Sword and Scale - Episode 208

Episode Date: April 4, 2022

Who killed Carla Walker? In February of 1974, 17-year-old Carla Walker was abducted after attending a Valentine's Day dance with her boyfriend. Three days later, her body was found inside a cold, dark culvert near Benbrook Lake in Tarrant County, Texas. After an exhaustive investigation, the police were unable to solve the murder and Carla’s case went cold. Very cold. 46 years would go by before a new team of detectives could uncover the truth about her murder and finally get justice for Carla Walker.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised I couldn't even see there was so much blood because I could spin over and it was all just rushing down my face And he puts the guns in my face like this and starts pulling the trigger. He definitely meant to kill me like this and starts pulling the trigger. He definitely meant to kill me. Welcome to season 9, episode 208 of Sword and is now available only exclusively on plus, that's the only place you can find it. It's been removed from the regular feed because you know it's a business model. You can still get it there. Just join plus at swordscale.com slash plus. The first three

seasons are available along with all the plus content which is a lot. So go check it out. Swordscale.com slash plus. It was Valentine's Day, 1974. At this moment in time, Richard Nixon was president of the United States and was in the midst of waging a war with Vietnam, while also preparing for the fallout of the Watergate scandal. The television series Happy Days had recently debuted on ABC. The Miami Dolphins had just won the Super Bowl, and Barbara Strysan's the way we were was the number one song in the country. In many ways, the lives of Americans in the mid-1970s weren't much

different than ours today. Young Americans at that time lived through a controversial war. They saw a president impeached, and music, sports, and television storylines were regular topics of conversation. The most important difference between then and now is how science and technology has changed our lives and our understanding of the world around us. Since then, methods of travel, food, distribution, communication, and healthcare have changed dramatically. And let's not forget about that little invention we call the internet. For better or worse, technology has significantly changed everyday life in America. We all know this, and we also know that it has significantly changed the way that police

investigate the thing you're waiting to hear about. Murder. Forensic science has improved tremendously since the 1970s, and police departments are now able to apply new technology to unsolved murder cases that were committed many decades ago, which is exactly what two cold-case detectives recently did in Tarantok, Texas residents, Mr. and Mrs. Walker were awake in their upper middle-class home as were two of their children. Suddenly, all four of them heard someone screaming in their front yard, along with the sounds of loud bangs on their front door.

While frightened, but also curious, the Walker children looked to see what all the commotion was about. Through a screen window, they saw that a young man was banging on the front door. The young man's face was covered in blood, and he was screaming, they got her, over and over again. I do remember very specifically because I looked at him through the screen, the light was on, and I remember seeing, it looked like panic in his eyes.

We opened the door, front door he came in, and took him immediately into the kitchen, sat down, dad told me, go get a wash cloth. Mm-hmm. What does he look like? He said blood on his face, I mean. Wet or dry? I did, it wasn't, I don't remember any blood running,

I'm telling you down, all within this time period. Dad was already moving to go get his gun, told mom to call the police, and then call help broke loose after that. The young man that the Walker parents let into their home wasn't a stranger. In fact, he was someone they knew quite well. He was 18-year-old Rodney McCoy and earlier that evening Rodney had taken one of their daughters to a high school dance. 17-year-old Carla Walker had been dating Rodney McCoy for just over a year and by all accounts they were the model example of an all-American couple.

According to Rodney, he fell in love with his high school sweetheart the moment he laid eyes on her. For him, Carla Walker was the dream girlfriend. Her personality was sweet. I described her as the most wonderful giggle that I've ever heard in my life, and the beautiful smile and just everything I wanted. I mean, I was deeply in love. I thought about her in the morning, the first thing, and thought about her into the night. When asked about her, Rodney spoke glowingly of his then-girlfriend Carla, and he wasn't the only one who thought so highly of her. Carla was a junior at Western Hills High School, where she excelled with nearly perfect grades. As a member of the PEP squad, Carla was extremely popular. Although her popularity wasn't hurt by the fact that Carla was one of the

prettiest girls in her school, it was her caring and resolved personality that earned her the respect of many close friends. According to those friends, at heart, Carla was compassionate. She cared deeply about people, but she also had a flair about her. Despite being only four feet 11, Carla knew when and how to stand her ground. If you said her did the wrong thing around her, you could be sure that Carla would let you know. Carla began dating Rodney McCoy when she was a sophomore and their relationship continued through the summer and into her junior year.

During that time, Rodney and Carla didn't keep to themselves. They were especially social and weekend date nights usually consisted of going to the drive-in movie theater with a group of friends, or going to large high school parties at the nearby Benbrook Lake. For Rodney, as he grew ever more in love with Carla, he also grew closer to her family. So he spent a lot of time with the family? Yeah, I mean, it was like, you know, first few times, I'm probably more than a few times with, I knock on the door, I ring the doorbell. And finally, Carla's mom goes, don't not go back for it. You don't knock on our door anymore. You come in the door, you're

family. don't know going to adore anymore. You come in the door, your family." Carla's parents accepted Rodney into their family and fully approved of him dating their daughter. As far as their relationship was concerned, everything seemed perfect. But Carla had a concern. She was a junior in high school and Rodney was a senior, this begged the question, but what happened after Rodney graduated? Well, we were talking and I was going to graduate. Cardinals were, you know, I'm going to go to college and it's going to go all this and all that. And I told her, I go, look, I'll take a year off and then go to college.

