Officer Down

Summary

Podcast Summary: Cold Case Files – "Officer Down" (December 16, 2025)

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Overview

In this gripping episode of Cold Case Files, host Paula Barros and a team of law enforcement professionals revisit the 1981 murder of Lieutenant Joe Clark, a respected officer in Marietta, Ohio. The murder, initially believed to be a heart attack, became one of the nation's oldest unsolved killings of a police officer—remaining a cold case for 33 years. Through persistence, forensic breakthroughs, and the emotional journey of Clark's family and investigators, this case evolved into an extraordinary story of justice finally being served.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Night of the Murder and Shock to the Community

• Lieutenant Joe Clark is shot while at home watching TV with his wife Patricia (02:07).
• Initial confusion: Family and doctors first believe it's a heart attack, quickly dispelled by medical examiners (03:35).

  "The doctor that examined him, he came out, he said, this man has not had a heart attack. This man's been shot. I was in shock." – Jack Taylor, [04:00]

• Immediate law enforcement response: The ambush on a police officer’s home sent shockwaves through the tight-knit town (05:19).

Evidence and Early Investigation

• Crime scene clues: A shattered kitchen window, a shotgun shell, and a military boot print are among the limited physical evidence (06:18).
• Suspicion of a two-person team: Witness accounts of a blue Ford Pinto idling nearby point to multiple suspects (06:49).
• Pressure and emotion: Rookie detective Jack Taylor is given the case, struggling with the weight of losing a friend and boss (07:37, 07:57).

Rumors, Leads, and Community Fear

• Speculation of drug ties: Given Clark's recent comments about drug busts, many believe the motive was drug-related (08:26).
• A second similar murder: Days later, a drug dealer dies in a strikingly similar manner, reinforcing this theory (09:13).

  "We get a police officer shot that just talked about narcotics. Three days later, a drug trafficker shot. These two shootings have to be related. We might have a war in the community." – Jack Taylor, [09:13]

• Paranoia and protection: The police funeral is fraught with tension, undercover officers stand guard fearing further attacks (10:21).

Dead Ends and the Case Growing Cold

• Lead overload & lack of results: Despite interrogations and tips—including informants linking names and even a braggart at a bar—no hard evidence materializes (13:02, 21:53).
• Detective’s burnout: Jack Taylor eventually leaves the force, haunted by the case's lack of closure:

  "I quit and I went on. I was young. I was inexperienced. I was ashamed of. Actually, I felt like I was running. It was my first homicide and I didn't solve it. That's not right. And that's what's haunted me." – Jack Taylor, [22:53]

Cold Case Revived (31 Years Later)

• 2012: New cold case unit takes up the investigation, facing an 18,000-page file and enormous odds (24:49).
• Forensic advances: Investigators hope for breakthrough touch DNA on the shotgun shell, but find none (25:51).

Reconstructing and Reframing the Crime

• 3D scans and ballistics: New technology clarifies forensic evidence, confirming the murder weapon as a police-style 12-gauge with an 18-inch barrel—common among law enforcement (27:27, 30:45).
• Killer Profile: Evidence suggests the shooter had military experience, access to law enforcement weaponry, and a personal grudge—not the work of drug dealers (28:17).

Focusing on Law Enforcement Suspects

• Attention turns inward: Detectives explore the potential for a police officer as the killer, specifically narrows in on Deputy Mitch Ruble—a military veteran and former cop recently fired by Clark (36:15).

  "Police officer killing another police officer. I mean that just hard to fathom." – Bruce Schock, [30:47]

• Motive: Ruble had been fired upon Clark’s recommendation after an excessive force complaint. He harbored longstanding resentment (37:15).
• Links solidify: Ruble owned a blue Pinto, advocated for the specific ammunition used, and displayed a history of violent instability (37:45).

Witness Breakthrough and Weapon Hunt

• Key witness Todd Smith: Under police protection, Smith reveals he supplied Ruble with a shotgun the night of the murder and gave chilling details of Ruble’s threats and behavior (39:38, 40:05).

