Going West: True Crime - Carla Walker // 168

Episode Date: January 22, 2022

When a young Texas couple was attacked in their car after a high school Valentine’s Day dance, the teenage girl was abducted. And after her body was discovered days later, an investigation into her murder began. But it wasn’t until new DNA technology brought real answers to the case. This is the story of Carla Walker. BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES https://www.newspapers.com/image/695939315/?terms=Glen%20Samuel%20McCurley&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/633175182/?terms=Carla%20Walker&match=1 https://www.fox4news.com/news/78-year-old-suspect-confesses-in-court-judge-sentences-him-to-life-in-prison-for-carla-walkers-murder https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=65088723&fcfToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJmcmVlLXZpZXctaWQiOjY4MzU3NTIxMiwiaWF0IjoxNjQyNTQ3MjcyLCJleHAiOjE2NDI2MzM2NzJ9.KMBAhLol8ag2vhAtcMHGypFRXqqrnpX8MYj13nCNgCw https://www.newspapers.com/image/633175182/?terms=Carla%20Walker&match=1 https://www.newspapers.com/image/683575226/?terms=Glen%20McCurley&match=1 https://internewscast.com/world-news/who-is-carla-jan-walker-wiki-bio-agekiller-stops-murder-trial-investigation-instagram-twitter-quick-facts/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans, I'm your host Heath and I'm your host Daphne, and you're listening to Going West. Howdy folks, thank you so much for tuning in today to yet another episode of Going West. Howdy folks, thank you so much for tuning in today to yet another episode of Going West. Yes, today's episode, I've been wanting to cover this case for about three years now. Actually, since we started this podcast, and when we started this podcast, this case was not solved. But as of recently, it has been solved. So, I hope you guys are ready for a crazy story today. Yeah, at Daphne you got anything else?

No, that's it. I actually heard about this case. I think my mom or either my mom or a listener sent it over. So if you are the listener that sent it over like two years ago, I'm so sorry. But yeah, I've also been interested in this case for a while. So let's do it. All right, guys, this is episode 168 of Going West, so let's get into it! In February of 1974, an all-American high school couple in Texas were getting intimate

in a parking lot after a high school Valentine's Day dance. When all of the sudden, they were brutally attacked and the young teenage girl was abducted. A few days later, her body was discovered and the crime shocked the entire community. Police had many suspects over the years, but none of them led to the girl's killer, and the case remained unsolved for more than 45 years. But in 2020, the case was re-examined, and new developments in DNA technology led police to the identity of the killer.

This is the story of Carla Jan Walker. Carla Jan Walker was born on January 31, 1957 to parents Colonel Layton Neil Walker and Doris Charlene Lindley in Tarant County, Texas. Carla grew up with her brothers Charles, Jim, and Steve and her sisters Cindy and Diane. And she also had a half-brother named Donald from her father's side and two step sisters Patsy and Sharon from her mother's side. So she had this like giant family, but sadly it does look like her half-brother Donald passed away in 1972 when Carla was just 15. Carla was a beautiful, blonde, haired, blue-eyed girl who had an incredible smile, but also had, you know, the toughness of a Texan as she grew up in the Fort Worth area, but you

wouldn't know it by her kind of petite frame and kind nature. She attended Western Hills High School in nearby Benbrook, Texas, where she was a part of the Pep Squad and she had a ton of friends, most of whom she had known since elementary school, including her best friends Connie and Christie. At some point during her high school career, she met a young, good-looking and athletic boy, who she hadn't previously known from her early school days, named Rodney McCoy. Rodney was the first string quarterback for the Western Hillscougars, and he and Carla hit it off immediately and began dating.

