Tarrant County DA Declines To Seek Death Penalty For Man Accused In 1974 Killing Of Teen

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — In September 2020 Fort Worth police announced that an arrest had been made for the 1974 murder of Carla Walker, who was 17 years old when she was abducted, tortured and killed. On May 6 prosecutors said they wouldn't seek the death penalty against the now 78-year-old man accused of the crimes.

The Tarrant County district attorney's office has submitted documents seeking life imprisonment without parole for Glen McCurley, who was arrested on a capital murder charge.

District Attorney Sharen Wilson said they determined "justice would best be served" by a sentence ensuring McCurley "will spend the rest of his days in prison."

Walker's family supported the decision, she said.

Police had said the Fort Worth high school student was with her boyfriend in a car outside a bowling alley after a Valentine's Day dance on February 17, 1974, when a man pistol-whipped the boy and abducted her. Searchers found her sexually assaulted and strangled to death three days later near a lake near where she had been abducted, prosecutors said.

McCurley's attorney, Steve Miears, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "We are continuing our investigation of the case."

The case had gone unsolved for 46 years before investigators reopened it in 2019. Police linked it to McCurley through advancements in DNA technology.

McCurley is jailed on a $500,000 bond while awaiting trial.

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)