80-Year-Old Arrested in 30-Year SF Cold Case

Stockton police arrested Donald Lee Clark, 80, on April 22 in the 1994 killings of Eugene Cates and Lawrence Loehr, reopening a double-murder case that had sat unsolved for more than three decades. Prosecutors say Clark, a Stockton resident, was identified after renewed cold-case work and DNA testing tied him to evidence collected at the scene. The two victims, both 23, were found dead on May 23, 1994, at a construction site on Thornton Road in north Stockton. Clark has been charged with two counts of murder and is due back in court on June 1. ### Who were the two men killed in 1994? Eugene Cates and Lawrence “Larry” Loehr were 23-year-old best friends who were preparing for careers in law enforcement when they were killed, according to local reporting and investigators. Accounts of the case say both men were engaged and had planned to marry. May 23, 1994, was the last day they were seen alive at the Thornton Road construction site. Loehr was working an overnight shift there, and Cates had stopped by after finishing work at a nearby Chevron station, according to reports on the investigation. ### What did police find at the scene? Stockton police responded around 3 a.m. on May 23, 1994, to the 10000 block of Thornton Road after a report of an assault. Officers found Cates and Loehr dead at the construction site, according to police accounts cited by local outlets. Cates’ car was later found abandoned and burned about three miles away, according to reports on the case. Investigators said robbery did not appear to be the motive, and for years no arrest followed. ### How did investigators identify Donald Lee Clark? DNA testing became the key break in the case. Othram, a forensic company that works on cold cases, said investigators identified Clark as a potential contributor to DNA recovered from crime-scene evidence. Renewed work by Stockton police and the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office led to a reference DNA sample from Clark, according to reports citing investigators. A comparison between that sample and the crime-scene profile helped authorities name Clark as the suspect. ### When was Clark arrested, and what has happened in court? April 22, 2026, was the date members of the United States Marshals Fugitive Task Force took Clark into custody in Stockton, according to police accounts carried by local outlets. He was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail on two homicide counts. April 24, 2026, was Clark’s first court appearance in San Joaquin County, where he appeared in a wheelchair and heard the two murder charges against him, according to courtroom coverage by local media. The case has since been set for a further hearing on June 1. ### Why did the arrest draw attention now? Thirty-two years is the number investigators and the victims’ relatives waited for an arrest in the case. Local television reports showed family members attending court and describing the hearing as a long-delayed step in the case. Fox40 reported that the arrest brought together relatives of Cates and Loehr, who had continued pressing for answers. The reporting did not resolve a motive, and investigators have not publicly detailed one in the accounts available so far. ### What comes next in the case? June 1 is the next scheduled court date for Clark in San Joaquin County Superior Court. Prosecutors are expected to continue presenting the case built from the reopened investigation and DNA evidence. San Joaquin County court proceedings will determine the next milestones, including whether Clark enters a plea and how the murder case moves toward trial.