And if we're still together, we'll go to college together. And that made her feel really good. And I was serious, you know, that I was going to do that. I'll just take it. I'll wait for you. Rodney and Carla were in it for the long haul. As two teenagers deeply in love with each other, they both fully committed to the relationship and planned to attend college together. But then came the night of Saturday, February 16th. They both fully committed to the relationship and planned to attend college together, but then came the night of Saturday, February 16th. Early that day, Rodney had finished a work shift at a local gas station and then headed home to get ready for a Valentine's Day dance

that was being held at his high school. long blue dress. Yeah, kind of silky maybe. Never air all dulled up. Yeah. And I just know I smile. So you were just happier with the prettiest girl in the place, huh? Rodney picked up Carla and drove her to the dance. Once there, they met up with friends, danced, and for the most part, it was a typical date night. Then, as the dance came to an end, Rodney and Carla linked up with another couple. At some point, Gary comes to me and says, Rodney wants to know if we want to go hang out with him.

And I knew it was going to be pot and drinking. So we go out the front door from the dance. We get in their car and I'm kind of in awe because I don't, I'm just this little person over here. I can only, this is football player in the cheerleader. It didn't matter who you were in school. You knew who they were. Rodney and Carla weren't just a popular high school couple. They were the high school couple. Rodney was the quarterback of his high school football team. And Carla was his beautiful blonde-haired

Pepp Squad member girlfriend. The two of them were Mr. and Mrs. Western Hills High. And everyone in the school knew who they were. In any case, after their friends joined Rodney and Carla and Rodney's car, the four teenagers drank liquor and smoked a joint. Then they drove to the nearby Taco Bell to cure their munchies. After that, they briefly drove around town until ending up at the local bowling alley. That particular night was league night at the alley, and there were several cars in the parking lot.

Why did you guys go into the alley? No particular reason. So did anybody say, hey, let's go there or... No, Ron even was just driving around. So we get there and Carlos says, I need to throw up. And she gets out and she walks in and then comes back a little bit later. And then from there you have back to the high school to go get Gary's car. Rodney drove back to the high school to drop off the other couple.

Then according to Rodney, he and Carla went back to the bowling alley. Carla, I think, heading out of the bathroom. And that's why we went back to the bowling alley. So basically you're at the bowling alley twice. Yeah. The first time with the couple the second time along. Yes. Okay. That's the way I remember it. Rodney claimed that to the best of his recollection after he and Carla arrived at the bowling alley for the second time, the two of them went inside to use the restrooms. Then they returned to Rodney's car, which was parked in the

bowling alley parking lot. And my mother's car had a bed seat. And Carla was, you know, she was just turned around leaning against the door. And I came over and we started kissing and making out. And that's when the door just, you know, popped open and she starts falling and I'm grabbing her or holding, you know, keeping her from falling, she's still falling. It's kind of pulling me, I guess, pulling me out. According to Rodney, Carla was leaning against the passenger side door while two of them were kissing.

Then suddenly the passenger door opened. Carla fell backward and Rodney fell forward on top of her. Then Rodney felt a tremendous force at the back of his head. I couldn't even see there was so much blood because I could bend over and it was all just rushing down my face and eyes and everything. Rodney claimed that someone repeatedly hit him on the back of the head. And when he was finally able to look up and clear the blood that had run into his eyes, he saw what they had been using to beat him over the head. I'm trying to clear my eyes and he puts the guns in my face like this and starts pulling the trigger. And it's like three times maybe or something. And I guess he realized then the cliff had fallen out.

I don't know. I don't think he knew the cliff had fallen out. He meant to kill me. He definitely meant to kill me. Rodney saw a pistol pointing at his face, but he was too disoriented and blinded to see who was holding it. When the gunman pulled the trigger to shoot Rodney, nothing happened because the clip had fallen out during the beating. So, the attacker resumed pistol whipping Rodney over the head. And she said, quit hitting him, I'll go with you.

When they're out of the car, she says, go get dad is what she said. The gunman snatched up Carla and fled. Carla screamed out telling Rodney to go to her father. Then Rodney passed out. And according to him, when he finally came to, he raced to Carlos' house. Once there, he frantically tried to explain to Carlos' family what had happened. Strangely, he kept telling Carlos' dad

that they got her. It would indicate that more than one person was involved in the abduction. Soon after Rodney told the walkers what happened, the police were called. An ambulance arrived and rushed Rodney to the hospital. Meanwhile, Carlos' dad went to the bowling alley where he met with police. There, they found Carlos' purse on the ground,

along with a clip for a pistol, which was consistent with Rodney's story, but there was nothing else. No witnesses, and Carla was nowhere to be found. A massive search effort was soon launched to find Carla, but the search abruptly ended after the third day. Three days later, just alongside of the road in a culvert here near Benbrook Lake, Carla's body was found. She had been beaten, raped, and strangled.

