0:00

Hey Prime members, you can listen

0:02

to Generation Y ad-free on Amazon

0:04

Music. Download the app today. Audible

0:06

lets you enjoy all your Audible entertainment

0:09

in one app. You'll always find the

0:11

best of what you love and discover

0:13

something new from renowned experts, top celebrities,

0:15

and exciting new voices and audio. As

0:17

an Audible member, you can choose one

0:20

title a month to keep from their

0:22

entire catalog. This includes the bestsellers and

0:24

new releases. I'm currently

0:26

listening to Doppelganger. It's an

0:28

interesting take from Naomi Klein.

0:31

It's deep, philosophical, and an

0:33

interesting psychological look in the

0:35

mirror. New members can try Audible

0:37

free for 30 days. Visit

0:39

audible.com/GWP or text GWP

0:42

to 500-500. That's

0:45

audible.com/GWP or text

0:47

GWP to 500-500.

0:52

This summer is the summer of Dash

0:54

Pass with DoorDash. Five weeks of

0:56

deals and exclusive items you can

0:58

only get on DoorDash. Whip out

1:00

your phones and open DoorDash to

1:02

enjoy deals now through July 24th.

1:05

Savings at restaurants, grocery stores, retail

1:07

shops, and more. You can also

1:09

get access to member-only deals on

1:11

Hot Wings to ice cream and

1:13

everything in between now through July

1:15

24th. Plus, you'll get

1:17

$0 delivery fees and lower service fees.

1:20

I like to save big on not

1:22

paying on delivery fees. I can always

1:24

tip my driver a little more. It's

1:26

a great time to use DoorDash right

1:28

now. Order with DoorDash and save big

1:30

this summer with Dash Pass. Sign up

1:32

today. Dash Pass benefits apply

1:34

only to eligible orders. Terms apply.

2:00

How you doing

2:02

tonight, Aaron? I'm

2:23

doing good, Justin. How are you? I'm

2:25

doing great. Any announcements

2:27

today? Well, right now as we

2:29

record this, it's late April. And

2:32

so if you're hearing this and

2:34

you are interested in having Justin

2:36

and Aaron and maybe others visit

2:38

your fair city, let us know

2:40

because we're looking into heading over

2:42

later this year to the East

2:45

Coast. Did you have a good time over on

2:47

the West Coast, Justin? Yes, I

2:49

did. It's

2:52

always fun. I mean, I spent a lot of

2:54

time and grew up in Southern California, so I

2:56

always like getting back, but it's

2:58

good to see Esther from Once

3:00

Upon a Crime up in San

3:02

Jose and Jamie from Murdersh down

3:04

in Los Angeles. Also

3:06

if anyone's out there

3:09

in Denver, Colorado, I'm going to

3:11

be at the True Crime Podcast Festival July

3:13

12th through the 14th. If

3:16

you use the code GENY, you can

3:18

get a discount on your ticket and

3:20

Aaron and I will both be at

3:23

the Berkshire Podcast Festival that

3:25

is October 18th through the

3:27

20th in North Adams, Massachusetts.

3:31

Use code GENYRATION2024

3:34

and both of these festivals

3:36

are very intimate. The True

3:39

Crime Podcast Festival and Paranormal

3:42

is very advocacy oriented

3:45

and the Berkshire Podcast

3:47

Festival is just a wonderful time

3:50

in a beautiful city. Josh Hommark

3:52

puts that one together and he's

3:54

just an awesome guy. He does

3:57

True Crime BS, Unsafe Spaces, Our

3:59

American. the Karen and Ellen

4:01

letters, which is hilarious if you haven't listened

4:03

to that one. So use those codes Denver,

4:06

Colorado next month and the

4:08

Berkshires in October. Well,

4:11

Aaron, we have heard about this

4:13

case and even spoken to some

4:15

people that have worked on this

4:18

case and heard their

4:20

personal stories. So it definitely

4:22

gives us some insight into

4:24

how this went down and

4:27

the amount of effort it took

4:29

to get a suspect and get

4:31

this case rolling. So that's all

4:33

I'm going to give away. What

4:35

are we talking about tonight? Tonight

4:38

we're talking about a case out

4:40

of Fort Worth, Texas, February 16th,

4:42

1974. Carla Walker and her boyfriend

4:44

Rodney McCoy were kissing in a

4:46

bowling alley parking lot after a

4:48

school dance when they were attacked

4:51

by an unknown man. That was

4:53

the story. Rodney said he was

4:55

beaten into unconsciousness and he said

4:57

that Carla was abducted. Carla

5:00

Walker was born January 31st, 1957. At the

5:02

time she was 17 years old, a junior

5:05

at Western Hills

5:09

High School in Fort Worth. It

5:11

said she was very kind, sociable,

5:14

and she was popular

5:16

at school, well-liked. She

5:18

was dating Rodney McCoy. He was

5:21

the quarterback of the football team.

5:23

They talked about rolling

5:25

together at Texas Tech University.

5:28

Carla had told her closest friends

5:30

that she believed her and

5:32

Rodney would get married and have a family

5:34

one day. I mean, this is this fantasy

5:38

American dream. You have this guy, you

5:40

get along, he's the quarterback of the

5:42

football team and you're going to go

5:44

to college together and get married. This

5:46

is everyone's dream, right? Well,

5:48

at least it was Carla's dream. So

5:51

on the evening of February 16th, 1974, Rodney showed up at

5:55

the Walker's home in Benbrook, which is

5:57

a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas. And

5:59

he was taking Carla to the Valentine's

6:01

Day dance. This dance was being held

6:03

in the school cafeteria and it was

6:05

to end around 11. 30 PM. Well,

6:08

Rodney invited another couple to ride

6:11

with them down camp buoy Boulevard

6:13

and the Benbrook traffic circle. This

6:16

is a thing that went on for

6:18

quite a number of decades, right? Cruising around

6:20

and you also stopped for food. Well,

6:22

they stopped at Mr. Quick hamburgers and Taco

6:24

Bell and they dropped the other couple

6:26

off. And then Rodney and Carla drove to

6:28

Brunswick Ridgeley bowl so she could use

6:30

the bathroom. Now she does that

6:33

and then she gets back out to the car. And

6:35

according to Rodney, they start making

6:38

out. Now Rodney recalled

6:40

that Carla leaned against the passenger

6:42

door and rested her head against

6:44

her purse. Suddenly that door

6:46

opened and Rodney saw what appeared to

6:48

be a tall man with short brown

6:51

hair wearing a vest. And he said,

6:53

within a moment that man started hitting

6:55

Rodney in the head with the butt

6:58

of a pistol. And

7:00

this is escalating quickly as Rodney

7:03

is getting hit. The magazine

7:05

from this gun falls out

7:07

and onto the parking lot.

7:10

Now Rodney hears the man talk to Carla. He

7:13

says, you're coming with me, aren't you, sweetie? And

7:16

Carla tells Rodney, go get my dad,

7:18

go get my dad. But

7:20

Rodney has been beaten and he says

7:22

that he's lost time. He loses consciousness

7:25

and he wakes up. It's about 1

7:27

a.m. So this is

7:29

what, about 90 minutes later or

7:31

thereabouts, he drove straight to the

7:33

walkers home, which was less than a mile away.

7:36

So Carla's parents, Layton and Doris

7:38

Walker, were still awake. They were

7:40

playing dominoes with some relatives who

7:43

were over and Carla's younger brother,

7:45

Jim, and her older sister, Cindy,

7:47

were watching the television. And they

7:49

all heard someone beating on the front door. And

7:52

when they looked, Rodney was standing there with

7:54

blood running down his face and he shouted,

7:56

Mr. Walker, they've got her. They're

7:58

going to hurt her bad. So,

8:00

of course, her dad grabs a gun and

8:02

heads straight to the bowling alley while his

8:05

wife calls the police. JS.

