As whistleblower Joe Palazzolo fights for his old FWISD job, he holds fast to his faith and military training. However, it wasnt too long after Palazzolo submitted the teachers list of grievances in May that Johnson and other leaders broke those promises. Report No: 84518942Victim: Lacy Milton Hatchell, 31 years old An advantage that these reporters have over the police is being able to step back and observe all of the evidence and information through an objective lens. Donations can be made at the nonprofits website at fwpdcoldcasesupport.org. His ordeal, he said, has "taken a toll.". Location: 500 SPUR 280 She never showed up for work. If you didnt subscribe to the newspaper or watch the evening news, you were in the dark about the murders. Her car was in the parking lot. What they ought to do if they lose again is what they should have done all along: pay Palazzolo what hes lost, give him his job back, and stop wasting taxpayer money on a petty political vendetta. Monica Coleman lived alone at her residence. Carlas body was found three days later in a culvert near Benbrook Lake. NBC 5s Scott Gordon reports how it used to develop a full DNA profile of a potential suspect. Location: 7405 Meadowcrest After hearing from her voicemail how offended she was by the teams call, it made them question if they were doing the right thing. Report No: 99647372Victim: Stephanie Borjan, 25 year-old Hispanic female The three are all former journalists who changed career paths and are thrilled to be back in the industry, practicing their passion. Location: 1600 Ballinger Her vehicle was found on October 7, 1984, at the West Cliff Manor Apartments, 3400 Dryden. As Palazzolo related it to me, as far as he knew, that school year of 2009-2010 at Arlington Heights was going well. The next day, minutes after day three of the trial began, McCurley told his attorneys he wanted to change his plea to guilty. His face had been sprayed with paint, and gang graffiti had been sprayed on his truck. Theyve offered Palazzolo money but never what he wants and is rightly owed his job back. Report No: 80192785Victim: Sylvia Hynes, 27 year-old black female They started an escort service for anyone with a night class who wanted someone to walk them to class. Mary Tills case was one of the cases that the Homicide Task Force investigated. Much of the day was also spent on the DNA evidence detectives said led them back to McCurley in 2020 after the cold case was reopened. On September 25, 1993, a friend went to the business and found Mary Glasscock deceased in the building. The occupants of the Dodge Coronet car returned to the scene. On December 24, 1986, Jaime Trevizo and his friends were at a bar on North Main Street in Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Police Department's backlog tops more than 1,000 open cold cases, according to a department records officer. All rights reserved. Report No: 94433192Victim: Felicita Olguin, 81 years old Location: 3700 Craven She stood by the elevators after the trial, clutching a gold-framed photo of Carla. A Marlboro cigarette butt. Glen McCurley, 77, is in the Tarrant County Jail charged with the murder of Carla Walker, 17 . Even if its not true closure, its a sense of closure., The most challenging aspect of their podcast was finding someone who knew the victim. I loved it. Three years later, they decided to take that step and focus on cold case Fort Worth-based murders. He added the Walker family wanted to see justice served in Carla's death and that "prayers and forgiveness do not come with a Get Out of Jail Free card.". On March 12, 1982, Angela Jones was found deceased in a creek at 2100 E. Richmond Ave. In September 2022, at the advice of his counsel at the time, Palazzolo applied for five different positions with Fort Worth ISD after more than a decade of being shut out of education. She didnt arrive for work that morning, and her car was found 10 miles from the office with the interior burnt. On September 27, 1980, Lorane Larkin was found deceased behind a vacant shopping center at 4800 E. Berry St. She died as a result of blunt force trauma. Location: 700 NE 28th St In the 1980s they owned a Rock and Roll club on the south side of Fort Worth. Next week, in fact. On October 29, 1983, Jesus Nanares was shot and killed while he sat in his car, which was parked in front of his residence: 1260 Park Place. They found the body of Carol Preslar in the apartment. On May 29, 1994, a hispanic male entered the store, armed with a handgun. Those in charge dont want bad publicity or the truth to come out. Report No: 88333359Victim: Carol Preslar, 28 years old The officers found the body of Lester Cole lying in the parking lot, in front of his 1978 Chevrolet El Camino. All of their ideas are related to criminal investigations. They found the body of Michael Morgan lying in the front yard of the residence. NBC 5 profiled the murder in 2017 during a series of cold case reports. She survived her injuries. Fort Worth homicide detectives hope a 45-year-old letter will help solve an equally old homicide. ", Jim Walker added his family was praying for the suspect's family and said that what happened to his sister was not their fault. I was just incredulous. She was last seen purchasing gasoline at a convenience store a short distance from her fiances