Police say repeatedly tortured for days. And in an interesting twist and a puzzling discovery, the medical examiner ruled she had been injected with morphine. Carla Walker was dead, beaten, raped, and strangled to death. Her body dumped in a narrow cement tunnel near a lake, and she had reportedly been injected with a drug that in 1974 was extremely rare. Morphine. It took three days for the police to find Carlos's body, but it would take much, much longer

for them to identify her killer. In fact, the 1974 case of murdered all American teenage girl Carla Walker would remain unsolved for decades. And her killer wouldn't be brought to justice for over 45 years. In February of 1974, the dead body of 17-year-old Carla Walker was found near Benbrook Lake in Terrent County, Texas. Carla had been beaten, raped, and strangled to death, and the only witness was Carla's boyfriend. 18-year-old Rodney McCoy claimed that a mysterious gunman attacked him and kidnapped Carla from a bowling alley three days before the discovery

of her body. Carla's body was found inside a long narrow cement culvert, which is just a tunnel that allows the passage of water under a roadway. This particular culvert, however, was dried out, and that allowed easy access for the responding detectives. One thing this was February and it was cold when month was February and the Colvert remained considerably cold during that time, Carlos' body was kept well preserved. This was great news for the medical examiner, but it also raised questions about the time of her death. According to the autopsy report, Carla died

days before her body was found, but many of the responding detectives disagreed. Based on what they saw with their own eyes, they were convinced that Carla died within hours of her body being found. Either way, the medical examiner also concluded that Carla had been repeatedly sexually assaulted, and there was no much fluid in her vagina that he fell on. She had been right twice, at least twice, after she was there. The most bizarre thing about Carla's autopsy was that the medical examiner found morphine in her system. In 1974, morphine was not a common drug. Back then, most people had never even heard of it, and it was primarily used to treat pain

for US soldiers in Vietnam. Our big secret was the drugs, so we focused on people at the airport's hospital, and you know, you might have access to that kind of stuff. In addition to investigating military hospitals, detectives also questioned Rodney McCoy several times. As far as they could tell, his injuries were consistent with his story about the bowling alley abduction.

And if Rodney was ever considered a suspect, a suspicion didn't last long. One very important piece of evidence, which only for their corroborated Rodney's story, was the handgun clip that the police had found on the ground in the bowling alley parking lot. Police quickly identified the type of pistol it belonged to as a 22 caliber ruger. We got a list, a huge list of ruger twits that had been shipped to retailers in this area

and we tried to trace as many of us we could with not much love coming. You know that? It's like a needle in haystack. Detectives followed up on the countless leads relating to the gun clip that was found at the bowling alley. One person had led them to was a young father by the name of Glenn McCurley, who had purchased

an identical clip from a gun store shortly after Carla's murder. Did they tell you why they were looking for a 22? Well, they said there was somebody a little girl had gotten captured or something. They were investigating because they found a clip. I said, well, you sure got their own fella because I don't know. Those clips all the time. Ultimately, Glenn explained that he was just buying a spare clip for his pistol. He was found to have no prior connection to Carla, and he also volunteered to take a lie detector

test, which he passed, as did many other potential suspects. After a few weeks, the leads started to dry up, so detectives turned to alternative crime-solving methods and hired a psychic. Not surprisingly, that didn't give them much of anything worth pursuing. So, they decided to have Rodney McCoy hypnotized. The hope was that through hypnosis Rodney could provide more details about the night of Carlos' abduction. that you, with your friends and Carla's parents and everybody else have been subjected to. You can't do anything without Carla. She's gone. You can't help her at least. At least you can give her life some meaning.

If we can find some way to find the individual that did it, it feels good to relax and let go and let your body be steep asleep for your mind to be made awake. I'm going to count from 10 to 0 and I want you to continue yourself relaxing more and more deeply with each count as I think. After Rodney was supposedly placed under hypnosis, he described what he could recall of the frantic few moments of Carlos' abduction. I grabbed cards following out. I love Calvin and John's on our face. His family was reading. I've been seeing.

He's calling out, I can see your surname, Screamin'. He was here sitting where? On the ground. He got it all over the line. First thing I know is that he's short here. He's got the kind of skin he knows. shore here, it's kind of the skimmy nose, is that some kind of grain in the steel was jagged. The cow were again.

Unfortunately, the only new information that came out of this experiment was a slightly better description of Carla's kidnapper. And it still wasn't very much for police to go on. At this point, all leads and all options had seemingly been exhausted. And Carla's case went cold. Very cold. In February of 2019, 45 years after Carla's murder,

cold case detectives and fort worth met with the surviving members of Carla's immediate family, her brother Jim and her sister Cindy. The detectives explained to Jim and Cindy that identifying Carla's killer was going to be an uphill battle, mainly because identification through DNA was impossible. No, it was never received. For some unknown reason, the semen that the medical examiner extracted from the inside of Carla was never received into evidence.