8:07

And he's saying they got her.

8:09

This is his initial response is

8:11

plural because he's just gone through

8:13

a traumatic event. He doesn't know

8:16

how many assailants there are. He

8:18

assumes there's more than one. The

8:20

police obviously respond. They're searching

8:23

the streets for Carla. They

8:25

search all night long. Detectives

8:28

went to the high school

8:30

and looked at photos from

8:33

the dance. They were

8:35

essentially looking for anyone in the background

8:37

who seemed out of place. They

8:40

questioned students to see if anyone

8:42

had motive to hurt her. So

8:45

this is quite an effort here

8:47

because they're thinking, well, was there

8:50

some random man at this

8:52

high school or at this dance

8:54

that didn't belong? Did she have

8:57

an enemy or a bully or

8:59

somebody at school that might've said,

9:01

hey, let's take her out? But

9:04

they're not pulling up anything at this

9:06

point. Carla's sister said that

9:09

she did not think Carla was

9:11

dead at this point. She just thinks

9:13

that something terrible has happened, but they

9:15

thought the abductor would drop her off

9:18

at home. They thought that this person

9:20

would let her go. And this is

9:22

the terrible part of this hope that

9:25

you have when a loved one goes

9:27

missing. On February 20th,

9:29

two police officers were

9:31

driving on a remote two lane

9:34

road near Benbrook Lane, five

9:36

miles southwest of the bowling alley. They

9:39

are looking to find her and

9:41

they see this culvert and they're thinking

9:44

let's look in there because

9:46

that would be a great place to

9:48

hide somebody. So they get

9:50

out, they go down there and they

9:52

find a woman's body. She

9:54

was laying on her back and her face

9:57

and neck were covered in scratches and bruises.

10:00

identifying her as Carla Walker.

10:03

She has died of strangulation.

10:05

Investigators believe the killer used

10:07

his hands, her dress was

10:09

bloody and ripped, her bra

10:11

pushed up. Underwear and

10:13

pantyhose were found at the

10:16

entrance of the culvert. Police

10:18

reported that Carla had been

10:20

beaten, raped, strangled, and tortured

10:22

for up to two days.

10:24

The medical examiner discovered that

10:26

the killer injected her with

10:28

morphine and this drug isn't

10:30

exactly accessible by the public.

10:32

This is something that only

10:34

medical professionals have. And

10:37

this is big news. This

10:39

spreads across the community who

10:41

are now terrified because this

10:43

isn't just some random guy

10:45

who picked a fight and

10:47

did something. This is an

10:49

abduction. This was planned. She

10:51

was injected with drugs. The

10:54

kids and the teens, they stopped driving

10:56

around after school. They refused to go

10:58

out at night. They're signing up for

11:01

self-defense courses. Gun sales go up. All

11:03

of the things that a community does

11:05

when they're living in fear. The

11:09

Fort Worth police created a task force to

11:11

look into this murder, but there wasn't much

11:13

evidence they could use at the time. They

11:16

didn't have any fingerprints. The blood on

11:18

Carla's dress belonged to Rodney, as far

11:20

as they could tell. There were traces

11:22

of bodily fluid, but at the time,

11:25

no DNA testing. There were also

11:27

no surveillance cameras in parking lots back

11:29

in those days. So the Fort Worth

11:31

police, they set up a 24-hour tip

11:33

line. Callers claimed that Carla was murdered

11:36

by marijuana dealers, a carnival worker, or

11:38

a man who bowled alone at the

11:40

local bowling alley. There were also rumors

11:42

that Rodney had gotten into an argument

11:44

with someone at Mr. Quick hamburgers the

11:46

night before the dance. One

11:48

man called and said he knew who the

11:50

killer was. He said the man did not

11:52

mean to kill Carla and only wanted to

11:54

have sex with her. Rodney

11:57

underwent hypnosis to try to recall

11:59

more details the attack. Remember,

12:01

he gave a few details, but

12:03

surely he saw and heard much

12:05

more. Now, when he went under

12:07

hypnosis, he remembered that the kidnapper

12:09

was wearing a brown or tan

12:11

cowboy hat, but he couldn't recall

12:13

identifying details of the killer. At

12:16

one meeting, the task force discussed

12:19

the unsolved murder of 21-year-old Becky

12:21

Martin. Becky's car was

12:23

found late February 7th, 1973. She was

12:25

last seen at 8.30 pm that day. She

12:31

disappeared from a junior college. She

12:33

had been attending evening classes, but

12:35

the teachers didn't think she had

12:38

attended classes that night. But her

12:40

classmate said she was there and

12:42

left when she turned in her

12:44

assignment. So little discrepancies there. But

12:47

she did not come home after

12:49

class. There were muddy footprints on

12:51

and inside Becky's car. There were

12:53

signs of a struggle, and

12:56

her class notes were scattered in

12:58

a puddle. Her body was later

13:00

found in a culvert. This is

13:02

on a secluded stretch of White

13:05

Settlement Road on March 26th, 1973. And

13:07

this matches the MO. These details

13:10

match a lot of the

13:14

things that we see in Carla's

13:16

case. But her body was so

13:18

badly decomposed that her cause of

13:20

death could not be determined. Medical

13:23

examiners said she could have been

13:25

strangled or shot. Detectives

13:28

just, again, saw a lot of

13:30

similarities here because there was a

13:32

culvert where the body was disposed

13:34

of. Four days after

13:37

the discovery, the remains were positively

13:39

identified as Becky Martin. But the

13:41

public, of course, is wondering what's

13:44

going on. The investigators are

13:46

not announcing it, but they are considering

13:48

that a serial killer is on the

13:50

loose. Now, they had one

13:52

lead. The magazine clip found in the parking

13:54

lot belonged to a newer model, 22

13:57

caliber Ruger. The ATF gave

13:59

the Fort Worth Police, a list of names

14:02

of individuals in the city who purchased that

14:04

model. This is hard though

14:06

because they have to go around to

14:08

all of the gun stores and see

14:10

which sales have been made. If

14:13

there were individual purchases, then

14:15

this isn't helping much. But

14:18

they do get a couple names, right? Yeah,

14:21

they do have some names. And one of

14:23

them is a man named Glenn McCurley, who

14:25

was a truck driver. He grew up in

14:27

West Texas. He was the oldest of three

14:29

boys. He was sent to the

14:32

Westview Boys' Home in Oklahoma as a teenager.

14:35

And he left that home in February of 1961 and

14:38

moved to Abilene, Texas. And

14:40

he started committing crimes there. He stole a car

14:43

and then stole another one. In fact, he was

14:45

chased by the highway patrol who had to shoot

14:47

out one of his tires. Glenn

14:50

tried to escape on foot, but

14:52

was arrested. Now he pleaded

14:54

guilty and was sentenced to

14:56

two years in prison. And after being

14:58

released in 1962, he moved to Midland,

15:00

Texas and he got married. But

15:04

he's on this list of having this

15:06

gun and he's got sort of a

15:08

criminal background. So of course, when they're

15:10

interviewing him, Glenn is saying, well, I

15:12

had a .22 Ruger, but

15:15

it was stolen from my truck six

15:17

weeks before whatever happened to Carla. He

15:19

said he was fishing at the time

15:22

and someone got in his truck and took it.

15:25

He said, I didn't report my gun stolen

15:27

because I'm an ex-convict. So of course they're

15:29

asking him, well, what were you doing the

15:31

day of the crime? And he said

15:33

that he worked until 4.30 PM and

15:35

was off the next day. His wife,

15:37

Judy, was out of town. So

15:40

they want more from Glenn and they ask him

15:42

if he'll come down to the station to take

15:44

a polygraph and he does that and he passes.

