News

A former southeast Ohio sheriff's deputy has been arrested in the previously unsolved slaying of a fellow deputy 33 years ago.

 

The Washington County Sheriff's Office in Marietta says 63-year-old Mitchell Ruble was arrested Tuesday and charged in the February 1981 shotgun slaying of Deputy Lt. Ray "Joe" Clark.

 

Clark was watching a basketball game on TV when he went into the kitchen for a snack when he was shot in the head through a window.

 

Sheriff Larry Mincks says the motive likely was revenge. He says Clark had fired Ruble in December 1979 for inappropriate conduct while on duty.

 

The Marietta Times reports that Ruble made no comment Tuesday when asked about the charges as he was led to jail. It wasn't clear if he had an attorney.