The only seamen sample that the cold case detectives had came from Carla's dress, and it was such a small amount that only a partial DNA profile could be developed. This partial profile could be used to exclude some suspects, but it could never conclusively identify her killer. Even so, the cold case detectives pressed on, and they decided to make several assumptions that were different from the assumptions made by detectives in 1974. First, they decided to agree with the medical examiner's conclusion that Carla had died several days before her body was found. When Carla's death was first reported, the media claimed that Carla had been held captive

and tortured for days. But that information was in direct contradiction with the autopsy report. Well, we were always told that she was kept alive for two or three days. And I don't know what my show, so right here, I want to show you real quick. This is the autopsy. Dead for two days. At least, at least two days. Based on the autopsy report, the cold case detectives presumed that Carla was likely killed soon after she was abducted, and that she had not been held captive for days.

Likewise, the detectives that initially investigated Carla's murder mostly operated on the assumption that this was a random crime of opportunity. They believed that the killer had never met Carla before. The cold case detectives, however, planned to take a different approach. Somebody that named your sister probably did this. I don't think it was a stranger. I don't think it was somewhere in the day. It was somebody that knew your sister. She was a beautiful young lady. She was popular. She had reasons for either people being infatuated with her or any of

us of hers. Finally, there was the rare drug that was found in Carla's system, Morphine. It had always been assumed that the killer injected Morphine into Carla, but the cold case detectives wondered if somehow Carla had simply taken the drug on her own before she was abducted. The night that Carla was kidnapped, she was drinking and smoking pod. Maybe, just maybe. Someone had given her a morphine pill as well. In case you're wondering, yes, morphine can come in the form of a pill.

We're looking at this from a different perspective. And one of those is that the morgue made it something that she had tried recreationally, and that it had maybe blurred her ability to maybe fight back for something, but that it wasn't necessarily something that somebody put into her truck. After Carla's case was reopened,

the cold case detectives wanted to stir up new leads, so they decided to release a very cryptic piece of evidence that was never revealed to the public. Way back in 1974, only a few weeks after Carla was murdered, the Fort Worth Police Department received several anonymous letters from someone claiming to know who had killed Carla. Friday, Fort Worth Police released a new piece of evidence from their cold case files, this letter. It shares a person's name.

Written anonymously those 45 years ago and sent to police. The person wrote they know who killed Carla Walker in Bimbroke with a post-script that says it's hard to say, but it is true, and they signed only with ones and zeros for their name. The author of these mysterious letters, named who they believed, to be the killer. But when the police released one of the letters to the public, the name given was redacted. The letter read, quote, blank, killed Carla Walker. It's hard to say, but it's true." The purpose of releasing this letter was to see if anyone recognized the

handwriting, but it was also meant to get people talking. Specifically, people who were prominent in Carla's life around the time of the murder. And those people did start talking. They talked quite a bit. One of Carla's schoolmates created a Facebook group that was dedicated to discussing Carla's murder. And this led to a recorded phone conversation where one of Carla's classmates admitted that around the time of Carla's murder, he had something that was especially pertinent to the case. 47 years ago, my dad was a doctor. I came across these really cool camera-synetic packs.

I got the brilliant idea once I've asked him to take a bunch of bunch of young and age to all people on the red dog billbottles. Okay, so I have to shift to an anonymous call. Inside of it was a piece of paper, and it said, four things. Jay Broussard lived in Fort Worth, Texas, from 1957 through the 1980s. He attended high school with Carla, and, to many of his classmates, Jay was known as a drug dealer. After cold case detectives were made aware that Jay had more fiend around the time of

Carla's murder, they asked him a different group that I did. Carlo was more with the jocks than we kind of called them the socials or whatever else more of a band-cake. According to Jay, Carlo was more of an acquaintance than she was a friend. Just like everyone else at their school, Jane knew who Carlo was, but he rarely spoke or interacted with her. When asked about the morphine, Jane admitted that he had the drug around the time of Carla's murder, and that he was most likely the source of the morphine found in her system. But he claimed

that he never sold it to her, and that most of his supply had been stolen from his car. To his credit, the fact that morphine was found in Carla's system didn't become widely known until decades after her murder. Initially, this was a well-guarded detective secret, and Jay likely didn't know about it for many years. Jay never lied about having morphine. He actually seemed quite eager to tell police about it. After he answered some questions about his morphine supply, the detectives wanted to know what Jay remembered about the night Carla was kidnapped.

And Jay claimed that he and a few friends spent the night driving around town, mostly looking for a good time. Jays account of seeing an intoxicated Rodney and Carla with friends that night made sense. If you remember, after leaving the Valentine's Day dance, Rodney and Carla had a few drinks and smoked some pot before they arrived at Taco Bell. Jay claimed that after leaving Taco Bell, he and his friends drove around Benbrook Lake, hoping to find a party. They did find one, but ultimately decided not to stay and ended up at the bowling alley where once again Jay saw Rodney McCoy.