  "Ruble had backed him up against the wall and had a hunting knife that he held to the ribs of Smith and advised Smith that, you know, if he ever said anything, that he knew how to kill a person by sticking this knife in between the ribs and twisting so that they wouldn't even make a sound." – Bruce Schock, [40:42]

• Locating the murder weapon: Persistence leads investigators to military acquaintances; finally, one confesses to buying the sought-after shotgun from Ruble (42:29).

Arrest, Aftermath, and Justice

• Strategic arrest: Worried about a violent confrontation, police lure Ruble to the sheriff’s office under false pretenses and safely arrest him (43:04).
• Home search turns up arsenal: Authorities discover a cache of explosives and weapons at Ruble’s home, requiring bomb squad intervention (44:27).

  "In my law enforcement career, I can definitively say I've never seen that kind of ammunition being stored at one location." – Cold Case Detective, [44:18]

• Trial and conviction: Ruble is found guilty of Joe Clark’s murder and sentenced to life; he dies in prison in 2017, still claiming innocence (45:19, 45:45).

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Memorable Quotes and Moments

• On the emotional impact:

  "You did not commit murder on a police officer. It's happened. But to have it happen in your hometown, in your county, at his own house. Yeah, you feel like nobody's safe." – Jack Taylor, [04:36]

• On detective pressure:

  "I can only imagine the stress that he would go through." – John Jenkins, [22:36]

• On closure:

  "This conviction means that my mind can be at peace now for 35 years." – Jack Taylor, [45:52]

• For the family:

  "My dad would have been 85 this year…there's probably a little bit of him in my kids. I miss him. I think about him." – Tim Clark, [46:12]

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Key Timestamps

| Time | Segment / Highlight | |------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:39 | “For someone to murder a law enforcement officer…” – Jack Taylor | | 03:35 | Family is told Joe Clark is dead | | 04:00 | Discovery that Clark was shot, not a heart attack | | 06:18 | Discovery of military boot print and shotgun shell | | 08:26 | Drug-related murder theory emerges | | 09:13 | Second similar murder deepens drug theory | | 10:21 | Officers attend funeral in plain clothes due to safety fears | | 22:53 | Detective Taylor leaves the force, haunted by unsolved case | | 24:49 | Cold case unit reopens investigation (2012) | | 25:51 | Advanced forensics: no touch DNA but new ballistics work | | 30:45 | Discovery: weapon consistent with law enforcement/military | | 36:12 | Suspicions shift to Deputy Mitch Ruble, with detailed motive | | 39:38 | Todd Smith offers crucial testimony under protection | | 42:29 | Investigation finds the murder weapon | | 43:04 | The strategic arrest of Mitch Ruble | | 44:18 | Weapons and explosives found at Ruble’s home | | 45:19 | Ruble convicted and sentenced; dies in prison | | 45:45 | Emotional reflections from detectives and the Clark family |

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Conclusion

The episode "Officer Down" traces the intricate, decades-long journey to justice for Joe Clark. It highlights evolving investigative methods, the emotional cost for those left behind, and the unique pain of betrayal when a police officer is murdered by one of their own. The closure—to both law enforcement and Clark's family—stands as a testament to persistence and progress in solving cold cases.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Jack Taylor]

For someone to murder a law enforcement officer. You feel like nobody's safe.

[Cold Case Detective]

This murder was the oldest unsolved homicide of a police officer in the nation.

[Tim Clark]

There was talk on the street that it was a drug related hit.

[Jack Taylor]

I was 26 years old. My first homicide is a friend and a boss.

[Cold Case Detective]

We have to get the murder weapon. This wasn't looking for a needle in a haystack. This was a needle in the ocean.

[Narrator]

When an investigation runs out of leads, it becomes a cold case. Years pass, and hope fades. But for the families of the victims, these cases are never cold. The truth takes time. It's February 1981 in Marietta, Ohio. Patricia Clark is watching a basketball game with her husband, Joe, who works for the Washington County Sheriff's Department. When he gets up to go to the kitchen, Patricia hears what sounds like an explosion. She finds Joe collapsed on the floor from what she thinks is a heart attack. The shocking truth would take 33 years to uncover. Catherine Reese is Joe Clark's stepdaughter.

[Jack Taylor]

When we arrived at the hospital and.

[Narrator]

Gathered with the family. There was still a lot of confusion of what was going on. Tim Clark is Joe's son.