All of Carla's friends said that they had never met a person who didn't like Carla, you know, she was just super special, and she and Rodney were that picturesque high school couple. In early February of 1974, 17-year-old Carla and 18-year-old Rodney were planning on attending the upcoming Valentine's Day dance at their high school, and things seem to be getting really serious with the couple. Rodney had plans after graduation to attend Texas Tech University, and Carla was planning on following him there afterwards. On Thursday February 14, which was Valentine's Day, a local police officer named James Johnson made a visit to Carla's All Girls tennis class at her school,

ahead of the upcoming Valentine's Day dance to show the teens an educational safety film called the Lone Woman. The school wanted to take precautionary measures and explain what a young woman should do in the event of an attack and the film went over some key points to help keep young women safe. I'm kind of surprised that a school did this in 1974, because it's not something I've heard of, but I think that's really awesome, and I think more schools should definitely do that. You didn't have police officers coming to your school and giving you guys safety tips.

The only thing I remember was, oh shoot, I forget what it's called. It was something about drunk driving, and they played out that whole car accident. Did you have that? Oh, yes, I totally remember that, yeah. Yeah, we only had that, but we never had, like, how to defend yourself as a young woman, which I think is badass. More school should do that.

Yeah, definitely. So the dance was set to take place just two days later on Saturday the 16th at the school's gymnasium, and Carla was beyond excited to spend time hanging out with her friends, but also her boyfriend Rodney. Of course, this is the Valentine's Day dance, so. But little did anyone know how incredibly ironic that safety film would turn out to be in

the worst possible way. And at the end of the film, Officer Johnson stated, do not think that this can't happen to you. A few hours before the dance was set to start, Rodney McCoy finished his shift at the local gas station that he worked at, and headed home to shower and clean up for his waiting date. Once he cleaned himself up and put on his suit, he jumped in his mother's boat of a car, which was a 1969 Ford LTD.

Massive car? Yes, and headed out to pick up Carla at her family's home. But at some point along the way, Rodney realized that he had forgotten the corsage that he had purchased for Carla at home in the refrigerator. So he had to turn back and go get it. When he finally arrived at Carla's home, he was late. And he could tell that his date was a little annoyed about it,

but they didn't let it ruin their evening. They headed off to a nice Mexican restaurant in the area and enjoyed dinner before arriving at the school's gymnasium. And when the two of them arrived, they hit the dance floor immediately, and Rodney tried to show off his dance moves, something that he later described as flailing around trying to dance. And a few friends of theirs had brought some alcohol to the dance and Rodney, as well as Carla, decided to partake in the festivities. When the dance was finally over, Carla, Rodney, and another couple who attended the dance

decided to drive around town and do some cruising. And this was like a very popular thing to do back in the 1970s and 80s. And in fact, my dad actually told me that he would do this with his friends. When he grew up in Eugene, Oregon, on a street labeled the gut, which was like this main street in Eugene, they would just cruise around

and kind of show off their cars. So Carla and Rodney did this for a little while, but eventually the night was coming to a close, so they dropped their friends off at their own car and made their way home, but first they stopped at the Brunswick Ridgeley Bowling alley off of US Highway 377 so that Carla could use the restroom. At this point it was very early Sunday morning, like somewhere around 1am. And when Carla returned to the car from the restroom, the couple didn't want the night

to end, so they sat in the dimly lit parking lot and Carla admired the promise ring that Rodney had given her before the couple started to get intimate in the front seat. Carla leaned against the passenger side window with her purse prop to behind her head as some sort of makeshift pillow. And Rodney leaned on top of her and they began to kiss. But just seconds later, a horrific scenario would unfold, something that shocked the entire Fort Worth area. Just as Rodney and Carla began to kiss, Carla's door was abruptly jerked open, and she almost fell out onto the asphalt below.

Immediately, Rodney felt vicious blows to the back of his head, but he couldn't see who was hitting him because when the door swung open, the weight of both he and Carla's bodies shifted downward. The next thing Rodney heard was a man say, you're coming with me sweetheart, as she was being pulled from the vehicle. Rodney tried to pull Carla back inside the car,

but he was weak from being beaten, and he just couldn't hold on. He finally looked up to see a gun pointed at his face, and a man said, I'm gonna kill you. Rodney's life just flashed before his eyes at this point, as you can imagine, and the next sounds that he heard were the clicks of a trigger being pulled, like this guy was literally trying to shoot him in the face. Yeah, he was going to kill Rodney.