15:46

So they eliminate him as

15:49

a suspect. I think

15:51

the lesson learned from this is if your

15:53

gun is ever stolen, you should

15:55

report it immediately and

15:57

he doesn't have a very good alibi

16:00

here because no one can vouch for

16:02

his whereabouts. JS But they

16:04

put a lot into this polygraph though, right?

16:06

I mean, they say, well, because of this,

16:09

and we've looked over the other people who

16:11

had had this gun and we can't find

16:13

anybody that seems to be a good match,

16:15

they essentially shelve the case in a

16:17

way, right? I mean, it's not like they shut it down,

16:20

but it's not a priority anymore because they don't know

16:22

where else to go with it. He

16:24

passed, so we're moving on

16:26

to the next suspect, the next lead, but they don't

16:28

have a lot to go with. JS Now,

16:30

Carla's family, they're getting calls here and

16:32

there from people that they don't know.

16:35

And you could think of it as they're

16:37

now considering the Walker family as a tip

16:39

line. Strangers start to

16:42

call the Walker family and they claim

16:44

they have information about the killer. And

16:47

Carla's father spoke to each one

16:49

of these people, took notes, and

16:51

he stored all these tips in

16:53

a metal box. He went

16:55

so far as to write down the names

16:57

and addresses and even mark maps. JS This

16:59

is an amazing amount of

17:01

effort and so painful

17:04

to do because they're acting as

17:06

a tip line. They're acting as

17:08

a call center now and detailing

17:10

every single lead, every single tip.

17:13

It's just amazing to see. JS

17:16

Carla's brother Jim, by this time, turned

17:18

16. And he said he and his

17:20

dad spent their time driving around to

17:22

these different addresses. And on

17:24

the anniversary of Carla's death, Jim went to

17:27

the bowling alley to look for suspicious people.

17:29

Jim was into football and wrestling, and he

17:31

went on long runs because he wanted to

17:33

be ready. Because if he ever was able

17:35

to confront this killer, he wanted to have

17:37

the upper hand as much as he could.

17:39

JS Talk about an origin

17:42

story here. He's dedicating his

17:44

life to finding this person. Every

17:47

choice he's making is dedicated

17:49

to finding his sister's killer

17:51

and possibly taking them out.

17:53

JS Everyone has

17:55

their reaction, their response to

17:57

traumatic events like this. I

18:00

guess for Jim, this is the best thing he

18:02

knew how to do was to be ready. CBH

18:06

Fort Worth and a lot of

18:08

America at this time is seeing

18:10

a rise in violent crime, a

18:12

rise in murders. And obviously,

18:14

Fort Worth is having their share.

18:16

So, there are

18:18

a lot of women who are being abducted,

18:20

a lot of women who are being murdered,

18:23

and some of them share

18:26

similarities to Carla Walker's situation

18:28

and murder. Take

18:30

a moment to get a word from our

18:32

sponsor, Simply Safe. Simply Safe is the number

18:34

one home security system. I trust Simply Safe

18:37

in my home and recommend it to everybody.

18:39

It's super easy to set up. I can

18:41

monitor it from my phone. Simply

18:43

Safe's exclusive 24 by 7 live

18:46

guard protection allows monitoring agents to stop

18:48

a crime in real time by seeing,

18:50

speaking to, and deterring intruders through the

18:52

smart alarm wireless indoor camera. With 24

18:54

7 live guard protection, Simply

18:57

Safe agents can act on an alarm within

18:59

five seconds of receiving the alarm

19:02

signal, deterring intruders, and dispatching police.

19:04

Because in a crisis, every moment

19:06

counts. Simply Safe does not lock

19:08

you into a long-term contract. You

19:10

can cancel it anytime, penalty free.

19:12

By partnering with Simply Safe, I've finally

19:14

gotten real peace of mind. And I want

19:16

you to have it too, get an exclusive

19:18

20% off any new

19:20

Simply Safe system. When you sign

19:22

up for the fast protect monitoring,

19:24

just visit simply safe.com/gen Y. That's

19:26

simply safe.com/gen Y. There is no

19:28

safe like Simply Safe. Generation Y

19:30

is brought to you by Rocket

19:32

Money. Rocket Money is a personal

19:34

finance app that finds and cancels

19:36

your unwanted subscriptions. Monitors are spending

19:38

and helps you lower your bills

19:40

so that you can grow your

19:42

savings. I love how the dashboard shows me

19:44

this month's spending compared to last month's, so

19:47

I can clearly see my spending habits. Plus,

19:49

they'll help me create a custom budget and

19:51

keep my spending on track. Rocket Money will

19:53

even try to negotiate lower bills

19:55

by up to 20%. All you

19:57

have to do is submit a picture of your bill and

19:59

Rocket Money. takes care of the rest, they'll

20:01

deal with customer service for you. I was

20:03

able to save about $20 a month on

20:05

an extra Netflix subscription. Rocket Money really saved

20:08

the day on that one. Rocket Money has

20:10

over 5 million users and has saved

20:12

a total of $500 million in cancelled subscriptions

20:15

saving members up to $740 a year when using all

20:17

of the app's features. Stop

20:20

wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel

20:23

your unwanted subscriptions by

20:25

going to rocketmoney.com/gen y.

20:27

That's rocketmoney.com/gen y. rocketmoney.com/gen

20:31

y. On

20:33

February 19th, 1977, the body of June Ward, she was a nurse. She

20:40

was found next to a curb in

20:42

South Fort Worth. She didn't

20:44

have any clothes on. Her bra strap was wrapped

20:46

around her neck. June had been

20:48

strangled and beaten on her head

20:50

with a sharp, heavy object. Actually,

20:54

this is an abduction, strangulation,

20:56

and beating. On July

20:59

9th, 1980, 19-year-old Denise

21:01

Huff, she was considered

21:03

a drifter, was found a few

21:05

feet from a creek bridge in

21:08

Southeast Fort Worth. She had

21:10

been strangled. She was identified

21:12

later in 1980. In

21:15

February of 1983, the body of

21:17

26-year-old Kristie Jean Tower, she

21:19

was a waitress at Billy

21:21

Bob's Texas nightclub, was found

21:24

in a field north of

21:26

Fort Worth. Her hounds were

21:28

banded with electrical wire and

21:30

another wire was twisted around

21:32

her neck. All of these

21:34

women had been strangled and beaten. Again,

21:36

they all seem similar here. Of

21:39

course, there are people saying there might

21:41

be a serial killer operating in Fort

21:43

Worth, but law enforcement

21:45

says that those worries are unfounded.

21:48

And Erin, just to interject real quick,

21:50

we had a similar situation in Kansas

21:53

City not too long ago, where

21:55

women were being taken and abducted

21:58

from an area of town. town

22:00

and community leaders were talking about this,

22:03

trying to raise awareness and law enforcement

22:09

was saying, well, we don't have

22:11

any reports, we don't have any

22:14

evidence that a serial killer is

22:16

doing this until one woman who

22:18

had been abducted escaped. And

22:21

then it was proven there was

22:23

somebody who was active and hunting

22:25

in that area. But law

22:27

enforcement doesn't want to jump to

22:29

that conclusion because as much as

22:31

we are in the true crime

22:34

genre, as much as we talk about serial

22:36

killers, serial killers just aren't

22:38

that prevalent. You don't find one

22:40

around every corner. Typically, people are

22:42

murdered by somebody they know, typically

22:44

people are murdered by some sort

22:46

of altercation and it's not a

22:48

serial killer. But when you're looking

22:50

at all of these details, all

22:52

of these abductions, I

22:54

think that there is some

22:57

evidence here that a serial killer

22:59

is possibly committing these crimes because

23:01

the MOs look very similar. Yeah,

23:04

there were some more murders that occurred.