[Tim Clark]

I was sitting out there and waiting and waiting. I remember going in to check on him. Of course, there was a couple doctors and I pretty much could tell by the looks on their faces that it wasn't, you know, it wasn't good. That's when they pronounced him dead.

[Narrator]

Ron Reese is Joe's son in law.

[Jack Taylor]

They had Tim identify Joe and I was angry that they had Tim as a kid have to see his father lying there dead.

[Tim Clark]

I don't even know if I can describe that at that point. There's nothing that can prepare you to deal with something like that.

[Narrator]

Jack Taylor was the original detective on the case.

[Jack Taylor]

I had followed the ambulance to the hospital trying to find out what happened. Joe had had some heart difficulties. So Pat, his wife, thought that perhaps.

[Narrator]

He had a heart attack.

[Jack Taylor]

The doctor that examined him, he came out, he said, this man has not had a heart attack. This man's been shot. I was in shock.

[Narrator]

Jeff Seavers is a cold case detective.

[John Jenkins]

The family members of Joe Clark, they all thought Joe had a heart attack and fell and hit his head. So nobody expected that. You feel terrible for the family.

[Tim Clark]

My mom, she was obviously distraught not knowing anything about guns or anything. She really didn't know.

[Jack Taylor]

You did not commit murder on a police officer. It's happened. But to have it happen in your hometown, in your county, at his own house. Yeah, you feel like nobody's safe.

[Narrator]

Jonathan Jenkins is an Ohio BCI special agent.

[Bruce Schock]

Joe Clark was well known throughout the law enforcement community. So it was a big shock at that point.

[John Jenkins]

They say that Joe had been shot. He'd been ambushed in his own home. You just don't believe it. It changed everybody's outlook and responsibilities. First thing you want to do immediately is secure the crime scene.

[Jack Taylor]

I started on Joe's house that night. Joe's wife heard a pop from the kitchen. She thought the light bulb had just blew. She saw Joe on the floor. There was a little bit of blood. She thinks his head hit the counter. And I looked around. There's a plate glass window in his kitchen. The window was gone. That's when I see the pellets. There were pellets from shotgun. And I was beginning to make sense of what happened. The person had gone around the back of Joe's house to where the plate glass window was. The shot came from a shotgun from outside that window at an upward angle. Some of the pellets struck Joe and Killed him.

[Narrator]

Bruce Schock is a cold case detective.

[Cold Case Detective]

On the night of the murder, the officers identified more than 10 witnesses who had seen blue Ford Pinto parked in the area of the crime scene. Every witness stated that it was idling as they drove by. The driver of the car would put his hand up in a motion similar to what I'm doing to cover his face. One witness traveled a short distance away from the car and then described what he said was a shotgun blast.

[John Jenkins]

We knew that there's no way the guy could have shot and ran into the vehicle in that amount of time. We believed that there was two people involved, one in the vehicle and one.

[Jack Taylor]

That did the shooting the next day. At the crime scene, I found a military combat boot print. Also left at the scene was a number four buck shotgun shell.

[Bruce Schock]

So basically at the scene, there wasn't a whole lot of physical evidence to collect.

[Jack Taylor]

I mean, good God, whoever gets this case is gonna have it pretty hard. I didn't know it was gonna be me.

[John Jenkins]

At that time, there was no higher profile case, and I can't tell you why the sheriff would assign a rookie to it.

[Cold Case Detective]

There are certainly other officers that would have had more experience than Deputy Taylor.

[Jack Taylor]

At the time of the homicide, I was 26 years old, and all of a sudden my first homicide is a friend and a boss. You set your personal feelings aside and concentrate on your job. What I could see, what I could find to catch the person who did it.

[Narrator]

On February 5, two days before his murder, Joe Clark spoke to his fellow officers at the Washington County Sheriff's Office.

[John Jenkins]

During Joe's short career with the sheriff's office, I knew he had a lot of passion in combating the drug use in Washington County.

[Bruce Schock]

Clark did an interview talking about the presence of narcotics that was suspected in the area.

[Tim Clark]

He had said, and it was quoted in the newspaper, something big was gonna go down.

