Helene speak

for over three hours.

- It was a very emotional time.

Many of us law enforcement
officers cried,

and when Janet got up
and read her statement

to James Clanton,

it was very moving

and you could see on the video
that he actually cried too.

I do think there was some
genuine remorse there,

but, you know, Janet had a
really hard time talking to him.

She left the room after that.

She didn't even
wanna look at him.

(tense music continues)

- [Narrator] "It gives
me some peace knowing

that this beast is in jail,

but I don't think
we'll ever have closure

because Helene is not here."

Janet Pruszynski-Johnson.

- Pruszynski's choir group
also attends the hearing.

- At one point,
they came out here

and retraced her steps and
tried to find her killer.

They were very
vigilant and persistent

with the detectives over time,

making sure that her
case was not forgotten.

They came out every year
to do choir singing.

This was the last year
that they were gonna do it,

and coincidentally, in
2019, her case was solved.

So it's pretty amazing
the timing of everything.

(melancholy music)

- Helene's close friend
and housemate, Kitsey Snow,

who sat up journaling
into the night

and praying for good
news that never came,

reads from the
very same journal.

- [Narrator] "This
has been the longest

and worst day of my life.

I'm writing because I
don't know what else to do.

We waited for Helene to
come home and waited."

Kitsey Snow.

- Pruszynski's boyfriend
of four years earlier,

Jonathan Shailor,
also bears witness.

He provides a photo slideshow

accompanied by her singing with
her college acapella group,

the Wheatones.

- Helene Pruszynski's
friends and family

finally have their day in court.

James Clanton doesn't
speak for himself,

but his attorney issues
an apology on his behalf.

(melancholy music continues)

- [Narrator] Clanton's capture
and conviction depended

on so much.

- Advanced genealogy
technology allows investigators

to reach back into the past

and connect it to
the current day.

- [Narrator] "This new tool
gave us the opportunity

to reopen the case and
identify a suspect.

It's been a remarkable
tool to utilize."

Detective Shannon Jensen.

- Regulations to protect
people are important,

but the use of genetic
DNA is a crucial tool

when finding the
perpetrators of violent crime

when all other means
have been exhausted.

(tense music)

- He nearly got away with it.

He could have just
disappeared into the night.

- Technology is nothing without
determined detectives doing

that old-fashioned police
work and pushing forward

through thousands of matches.

This case is a triumph for
cold case investigators.

(tense music continues)

- Former Douglas County District
Attorney, George Brauchler,

said it well.

- [Narrator] "I don't
want anyone who thinks

they've gotten away with murder

to be able to sleep
with both eyes closed.

I want them to read
stories like this

and think they're coming
for me because we are."

George Brauchler.
(uplifting music)

- Clanton could run, but
he couldn't hide forever.

- [Narrator] Because
James Curtis Clanton

commits his crime in 1980,

his conviction must adhere
to the rules of that time.

Despite his life sentence,

he can apply for
parole after 20 years.

He will be 83 years old.

(uplifting music continues)

"I had to win. I wanted
to win for Helene."

Detective Shannon Jensen.

- I felt at times that
she was with me, right?

That she was in this case.

She wanted all of us
to find her murderer.

I felt like she
made this happen.

She was there

and there were times
when I felt that.

That added to my drive.

She drove me.

She pushed me
throughout this case.

(uplifting music continues)

(tense music)