80-Year-Old Arrested in Decades-Old Double Murder

Donald Lee Clark, an 80-year-old Stockton resident, was arrested on April 22 in a double-homicide case that had been unsolved since 1994, according to Stockton police and local court reporting. Prosecutors say Clark is charged with killing Eugene Cates and Lawrence “Larry” Loehr, both 23, whose bodies were found at a construction site on Thornton Road in north Stockton on May 23, 1994. The arrest came after renewed cold-case work by Stockton police, the San Joaquin County Cold Case Task Force and the California Department of Justice Bureau of Forensic Services. Clark was arraigned on April 24 and is due back in court on June 1. ### Who were the two men killed in 1994? Eugene Cates and Lawrence Loehr were 23-year-old best friends and criminal justice students at San Joaquin Delta College, according to police accounts and later reporting on the case. Loehr was working security at the construction site where the killings happened, and Cates had stopped by after finishing work at a nearby convenience store, according to Othram and local news reports. (abc10.com) Both men were engaged and planning careers in law enforcement, relatives and officials said in interviews published after the arrest. May 23, 1994, was the date officers were called to the 10000 block of Thornton Road at about 3 a.m. after a report that someone had been assaulted, Stockton police said. When officers arrived, they found Cates and Loehr dead at the scene. Investigators collected forensic evidence and interviewed numerous people, but no suspect was identified at the time, police said. (dnasolves.com) ### How did investigators revive a case that had gone cold for more than 30 years? In 2025, Stockton police and the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office worked with Othram, a forensic laboratory in Texas, to reexamine evidence from the original investigation, according to Othram’s case summary. Scientists developed a SNP DNA profile from crime-scene evidence and used forensic genetic genealogy to generate new leads, the company said. (cslea.com) Authorities then obtained a reference DNA sample from Clark with help from the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, the San Joaquin County Cold Case Task Force and the California Department of Justice Bureau of Forensic Services, according to Othram and law-enforcement accounts. A comparison between Clark’s DNA profile and the crime-scene evidence helped investigators identify him as the suspect, those accounts said. (dnasolves.com) ### Why did this arrest happen now? April 14, 2025, was the date San Joaquin County supervisors approved a countywide Cold Case Task Force led by District Attorney Ron Freitas and Sheriff Pat Withrow, according to a county announcement. The county said the task force was created to coordinate agencies and bring additional focus to unresolved killings. Stockton police also said they had expanded cold-case resources and renewed outreach to families in unsolved homicide investigations. (forensicmag.com) Ron Freitas told local reporters after Clark’s court appearance that investigators revisited the case through that cold-case effort. Local coverage of the arraignment said Clark faces two murder counts and special-circumstance allegations tied to multiple murders. (sjgov.org) ### What has happened in court so far? April 24 was Clark’s first court appearance in San Joaquin County, according to local reports from the hearing. Reporters in the courtroom said Clark appeared in a wheelchair and wore an orange jail uniform as a judge read the charges. He was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail after his arrest on two homicide counts, police said. (abc10.com) The Stockton Record and other local outlets reported that prosecutors indicated Clark could face the death penalty because of the special-circumstance allegations. Court reporting to date has focused on the filing and arraignment; the publicly reported evidence narrative remains centered on the DNA work that revived the case. (recordnet.com) ### What comes next on June 1? June 1 is Clark’s next scheduled court date in San Joaquin County Superior Court, according to Patch’s summary and follow-up local reporting surfaced in syndication. That hearing is expected to be the next public step in a case built around a 32-year-old investigation, two murder charges and new forensic DNA analysis. (msn.com) (recordnet.com)