[Jack Taylor]

He said he was gonna be naming names the following week and arresting people. He was interviewed that Friday. The article came out the day he was killed because of the comments he made and because of that article. When Joe was killed, we just added two and two and we said, this has got to be drug related. Three days after the homicide, I get a call from the dispatch center. Somebody got shot at this trailer park. I pull up, I'm the first one there. I see blood down the hallway. I found the victim on the floor. And I see drugs. Cocaine, pcp. He was a drug dealer. Another drug related murder, that's too big a coincidence, especially in Washington county when your homicide rate could be one every eight years. I looked at the victim. He was shot in the head. Just like the homicide of Joe Clark. We get a police officer shot that just talked about narcotics. Three days later, a drug trafficker shot. These two shootings have to be related. We might have a war in the community. They didn't know what was going to happen. At Joe's funeral was not only terrifying for the community, but it was terrifying for me and the other officers too. The big question I had in my mind at the time was, who's next? We still had the thought of a drug related homicide to a police officer. And where are all your police officers during the funeral of a police officer?

[John Jenkins]

Because it was an ambush. It was a sniper type murder. In law enforcement, there was probably a fear that went through that other officers were also going to be targeted.

[Jack Taylor]

So there were plain clothes officers in various areas outside the crowd just to make sure that nothing happened during the funeral itself. And the only thing we could do was guard and be watchful.

[Narrator]

The day of my stepfather's funeral, it just seemed like the skies had fallen.

[Jack Taylor]

And somehow made it even more profound.

[Tim Clark]

I remember my grandpa, you know, dad's dad, walking up and crying. The only time I ever saw that man cry.

[Jack Taylor]

The huge number of people and so many officers. And Joe was buried in his uniform.

[Narrator]

Which would have been the way he wanted.

[Jack Taylor]

I was one of Joe's pallbearers. He gets military honors. At the gravesite. There were the firing of the volleys. Law enforcement officers, you know how they wear the black band over the badge when one of their people falling? Remember, officers were in it. When the funeral was over, I go back to work again. I'm looking for a blue Ford Pinto. The first thing I did was I contacted the DMV. How many 1974 blue Ford Pinto hatchbacks or station wagons you have? I think it was some ungodly number, like 4,000, blah, blah, blah. So I got nothing.

[Bruce Schock]

The investigators at that time didn't have a whole lot to go on as far as actual physical evidence.

[Jack Taylor]

I separate the drugs from the non drug leads and I talk to members of the drug community, abusers, dealers, informants. And that's when the threats came in. Things like, you're gonna get the same thing that other cop got. You tell that so and so. Knock it off or he's dead. I felt legitimately afraid for my life so much that I moved my family and stayed in Washington county alone for the first week or so after the death threats. I was sleeping in a jail cell with a shotgun in the corner and a pistol in the bed with me.

[John Jenkins]

When you become an investigator, a detective, you've got to have informants. They will help you succeed in almost any investigations you get involved in.

[Jack Taylor]

I had an informant come in and they said, you were out at so and so's trailer. You got shot in the face. He said, well, I'm telling you what I know who did it. There was a black guy named Washington, a white guy named Jones, and in the back of my mind, I'm thinking again, we got two people involved, just like Joe's homicide. One of them would have been a shooter, one of them would have been a driver. This has got to be it. Mr. Washington and Mr. Jones, I think they're the same people that killed Joe.

[Narrator]

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[Jack Taylor]

Break up with bland breakfast and taste.

[Bruce Schock]

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[Jack Taylor]

An informant gave me the two names. Mr. Washington, Mr. Jones. He told me, they shot the drug dealer in the face. I think that Washington Jones was the same people responsible for the homicide of Joe Clark. Washington Jones was from the Cuyahoga county area. We got a hold of Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office and he said, I'm very familiar with him and I have him in jail right now. I said, we're on our way. I said, you all know why I'm here. I said, I want something. You got information. I said, tell me about my shooting at the trailer park. He goes, it was just supposed to be a rip off. Rip off turned into shooting. They also said that Mr. Bonner had set it all up. We've known Matt Bonner in the law enforcement community for crime, narcotics, everything. If you had a master criminal, he's it. Joe's had contact with him.

