Claire Hough's Father Not Angry Alleged Killers Were Never Arrested

“In some ways a trial would have been more difficult than they’re just being gone,” Samuel Hough said

The man whose teenaged daughter was found dead on a La Jolla beach 30 years ago said he’s not angry that her accused killers were never arrested.

San Diego Police have identified Ronald Clyde Tatro and Kevin Charles Brown as the suspects in the murder of 14-year-old Claire Hough in August 1984.

Neither man was charged with the crime. Tatro died in a boating accident in 2011 and Brown died of an apparent suicide earlier this week.

“In some ways a trial would have been more difficult than they’re just being gone,” Samuel Hough said.

Hough, who lives in Rhode Island, said his daughter, Claire, was visiting her grandmother who lived near Torrey Pines State Beach where she was found.

On Thursday, Hough received a call from San Diego Police investigators with the news that DNA evidence from the scene had linked Tatro and Brown to the crime.

"I'm glad it's been settled,” he said. “The thing I was concerned about was whether someone was loose and would strike again.”

Hough told NBC 7 that for various reasons the family suspected the man who found Claire's body on the beach. So the names Tatro and Brown surprised him.

He also doubts that Claire knew the two men.

He believes Ronald Tatro certainly sounds like he was capable of the crime but he questioned whether Brown was involved. A feeling Brown’s widow also shares and told NBC 7 on Thursday.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter who committed the crime, Hough said. What matters is Claire and who she was as a person.

“While it’s in a sense a closure, in a sense it doesn’t make that much difference,” he added. “She’s dead. What she represented is still alive and that’s what’s important for us.”

He’s gotten emails and calls from people who knew Claire before her death, something he said proves the spirit and loving that she had didn’t die with her.

After Claire’s death, he said they found her diary with a will written inside.

“In some ways it’s very much a 14-year-old and in some ways, it’s someone who is very emotionally and spiritually advanced,” he said.

He said the teenager wished her brother and her close friends well.

Tatro died in a boating accident in 2011. Brown died of an apparent suicide on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at Cuyamaca State Park.

The retired SDPD criminalist had been under investigation for more than a year according to his widow.

Investigators say they were preparing to make an arrest in the case when they learned of Brown’s death.
 

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