Fort Worth PD and Othram Team to Identify 1974 Murderer of Carla Walker

Advanced DNA testing has revealed Glen Samuel McCurley, Jr. as the perpetrator in the brutal murder of a 17-year-old Texas cheerleader
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Published September 22, 2020 by Michael Vogen
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Highlights

Media Inquries

Summary

Full of life and with a bright future ahead, Carla Walker was just 17 when she was abducted from a Fort Worth parking lot and murdered in February of 1974. Carla and her boyfriend stopped by a local bowling alley to use the restrooms after attending a Valentine's Day dance. The perpetrator jerked open the passenger side door and dragged Carla out of the car, threatening her boyfriend with a gun and beating him unconscious. Carla's body was found in a culvert three days later; she had been raped, beaten, and strangled.

This brutal crime remained unsolved for nearly a half-century, with all available leads exhausted, including conventional forensic DNA testing. In April 2020, Carla’s story was featured on Oxygen’s “The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes.” A seasoned cold case investigator, Paul Holes was a key player in the identification of the Golden State Killer. Shortly after the Carla Walker episode aired, Holes connected Fort Worth PD Detectives Leah Wagner and Jeff Bennett with Othram to discuss the case. Within weeks, Othram’s advanced DNA analysis paired with exceptional investigative work from the detectives led to the identification of a suspect.

Glen Samuel McCurley, 77, was apprehended by the Fort Worth Police Department and charged with capital murder on Monday, September 21, 2020.

Updates

NBC Dateline will feature a 2-hour Special on the Carla Walker case

January 27, 2022

The January 28th episode of NBC Dateline will feature Othram technology that was used to help solve the Carla Walker case. It's an amazing story and we highly recommend folks to watch if they want to see how an unsolved case from half-century ago can go from cold case to conviction. The episodes airs January 28th at 8pm central on NBC.