23:06

October 19th, 29 year old Marilyn Hartman,

23:08

she was a school teacher. She was

23:10

found gagged and strangled in her bedroom

23:13

in Fort Worth. October 22nd,

23:15

23 year old Cindy Heller, she

23:17

was a graduate of Texas Christian University. She

23:19

was last seen near a mall. Her body

23:21

was found January 5th, 1985 in a creek

23:23

bed on the

23:26

TCU campus. She had been strangled.

23:28

November 26th, middle school teacher Catherine Jackson

23:31

was found in her bathtub. The water

23:33

was still running. She had been strangled

23:35

with a cord. There

23:37

were a number of other murders

23:39

and disappearances that followed and

23:42

women in Fort Worth were afraid. The

23:44

police department, they may be saying, you

23:46

know, let's not talk about serial killers,

23:49

but they did offer a free seminar

23:51

on self-defense and over 3000 people attended

23:54

it. That says something right there. January

23:57

24th, 1985, the Tarrant County. medical

24:00

examiner's office announced that for the fourth

24:02

time since January 1st, the remains of

24:04

a woman had been found. Now,

24:07

this was just one of five women who

24:09

had disappeared in the Fort Worth area. And

24:11

according to the New York Times, by January

24:13

9th, four other women had disappeared

24:15

within a six-mile radius in southwest Fort

24:17

Worth. Four out of five

24:20

victims were blonde and had a slight resemblance.

24:22

Now, it seemed like the murders

24:25

stopped once the investigation ramped up. But

24:27

on February 24th, 1986, a

24:29

passerby found a woman's body wrapped in

24:31

a blanket on a hillside near a

24:33

park in central Fort Worth. The woman

24:36

had been strangled, but she could not

24:38

be identified by fingerprints or dental records.

24:41

And, you know, we're getting on more than a

24:43

decade since Carla's case, and there were no leads

24:45

in that one. So at

24:47

the time, Carla's brother Jim attended

24:49

Sam Houston State University. He studied

24:51

serial killers and abnormal psychology, and

24:53

he applied to become a police officer

24:55

in Fort Worth, but during a training

24:58

session, he noticed a problem with his

25:00

eyesight. He was diagnosed with

25:02

a congenital eye condition and had to drop

25:04

out. But even ten

25:06

years later, her brother

25:08

is still dedicated to trying to

25:11

help society and solve his sister's

25:13

murder. Sadly, Carla's father

25:15

dies of a heart attack.

25:18

In 1987, her mother died in 2015, so her

25:20

brother Jim Walker would frequently call the Fort

25:27

Worth Cold Case Unit to ask

25:29

for updates. He's staying diligent. He's

25:31

trying to keep his sister's story

25:33

relevant. He's trying to keep eyes

25:36

on it so something will happen. In

25:39

January of 2018, Jim Walker called

25:41

the Cold Case Unit again and

25:43

left a message. He got a call

25:45

back from Detective Lee Wagner. Wagner had

25:48

joined the police force in 2000, became

25:50

a detective in 2013, and she moved

25:53

to the Cold Case Unit that year but

25:55

did not know anything about Carla's case. She

25:57

looked into Carla's files but had to stop

25:59

working. in the cold case unit for a

26:01

year to cover for another detective. She

26:04

returned to the cold case unit in January of 2019 and

26:06

started working with reserve

26:08

officer Jeff Bennett. Now Bennett

26:10

read through all the files and came

26:13

up with a list of 80 persons

26:15

of interest to re-interview in Carla Walker's

26:17

case. Carla's former boyfriend, Rodney McCoy, was

26:19

one of the people on that list.

26:22

And Texas Monthly had reported that Rodney

26:25

had wanted to get away as far

26:27

as possible from Fort Worth after graduation.

26:29

He moved to Alaska and worked on

26:31

an oil rig, but he eventually moved

26:33

back to Texas and was living in

26:36

Austin in 2019. Now,

26:38

one of the best things that happened

26:41

in this case, Justin, is as we

26:43

know, Carla's dress and other evidence was

26:45

still being stored in the evidence lab.

26:47

Now the cold case unit has no

26:49

idea what the state of the DNA

26:51

is. And they know that testing could

26:54

cost up to 20 grand. So

26:56

they do have some evidence and DNA is

26:58

on the table now, but it's going to

27:00

be costly to get it tested. And

27:03

this is something that people don't think about. You

27:05

just think, well, it's $20,000, just do it. But

27:09

police departments, cold case divisions, whatever

27:12

it is, they have budgets. They

27:14

don't have an endless supply of

27:16

money. They can't just write blank

27:18

checks. They have to do things

27:21

that are within their scope. I'm

27:23

sorry. That's just the way of the world.

27:26

And that's eyeopening for a lot

27:29

of people. So $20,000 is a

27:31

lot of money, but this is

27:33

the one thing they

27:35

have, this one lead, this one

27:37

piece of evidence that might get

27:40

this case solved. So it's

27:42

going to take a lot more than

27:44

just a cold case department to get

27:46

this one tested. So

27:49

back in 2017, there was a Fort

27:51

Worth resident who goes by the name

27:53

Vincent Strange. Well, he started a podcast

27:55

Gone Cold and Justin, we sort of

27:57

know this guy. Yeah. Anyway,

28:00

we always enjoy seeing him at CrimeCon.

28:02

But his first story was planned to

28:05

be about Carla Walker. Vincent

28:08

reached out to Jim Walker, Cindy,

28:10

some of Carla's friends. One

28:13

of the listeners of this new show

28:15

was a retired United States Postal Service

28:17

mail clerk who had gone to high

28:20

school with Carla named Diane Kirkendall. Diane

28:22

flew to Nashville to attend CrimeCon and

28:25

she brought pamphlets that she had written

28:27

about Carla's case. Her main source was

28:30

Gone Cold, this podcast episode. One

28:32

of the people who got this

28:34

pamphlet was Paul Holes, who I'm

28:36

sure everyone knows who he is

28:38

by now, a retired homicide detective

28:40

who was instrumental in the Golden

28:42

State Killer case. He hosted the

28:44

show, The DNA of Murder. Now

28:47

in April of 2019, Holes

28:49

speaks with Lee Wagner and Jeff

28:52

Bennett from the Cole Case Unit.

28:54

His team was willing to put

28:56

up $18,000 to get the DNA

28:58

tested. So there's bodily

29:00

fluid on the strap of Carla's

29:02

bra and they're going to send

29:04

this off to a lab in

29:06

California and they're going to develop

29:08

a full DNA profile from this.