[John Jenkins]

He was probably the leader in a lot of our drug trafficking in the northern part of our county. He controlled that whole area. Joe Clark was involved in investigating him for years.

[Cold Case Detective]

Matt Bonner also told several different people that he was taken down to the banks of the high river and assaulted by one member of the sheriff's department.

[John Jenkins]

Was carrying a grudge and he was.

[Cold Case Detective]

Certainly capable of killing a police officer.

[Jack Taylor]

I really thought, yeah, this is the guy. I'm gonna have to go. After I interviewed Bonner, I said, well, you know, I come here talking about Joe. He said, don't know anything about it. Wish I could help you. And I asked him, what about the drug dealer got shot. He said, I ain't got nothing to do with it. Well, what about Mr. Washington and Mr. Jones? Never heard of him. Buddy, I've got nothing to connect him toward Joe's homicide. I've got nothing to connect to the drug dealer except for two of his cohorts. You cannot charge somebody solely on the testimony of a co conspirator or co defendant. So if he don't talk, I got nothing on him.

[John Jenkins]

And he didn't Jack Taylor, he relied heavily that it was drug related. But those leads, they didn't go nowhere. When you get tunnel vision on an investigation, it makes it hard to go back.

[Jack Taylor]

I've done everything I can except for searching for the blue Ford Pinto. In the Pinto list, there were 4,000 license plates. So that's where I work. With all these cars and no information. And then I got a call that Jimmy Kiston was bragging at a bar drunk, saying that he shot that mfer's head off.

[Bruce Schock]

Jimmy Kiston frequented the local bars in the area, and he liked to drink a lot. Jimmy Kiston also owned a blue Ford Pinto.

[Jack Taylor]

I talked to him. What was his condition when he talked about it? Tanked the guy after he had about 55 beers. Told me I shot the asshole. Like what? There was no cooperating evidence that pointed him whatsoever other than him running off at the mouth when he got intoxicated.

[Cold Case Detective]

The lead was worthless.

[Jack Taylor]

But there was nothing else to follow up on. And that's where I was at.

[John Jenkins]

Jack Taylor, he was under tremendous pressure for this. Here he is, he's a rookie deputy sheriff, and he's got a police officer murdered, ambushed in his own home. I can only imagine the stress that he would go through.

[Jack Taylor]

I had doubts and thoughts running in my mind. I followed up every lead I could. I wasn't getting anywhere. I can't. I can't do it. I talked to my wife at the time, and she told me she was tired of living like this. So I quit and I went on. I was young. I was inexperienced. I was ashamed of. Actually, I felt like I was running. It was my first homicide and I didn't solve it. That's not right. And that's what's haunted me. It was discouraging. I remember thinking, I don't know if they'll ever get the person who killed Joe, but you just.

[Narrator]

You have to go on with your life.

[Tim Clark]

My dad was a good guy. He definitely was. I remember when he first got on the police department, I used to ride around with him in the squad and we'd go sit somewhere. He'd Read a book and I'd read a comic book and we'd sit there. When I had my kids, I remember thinking, it have been nice if they'd have had him as a grandpa because he would have been. Would have been a great role model for my kids.

[Narrator]

With no new leads, Joe's case is moved to the cold files, where it stays for 31 years until November of 2012, when cold case detectives pick up the case. Mike DeWine is the Ohio attorney general.

[Bruce Schock]

There's a lot of cold cases in Ohio. There are, you know, tens of thousands of them across the country. When you deal with a law enforcement officer who is the victim and who was shot down in just literally cold blood in his own home, I think there's a special reason that you want to help.

[Narrator]

Larry Minks is the Washington county sheriff.

[Cold Case Detective]

One of my objectives from day one.

[Narrator]

Was to find out what happened to Joe Clark.

[John Jenkins]

On that night, Sheriff Minks asked me if I'd be interested in starting up a cold case unit, and I accepted. When we took over the case again, it was over 30 years old. The case file was 18,000 pages. And we thought the chances of finding a suspect was 1%, you know, but I'm very positive, and I stay positive.

[Cold Case Detective]

He was a fellow officer. We knew we're going to do everything in our power to get the person that killed our brother. It was obvious that we had a lot of challenges. We needed resources that weren't available within the sheriff's department, specifically technology.