So seconds later, Rodney opened his eyes and realized that he wasn't dead and that the gun had misfired. Frustrated by the situation, the attacker pistol whipped 18-year-old Rodney in the face, knocking him almost unconscious. And then he essentially heard the voice of an angel. He heard Carla say, I'll go with you, just stop hitting him. Carla and Rodney looked into each other's eyes for the last time and the last thing Carla said to Rodney was Go get dad

just before Rodney passed out on the leather seat and Just like that Carla was gone and I just want to briefly talk about this because this is like just a Teenage horror scenario like you're sitting in the car, you're having an intimate moment, and then, we're just smiling their own business. Exactly. And then somebody just comes up,

and this is actually very reminiscent of the David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen Zodiac attack. In that case, Betty Lou Jensen was murdered, she wasn't abducted. David Faraday was actually shot in the head, but he survived. Right, I know what you mean though, it's like, you know, they were in the car, kind of by themselves, maybe trying to have an intimate moment and then they were attacked. Yeah, it's just like a random attack. Yeah, I feel like there are a lot of other cases like that, like, lover's lane murders, you know.

We covered one, I want to say it was the man that dreaded, or the town that, not the man, the town that dreaded sundown But that was so long ago. I can't remember But there's a lot of murders like this, but this one it's scary because it's not like somebody just came up to their car trying to kill them but tried to murder Rodney and then just took Carla and they don't know who this man is Yeah, just absolutely terrifying

So when Rodney finally woke up just minutes later, he was bleeding from his head and somehow managed to start the car while he was still disoriented. He started driving at a high rate of speed and nearly crashed into another car head on. Rodney finally made it to Carla's house after smashing into the curb and parking in the front yard.

Carla's brother Jim, who was her younger brother, remembered the scene being complete chaos as Rodney got out of the car and started yelling, Mr. Walker, they've got her, they're gonna hurt her real bad. Carla's mother Charlene remembers Rodney bursting through the door, covered in blood, yelling for someone to help. Carla's father, Layton, immediately jumped in his own car and sped down to the bowling

alley with his gun, where he pounded on the front door, but no one answered. The bowling alley was closed at this point and the doors were all locked up. An ambulance was called to the walker home for Rodney and Carla's older sister Cindy, who was 19 at this time, ended up writing with Rodney to the hospital. And police searched everywhere that night for Carla, but sadly nothing was immediately found. Both Rodney and Carla's family explained that the first four days, they almost didn't sleep at all. Well it's so tough because, like, how are they supposed to find this guy? This is 1974,

there's no security cameras outside the bowling alley. It was very late at night, you know, so late that the bowling alley was either closed or they were about to close. So it's not like there was a bunch of people around. So it's like, how frustrating would that be? You know, the dad runs over to the bowling alley and there's obviously no trace of his daughter and she's just could be anywhere with this guy. Yeah. And you know, what's also really sad here

is that the walkers actually considered Rodney a part of their family. Like, he was, you know, just like their son. They went to all of his football games. They always set a place at the dinner table for him, and Layton actually did later explain that Rodney was basically one of his sons. And after Carla went missing,

Rodney actually moved into the walk Walker's house for a period of time because he was just basically like waiting for the love of his life to come home. Yeah, and I mean Rodney, he did everything he could in that moment. He was almost murdered in the moment. So there was nothing he could do except for run home as fast as he could

and try to get help from family and police, which is what he did. Yeah, and you have to think about it too. You know, he's 18 years old, like... And he's pistol whipped. Yeah, he's just a kid, you know? So obviously it's very terrifying for him and he doesn't know what to do in this situation.

