Lieutenant Ray R. Joe Clark, 49, was a 14-year veteran of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Marietta, Ohio. On the evening of February 7, 1981, he was shot from ambush while standing in the kitchen of his home on Dodd’s Run Road. A shotgun blast fired through the kitchen window struck him in the head; his wife, Patricia, found him injured and he died shortly after arriving at the hospital.

Decades later, on September 16, 2014, a former Washington County deputy, Mitchell Ruble, was arrested and charged in connection with Clark’s murder. Ruble had been fired by Clark in December 1979 for excessive force, and investigators believed the killing was retaliatory. On March 11, 2016, Ruble was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life with parole eligibility after 15 years; he died in prison on March 18, 2017, and the conviction was upheld on appeal on August 9, 2017.

Clark was survived by his wife, son, stepdaughter, sister, brother, and parents, and is remembered by colleagues and the community for his service. Did anyone who knew Lieutenant Clark or the department in that era have memories or details to share?