An 80-year-old Stockton man is behind bars after authorities linked him to a double killing at a Thornton Road construction site more than three decades ago, a break that comes after years of cold-case digging and renewed forensic work by county investigators. Stockton police say the suspect was taken into custody in Stockton on Wednesday and is now facing homicide allegations.
Police identified the suspect as Donald Lee Clark, 80, and said he was arrested yesterday and booked into jail on counts of homicide, according to CBS Sacramento. The outlet reports that officers first responded to the 10000 block of Thornton Road on May 23, 1994, where they found two men dead. At the time, investigators interviewed multiple people and sent evidence out for analysis as part of the original probe.
Victims And The Original Investigation
The victims were identified as 23-year-olds Lawrence Thomas Loehr and Eugene Cates, who were killed on May 23, 1994, at a construction trailer site at 10523 N. Thornton Road, according to a release from the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office. The DA's statement says Loehr died of a gunshot wound and Cates suffered a fatal stab wound, and that the crimes took place between about 1:00 AM and 2:48 AM. The release notes that the county Cold Case Task Force submitted items from the file to a private laboratory for advanced forensic testing in September 2025.
How Investigators Closed In
Cold-case detectives with the Stockton Police Department eventually identified Clark as a suspect and arrested him in Stockton this week, CBS Sacramento reports. The outlet says evidence was sent for analysis during the initial investigation, but authorities have not said what new leads or tests ultimately led to Clark's arrest. Investigators have not publicly described the specific evidence that they say connects him to the killings.
What Comes Next
The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office, which has been leading recent cold-case reviews in the county, is urging anyone with information to contact the County Cold Case Task Force and says it is determined to keep pushing on unsolved homicides. “Every victim matters, and every life taken leaves behind a family searching for answers,” District Attorney Ron Freitas said in the DA's release. The notice includes a dedicated tip line for the Cold Case Task Force.
