40 years later, arrest made in gas station slaying

BLUE MOUND -- More than 40 years after gas station attendant Bruce Wayne Clark was shot to death in the central Illinois village of Blue Mound, a 64-year-old Jeiseyville man has been arrested in the murder and is held on $2 million bond.

An individual offered authorities more information that led to the arrest of John J. Joynt III, who faces four counts of first-degree murder in the case, Macon County Sheriff's detective Jim Hermann said at a news conference Friday.

Clark, 35, was found dead Oct. 7, 1968, in a Fina gas station bathroom. He was shot seven times in his head and neck with a .22-caliber gun. Macon County Sheriff Thomas Schneider did not give a motive for the killing.

Blue Mound is about 40 miles east of Springfield.

Joynt was questioned in connection with Clark's murder in April 1969 while he was serving a prison sentence for armed robbery. However, he was not charged at the time.

Clark's brother, Leo "Otis" Clark, 67, attended the news conference and thanked police. Clark would visit his brother's grave every October in the years just after the murder, he said, adding that he spent so much time there that relatives would have to get him.

"Now it's going to be hard again for a while," he said. "Over the years, we've heard so many rumors and got our hopes up. I had hoped that I'd live long enough to see this happen."

Clark described his brother as "a wonderful man."

"He wasn't married," Clark said. "He didn't drink or smoke. But he loved kids."