Accused claims he was fighting a demon

WEST ODESSA A 60-year-old West Odessa man charged with killing his wife told deputies he was attempting to remove a demon from her when she died.

Jan David Clark told investigators he was holding Susan Kay Clark's face down on their carpeted master bathroom floor in their 3547 Ferguson Street home when she died, according to a probable cause statement.

When authorities arrived at the residence, they found the woman's body wrapped in a bed sheet. A cross and a sword had been placed atop the body.

Clark also told deputies that the demon entered his body while he was holding her down and caused him to kill his wife.

Sheriff's Sgt. Gary Duesler said the sheriff's office went to the home about 4:30 a.m. Friday after being told that Clark had called a friend and said his wife was dead.

Clark gave the investigators permission to enter the home when they arrived at the modest tan house.

While it's uncertain exactly when Susan Clark, 59, was killed, investigators believe the death occurred sometime after 11 p.m. Thursday.

Clark was charged with murder on Friday.

Ector County Justice of the Peace Eddy Spivey said he set bond at $300,000 Saturday morning. Clark remained in the Ector County Detention Center Saturday.

Clark declined comment Saturday morning at the jail.

The woman's body was taken to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy.

A family friend said David Clark's father was Dr. J.T. Clark, an Odessa dentist who was the city's mayor from 1960 until 1962. The friend also said Clark inherited Nolan Real Estate Inc. when his father died in October 1996.

Taryn Beck, 29, said she was in shock Saturday morning when she heard the news of Susan Clark's death because they seemed so close to each other.

"They were like an old married couple," she said. "They would just roll their eyes at each other but I never thought something like this would've happened."

Beck said she wasn't sure what to believe after seeing how kind David Clark was to her children.

"David was playing with my two kids and we was trying to teach them to play baseball and he showed them their fish they had in the back yard," she said. "David was very nice. He was very good with kids."

"I always thought David was nice but sometimes I thought he was almost too nice," she said.

Beck said she used to be related to Susan Clark when Clark was married to Mark Barker, Beck's grandfather, until he died at age 52.

"I was 10 at the time when I was her granddaughter," Beck said. "She still remembered that I talked and had imaginary friends."

Neighbors didn't see as much of the Clarks as Beck though.

Lori Wright, one of the Clark's neighbors said the couple wasn't well known around their neighborhood, stating she saw David Clark "maybe once or twice in a five-year span."