29:11

And of course, you have to upload this

29:13

to CODIS, which is the national

29:16

database where anyone with any kind of

29:18

record who has been input in there,

29:20

you'll get a hit or get a

29:22

match. Unfortunately, in this

29:24

case, there's no match. There's

29:26

no hits when they upload this DNA

29:29

profile. About this same

29:31

time, the Fort Worth police announced the discovery

29:33

of an old letter and shared it on

29:35

social media, trying to get the public to

29:37

help them. Look at this letter, tell

29:40

us if you know anything about

29:42

it. This letter was addressed to

29:44

Detective Lieutenant Oliver Ball and said,

29:46

and there's some redactions here, blank,

29:48

kill Carla Walker and Ben Brook,

29:51

PS, it is hard to say,

29:53

but it is true. Meanwhile, Paul

29:55

Holes contacted a lab in Texas

29:57

that does genealogical mapping, but the

29:59

technician did not have any

30:01

luck obtaining a match. Now, Holz

30:03

did cover this case on his

30:05

series. And after this episode aired,

30:07

he introduced the cold case unit

30:09

to David Middleman, who's the CEO

30:12

of Othram Labs, a forensic lab

30:14

near Houston, Texas. And this

30:16

lab is known for obtaining full DNA

30:18

profiles from small samples. And

30:21

this lab is not just a lab. They

30:23

do a lot there, and we

30:25

actually toured the place and got

30:28

to see everything. And they not

30:30

only do DNA testing, they do

30:32

genealogy. They have so

30:34

many different methods to extract DNA,

30:37

to process DNA. It was pretty

30:39

incredible to see. It's very cutting

30:41

edge. Well, and beyond

30:43

that, they also do research into the

30:45

cases surrounding the evidence so they can

30:47

figure out what the best way to

30:50

test it is. And not only

30:52

that, whether they should even bother testing it

30:54

yet, because does the technology exist

30:56

to deal with the evidence that they

30:58

are holding there? So of

31:01

course, David Middleman thinks, you know, maybe we

31:03

should do a family tree match with this.

31:06

There wasn't a lot of DNA left

31:08

that they could analyze, but what remained

31:10

was shipped to Othram. July

31:12

4, 2020, Officer Jeff Bennett

31:15

learned that the DNA sample that

31:17

Othram came up with that they

31:19

tested was linked to the McCurley

31:22

family tree. And this is because

31:24

there were several people in that

31:26

family with that last name who

31:28

were a match for the sample.

31:30

So then from there, Bennett asked

31:32

Othram if there was anyone in

31:34

the family named Glen Samuel McCurley.

31:37

Glen senior died in 72. David

31:39

Middleman told Bennett he'd have to check if

31:41

there was a Glen Jr. And he called

31:44

back later that day and told him that

31:46

Glen Samuel McCurley Jr. was living in Fort

31:48

Worth at the time of the murder and

31:50

was now in his late 70s. Now, this

31:52

is really interesting because we already said before

31:55

that there was a letter and

31:57

something was redacted. We also know that

32:00

early on in the investigation that one

32:02

of the people they spoke with was

32:04

this person. Yeah, was

32:06

Glenn because of that magazine found

32:08

at the scene of the abduction

32:10

that belonged to a .22 caliber

32:13

Ruger? So of course

32:16

the detectives, they're looking into his background

32:18

and they see that he has no

32:20

other convictions besides that 1961 car theft

32:22

conviction. Glenn

32:25

kept a job and had a good reputation. He

32:27

was living a simple life in West Fort Worth

32:29

for almost 50 years. He

32:31

liked to work on projects around the house

32:33

and he loved watching home improvement shows. And

32:36

just like clockwork, he would take his wife

32:38

to Walmart every week to buy groceries. And

32:41

sometimes they would eat at a nearby

32:43

restaurant and most Sundays they attended church.

32:45

But Glenn by this time wasn't working

32:47

full time. So he wasn't driving trucks,

32:50

but he did do handyman jobs and

32:52

part-time maintenance work at a fitness club.

32:55

So they need to find a way to

32:57

see if he's their guy, right Justin? Oh

32:59

yeah, this is where investigators and

33:01

detectives can get clever.

33:05

And on July 7th of

33:07

2020, they collected trash

33:09

from his bin and

33:11

sent items in for lab

33:13

analysis. Now, typically they're looking

33:15

for things that have been handled

33:18

or something that maybe might have

33:20

saliva on it. So they bring

33:23

these items in and

33:25

they get a DNA profile

33:27

from Glenn's garbage that now

33:29

matches the profile that was

33:32

taken from Carla's clothing. And

33:35

it's September 4th of

33:37

2020 that the police now

33:39

know they have a verified match.

33:42

So the cold case detectives Wagner and Bennett,

33:45

they just show up at the McCurley home

33:47

on September 10th, 2020. And

33:51

of course they're invited in. Hey, we're just here to talk. So

33:54

Glenn starts talking about how he used to be a

33:56

truck driver and Judy told him she

33:58

worked for her church daycare. program for 32 years

34:01

and retired in 2004. She said

34:03

Glenn suffered from diabetes and recently

34:06

had surgery to remove a tumor

34:08

on his liver. So

34:10

the detectives, they start talking about Carla

34:12

Walker and her murder. And they mentioned

34:15

that they're re-interviewing people from the original

34:17

investigation. And Detective Wagner asked Glenn to

34:19

submit a DNA sample because, hey, that

34:21

would be an easy way to eliminate

34:24

you as a suspect if you're not

34:26

involved. Glenn hesitated, but he

34:28

did end up signing a consent

34:30

form and Wagner took the sample

34:32

and then the officers left. And

34:35

I think they just want to nail

34:38

this down. You don't

34:40

need a warrant to grab

34:42

somebody's cigarette butt that they

34:44

left. You don't need a warrant to

34:47

grab something out of their trash can,

34:49

but in court, it looks a lot

34:51

better if they consented and it's directly

34:53

from them. So this

34:55

is the police doing their due

34:58

diligence. This is this investigator. Wagner

35:00

is just nailing this guy. So

35:03

it's September 16th. Obviously,

35:05

they find out that Glenn's

35:07

DNA swab, his mouth swab

35:09

is a match. And September

35:11

21st, they're moving very quickly.

35:14

Police officers from the Delta

35:16

team of the US Marshalls

35:18

North Texas Fugitive Task Force

35:21

surrounded the McCurley home. Personally,

35:24

Aaron, I think they could have just walked

35:26

back up to his house and handcuffed him

35:28

and left, but they're going to do this

35:30

the right way. They're going to make sure

35:32

that Glenn isn't going to run or fight

35:34

them. But Glenn, he is

35:36

very surprised that he is being

35:39

placed under arrest. He doesn't think

35:41

that there's anything tying him to

35:43

this crime. He does not admit

35:45

to the crime. He even waived

35:47

his rights to a lawyer while

35:49

they interrogate him. But there's

35:52

probably a good reason for this.

35:54

I would imagine that Glenn McCurley

35:56

has no idea how DNA testing

35:59

works. or what it means

36:01

for suspects. He just

36:03

doesn't understand. I think that a

36:06

lot of the older generation doesn't know

36:08

how far technology

36:10

has come and he feels

36:12

pretty confident that they have nothing

36:14

on him. I mean, he was left

36:16

alone all those years, all those decades. So

36:19

these detectives show him a picture of Carla

36:21

and he says, I don't know who that

36:24

is. I've never seen her before. And

36:26

they said, you could make

36:28

things right before you die if you admit to

36:31

what you did. And Bennett asked Glenn if he

36:33

killed anyone else saying there were a lot of

36:35

homicides that occurred during that time. And we're trying

36:37

to find out if you're this mean, ugly serial

36:39

killer or if this is just something that happened

36:42

that night and was a mistake. Personally,

36:44

I feel like that's a strange way to put

36:46

it because I don't know that

36:48

taking someone's life in such a way is

36:51

a mistake. But for the next hour, Glenn,

36:53

he won't admit to killing Carla or knowing

36:55

her. And Wagner said, it must have been

36:57

difficult to keep the secret from Judy all

37:00

these years. Glenn replied, then I go to

37:02

the electric chair, I get hung or whatever.

37:05

Now they can tell at this point,

37:07

he is worried about his wife. He

37:09

cares about her. And Wagner tells him

37:11

that his son, Roddy would take care

37:14

of Judy. And then Glenn says,

37:16

okay, I did do what I guess. This

37:19

is a very passive confession,

37:21

admittance of guilt, if you

37:23

will. Now his

37:25

story is his story. So pay

37:27

attention to what he says here.

