NBC Dateline: What happened to Carla Walker?
High school cheerleader Carla Walker had just left Valentine's dance on February 17, 1974, and was sitting with her then-boyfriend Rodney McCoy in his car when a strange man swung open the door, pistol-whipped McCoy, and took away Walker. Three days later, her body was found in a culvert near Benbrook Lake. She was beaten, r*ped, and strangled to death after being kept alive for at least two days.
At the time, investigators found DNA evidence on Walker's body, but due to a lack of technology and resources, they failed to identify a suspect. The case remained cold for 46 years until 2020, when the same evidence resulted in 77-year-old Glen Samuel McCurley's arrest. He eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole the following year.
An all-new episode of NBC Dateline is scheduled to chronicle the Fort Worth case of Carla Walker from the 70s this Friday, July 28, 2023. The two-hour episode titled After the Dance will air on the channel at 9 pm ET.
Here's an official synopsis for the same:
"Fort Worth, Texas, investigators desperately search for answers after a 17-year-old high school student is kidnapped and murdered following a Valentine’s Day dance. Josh Mankiewicz reports."
17-year-old Carla Walker was taken from her boyfriend's car parked outside a Fort Worth bowling alley
After the Western Hills High School Valentine's Day dance on February 17, 1974, Carla Walker and her quarterback boyfriend Rodney McCoy were hanging out in the latter's car parked outside a bowling alley in Fort Worth, Texas.
Suddenly, the passenger door flung open and an unidentified man dragged her out of the vehicle and pistol-whipped McCoy, rendering him unconscious. According to The Cinemaholic, by the time McCoy regained his sense, the attacker had kidnapped Walker and fled the scene.
An extensive search for the 17-year-old continued for three days until her body was discovered in a culvert near Benbrook Lake. A subsequent autopsy confirmed that she was beaten, r*ped, and strangled to death and that the girl was likely kept alive for two days before being murdered. It was also reported that she was injected with morphine.
Evidence recovered along with the body was a spent bullet casing, the victim's bra, and other clothing that consisted of foreign DNA. Aside from a lack of resources and technology at the time, there was even little luck with the physical evidence. At the parking lot, they found a magazine for a .22-calibre Ruger pistol.
However, there was one other lead - the spent bullet casing. A ballistics report led the investigation in the direction of a local man named Glen McCurley, who lived about a mile from the bowling alley and was soon declared a person of interest. When questioned, McCurley claimed that his gun was stolen.
Who was linked to Carla Walker's kidnapping and murder?
With no other leads, Carla Walker's murder case went cold and remained so until September 2020. DNA from stains found on her clothing culminated in the arrest of 77-year-old Glen McCurley. He was charged with capital murder, as per Inside Edition.
Investigators had initially thought Walker's kidnapping and murder was the doing of a serial killer because multiple similar attacks had occured in the area back then. However, after McCurley's arrest, they concluded that her slaying was a random attack of violence. The man had lived in the same Forth Worth house for over two decades and had two sons.
According to Oxygen, Glen McCurley claimed that on the night of the murder, he had been drinking and allegedly saw Walker and her then-boyfriend McCoy fighting and only intervened to "help her out." He eventually confessed to her kidnapping, torture, r*pe, and strangling the 17-year-old.
McCurley initially pleaded not guilty to the capital murder charge, but on August 24, 2021, he changed his plea to guilty. He was brought to justice after 46 years and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Learn more about Carla Walker's killing on NBC Dateline's upcoming episode on Friday.
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Priya Majumdar