Right. So a large-scale search was conducted by local police as well as parents and teenagers from the area to look for any clues regarding Carla's whereabouts. But on Wednesday, February 20th, 1974, so about three days after Carla vanished, officers notified the Walker family that a body had been discovered inside a concrete culvert off of Holiday Park Drive about a mile east of US 377 near Benbrook Lake, and they were confident that it was Carla. And regarding the concrete culvert, so as if her body, you know, somebody had tried to hide it.

Fort Worth officer Darryl Thompson had been the one to discover the body at 6.35pm that day. And it appeared that Carla had been beaten severely, raped, and strangled, and her blue party dress had been torn. Lying just 12 feet from Carla's body was Rodney's promise ring that he had given to her on Christmas, so you know a couple months earlier, which police assumed must have come off during a struggle. Jim Walker, who was in sixth grade at this time, remember Carlis younger brother, remembers going with his mother to the morgue to identify Carlis' body.

And he still just remembers this terrifying scream that she let out when she confirmed that it was her daughter. And what's really strange here is that a medical examiner who worked the case explained that Carla could have possibly been killed on Wednesday, just hours before her body was found, you know, leaving us to wonder if the killer had kept her alive for a few days. But that assessment was never corroborated,

and in fact, Mexican food had been found in Carla's stomach during her autopsy, which indicated that she had been killed the night that she was abducted, because we know that she and Rodney had gone out to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. And alcohol had also been found in her system, and that would have dissipated if she would have been alive for a few days after being abducted. So now the hunt for a vicious predator was on, and police had to work quickly. Although Carla's boyfriend Rodney had been beaten the night that she was taken, he was

able to get a decent description of the attacker. He said the man was slender and looked to be in his early 20s to mid 20s, with short cropped wavy hair about 5'11 and spoke with a Texas drawl. And this means that the killer was likely local. Rodney also said that the man was wearing a shiny green sleeveless vest and a white or off-white cowboy hat. Police also found a 22-rooger handgun magazine at the scene of the abduction as well. A $7,500 reward was placed for information, but it would only be up for 90 days.

And if no one came forward, that reward money would be retracted. So I don't know, this is kind of different because I've never really seen that before, like putting up- I haven't either. Putting up reward money and then saying, hey, it's only gonna last this amount of time.

Maybe it's like incentive for people to come forward. I don't know that. Yeah, like maybe as quick as possible or something. So, police first started by questioning Rodney McCoy to see if his story seemed legitimate. And after passing three separate polygraph tests, Rodney was clear to have any wrongdoing. And by the way, you know, he got the shit beat out of him,

so it's kind of hard to, I mean, I guess you could say maybe Carla like hit him, you know, if he was trying to attack her or something, but that didn't really seem plausible. And I understand why they question him because of course they have to make sure that he didn't do it, but I'm kind of surprised they gave him three polygraph tests like where you like they were kind of like on him for it like with three really. Yeah, they wanted to be sure. So and they also put Rodney under hypnosis and this apparently is how he was able to remember the description of he and Carlos attacker. I'm always so interested when investigators do this, put someone under hypnosis, I think

it's crazy. Yeah, and this was actually the first time that Fort Worth police actually used hypnosis and they were really pleased with the results. Also they were, our police were able to take a 22-rooger handgun, and they essentially lined it up to the wounds on Rodney's head, and they matched, so it was like, okay, you got hit in the head with a handgun, I'm sure that Carla did not do that. Right. So, the walkers believe that Carla's a doctor or a doctor's must have known her, and that's

why they felt confident about the kidnapping. But police had a different idea. So, police had a different idea about who may have killed Carla Walker. About a year after Carla's body had been discovered, a young man was arrested, and this was on March 8, 1975, for a string of burglaries in the area and the arrest was made by Detective J.F. Tarell. Detective Tarell drove up to the man's house that day and he called the young man over to his car to talk. The young man got into the squad car and the first thing he said to Detective Tarell was,

I was wondering when you were going to come after me for Carla Walker? Pretty suspicious. So the detective had recovered some stolen property from the man's house and he booked him for burglary. But while the man sat in a room, Detective Terrell walked in and began questioning him about Carla Walker. And Terrell kind of said, you know, you're not going to be able to live with yourself if you don't confess to what you did to Carla Walker. And that Carla came from a good and loving family. So at this point, the young man began to sob.