house. The team chose these seven cold cases to be their focus because they were closely related and did not fit the demographic of the other killings, which appeared to include prostitutes and other criminal activity. On January 23, 1985, Catherine Davis was found deceased in a field in the southern part of Tarrant County. Ladye Gallaher was an elderly lady who lived alone at the Bellaire House Condominiums. Report No: 94032452Victim: Sloane Powell, 27 years old The team believes these murders to be the work of one serial killer. Fort Worth Police Cold Case Detective K. Adcock and Texas Ranger Lt. T. Gooding were able to link the two Fort Worth cases to another cold case that happened in McAllen in 2002.. One of the things that the task force was initially looking at was the strange coincidence of how so many of these victims, including some that were not among the seven, were involved in one way or another to the fashion modeling industry. Someone may have a clue that is needed to bring closure to one of these unsolved crimes. South Oak Cliff, Duncanville and DeSoto high schools all 2022 state champions, in the same county, led by three Black men. The lab, Othram near Houston, uses advanced technology that can test tiny samples of DNA and come up with a full genetic profile of the suspect, said Othram's founder David Mittleman. She did not show up for school the first day after the Thanksgiving break in the year 1984. Six days later, on Sept. 16, police said they were notified the swabs matched the DNA found on Walker's bra. Report No: 81392139Victim: Mary Garcia, 43 years old On Feb. 16, 1974, McCoy and Carla attended the Western Hills High School Valentines Day Dance a night that should have been a quintessential teenage memory. He said he didn't kill anyone and did not know Carla Walker. Report No: 86353704Victim: Jason Smith, 17 year-old white male Fort Worth Police Department. McCurley told detectives in 1974 that his wife had gone to West Texas to visit family and that his .22 Ruger had been stolen about six weeks earlier (around the time of the murder) and that he didn't report it because he was an ex-con who'd been to jail for car theft. Location: 3000 Loving "We take terrible evidence that other labs don't want to mess with," he said. Fort Worth Cold Cases: Becky Martin, Angela Ewart, and Christy Towers Detectives Leah Wagner and Jeff Bennett of the Fort Worth Police Department share more information about three cold. On October 1, 1991, the body of Kevin Hood was found on the side of a road near Lake Arlington. I felt I was making a difference.. Her vehicle had been seen leaving the residence on Park Ridge on the night of September 28, 1984. Report No: 91631068Victim: Richard Garcia, 17 year-old hispanic male On that years evaluation, he received Exceeds Expectations, and his principal, Neta Alexander, had recommended him for a promotion to be a principal at Metro Opportunity High School. She did not return to the room. On February 24, 1986, patrol officers were dispatched to 1257 E. Magnolia Avenue, on a report that there was a deceased person at that location. The district desperately needs experienced administrators like Palazzolo, who is willing and has been waiting years to go back to work. He felt compelled to fight for the teachers and students of Arlington Heights and present those complaints. I didnt beat her up and all that kind of crap., He told detectives he got scared that she would tell on me., Im guilty, he says in the interview. . It was later determined that she had been strangled. Manuel Soto died as a result of a gunshot wound. It was born out of that, and it has just persisted for the last 30 to 40 years because of mainstream media, movies, TV shows, and books. It was later determined that he had been strangled. A strange twist was that the date of his death coincided with the release of the podcasts first episode, Gary said. After the dance, Carla and McCoy parked in the Ridglea Bowl parking lot so she could use the bathroom. It would have been interesting to have seen the districts reaction when that earnest recruiter found out she had practically offered a job to the man the district has been trying to destroy for years. Report No: 91528811Victim: Kevin Hood, 22 years old Four cases were concentrated not only in space, but they were concentrated between September and December of 84, all within a two-mile radius, Gary said. Sitting at our table at a South Fort Worth eatery, our cups of coffee long cold, our conversation wrapping up, Joe Palazzolo recalled photos of him that the Weekly took more than a decade . Her vehicle was found at the Hunters Ridge Apartments, 4850 River Ranch Rd. A male ran up to the drivers side of the truck and fired several times toward the truck, shooting and killing Richard Hutchinson. They died as a result of gunshot wounds. Mr. Barraza then left the club. McCurley told the same story to investigators in 2020, that he'd spoke with detectives in 1974 because of the gun he owned, that he said had been stolen and never recovered, and that his wife was out of town at the time visiting family. An arrest has been made in a Fort Worth cold case that went unsolved for nearly half a century.. Police said 77-year-old Glen Samuel McCurley was in custody Tuesday in connection with the 1974 . When I heard