37:29

But there are some things to question.

37:32

According to Glenn on the afternoon of February 16th, 1974, he

37:34

was drinking whiskey and beer

37:36

for several hours. And then he drove around

37:39

and parked in some parking lots. And at

37:41

one point, he drove to the bowling ball

37:43

place. He said while he was there, he

37:45

heard a girl screaming in a car and

37:47

explained that he went over there to see

37:50

if he could help. And there was this

37:52

big guy who had her up and against

37:54

the door, jerking her around. He opened the

37:56

front passenger door, got into a Carla

38:00

and took her back to his car

38:02

and drove her to another parking lot.

38:04

Glenn said, she started hugging me, thanking me,

38:06

and one thing led to another, I did

38:09

have sex with her. He said he doesn't

38:11

remember much else after that, just he let

38:13

her out of the car. Now Wagner

38:15

confronts him with the fact that Carla was a

38:17

virgin before she was killed, and

38:19

she didn't believe Carla would willingly have

38:21

sex with a person she just met,

38:23

a stranger. A stranger who

38:25

just beat up her boyfriend doesn't

38:28

make any sense. Glenn

38:30

said that he didn't rape Carla, but said after

38:32

they had sex, he choked her because he was

38:34

scared she would tell on him. I

38:36

have to stop right there because if

38:38

you have consensual sex, you don't choke

38:40

someone because you're worried they're going to

38:43

tell someone else you had sex with

38:45

them. Yeah, there's no logic to his

38:47

story at all. And I realize different

38:49

people think differently, but this seems like

38:51

a really big stretch. He

38:53

maintained that Carla was alive when he drove away,

38:55

and he said that he left her next to

38:57

a building close to the bowling alley near a

38:59

Mexican restaurant. Now Officer Bennett

39:02

wondered if Mr. McCurley here

39:04

is mixing up the details of Carla's

39:06

murder with a different murder. Glenn

39:09

was asked if there was another girl, and he

39:11

responded, no, I only did one night. And then

39:13

he said he was pretty sure about that. Pretty

39:16

sure. Now he

39:18

does get some of these facts

39:20

wrong because he says he leaves

39:22

the body next to a Mexican

39:24

restaurant. This is why the

39:27

detective is thinking there might be way

39:29

more victims here. Or at least one

39:31

more. Now, this is

39:33

a long time ago. He might be

39:35

misremembering, but he has enough details where

39:38

I think you probably know something about

39:40

this. And honestly, Aaron, at the end

39:42

of the day, I don't really care

39:44

about his confession. I don't care about

39:47

what he's saying because we have DNA

39:49

tying him directly to the crime and

39:51

the victim. and

40:00

that Carla and Glenn did not know each other. McCurley

40:03

pleaded not guilty. His attorney argued that

40:05

the DNA test was flawed, and he

40:07

was coerced into making a false confession.

40:10

They also insisted he was no threat because

40:12

he was dying of cancer. Prosecutors said they

40:14

would not seek the death penalty. Now,

40:17

it's interesting that his attorney argued the

40:19

DNA testing was flawed because he must

40:22

not understand science. This

40:24

is the problem here is

40:26

the DNA is the one

40:28

thing in this case that

40:30

seems pretty accurate. This is

40:33

finding a man through genealogy

40:35

in a DNA profile, and

40:37

then him having left evidence

40:39

at the crime scene in

40:41

a magazine from a gun,

40:43

he was an initial suspect

40:45

in the case. They get

40:47

a DNA swab directly from

40:49

his mouth that matches evidence.

40:51

There's no tainting here. There's

40:53

no cross-contamination here. How

40:56

would his DNA get on

40:58

the clothing of Carla Walker?

41:01

It's not going to happen. So

41:03

the jury's selection for Glenn McCurley's

41:05

murder trial began August 19, 2021,

41:09

and Rodney McCoy testified on

41:11

August 20th. He testified

41:13

about the night of the attack saying, I'm not

41:15

sure how many times I got hit. I believe

41:18

it was more than once. According to Carla's reaction

41:20

because she screamed, stop hitting him. Carla

41:22

turned her face to me and I can

41:24

visualize it. She said, Rodney, go get my

41:26

dad. Those are the last

41:29

words I heard from Carla.

41:31

This is some important testimony

41:33

from Carla's boyfriend, Rodney. According

41:36

to Rodney, it seemed like the whole

41:38

incident took less than two minutes. He

41:40

also said that the parking lot was

41:42

full of high school students. During cross-examination,

41:44

the defense noted that Rodney told the

41:46

police he thought five to six people

41:48

took Carla and that he pointed out

41:50

someone in the police lineup. Rodney testified

41:52

that he does not remember doing that.

41:55

I would hope that there was some

41:57

documentation to him pointing somebody out and

41:59

that. That's not something they would just

42:01

make up. But again, this is 30, 40

42:03

years later. People

42:07

don't remember every single detail. And even

42:09

the night of, Rodney thought there was

42:11

more than one person. But

42:14

if there are people standing around and

42:16

one of them is beating you, you

42:18

can misinterpret what's happening here. And I

42:20

think he's doing his best to remember

42:22

all the details. And he

42:25

was hit in the head with the butt of

42:27

a pistol. He's going

42:29

to be disoriented, but I believe his story. Retired

42:32

investigator Jim Minter testified that he couldn't

42:34

remember if Hare found at the entrance

42:36

of the culvert where Carla was found

42:38

and Hare on the roof of the

42:40

culvert were tested. He did acknowledge it

42:43

may have gotten there when the suspect

42:45

stood up and hit his head on

42:47

the roof. He also couldn't recall why

42:49

three men who allegedly confessed were later

42:51

ruled out, but he did remember that

42:53

a man from Tennessee was not able

42:55

to tell detectives what direction Carla was

42:57

lying. So again,

42:59

it's many years later, it's hard to remember all the

43:01

details. Prosecutors revealed that

43:03

Glenn's missing .22 caliber Ruger

43:05

was found during a search of his

43:07

home. It was hidden in a compartment

43:09

above a door. Okay,

43:12

so let's pause on that real

43:14

quick, Aaron. He was an initial

43:16

suspect because a magazine from a

43:18

gun he claimed was stolen was

43:20

found at the crime scene. And

43:23

then they find a gun that

43:25

this magazine goes to in his

43:27

house. Hey,

43:29

come on. It's ludicrous,

43:31

right? But hey, this is a trial. You

43:33

know, they've got more testimony to go through.

43:36

Now, the defense, they're arguing that the police

43:38

forced Glenn to make a false confession. And

43:40

he simply told them what they wanted to

43:43

hear. And they questioned how the evidence was

43:45

handled and stored. They said Carla's

43:47

dress, bra, and underwear were tested in 2019. The

43:50

DNA on the bra was linked to

43:52

Glenn's family tree, but defense attorney Steven

43:54

Myers told the jury there wouldn't be

43:56

a lot of evidence about what happened

43:58

with the bra between 1974

44:01

and 2019, so they would have to

44:03

decide for themselves if it could have

44:05

been contaminated. We've

44:07

seen cases where this does happen,

44:09

where people plant evidence, but we

44:11

have to trust our system as

44:13

much as we can. We have

44:15

to trust that chain of custody

44:17

hasn't been broken. We have to

44:19

trust that this piece of evidence

44:21

has been sitting in a sealed

44:23

plastic bag for all these years.