[John Jenkins]

Who else could we bring on board that's going to have some of the talent that we were looking for?

[Cold Case Detective]

Special agent John Jenkins was assigned to the cold case unit.

[John Jenkins]

We knew he was a very good investigator and he was very good with technology.

[Bruce Schock]

Due to my crime scene investigator background, I knew the newer advancements in forensics and what our lab is capable of. The shotgun shell casing stuck out most. To me, that was a huge clue left by the killer. When you load a shotgun shell into a shotgun, you've got to apply a certain amount of force with your fingers. With the new advancements that our lab had, the residue left over from a fingerprint can be tested before DNA. I was very hopeful that shotgun shell would give it us the first potential suspect in 33 years. What the team was hoping for was this shotgun shell casing that we could resubmit that to our laboratory with the new testing for touch DNA. Touch DNA is touching a gun, touching a knife or a shell casing. I would leave my fingerprint on that item with a simple swab our scientists could link me touching that certain item through my DNA. We was hoping to find a DNA profile.

[Cold Case Detective]

But there was no touch DNA on the shotgun shell. This was a 32, 33 year old homicide. We needed to start from ground zero and build it back.

[Bruce Schock]

So many cases, in fact, most cases really ultimately depend on old fashioned police work. Doing things that we would have done 100 years ago. Our top priority was going back to the crime scene and looking at the actual evidence that was collected.

[Cold Case Detective]

Lieutenant Clark's house after he was murdered was occupied by several families. But the interior walls were never moved. So we asked BCI to bring their scan system in. And by taking that scan station into the house, they were able to give us a 3D image of the house itself. Based on the imaging done at the house, it was believed that the shooter stood behind a tree within 31ft of the house, below the window where Joe was standing.

[John Jenkins]

Murder weapon used was a 12 gauge shotgun. The shotgun shell was four buck. That's an excellent ammo for that distance.

[Cold Case Detective]

You try to put yourself in a shooter's head. The shooter was there for a period of time to lie in wait for.

[Bruce Schock]

Joe to present himself, waiting for that time to arrive. When Clark walked into the kitchen, he was backlit by the kitchen light and shot Joe Clark with 12 gauge 4 buck round. In my eyes, the profile of this killer had extreme hatred towards Mr. Clark. So you got the hatred and access to a four buck. You've got the military style combat boots. That just wasn't typical a drug dealer type thing. They're more of a drive by shooting. You're looking at a profile of somebody that has a military background and you're not afraid to go out and conduct an ambush on somebody.

[John Jenkins]

Joe was stalked. It was a sniper type murder and we felt that there was some type of a grudge. Just getting to the location and staging himself, that takes a lot of nerve. The person who committed the murder knew what he was doing. It was an excellent shot.

[Bruce Schock]

Another thing that we was very curious about is that the kitchen window where Joe was standing had a hole in it. And that hole in the kitchen window was approximately 11 inches tall and 18 inches wide. Because of the profile of this killer, we wanted to test the different types of 12 gauge shotguns to find out if it was a shotgun that was issued to the military.

[John Jenkins]

On a military shotgun, the barrel's significant smaller and the reason why the military barrel's shorter is so the pattern will spread out more than so say a hunting shotgun.

[Bruce Schock]

The four buck round contains 27 separate pellets. When you pull the trigger, the further away they are from the target, the more they're going to spread. And then the longer the length of a shotgun barrel, the tighter it held those pellets. So we gathered various lengths of barrels. We'd done some shooting of our own. Shooting four buck through a longer barrel at 30ft was going to create a pretty tight pattern. And I'm talking a pattern was only about five by five to. Whereas if we were shooting four buck through an 18 inch barrel, it allowed those pellets to expand substantially to that 11 by 18 hole that was created in the window.

[John Jenkins]

Our patterns matched.

[Bruce Schock]

We're looking for a shotgun barrel that's approximately 18 inches long. That's a common length of barrel that is carried by law enforcement officers. Police officer killing another police officer. I mean that just hard to fathom.

[Narrator]

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[Bruce Schock]

After shooting various lengths of 12 gauge shotguns, what we were able to determine was the shotgun we were looking for was a shotgun used by law enforcement personnel.

