An infamous cold case was solved, but not without a sad detail.
There was a killing in Fort Worth in 1974, back when society was not anesthetized by weekly multiple inner city killings. A suspect in the murder of 17-year-old Carla Walker was interviewed by police shortly after the crime, but he was promptly disregarded.
After a high school dance, Carla was abducted from the automobile she shared with her boyfriend, brutally assaulted, and left for dead in a culvert. The murderer only left one piece of evidence in the parking lot: a.22 Ruger handgun magazine. Because of the weapon’s uniqueness, police interviewed anyone in the region who had bought one. Among them was 31-year-old truck driver Glen McCurley, who reported to authorities that his gun had been stolen weeks before. He consented to a lie detector test, and once he passed it, the authorities dropped him as a suspect.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, women continued to be murdered in a similar method in the area, and the case went cold. The case of missing teenager Carla Walker was solved a few years ago thanks to the persistence of Jim Walker, cold-case investigators, podcasts that brought fresh interest to the case, and advanced DNA testing on the clothing that had been preserved. When the name McCurley appeared in the tests, the detective who found a match to the old case file had to take a deep breath. In 2020, when he was 77 years old, McCurley was a respected family guy who was arrested and eventually pled guilty. That Ruger he claimed was stolen years ago was actually located in his home by the investigating team. McCurley, who is on his deathbed from cancer, claims he did not kill anyone else, but authorities are not convinced.
The Texas Monthly has an in-depth article about the case HERE
After suffering through it, I’ve written here several times I’d never wish cancer on anyone. And I’ll be damned if BFH didn’t find a story to make me change my mind. I hope the son of a bitch dies slowly and can smell his own flesh rotting.
There’s some shit going on with leaving comments.
Don’t care that he’s dying from cancer. If he’s convicted, give him the death penalty and kill him anyways. Don’t let him slip away peacefully high on morphine in a nice quiet hospital room — let him spend his last moments sweating it out in terror as they strap him down onto a gurney for a lethal injection. Fucker deserves at least that much.
Um, I hate to ask the obvious but back in 74, didn’t they check the magazine to see if it had any fingerprints on it? That could have provided information on the assailant.
Joe6pak,
I was “moderated” for 3 days. Not a single comment got posted.
Switched names and emails but that was another no go.
Switched devices, all blocked so it was my IP.
Most likely the feds, they must have got to Fur, or hacked IOTW.
Big Gov is watching.
Fuck u CIA,NSA, FBI. Fuck you all to hell.
My 2nd protects my first, so come get some you pussy spies.
Cisco Kid,
So, how did you fix it?
mortem tyrannis
izlamo delenda est …
It’s a weird thing to say, but the 70s seemed to be the Golden Age of American serial killers.
There are dozens of shows about serial killers whose crimes were solved here in the last decade, thanks to advancements in DNA analysis.
I don’t think such crimes can go unsolved for very long anymore, thanks to DNA science and damn high resolution cameras everywhere.
Golden age? I think you mean Dark Age.
Tim McNair
I didn’t. I got a notice in red letters saying “Your comments are being moderated. Then they would not get posted.
Went on for three days. Then it stopped just as suddenly. I suspect the Feds are up to something.
Prerty sure every IOTW contributer will be audited next tax year.
Until Fur weighs in on this bullshit we may never know.
I suspect my theories on the cabal “offing” the Pedo got on the gubmit radar.
It’s called “speculation” NSA, FBI, Homeland Security, CIA, and DIA.
They just hate it when we speculate about theur precious satanic cabal. Finally earned my Scarlett Letter I guess.
Can a yellow badge be far behind?
If the “only clue” was a magazine for a Ruger 22, what the heck do you call “DNA on clothing” from the crime scene?
Tony R – I think from an 80s perspective the only usable clue was the magazine. The DNA wasn’t, at the time.
It is remarkable that even with only the magazine as an identifier, they found the killer, and if only he failed a lie detector, or if they caught him in a lie, he seemingly would have been nabbed.
The “someone stole my Ruger” alibi should have caused alarm bells.
If any of us make it to heaven, we’ll all be in the company of murderers, thieves, liars, and we’re only there for 2 reasons, we believed and repented. I think about that from time-to-time, he must be thinking about it too….maybe.
and people voluntarily sign up for…..
“23andme.”
In the spirit of, “Kalifornia,”
“5032 marks place, fort worth, Texas,”
the digs of a serial killer.