44:25

But again, Aaron, I just come

44:27

back to why would his

44:30

DNA be planted on there so many

44:32

years later? That doesn't make a lot

44:34

of sense to me, especially

44:36

when he was a suspect

44:39

originally with good cause. Feeling

44:42

like you need a marketing degree and an

44:44

extra day in your week to successfully market

44:47

your small business? Let Constant Contact do the

44:49

heavy lifting for you. Constant

44:51

Contact's award-winning marketing platform has powerful tools

44:53

that make it easy to grow your

44:55

audience, engage your customers, and sell more

44:57

to boost your business. Now

45:00

in just a few clicks, you can launch

45:02

a marketing campaign that's tailored to your business

45:04

and goals that includes email, social, SMS, and

45:06

more. So you can sell more,

45:08

raise more, and fast-track your business growth. Plus,

45:11

you can always count on Constant Contact's

45:13

award-winning customer support for guidance along the

45:15

way. So get going

45:17

and start growing your business today with

45:20

a free trial at constantcontact.com. Constant

45:22

Contact. Helping the small stand

45:25

tall. The

45:27

jury listened to Glenn's confession

45:29

from 2020. At first,

45:31

they hear how he denied killing Carla, but

45:33

as the questioning continued, he eventually said, I

45:35

guess I choked her to death. He

45:38

admitted that he raped and strangled her, saying,

45:40

I took advantage of her, I guess. I

45:42

choked her to death, I guess. I'm guilty.

45:45

But you know, this case is not really

45:47

about a confession though. It's nice

45:49

to have so you can play it for

45:51

the jury. But of course, the defense is

45:53

arguing this can be misunderstood or they got

45:55

the wrong guy. He didn't really confess. He

45:57

did it under duress. But the DNA evidence

45:59

is. really what's most important here at

46:01

the trial, I believe, because male DNA

46:03

was found on Carla's dress, but it

46:05

was considered to be too weak and

46:08

incomplete to form a true full profile.

46:10

This is something else we learned about.

46:12

But DNA on other sections of

46:14

clothing matched Carla and Rodney, and

46:16

another section had a DNA profile

46:18

that matched Glenn McCurley, the man

46:21

on trial. What happened

46:23

August 24th? Because August 24th,

46:25

2021 is a stunning day

46:27

of this whole trial. Well,

46:30

Glenn McCurley changed his plea

46:33

from not guilty to guilty.

46:36

He's pleading guilty now. This trial

46:38

is going to come to an

46:40

abrupt end. The judge started the

46:43

court session by announcing she received

46:45

a document where Glenn confessed to

46:47

kidnapping and murder. She asked Glenn

46:49

to acknowledge that he was waiving

46:51

his rights to a trial. He

46:54

responded that he was guilty and

46:56

was immediately sentenced to life in

46:58

prison. There were impact statements

47:01

made. Carla's sister asked him

47:03

to confess to any other

47:05

murders to help other victims'

47:07

families. And his original

47:10

confession was shaky. His original

47:12

confession was, I choked her, I

47:14

guess. He always put in,

47:16

I guess. It wasn't solid.

47:18

The DNA was solid, and

47:20

I don't believe there was

47:22

any DNA planted in this case,

47:24

especially a cold case. I

47:27

mean, they're really wanting to

47:29

get justice for the family. Cold

47:31

cases, I don't think they have

47:33

the same motivation to just close

47:35

a case immediately to appease the

47:37

public. They're trying to find the

47:39

truth. There is no pressure

47:41

when you're looking at 30, 40 years out. They're

47:45

trying to do the right thing. And

47:47

now Glenn has changed his plea to

47:49

guilty. I look at that, and

47:51

I just think there's no more doubt in

47:53

my mind. Not that there was with the

47:55

DNA, but he is now admitting to this

47:57

murder, and he is pleading to be a victim.

48:00

being guilty. But bravo to

48:02

Cindy Walker, or at least Carla's

48:04

sister Cindy, for saying this because

48:06

there is a belief that this

48:09

man, Glenn McCurley, may have committed

48:11

other crimes. And I don't

48:13

think the detectives are off when they say

48:15

some of his details are off, but they

48:18

may be fitting another crime or two. We

48:21

have a list of all of the

48:23

murders in a 10-year period from Fort

48:25

Worth back then. We didn't read through

48:27

all of them, but there were dozens

48:29

and they all kind of fit the

48:31

same MO. Not saying this

48:34

person is responsible for all of them,

48:36

but it would be kind of out

48:39

of sorts for somebody to commit

48:41

this act that seems so well

48:44

planned and have only done one

48:46

murder and then had been a

48:48

totally perfect citizen for the rest

48:50

of their lives. It just seems

48:53

like that's not how that works.

48:55

Usually there is a pattern of

48:57

behavior. Usually this is something

48:59

a start of or somebody who has

49:01

been doing it for a while and

49:04

he barely admitted to killing

49:07

Carla, so he's not coming forth

49:09

with any other information. Well,

49:12

we do know from all of

49:14

the DNA testing that is revealing killers

49:16

in the last, what is it, like

49:18

five years or so, that there are

49:20

a lot of people who they can

49:22

only link to a single crime and

49:24

it comes down to a crime of

49:26

opportunity. Now I will say

49:28

in this case, the way this went

49:30

and how it appears that Carla was

49:32

taken and maybe held for days and

49:34

tortured, that this isn't just a crime

49:36

of opportunity. It may have started off

49:38

that way. When Glenn points

49:40

out that he was driving around to different

49:43

parking lots, that's him hunting. And

49:45

so I don't think you can say

49:47

it's just, oh, it just randomly occurred.

49:49

No, he was in the time and

49:51

place he wanted to be for this

49:53

opportunity. He put himself there.

49:56

He's looking for this. So

49:58

I would think he's been driving. driving around

50:00

and the only thing we can compare with

50:02

other cases is when people do this kind

50:04

of thing, they wait for their wife to

50:06

be out of town because now there's no

50:08

question about where you going right now. What

50:11

have you been up to when their wife's

50:13

out of town? Now they can hunt. It's

50:15

a scary thought, but this is what happens. Now

50:19

detectives, Lee Wagner and officer Jeff

50:21

Bennett, they tell reporters, they're investigating

50:23

Glenn's possible connection to other murders,

50:25

including murder of Becky Martin, because

50:28

honestly, out of all the crimes

50:30

that have occurred that we looked

50:32

over ourselves, this one does seem

50:34

like the one they should be

50:37

working the most diligently on because

50:39

he may be connected, right? But

50:41

that requires more investigation and possibly

50:44

some luck. Officer Bennett

50:46

started a nonprofit called F WPD cold

50:48

case support group to raise money for

50:50

DNA testing and other cold cases, because

50:52

like you said, the money's not always

50:54

there. There are budgets. And it's not

50:56

like they have unlimited funds to draw

50:58

from to close cases. And Jim Walker

51:00

said he would donate the profits from

51:02

the sale of his family home to

51:04

the organization. He planned to put it

51:06

on the market a couple of years

51:08

after the trial. He told Texas monthly,

51:10

I don't need to be living here

51:12

anymore. Thinking about my mom crying in

51:14

her bathroom or my dad with his metal box.

51:17

I don't need to be reminded of Carla's murder.

51:19

Every time I walked down the hallway, it's time

51:21

to let things go. And in

51:23

December of 2021, skip Hollinsworth from Texas

51:26

monthly visited Glenn

51:30

in prison, Glenn did not

51:32

think he had much longer to live.