In addition to seeing Rodney at the bowling alley, Jay also claimed that he saw two other schoolmates, Bo Smith and Brian Futch. We saw Bo and Brian two times at night. One time was in a bar of the bowling alley at the time, but passed in the mother row. So when you saw Bo and Brian driving around, were they by themselves? He was a daddy, but he was no other by themselves. Bill O'on Smith, who most people referred to simply as Bo, was Carla Walker's ex-boyfriend, and Brian Futch was Bo's best friend. According to Jay, Bo and Brian were at the bowling alley on the night of Carla's abduction.

Naturally, during their investigation, Cold Case detectives met and spoke with Bo, who at that point was inconsiderably poor health. But I've no Carla my whole life. She was my little girl friend when we were young. There was a glow about her, but anyway. There was a work about her. A glow about her. I remember that one year she got with Rodney.

I remember her. During his recorded phone conversation and again during his police interview, Jay Broussard proposed a theory of what happened to Carla on the night she was kidnapped. And he pointed the finger directly at Bo and Bo's best friend, Brian Futch. But you were scared that your dad wouldn't approve of it because I was kind of a dumb shit You know me and Ronnie was in high school for a ball player He comes out of the bathroom gets back in the car Oh goes over to her door open something door My arms on a lot of you store

Damn Ronnie's cold caught so he's got a shit on that of their clothes I'll just go with them. They on that. I'm gonna call him and say, I'll just go with him and they won't urge you. So running live about not knowing who did it, they got more things for me. So you put the resume to getting yourself, who has motivation to go talk to Colin? Who had a bone to pick with a lot of you recording? Her ex-boyfriend.

Who else is gonna grab Colin and take Colin? Who else is gonna do that but Bo and Brian? I believe the Colin Walker died shortly after this happened. I believe she died at the lake and I believe that it wasn't a murder or murder. She was all fucked up. I think Bob got a day-winter. He got pissed off about it, he's trying to be a little ass. Jay's theory about Bow and Brian wasn't backed up by anything other than the fact that he saw them both at the bowling alley, and that he knew their reputations were, let's say, less than favorable. But the cold case detectives actually did entertain the idea that Bow could have been involved in, or even responsible for, Carla's murder.

Where were you the night of the dance? I was Bobby Bird by Girlfriend. Did you take her to the dance? Yeah. Okay. Did you see Rodney and Carla at the dance? No. I was Bobby through the plaster to to see. No, I understand.

I was out of it. Okay, drink it. Right. Did you go to the bowling alley that night? No. Would there have been any reason for you to have gotten into an altercation with Rodney the night of the Valentine's party. I never should have gone first.

By now you should be noticing that Bo isn't all there. Not all of his dogs are barking, if you know what I mean. Well there's a reason for that. In 1975, about a year after Carla Walker's murder, Bo suffered a traumatic head injury that impaired several of his cognitive functions, including memory. So, it's claimed that both did the same to Colin, he doesn't even compare to it now. If Bo was responsible for Carl's murder, there was a chance he didn't even know about it. And after Bo voluntarily provided a DNA sample so the police could exclude him as a suspect, he said one of the most tragic things I have ever heard in my life.

When will I know if I did it or not? Can you imagine not knowing and waiting for a DNA test to find out if you're responsible for kidnapping, raping, and murdering a teenager? In any case, since Poe's memory was lacking, if he and his best friend Brian Futch did kill Carla the only person that could provide any details about it was Brian. How well did you know Carla? I was a good question. I mean we were on first night devices.

We were, you know, you know what I was really hot and hot or anything. But I mean, yeah we were just good friends. Who did she date, and your friends? Uh, both Smith. Okay. And I guess his rod is going to, I can recall. According to Brian Futch, she didn't remember where he was on the night of Carla's kidnapping. But he did admit he could have been out and about in the area of the bowling alley.

Did you go to a party at it like Ben Brook on that Friday night? It was quite possible. You know, there was a party. I was there, you know, a beer bus. I was there. I mean, I know I was there. Much like J. Broussard, Brian Futch was more of an acquaintance to Carla than he was a friend. Brian and Carla had shared a few classrooms together, but they didn't speak much.

Yet, when the detectives asked Brian, who he thought might be responsible for her murder, he had a suspiciously emotional reaction to that question. I mean, none of the people I know had anything against Rod. They had no buy. Just had it as they get caught. I don't know who could have done something like that. No. She never heard nobody.

Never. She never made nobody, never. She never made it nobody. When Detective Wagger asked you about your gut feeling about what happened, and you started to respond to that, I'm not sure what my family were. I mean, it was just shocked something happened to her. You know what, Mike, we were buddy buddies, but I don't call her for it. It was like 10 years, you know.

