What to Know
- MCurley was a person of interest in the 1974 slaying but detectives said there wasn't enough evidence to tie him to the case 46 years ago.
- Texas company used a new forensic process to create a full DNA profile of the suspect from evidence pulled off the victim's clothing -- only partial profiles were obtained before.
- Victim's family says they forgive the McCurley and are praying for his family but expect justice to be delivered.
A Tarrant County Grand Jury has indicted a 77-year-old man in connection with a cold case that went unsolved for nearly half a century.
Glen Samuel McCurley was indicted on a charge of capital murder for his role in the death of Carla Jan Walker, a 17-year-old Western Hills High School junior who was kidnapped and murdered in 1974.
According to police, Walker was abducted, held captive, and sexually assaulted before being murdered and left in a ditch after a Valentine's Day dance.
McCurley was arrested in Fort Worth in September in connection with the murder.
Investigators alleged that McCurley snatched Walker from the passenger seat of her boyfriend's car in a bowling alley parking lot.
Walker's boyfriend, Rodney McCoy, told police that a man pointed a gun at him and threatened to kill him before something hit him in the head, knocking him unconscious.
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McCoy told police he later woke up to find Walker was gone and blood coming from his head.
Walker's body was found three days later in a culvert near Benbrook Lake. Police said she had been beaten, raped, strangled, and tortured alive for two days after her disappearance.
NBC 5 learned in September that DNA evidence recovered from clothing and a bra worn by Walker on the night she was killed was sent to Othram, a private lab in The Woodlands.
The DNA profile created at Othram was used to narrow the search to three brothers with the last name McCurley.
According to police, Glen Samuel McCurley had been identified as a person of interest during the initial investigation in 1974 because he owned a gun, a .22 Ruger, that matched a magazine found at the crime scene.
Detectives spoke to McCurley during the initial investigation, but they did not pursue McCurley again following the 1974 interview until the DNA profile match was found in GEDMATCH.
Police collected trash from a bin in front of McCurley's residence in July of 2020, and they were able to determine that the items matched the male DNA profile found on Walker's clothing.
On Sept. 10, 2020, police said they returned to McCurley's home and spoke to both him and his wife, during which time McCurley told the same story that he told detectives in 1974. He said he didn't kill anyone and did not know Carla Walker.
McCurley agreed to provide a DNA sample, and six days later, police said they were notified the swabs matched the DNA found on Walker's bra.
A warrant for capital murder was then obtained and McCurley was taken into custody without incident. Jail records showed McCurley was being held in the Tarrant County Jail on a charge of capital murder with bond set at $100,000.
During a news conference in September, detectives with the Fort Worth Police Department said they believe the assault and murder were random and that Walker and McCurley didn't know each other.
Police said it appears that over the last four decades, McCurley led a relatively normal life, was married, and had two children. Police also said that McCurley is not a suspect in any other crimes.
