West Odessa homicide

WEST ODESSA A 60-year-old Odessa man sits in the Ector County Detention Center after being charged with murder in connection with the death of his 59-year-old wife.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Gary Duesler said Jan David Clark was charged in connection with the death of Susan K. Clark, after she was found dead in their 3547 Ferguson Ave. home.

Duesler said sheriff’s deputies were alerted after a friend of the family called 9-1-1 at 4:30 a.m. Friday.

Sheriff’s investigators did not release how the woman died.

“We don’t know for sure, but she wasn’t shot or stabbed,” Sheriff Mark Donaldson said.

Duesler said the cause of death was still under investigation late Friday.

Medical Examiner Carl Rogers said the body was taken to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office Friday afternoon and would autopsied today.

Sheriff’s deputies were called to the Clarks’ house early Friday morning after one of David Clark’s friends called 9-1-1.

“He called a friend, and his friend called us,” Duesler said. “It’s kind of a three-way deal.”

Sheriff’s deputies left the house after 11:30 a.m. Friday and said they would finish the investigation from the office.

Family members declined to comment, and Duesler said they wouldn’t talk to media. A deputy was comforting one visibly upset woman inside her Chevrolet Suburban outside of the modest tan house in West Odessa.

A family friend did say David Clark’s father was former Odessa mayor Jim Turner Clark.

Andrea Goodson, Odessa public information officer, said J.T. Clark was mayor from 1960 until 1962.

A family friend said David Clark inherited Jack Nolan Real Estate Inc. when his father died in Oct. 1996.

While sheriff’s investigators combed the scene Friday morning, neighbors nervously tried to piece together what happened.

A neighbor who lived directly behind the Clarks said she didn’t hear anything happen Friday morning.

“I’m just in shock right now,” Lori Wright said. “I didn’t hear anything last night — I must have been sleeping really good since I can usually hear everything.”

Another neighbor said she feared for her children and kept them inside the house as soon as she heard about the incident.

“My first reaction was to get my kids and grandbabies and get them inside,” Doris Boiles said. “I only live two houses to the left of them, so it’s scary knowing that happened so close.”

Wright said the Clarks were hardly seen or heard from around the neighborhood.

“I saw him maybe once or twice in a five-year span,” she said. “I’ve seen the people who mow their yard more than I’ve seen the guy or his wife.”