Was Brian's reaction caused by genuine sadness? Or was it the result of a long-kept secret and feelings of tremendous guilt. As detectives pondered this question, they spoke with yet another classmate of Carlas, who provided a secondhand account of someone that claimed to have seen Carla at the bowling alley on the night she was abducted. This account lent a small bit of credence to the theory that Bowen Bryan could have been involved in Carla's murder. Then I called my friend, Leon, she got straight into the bowel now because she was there then.

Anyway, she was sitting at the jukebox area and Carla come through the front door and sat down with her and talked and Roddy wasn't with her at that time. She set there for a little bit and then she went to the bathroom, she said I got to go the bathroom and Carla came out of the bathroom and the two guys come through the back door. They had on Lynn says Parker Jackets with hoods and Carla blocked right here. They turned around and went out the door with her. The strange thing about this alleged sighting of Carla is that the witness didn't claim that the two mysterious men followed Carla out of the bowling alley. But rather, that Carla walked out the door with them.

If those two men were Bowen Bryan, did Carla know they were there? Might she have known that Bowen Bryan were going to ambush Rodney? Was it all some kind of setup? Of course, that assumes that Bowen Bryan were guilty. But if they were, wouldn't Rodney have recognized them when they attacked? After all, they were schoolmates. Bowen Rodney were even on the same football team. They knew each other. If Bowen Brian did kidnap Carla, or if Carla left with them willingly, that means that Rodney almost certainly lied about what happened. And if you remember, when he arrived at the Walker's house later that night, he was

screaming the words, they got her. Not him, they. Where does the they come in? He's describing one guy. I've always had questions about that. I've just had a feeling for many, many, many years that what Rondi said did not take place at that part from the lot. So those are all things that you're kind of exploring and looking. Yes. Okay.

What we do know is that Rani has at least applied on a few different occasions. So why lie unless you're covering something? We have not eliminated Rani as a suspect at this point. Matter of fact, he's very much in the mix with other people that we're still looking at. In addition to the pluralization that Rodney used to initially describe Carla's supposed kidnapper, there was also one other piece of evidence that suggested Rodney was lying. Remember that mysterious synonymous letter that police released to the media? synonymous letter that police release to the media? So Jeff found some anonymous letters written.

And we're going to relax some information on that. But what we'd like to do is possibly put those out in the public to see if anybody recognizes the handwriting. Written to the fourth place? Yes. OK. And it's somebody who is claiming to have knowledge of who did it. Did they? But who did it.

But they did it anonymously. The anonymous author of these letters claimed to know who was responsible for Carla's murder. And they provided a name. But when police released one of the letters to the media, the name was redacted. Well, surprise, surprise. The name given was Rodney McCoy, Carla's boyfriend. And there was also a post script that the police never shared. It read, quote, p.s. her boyfriend is the killer." After performing countless interviews and coming through a mountain of evidence, the

cold case detectives did one last thing before they finally cracked the case. They sent all of the torn clothing that Carla was wearing on the night she was kidnapped to a lab for additional DNA testing. Up to this point, the police only had a partial DNA profile, which was created from a small amount of semen recovered from Carla's dress. Well, this time, even more semen was recovered from Carla's bra, which provided detectives with a complete DNA profile. In order to uncover the truth and identify Carlos Killer, all they had to do was match that

DNA with one of the many, many people they had interviewed. And that's exactly what they did. In early 2019, cold case detectives in Fort Worth, Texas reopened the unsolved murder of 17-year-old Carla Walker, who was abducted, raped, and strangled the death in February of 1974. Initially, these detectives were only able to obtain a partial DNA profile of Carla's killer. But after further testing was completed on Carla's clothes, a complete DNA profile was created.

In order to identify the killer, detectives used the same method that was used by investigators in California in 2018 to identify the Golden State Killer, a serial rapist and murderer that had remained elusive for over four decades. In 2019, a new male DNA profile was found on Carlos Clothing. It was compared with samples in a genealogical database when people give their DNA to so they can find relatives. A hit came back. Detectives used a genealogy website to identify distant and close relatives of Carla Walker's killer.

When the results came back, a family's surname was given to the police. The name was McCurley. If that name sounds familiar to you, it should. Remember this guy? Did they tell you why they were looking for a 22? They said there was there was somebody a little girl that got captured or something. They were investigating because they found a clip. I said, well, you sure got the wrong fella, because I don't know. I was clipped all the time.

Glen Samuel McCurley was 31 years old when Carla was murdered. At that time, he was married, had two young sons, and was living in Fort Worth, Texas. During the original investigation, Glenn was briefly considered a person of interest after the police were alerted that he had purchased a clip for a 22-caliber pistol, which was the same type of clip that was found at the bowling alley where Carla was abducted.

However, when questioned, Glenn volunteered to take a lie detector test, and he passed. So the police moved on. In 2020, when cold case detectives had Glenn brought into the police station to re-interview him about Carla Walker's murder, he was still living in Fort Worth, was still married, and was 77 years old. Mr. McEarly? Yes.