And just as Detective Torell felt that, you know, he was on the verge of some kind of confession, Detective Torell was called away from the room to take care of another task. And this just sucks because he's really, yeah, really, really bad timing here. So police recovered a leaflet on Ruger handguns in the man's home, but they didn't find any other evidence to link him to Carla's case.

But an employee at the bowling alley was able to pick this man out of a photo lineup and explain that they had seen him the night that Carla was abducted and that he had been wearing a green vest and a cowboy hat. Can't get any more specific than that. Yes, which, you know, remember that is what Rodney said he was wearing. So this man was eventually charged and taken to jail. But Terrell couldn't seem to forget the words that the man said to him and he just

needed to know more. So in February of 1976, so the following year, police interviewed this man again who was now in prison. But Detective Terrell was stopped in his tracks when the man said, you almost got me with that last time. And I've learned a few things since then. And that was the end of the interview. And by the way, when we say that he was arrested, we mean that he was arrested for the burglaries and not for Carlos murders. That's why he was in prison. Right. But detective Tural was trying

to get him on it because of the way he was acting when he was interviewing him. But by the way, we also don't know this man's name. And you know, we can assume that because he wasn't an official suspect and there wasn't anything to actually pin him to Carla's murder, like they couldn't release his name to the public. Right. And this came from a newspaper article, so they may have not wanted to release his name at that time anyway.

So detectives continued to monitor this young man, whose name we don't know. But then a year after their interview with him, they got some shocking news. A 32-year-old gas station attendant from Paris, Texas walked into a police station in Tennessee and confessed to killing Carla Walker. His name is Jimmy Dean Sasser, and he told police that he had killed a girl at Lake Benbrook and wanted to turn himself in. Now, detectives from Fort Worth were notified,

and they drove to Tennessee to take Jimmy Dean back with them and question him about his story. But after some really long and exhausting questioning, that's exactly what police got, a story. Jimmy Dean said that he was very depressed at the time due to he and his wife's divorce, and then he made the whole thing up. Why, I- this- oh, we- this is not the first time we've heard something like this in a case,

I don't understand how you're depressed because of your divorce, so you fake- that you fake a story that you murdered somebody? How is that gonna make your life better? I have no idea, but it does turn out that Jimmy Dean was the type of person to confess to multiple crimes that he didn't commit. So he's just like this serial... Confessor. Bizarre.

Yeah, and police actually thought that this was a possibility from the get-go. They're like, eh, we don't know if we trust this guy's story. And Jimmy Dean also blamed this on blackouts that he had where he just didn't remember what he had been doing. Police made sure that this time he was telling the truth, and in the end, Jimmy Dean Sasser was released from jail seven months after his false confession, so this guy spent seven months in jail for no fucking reason. I just don't get it.

But anyway, going back to 1975, so the year after Carla's murder. Police had another suspect in mind that they believed could have been responsible for Carla's murder, a man named Tommy Ray Neeland. Investigators believed that he and potentially another person were involved in Carla's abduction and murder, after they had learned that he had attempted to kidnap and rape a 16-year-old girl in the area who thankfully got away. After three days of questioning Neeland, police made the connection between him and the stabbing murders of two hitchhikers from Oklahoma, 17-year-old Mary Jane Handy and 15-year-old Robert Taylor Goulson, who had been traveling through Fort Worth in July of 1972 when their car broke down.

Neelan picked them up, and sadly, he raped Mary Jane before slitting both the teenagers throat, so very brutal situation here. And detectives also said that Neelan confessed to killing his neighbor in Kermit, Texas, in 1970. So kind of great thing here is that they did catch a killer, you know, for somebody else's murder is looking for Carla's murderer. Right. So Nancy Mitchell had been at home by herself.