[John Jenkins]

What police officer would want to kill Joe Clark?

[Bruce Schock]

The original investigators never actually looked at another police officer, but we knew about an incident that happened back in 1981 with Matt Bonner. Matt Bonner was looked at early on in the investigation and he was quickly eliminated as a suspect. But several months before the murder of Clark, Mr. Bonar had been arrested for breaking and entering. En route back to the sheriff's office, Mr. Bonner continued to maintain his innocence.

[John Jenkins]

And then the deputy took him down to the bank of the Ohio River. He struck him a couple times with his fist. And he took his gun and stuck it to Matt's head and threatened to blow his head off if he didn't confess.

[Cold Case Detective]

Bonner filed a complaint for abuse against the deputy. Lieutenant Clark was involved in launching the investigation into a deputy named Mitch Ruble.

[Bruce Schock]

Clark made the determination to fire Mitch Ruble.

[John Jenkins]

And I can remember one of the deputies said that Rubel was extremely upset that night. He does fit the profile in this investigation.

[Bruce Schock]

Mitch Ruble comes from a military background. He served in Vietnam.

[John Jenkins]

Mitch Ruble was a gun fanatic.

[Cold Case Detective]

He was driving the sheriff's department to issue number four buck and their shotguns.

[John Jenkins]

Also through our investigation, we found out that Mitch drove a blue Pinto, but it was registered in his wife's name.

[Bruce Schock]

Back in 1981, Mitch Ruble was having an affair with Christy Mack. The weekend that Joe was murdered, Ruble had made plans to stay with Mack in a motel room. And at this point in time, Mitch Ruble was still extremely upset with Clark about losing his job. It was something that over time, he just couldn't let go. That weekend, Mack was talking about how she had heard Joe Clark speak at a community function and how she thought he was a really good guy. Once he heard her telling the story Max stated that Ruble became so angry, so agitated, so violent, that he decided that he needed to seek some type of retribution.

[John Jenkins]

Christy was telling us information about him also making threats. Yet, you know, Clark would be better six foot under. And then she told us that he got into his blue Ford Pinto. We contacted Mitch Drubal and asked him if he'd come to the sheriff's office so we could interview him. On the night of the murder, Mitch had an alibi. He told us that there was a guy named Todd Smith and that he had stayed with him that night.

[Bruce Schock]

So of course we wanted to question Todd Smith.

[John Jenkins]

So me and John went and interviewed him, and we talked to him in my unmarked patrol car. He admitted that Mitch had spent the night there, but they said they didn't go nowhere. But we didn't believe that. We interviewed him for about four hours. He wanted to talk or else he would have shut it down. It was quite apparent that he was extremely afraid of Mitch Ruble. It just popped in the head, you know, maybe if we offered him witness protection.

[Cold Case Detective]

Only when we offered him police protection did he finally open up and say, I'll tell you the story.

[John Jenkins]

Todd was at his apartment, and Mitch knocked on the door. Mitch asked him, do you have any shotguns here at the house? And Todd had one that Mitch had given him earlier, and he asked for that shotgun.

[Cold Case Detective]

He gives it to Rubel. They get in Rubel's Blue Fort Pinto.

[John Jenkins]

Mitch said to him, let's go kill a certain lieutenant. He said at that point, he didn't really know where they were going.

[Cold Case Detective]

Smith tells us that he thought Ruble was bluffing. They go by Lieutenant Clark's house. Ruble gets out of the vehicle.

[John Jenkins]

Todd sits there and waits. He said he waited there so long and he was starting to get scared and start getting frightened.

[Cold Case Detective]

Smith goes back to his house.

[Bruce Schock]

A short time later, Rubel showed up.

[Cold Case Detective]

To Smith's house, at which point Ruble starts threatening him.

[Bruce Schock]

Ruble had backed him up against the wall and had a hunting knife that he held to the ribs of Smith and advised Smith that, you know, if he ever said anything, that he knew how to kill a person by sticking this knife in between the ribs and twisting so that they wouldn't even make a sound.