Hi, do you remember us? We're here because we are looking into the murder of Carla Walker. And we've done a very third-of-the-way investigation. We know what happened, and our evidence has led us to you. Then I do something to hit, girl. Yes, sir. I don't think so.

You don't think so, what? That I did. I don't know. I've never seen a girl or anything. Well, I suppose to have done this. You say it's what, what's her name? Carla Walker. I've never seen her. I've never met her, never talked to her, I wasn't nowhere, if she was standing beside of me. At the start of Glenn's police interview,

he didn't know that police had recently taken trash from Glenn's garbage bins and compared the DNA found on that trash with the DNA found on Carla's clothing. It was a match. Glenn was not aware that the evidence conclusively pointed at him, so he lied and attempted to talk his don't know the girl. I've never seen her. So do you want to just have to have it? I haven't killed anybody. I said, seven years old and I'm not into that kind of stuff. Mr. Murley, you seem like you're a nice man. You do.

But I have to say, I still don't believe you. I don't believe a word coming out of your mouth. You were the one that did it. You kidnapped her, you took her and you killed her. Okay? You did. You did. Carla was 17 years old.

17. She had a family. She had a boyfriend that she was going to marry. And you took that away from her, okay? I didn't do that to that hurt. So you're still trying to tell me you don't know anything about this? I don't know anything about her.

Okay. Just Macirly, this really is your time to be able to get this off your chest and this is how you do it. If it was on my chest, I didn't do anything like that. I did not do anything like that. I did not do anything like that. No, this is a heavy weight to carry. It's not good to have a done anything.

After a whole lot of back and forth, the detectives eventually revealed that Glenn Seaman was recovered from Carla's clothing. The DNA was his and nobody else's. What we're saying Mr. McCurley is that your DNA was down the Carla Walker, okay? So there's no question about it. None. I don't, I can't explain. Well, there's an explanation. You know how to

happen. We just need you to tell us. I can't say that I did something I didn't do. I can't go to prison either. After the DNA evidence was revealed, Glenn continued to deny for a short while. But eventually, he began to sob and finally confessed. You need to be able to let at it loose because that's the only way, the only way forward is for you to let it go. Okay.

I did, dude. Can you tell us what happened? I'd been out here, you can get quite a bit. I had problems. I don't remember what it was now, but I'd parked in the parking lot, bowling ball place. I heard a girl screaming in the car over a couple of cars away from me. I went over there to See if I can help." Glenn tried to explain that on the night of Carla's murder, he was only acting as a good

Samaritan. He claimed that after a night of drinking, he parked at the bowling alley and saw Rodney beating up Carla inside of Rodney's car, so Glenn decided to intervene. They got her calm down. I drove around for 10 or 15 minutes and then parked at another parking lot and was talking to her. Was she just thankful that I got her away from me? According to Glenn after rescuing Carla from her abusive boyfriend, this 17-year-old girl was so thankful that she agreed to allow Glenn to have sex with her. In response to this version of the story, detectives stated the obvious.

She had a stellar reputation, she was a little Miss All-American, you know, she's a virgin, she's not just going to have sex with some stranger when she's been with her old boyfriend for a couple years. She didn't want to have sex with her boyfriend. Logic tells you that she must definitely didn't want to have sex with a stranger. We need to know that you forced her to have sex, okay? Because there was definitely evidence of rape. Yeah, I guess I did, but I don't remember any,

any bad part of it. until I got scared about it. What made you scared? I was afraid that she'd tell only years. Glenn McCurley abducted Carla from her boyfriend's car and drove to a nearby parking lot where he violently beat and raped Carla several times. Then out of fear, that Carla would talk about what was done to her, Glenn wrapped his hands around this helpless teenager's throat and strangled her to death. How did you kill her?

I like this, children. Did you choke for before or after you had sex with her? After? After. How long did had sex with her? After? After. How long did you spend with her? Just the time it took, I guess. Not long after murdering Carla,

Glenn Dunter and a cement culvert near Benbrook Lake, the body was found three days later. Since the culvert was cold, dry, and provided protection from the sun, Carla's body was kept preserved, which raised questions about the time of her death. Despite the autopsy report, many detectives believed that Carla had been kept alive and tortured for days. In reality, Glenn was only with Carla for a few hours. The original detectives incorrectly presumed Carla's time of death, but they were right about one thing that the cold case detectives got wrong. This was a random killing and a crime of opportunity.

Carla had never met and did not know her killer. After confessing to detectives, Glenn McCurley was taken to jail. At the arrangement, he pleaded not guilty. But after the second day of his trial, Glenn reversed his plea. It was a stunning admission 47 years in the making. Finally, 47 years after committing the crime, Glenn McCurley admitted in court to kidnapping

and murdering Carla Walker in 1974. After which, Glenn was immediately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Although the case has been solved and the guilty punished, there are still some mysteries surrounding Carlos murder. For police, the most important unanswered question is whether or not Glenn McCurley has killed anyone else. Glenn's crime isn't typically something that someone does once and just stops. And Glenn was a free man for nearly 50 years after Carla was killed. That sentencing when family impact statements were read, Carla's sister encouraged Glenn

to come forward about any other crimes he may have committed. I don't want to know everything, but I want to know. If you've done this to anybody else, you need to bring that out because those families need to know, too. You have nothing to lose at this point. What makes you think that there might be one? Just the way he did Carla. He was hunting that night. To date, Glenn has not confessed to any other murders.

