46 years after the abduction, torture, and murder of a 17-year-old girl, cold case detectives with the Fort Worth police department arrested a 78-year old Glen McCurley and charged him with capital murder.

McCurley abducted Carla Walker from the parking lot of a bowling alley in 1974. Walker had been to a Valentine’s day dance with her 17-year old boyfriend.

McCurley pistol-whipped Walker’s boyfriend and tried to shoot him in the head three times but the pistol’s magazine fell out.

Walker’s lifeless body was later found dumped in a culvert.

Fort Worth Police detectives Jeff Bennett and Leah Wagner were the primary investigators who reopened this case in 2019.

New, advanced DNA testing matched McCurley’s DNA to stains found on Carla Walker’s clothing.

The 46-year old unsolved case came to an end in August of 2021 when McCurley pleaded guilty during his murder trial. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Retired Homicide Detective David Thornton helped start the cold case unit. At the outset, investigators faced 750 unsolved murders dating back to 1966.

Thornton put into motion an effort that is still solving cold cases in which the original investigation failed to produce sufficient evidence to support murder charges.

In this edition of our True Crime Reporter Confidential, Robert Riggs and Bill Johnston take listeners inside homicide investigations and cold cases.

It is nothing like what is portrayed on popular TV shows. That’s Hollywood. This is real life.