that, I asked Palazzolo how he has been able to persevere for more than a decade at his quest to regain his position and to get what is justly coming to him despite the districts stonewalling. Evil is evil, and it didnt matter at all when it came to race. He was in charge of the freshman class and freshman teachers, a great cadre of educators, in his view. Next month, the date for Palazzolos new trial will be set. On April 3 of that year, according to an affidavit, he told detectives his Ruger had been stolen six weeks before, around the same time of Carlas murder. First, the district told him he was being transferred to the International Newcomer Academy, a definite demotion, and, later, the district decided to instead transfer him to Western Hills High School. Report No: 85126017Victim: Mary Taylor, 36 year-old black female After McCurley was sentenced, the courtroom was filled with people hugging one another and wiping their eyes. Two swabs were taken and sent to a lab for analysis. On August 17, 1983, Mary Till went out on a date. Location: 6201 Dowdell A very intriguing article. Despite all his efforts, he had not been able to go back to doing what he loved. The property at 1600 Ballinger used to be owned by the Marble Product Company. He died as a result of a gunshot wound. On December 9, 1995, Jackie Myers called 9-1-1 from his apartment at 6509 Plaza Parkway, and stated that he had been stabbed. They refer to themselves collectively as The Reporter's Notebook. Location: 4800 Decature RD Despite learning Campiglia's identity in 1992, her case remained cold, the sheriff's office said. Police said 77-year-old Glen Samuel McCurley was in custody Tuesday in connection with the 1974 murder of Carla Jan Walker, who was 17-years-old when she was abducted, held captive and sexually assaulted before being murdered and left in a ditch after a Valentine's Day dance. Carlas boyfriend at the time of her murder, Rodney McCoy, will appear on Datelines episode to talk about the night he saw his high school sweetheart for the last time. Kevin Hood was an employee of the Fort Worth Independent School District. The officers observed Rodney Rogers critically injured, lying on a concrete slab. If teachers and administrators know the district will fire you and also try to ruin your reputation, then the powers-that-be can be sure their employees will not show the public whats really going on. Report No: 93545026Victim: Mary Glassock, 51 year-old white female Palazzolo was demoted, transferred, fired, reinstated, and then fired a second time, but that was not all the district did. On December 15, 1984, officers were dispatched to 4300 Brentwood Stair Road. Here was a man who had lost his dream job and afterward could not land another job in education. FORT WORTH - In the end, smoking caught up with Russell Alan Morris. Once he applied, he didnt really know what to expect. McCurley pointed the pistol at McCoy and pulled the trigger three times. During the trial, McCurley initially pleaded not guilty to the murder. It was a really big win for us and the Walker family. She resided on Sanders Drive in Fort Worth. While he said there were some dark times over the last four-and-a-half decades where he wondered if anyone would ever be caught, he said he was happy and relieved to learn of the arrest. Every time you see a serial killer depicted, essentially, its a white male. There are a couple of others but, you know, at some point, we had to cut it off and say we can only really fully investigate this many cases and still make it understandable for our listeners., In 1985, Karin said, the Fort Worth Police Department opened a task force because there were so many murders and abductions happening of women that they needed a team of at least 35 investigators to focus on these cases.. Twenty-seven-year-old Mary Till left her apartment in Arlington around 9 a.m. and headed toward her workplace at a downtown Dallas law firm. It was later determined that she had been strangled. Location: 500 Precinct Line Rd He brings intrigue, as if you are listening to a scary bedtime story on the edge of your seat, wanting to catch every last detail. Two hispanic males entered the bar, demanded money, and shot Mary Sorola and her husband. On June 12, 1980, officers were dispatched to 1800 E. Lancaster Avenue. In the hearings following Palazzolos firing, those charges were proven to be baseless. More than 35 years later, Gary said, the victims families and friends are still waiting for answers, still waiting for justice, still waiting for peace.. Three journalists have teamed together to analyze the abduction and murder of seven young women in the mid-1980s. In her spare time, she fosters kittens and drinks too much coffee. Sylvia Hynes died at the hospital, due to trauma to the head. It seems they tried to destroy his reputation. Hughes was around the same age of the victims and remembers living in Dallas during the murder spree. Neighbors heard angry voices and witnessed a man shut the door to her apartment and leave in her car. On June 27, 1983, Julie Fuller was staying with her parents at a motel in the city of Arlington. Kathryn Jackson was a school teacher. In discussing Needham, it was the first time I saw Palazzolo really get emotional. 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