[Cold Case Detective]

Todd Smith provided us enough information that our belief was that Mitch Ruble was likely the shooter. We're going to do everything in our power to recover the murder weapon. We want that gun. We have to get that gun. This wasn't looking for a needle in haystack. This was Looking for a needle in the ocean.

[John Jenkins]

One of our other goals in the investigation was trying to get the murder weapon. Todd Smith told us that one of Mitch Trubouble's military buddies owned it.

[Cold Case Detective]

At that time, we wanted that gun. We wanted a weapon that killed our officer.

[Bruce Schock]

We learned that Mitch Ruble's air force buddies were having a yearly reunion at a military museum near Columbus, Ohio.

[John Jenkins]

There was a chance that one of them may have bought a shotgun from Mitch Ruble. We decided that we would put surveillance on that location. Using the modern technology of facial recognition, we were able to identify all the members that were there.

[Bruce Schock]

We were able to locate their addresses. We go out and talk with each of these military friends. Everybody denied ever purchasing a firearm off of Rubiel. The last door we knocked on, he asked if he had ever purchased a weapon off of Mitch Rubiel. And the gentleman stated that he had.

[Cold Case Detective]

The gun was so unique and there were so few of them out there that we believed we had the right gun. It was a needle in the ocean that we found. Mitch Ruble had been terminated by Lieutenant Clark. So he has the motive to kill him.

[John Jenkins]

And now we got the murder weapon. So we knew it was time to execute the arrest of Mitch Ruble for the murder of Lieutenant Joe Clark. We did not want a violent confrontation with him, so we came up with the ruse.

[Cold Case Detective]

Recently, Ruble and his wife were the victims of a credit card scam. He filed a complaint with the Washington county sheriff's office.

[John Jenkins]

So we had the investigating officer call him and ask him if he'd come to the sheriff's office so he could update and advise him on what was going on with the investigation. And he agreed to.

[Cold Case Detective]

From Rubel's house to the sheriff's office, we knew exactly where he was at.

[John Jenkins]

We had air surveillance on him, and we also ground surveillance. At the same time, Special response team is executing a search warrant at his residence.

[Cold Case Detective]

We believed that he could have a cachet of weapons at his home, and.

[John Jenkins]

He possibly had some explosives. Mitch Ruble comes in our office. Office. The commander of the SRT immediately places him under arrest for the murder of Lieutenant Joe Clark. It caught him off guard, and he just, like, froze.

[Bruce Schock]

Lieutenant Shook asked Mr. Ruble if we were going to find anything that could kill a police officer at his house. And Ruble's response to that question was, I sure hope not.

[Cold Case Detective]

In my law enforcement career, I can definitively say I've never seen that kind of ammunition being stored at one location.

[Bruce Schock]

We start coming across grenade fuses. The bodies for Grenades and the different types of explosive powders.

[Cold Case Detective]

We believe his intent was to be able to hunker down and hold off law enforcement.

[John Jenkins]

I mean, he could have stood off the sheriff's office in a standoff firefight for months.

[Cold Case Detective]

There were enough munitions found for us to call the Columbus bomb squad.

[Bruce Schock]

It was so dangerous that it had to be destroyed. And the only way to destroy these items were to countercharge them. We got permission from a local farmer to use a plot in his field. A large hole was dug with the backhoe. You could feel the ground shake when the explosion went off.

[Narrator]

Mitch Ruble was found guilty of the murder of Joe Clark and was sentenced to life in prison. Ruble died in prison on February 22, 2017. He always maintained his innocence. Now that justice is served, the Washington County Sheriff's Department can finally heal from the loss of their devoted friend and leader.

[Cold Case Detective]

Being able to arrest Mitch Ruble for killing our brother officer is everything to me and to our team.

[Jack Taylor]

This conviction means that my mind can be at Peace now for 35 years. It was the closure is there for.

[Narrator]

His fellow officers and the people who.

[Jack Taylor]

Work so hard, the satisfaction they have from it to know that they had not given up and they had stood.

[Narrator]

Behind their fallen brother.

[Tim Clark]

My dad would have been 85 this year, and I'm sure he'd probably still be around and making jokes. What a big kick he would have got out of having grandkids. But there's probably a little bit of him and my kids. I miss him. I think about him.

[Bruce Schock]

Sam.