PRESS RELEASE

Cold Case Tuesday: State Police continue to investigate a 56-year-old homicide in Wayne County.

State Police continue to investigate the 1961 homicide of 16-year-old John Raymond Sutton at a gas station where Sutton was an attendant.

On Friday, December 15, 1961, the owner and operator of Clark’s Esso Service Station on State Route 104 in Ontario, NY, contacted State Police and reported his gasoline station had just been held up.

The attendant, Sutton, of Ontario, was located in a back room of the station, unconscious.

The preliminary investigation revealed Sutton had been struck over the head and then shot once in the head by the unknown assailant or assailants.

Sutton later died at a hospital in Rochester.

The service station cash register was opened and all cash removed, along with two pay envelopes.

Witnesses at the station just prior to the homicide describe the suspect as a white male, approximately 35-40 years old and six-foot-tall, 175 pounds and a thin face. The suspect was wearing a white shirt, dark trousers, a dark fedora hat with black gloves. The suspect’s vehicle was described as a dark colored late 1950’s automobile, with rear fenders having a verticle up-sweep or fins, and carrying a rear registration plate with a dark green background with white numerals and writing under the numbers.

The case remains open, the suspect unidentified.

Numerous interviews of suspects have been conducted over the years with negative results.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call State Police at 585-398-4100. 

 
Sutton                                                     Esso Station