And as far as the police can tell, the only other crime he has committed is car theft. If McCurley has killed anyone else, we may never know. Something else that we may never know is who wrote and sent the anonymous letter that named Rodney McCoy as Carla's killer. If by chance that person is still out there, and listening to this podcast, fuck you. It takes a real piece of shit to anonymously and incorrectly name someone as a killer and interfere with the investigation

that's attempting to solve the murder of a 17-year-old. Also, who gave Carla Morphean? Carla's schoolmate and alleged drug dealer Jay Broussard admitted that he had a supply of Morphean while attending Western Hills High, so we know that the drug was floating around Carla's school around the time of her death, but who physically handed the pill or pills to Carla? Finally, on the night of Carla's abduction, why did Rodney McCoy tell Carla's family that they got her?

Given that only one man abducted Carla, why didn't he say he got her? And I beaten on the door, ringing the door, but I don't remember what it was. Cindy, I think, answered the door. And I was telling her, you know, they got her, they got her. And so this day, I don't know why I was using that, you know, day meaning that one person. Because that, to me, there was only one person. Rodney McCoy had been pistol whipped to the point of passing out. More than likely, when he finally arrived at the Walker home that night, he was in such a state of panic and delirium

that he didn't even know what he was saying. After Carl's abduction before the body was found, Rodney stayed at the Walker House while the search took place. He waited for news about Carla, and on the third day of the search, Carla's sister broke the news to Rodney I wanted to be there. For it was police, I think it was called and said we think we found Carla. And I was in San Dishonored, I was scared. And she came up and said, take my under and turn.

What was going through your mind when that happened? I clad in the floor and just fell. I'm faster. I did not want to. Following the murder and Carla's funeral, Rodney soon returned to high school and finished out his senior year, unable to cope with the memories of what happened. After graduating, he moved to Alaska

and mostly lost touch with Carla's family. With Mr. Walker, it was like, I'm letting down. It was hard, it was hard to you know, I felt responsible for her. I'm sure he felt differently though. Everybody says he did. You know Jimmy told me the story because I can tell it was living hell at that house after Carla died.

Take that regard over. Carla's parents went to their graves, never knowing who raped and murdered their daughter. Meanwhile, Glenn McCurley lived a full life. He made a living as a truck driver, raised two sons, and likely shared many happy moments with his wife. All the while, a cloud of suspicion hung over Rodney McCoy as the agony of what if often plagued his mind. You know, I have no days. I mean, it's not all a stretch, and I will laugh, till jokes. You know, it's just something to remind you, and it's just like, I had a friend that I saw at the reunion, him and his wife were been together since high school.

She was a cheerleader and all that, and they're still together and they got like, five or six kids, and they still love each other to this day and everything and that. And you know, that may be think about, you know, back then. There is an incomprehensible degree of cruelty that accompanies the rape and murder of anyone. But what is often not spoken about is the cruelty it takes to remain silent about those acts. For this amount of time, Glenn McCurley was likely an entirely different person by the time police arrested him for Carlos murder. But his cruelty was no less palpable in 2020 than it was in 1974 when he raped and murdered a teenage girl.

I always thought that somebody would come forward with some information, something. I have to do something like that and keep it to themselves. That was the hardest thing for me to, that somebody could be that cruel to keep it to themselves, over something so horrible. Glenn McCurley had decades to come forward and admit what he had done. He could have provided Carlos' parents, family, and friends with answers, but he chose not too. He kept silent as countless others suffered.

The saying goes, justice delayed is justice denied. After all, at 77 years old, how much time will Glenn McCurley really serve before he dies in prison? Still, the real justice and the most important aspect of solving Carla's murder is that Carla siblings and her high school boyfriend Rod Rodney McCoy, finally got answers. This was a lot of healing going on in there today for not just me and my family but our hope community. The only cloud of suspicion on me for all those years.

I mean, that's tourney. And our hope is that this case can help spur more testing, especially this new kind of DNA testing, and maybe we can solve some cases and bring more closure to more families. That's our goal now is to help other color walker families. There's other families out there just like ours. ours is no more important than any other family. Say what you will about the ways that technology has changed life in America and the world for that matter. But it was, in large part, science and technology that solved Carla Walker's murder.

Forensic science continues to improve every single day, and there are still countless murders waiting to be solved all over the world. To those out there that are responsible and that have avoided prosecution for many years, be sure to enjoy every single free breath of life you take, because you never know if or when the day will come, that you will hear a loud knock on your front door and find the law and justice waiting on the other side to take you away and make you finally a tone for your crimes. That's going to do it for this episode of Sword and Skill.

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