51:34

He's older. He has health issues. Those

51:37

things just speed up when you're

51:39

behind bars. His wife and

51:41

son had not written to him or contacted

51:44

him. And he added, I guess they

51:46

now believe I did all those things. The

51:48

police said I did. It's all a bunch

51:50

of lies. You know, I'm no desperate. I

51:53

never did anything violent. I

51:55

never hurt any woman. His

51:57

DNA matches. He changes. his

52:00

plea to guilty, but yet

52:02

he's still trying to maintain

52:04

his innocence here. When

52:06

asked about his childhood, he said he got

52:09

along with his parents and got into a

52:11

few fights. He was sent to a

52:13

boy's home. When he was asked

52:15

about Carla, he called her that

52:17

girl. He said that they

52:20

didn't know each other and they

52:22

never had sex. After taking

52:24

her away from the young man, he said

52:27

that he drove her to another parking

52:29

lot, helped her clean up, and then

52:31

took her back to the bowling alley

52:33

where her friends were waiting for her.

52:35

He says that he didn't put hands

52:37

on her. That's ridiculous. So he's admitting

52:39

that he actually saw her that night.

52:42

He added that she wasn't wearing

52:44

a blue prom dress. That's a

52:46

lie that the police told. And

52:49

Aaron, he's just going through all of

52:51

these minor indiscrepancies

52:53

that are, to me,

52:56

irrelevant. Well, it

52:58

sounds like he's straight up lying. So I

53:00

don't care what's irrelevant. I mean, a guy's just

53:02

lying and they've already got him. He's

53:05

the one that told the court he was done. And

53:07

I can only imagine it's because he couldn't take

53:10

it anymore. The whole world was seeing him for

53:12

what he was. And he buckled

53:14

under that pressure. That's on him.

53:16

I mean, he didn't have to commit murder.

53:19

He's saying that he pleaded guilty because

53:22

he just had enough. He said

53:24

that the judge wouldn't let him

53:26

talk. Everybody believed the policewoman and

53:28

policeman, but nobody was hearing his

53:30

side of the story. What

53:32

was his side of the story? We have

53:34

physical evidence tying him to the crime, and

53:37

then we have him confessing. Okay.

53:40

Well, what was your side of the story, buddy?

53:43

Well, he didn't admit to hiding his gun,

53:45

right? I mean, he needs to tell a

53:47

story that everyone can believe and understand, but

53:49

with all the evidence against him, yeah, there

53:52

was just no way he was going to

53:54

get away with that. Unfortunately, or

53:56

maybe fortunately, depending on your point

53:58

of view, Glenn McCurley... died

54:00

and he died in

54:02

2023. And because of that,

54:05

we won't be able to, I

54:07

guess, expect him, and I don't think we should have,

54:09

but expect him to be able to tell us what

54:11

else he did. Because it seems

54:13

like even when he would confess, when he

54:16

would tell some truth, he would later walk

54:18

that back. He would tell a different story.

54:20

So that's just a common thing

54:22

with killers, is they don't really like to

54:24

give up their secrets. In

54:27

May of 2023, the Fort

54:29

Worth Police Department Cold Case Unit

54:31

launched their website to collect donations

54:33

for DNA testing. As you mentioned

54:36

before, the fwpdcoldcasesupport.org. Fort Worth currently

54:38

has 970 unsolved murders and over

54:40

30 active cold cases. The Cold

54:43

Case Unit now

54:48

has four members of law enforcement on

54:50

staff. And in 2022, the Karla Walker

54:52

Act was introduced

54:55

to the House. According to

54:57

the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the

54:59

Karla Walker Act would set

55:01

aside funding in an annual

55:04

federal budget to assist law

55:06

enforcement in obtaining DNA testing

55:08

for cold cases. And this

55:10

is the thing, Aaron, is

55:12

police departments always want an

55:14

increase in budget. And a lot

55:17

of those times, the budget will

55:19

go to more equipment for police

55:21

officers or dashcams, things that they

55:23

do need. But it always seems

55:25

like the back end, the

55:27

follow-up, the investigation, the testing

55:29

of the evidence, that's just

55:32

not what anyone's interested in

55:34

hearing about. And so this

55:36

Karla Walker Act is setting

55:38

aside money specifically for that.

55:40

Because DNA is where we

55:42

can nail serial killers, serial

55:45

rapists, all of these crimes

55:47

that have gone unsolved. This

55:49

is the most important part of

55:51

the investigation because it's that certainty.

55:54

You can say, well, I saw that man

55:56

running away from the crime scene. I can

55:58

identify him in a lineup. as

56:00

we know, eyewitness accounts, not the best.

56:03

And if we don't have other evidence

56:05

tying somebody to a crime, oh, he

56:07

owned the same type of gun used,

56:09

but the DNA was found. And as

56:12

soon as that DNA was found, that's

56:14

when everyone's CSI effect of, where's the

56:16

DNA, where's the evidence? That's when that

56:19

kicks in and gives people certainty. So

56:22

we're still waiting to find out if

56:24

this act will pass. I don't

56:26

know why there should be a question about it, but every

56:30

time the government needs to spend

56:32

some money, I guess people have

56:34

an opinion about it. But I

56:36

think this one is definitely going

56:38

to support law enforcement and their

56:40

efforts to stop crime

56:42

and get justice for victims. Now

56:46

let's kind of finish up by talking

56:48

about some of the things that occurred

56:50

during this case while it was not

56:52

solved. Rodney McCoy,

56:55

Carla's boyfriend at the time,

56:57

he was under a lot of pressure and

56:59

a lot of suspicion because just hearing what

57:01

was going on at the time, people wondered,

57:04

what were you really doing with Carla in

57:06

the car? And he wanted to say they

57:08

were making out, but there may have been

57:10

a lot more than that going on. People

57:13

don't like to talk about their sex

57:15

lives. And then after Carla is discovered

57:17

deceased, some people, many people actually, thought

57:20

he had something to do with it.

57:22

They made up this story that some

57:24

guy just showed up, opened up the

57:27

door and started attacking both of them.

57:29

He didn't come across as believable because

57:31

Rodney McCoy was the quarterback of the

57:34

football team. He's not a weakling guy,

57:36

you know what I mean? He's

57:38

a guy that should be able to hold his

57:40

own is the idea here. Now

57:43

we know that if you start getting hit in

57:45

the head with the butt of a gun, okay,

57:47

how tough you are, you might

57:49

go out. And unfortunately for Rodney, that's what

57:51

happened. And I think we got to hear

57:54

from Jim Walker and he

57:56

was able to tell us that, yeah, a lot of

57:58

people did suspect that Rodney had something And

1:02:00

her brother, Jim Walker, keeping this

1:02:02

relevant, for keeping this in front

1:02:05

of cold case detectives' faces. Yeah,

1:02:08

kudos to all of them too, because they

1:02:10

all did their part in trying to keep

1:02:12

this case going and keeping it, like you

1:02:14

said, relevant when it could have slipped away.

1:02:17

And you know, you had read off late in

1:02:19

the episode how many cold cases there are, how

1:02:22

many unsolved homicides in just that area.

1:02:24

So they had their work cut out

1:02:26

for them. It's really hard to hold

1:02:28

them to any kind of blame if

1:02:31

something doesn't get solved when there are

1:02:33

this many unsolved crimes. It really does

1:02:35

take a lot of teamwork to

1:02:37

get a case closed out oftentimes.

1:02:42

["The Star-Spangled Banner"] ["The

1:02:57

Star-Spangled Banner"] ["The

1:03:28

Star-Spangled Banner"] ["The

1:03:57

Star-Spangled Banner"] As

1:04:00

an Audible member, you'll be able to

1:04:02

keep your heart rate up month after

1:04:04

month because you can choose one title

1:04:06

a month to keep from the entire

1:04:08

catalog, including the latest bestsellers and new

1:04:10

releases. If you're in the mood for

1:04:12

a shocking psychological thriller, check out None

1:04:14

of This is True by