This is the neighbor, while her husband Jean was at work and Neelan abducted her at gunpoint. He raped her and then tried to suffocate her with a plastic bag. And when that didn't work, he tried to inject air into her bloodstream via a syringe. That also didn't work, so he then stabbed the 28-year-old housewife to death. Police tried for years to convict Tommy Ray of Carla's murder, but they just didn't have any solid evidence. Although they did come very close after Rodney McCoy picked him out of a lineup. And this is really interesting that he picked Tommy Ray out of a lineup, because as you'll

see, Tommy Ray actually didn't have anything to do with Carla's murder. Right. And, you know, with that, because there was such, you know, a lack of evidence pointing to Tommy Ray, investigators eventually had to let him go for being a suspect in Carla's murder. But get this. So this piece of shit was actually paroled and let out a prison in October of 1987. I mean, this guy killed three people and almost killed another and he walks free. He only served 12 years and nine months out of his 550-year two-life term sentence for his brutal crimes before being released. I don't get this at all. Did you find why that happened?

Yeah, yeah. So basically, Neelin later went on to say that, you know, he'll have to answer for what he's done and blah, blah, blah, but apparently the state of Texas didn't really feel the same way because they let him go. But basically what happened, as I know at this time, there was a lot of overcrowding in Texas prisons, and in one article I read,

it's said that about 150 felons were being released daily at this time. 150 daily is a lot. Yeah, and I read this straight from a newspaper article, so, you know, I don't know if it's accurate, but it did come from a newspaper article. It would make sense though, if they released someone who murdered multiple people

and had such a long sentence ahead of him, so, I mean, just absurd. But back to Carla Walker. So over the years, there had been a ton of speculation about who Carla's Killer could be. The good thing here is that police kept every article of clothing and every piece of evidence in Carlos case, which would later prove to be very helpful. When DNA technology came into play,

detectives tried to test these items found at the crime scene on a few different occasions, but this proved to be unsuccessful because only a partial match could be found and it wasn't enough to make an arrest or even really determine who the killer was. Also, DNA testing was new and it hadn't quite evolved yet. It was more of a broad result at this time, which, like I said, it just didn't help much. But the most important DNA sample acquired from the crime scene was a semen sample that was taken from Carla Walker's bra, and police hope that one day it would lead them to a

killer. And sadly, by the way, Carla's father, Layton, died of a massive heart attack in 1987, and her mother, Charlene, passed away in 2015 at the age of 89, both never knowing who killed their daughter and neither of them seeing justice in Carla's case. And you know, after all these years passing, it kind of just seemed like they never would have justice. But, in 2019, Detective Jeff Bennett and Detective Leah Wagner of the Fort Worth PD re-open the case with a new perspective and new set of eyes, hoping to finally catch a killer. The Siemens sample from Carlos Bra was sent off to a private lab in the Woodlands to be

re-examined, and miraculously, they found a potential match. The sample narrowed down the suspects to three brothers, all having the last name, Mick Curley. Then detectives were able to find out that a person by the name of Glen Samuel Mick Curley had been questioned back in 1974 during the original investigation, just weeks after Carla's death. And it's because Glen Samuel Mick Curley had owned a 22 caliber Ruger pistol,

which remember was the same type of gun used at the scene of the abduction, based on the magazine that was found there. So essentially, anybody who had a Ruger pistol, 22 caliber, registered in this area was questioned, and specifically Glen McCurley. Very smart, but also crazy that they had talked to him, but apparently there was nothing that led to investigators to believe that he was responsible so they let him go. Yeah, yeah, super unfortunate, but in July of 2020, detectives were getting very close to solving the case, but they needed to test Glen McCurley's DNA to the semen sample to be sure, so they collected

items from Glen's trash can out front of his house to do so. Then on September 10, 2020, police paid a visit to Glen McCurley's home in Fort Worth to actually speak with him and his wife, but his story remained the same that it was back in 1974, that he didn't kill anyone and he didn't even know who Carla Walker was. So please continue to push here, and they asked him if he'd be willing to give them a DNA sample, and Glenn McCurley actually agreed to this. And six days later, the results of the DNA swabs came back, and they determined that without a doubt,

