Carla Walker

DNA links suspected killer to 1974 random attack, rape & murder of teen girl kidnapped after Valentine’s Day dance

Texas authorities arrested a 77-year-old man this week after a DNA analysis matched him to the 1974 death of a teen girl.

Glen Samuel McCurley was taken into custody on Tuesday for the abduction and murder of Carla Jan Walker, 17. NBC DFW reports that Carla had just attended a Valentine’s Day dance in Fort Worth shortly before she vanished.

According to investigators, the teen was held captive while she was sexually assaulted, killed, and ultimately thrown in a culvert. Walker was snatched while sitting in the passenger seat of her boyfriend’s car while at a bowling alley parking lot.

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According to Walker’s boyfriend, Rodney McCoy, an unknown man approached the car and pointed a gun at him. Within minutes, something hit McCoy in the head and knocked him out. When McCoy woke up, he felt blood coming from his head and flowing into his eyes. He also had a large cut under his eye. Walker was gone.

Police found Walker’s body three days later near Benbrook Lake. After investigations, detectives determined Walker had been tortured while kept alive for days before the suspect killed her. She was also injected with morphine.

DNA from Walker’s clothing was sent to a private Texas lab that uncovers DNA and genetic evidence via “DNA, rootless hair and decades-old bones.” The DNA profile of a suspect was then established, which matched to three brothers with the last name of McCurley.

During the initial investigation in 1974, one of the brothers, Glen Samuel McCurley, was a person of interest after police found out he owned a .22 Ruger. The magazine found at the crime scene matched the gun.

At the time, there wasn’t enough evidence for an arrest, and McCurley claimed the gun had been stolen from him while fishing at a river, Dallas News reports.

Glen Samuel McCurley [Police Handout]
Over 40 years later, detectives decided to collect trash from McCurley’s trash can, in an attempt to get his DNA. After they found a match, they went to the suspect’s home to interview him. McCurley invited the detectives inside and recited the same thing he told authorities in 1974.

McCurley claimed he had been working the day Walker was abducted as a long-distance truck driver. He said again that his gun had been stolen before Carla’s abduction and he had no idea what happened to her.

McCurley then agreed to a DNA swab, which ultimately matched the DNA found on Walker’s bra.

McCurley was arrested on capital murder charges. He remains behind bars at the Tarrant County jail on a $100,000 bond.

Check back for updates.

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[Feature Photo: Carla Walker/Family Handout]