after 45 years that 77-year-old Glenn Samuel McCurley was responsible for the abduction and the murder of 17-year-old Carla Jan Walker back in 1974, and he was arrested on September 21, 2020. But now police had to prove it in Accorda law. Glenn McCurley was taken into custody and held on a $100,000 capital murder bond. So before we get into the trial, let's talk about who Glenn McCurley is. Glenn was born in Oklahoma and lived in Hollis, Oklahoma as a teenager. He was arrested in 1961 for stealing a 1955 Pontiac white ironically from a bowling alley in Abilene, Texas. He spent a very short

time in prison and was paroled in April of 1961, so the same freaking year. He then moved to the Fort Worth area in 1972 where he got married, so this is two years before Carla's murder. Although there's no actual record of their marriage, and in 1974 when he was questioned, he said that his wife was in West Texas and that his gun was stolen from him six weeks prior to Carla's murder. Glenn also had two sons. One sadly was killed in a car accident on the way home from his

college graduation, and he was buried in the same cemetery as Carla Walker. Glenn had been living and working in the Fort Worth area his entire adult life, and neighbors described him as a quiet man who was always in church, so it came as quite the shock when he was arrested for murder. I mean, remember, he was 77 when he was arrested, so... Like, he lived his whole life. And in fact, Jim Walker, who is Carla's younger brother, was actually enrolled at some point at the same high school as Glenn Sun Craig before he passed in 1988. So I a little confused on how this age works because Glen would have been about 25 years

old at the time of Carla's murder. So maybe he had a son very young. We're not really sure, but all we know is to that Carla's brother Jim was in sixth grade when she died. Yeah, so Jim Walker might have been like 11 and it's possible that Glenn McCurley's son Craig could have been like, I don't know, maybe. He could have been a few years younger too, they just went to the same high school so maybe not the same age. Right, right.

So Glenn McCurley's account of the events is that he supposedly saved Carla that night because as he put it, Rodney was being aggressive with her in the front seat of the car. He said that he had been driving around drinking and decided to stop in the bowling alley parking lot to drink some more when he noticed that Rodney was assaulting Carla so he walked over to the car, opened the door, and started hitting Rodney in the head to get him off of her. And by the way, no one believes this bullshit story. Not even Carla's family.

Glenn then said that he took Carla to his truck to commer down, and that she, quote, gave him a hug, and then he kissed her, and that he took advantage of her. But he pled not guilty during his trial. This is even more bullshit, because it's like, okay, so you saw him, like him, Rodney kind of on top of her and you're thinking that he's doing something he shouldn't be doing. So then you almost kill him and then you take her and you take advantage of her. Yeah, it's like you're still trying to take some blame off of yourself but also basically

saying that you're guilty. So stupid. So Glenn McCurley's trial began on August 20th, 2021, so just a few months ago. And the then 78-year-old was rolled into the courtroom in a wheelchair due to his ongoing liver cancer. Glenn maintained his innocence until midway through the trial when he changed his plea from not guilty to guilty and told the court that he was in fact Carla's killer. During the trial, Detective Leah Wagner asked Glenn, are you guilty of raping and killing Carla? And his response was, I guess.

Glenn went on to say, I guess I'm guilty for what happened to that little girl, and I choked her to death, I guess. But one thing that's very strange in this case is that there was a level of morphine found in Carla's bloodstream, and the original medical examiner stated that the killer likely injected her. And we also know that Carla was savagely beaten, so like Glenn's little story of, I guess I killed her, like it's really not holding up in trial. And just after Glenn confessed, a Texas judge sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And what I hate here so much is that like you're already confessing you're pleading

guilty, you're saying, I guess I did this, like just take full responsibility. Like what are you doing? Her family's here, your family's here, you're saying you did it, but you're not saying you did it. Why are you doing this? Yeah, and I think it's just because he's trying to take some guilt off of himself. Like, but you really can't. You took somebody's life. Well, and I mean, somebody who would do what he did anyway is not a good person. So I'm not surprised that he's not being a good dude here, but it's very frustrating. Exactly. And Jim Walker had this to say to his sister's killer that day. I want to say something to you.

I was 12 years old on the night that demonic spirit that we now know to be Glen Samuel McCurley was out hunting. I wish my father would have found you that night. He would have dispatched you with intent and malice. Something you need to hear McCurley? I don't know why you don't deserve it But there's a thing called God you aren't here because of the actions of men. You're here because God has plans You killed my sister intentionally and that shows the type of psychopath neurotic crazy parasitic person you are you buried your boy a 30-second walk from her grave.

You dishonored your boy. What kind of man are you? Not much. And what he means by you buried your boy a 30-second walk from her grave. Like I mentioned, his Glenn's son died in that car accident, and he buried her in the same cemetery as Carla was in, but the grave stones and gravesites are actually very close together. Yeah, and it's just so messed up thinking about that because every time he goes and visits his deceased son, it's like he knows that one of his own victims is buried in that same cemetery.

And the worst part, you know, he got to live his whole life and like I said, it comes time to, you know, pay your dues and confess for the horrible thing you did a long time ago and you can't even do that. But I digress. So after the trial was over, Glenn surviving son Roddy walked across the courtroom and he actually embraced Jim Walker in a hug and wept on his collar. The two held each other for a moment as Jim whispered into Roddy's ear, just telling him that everything was gonna be okay now. Glenn's wife Judy was also in the courtroom that day and thought of her own son's death and the way that the drunk driver who killed him said,

there's nothing I can say and nothing I can do to bring back your son." And she explained that, that's how she feels now about Carla Walker and that she's so sorry that a member of her family caused so much pain to another family. Glenn's family members said that he has tarnished their memories and names by his guilt and the prosecuting attorney in the case said quote, Attribute to the Walker family and the McCurley family is that they will be willing to walk across the aisle and really understand that what happened in this courtroom and what happened back in 1974 was not about Mr. McCurley's

children. It was not about his wife, but it was about him. If we can take one thing away from this case, it would be that Jim Walker and Cindy Stone, Carla's sister, have nothing but love for the son of the man who killed their sister. Sometimes, you see beautiful things in the courthouse, and that might be one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and next week we'll have two more cases for you guys to dive into.

This case, I'm so glad that it saw resolution, it sucks that Glenn was able to live his whole life and that he was questioned originally and didn't go away for it. But I do really think that it is beautiful that the families could kind of come together and bond over tragedy that they both faced. Not something you see a lot and I always have just a special feeling when the family of the murderer feels bad about it, you know, it isn't taking the killer's side because there are families out there who support their husband, their son, whoever, no matter what they do, but I'm glad that Glenn's entire family, you know, feels bad about this and,

and like hates Glenn for what he did, you know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely, and I'm just glad that after 45 years, this is finally resolved. Like, can you imagine like living your entire life, not knowing, in the sad part is that Carla's parents never got to see Glenn Macherley get taken down, you know?

No, I was just thinking that too, because they would have, I mean, just thinking about how happy they would have been at the resolution and how, you know, apologetic for Glenn. Glenn's family was, you know, I feel like they would have appreciated that. And it's just so sad that they didn't get to find out what really happened. So very, very sad case, but yeah, very glad that there was resolution. But thankfully, these old turds are getting taken down every year.

Yeah, they do be like all the time now because of genealogy DNA testing. It is awesome. I'm sorry, I keep interrupting you. No, no, no, it is awesome. It's freaking awesome to see these old guys who just think that they got away with something for their whole lives. Finally get a knock on their door.

Yeah, I agree. And I'm actually very surprised that Glenn willingly gave up his DNA. I mean, they would have gotten it anyway. But he made himself look less suspicious by saying, yeah, sure, take it. But it was his downfall. So thank you guys so much for listening.

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