Jury hears 78-year-old's confession to killing Carla Walker in 1974

FORT WORTH, Texas - A Tarrant County jury watched a recorded confession from a 78-year-old man charged with murdering a teenage girl nearly 50 years ago.

Glenn McCurley was charged with capital murder last year for the kidnapping and killing of 17-year-old Carla Walker in 1974.

It was a cold case for decades until new technology helped break the case.

The emotional video confession from McCurley was given to police investigators. In it, he first said he rescued Carla and then admitted to killing her. 

Jurors spent several hours on Monday watching a videotaped session with investigators and McCurley. It went from one end of the spectrum to the other,  with denials, emotion, a confession and remorse.

The video shows two investigators in a small room with McCurley. They read him his Miranda rights. Initially, he denied any knowledge of Carla.

"I’ve never seen her. Never met her. Never talked to her. Wouldn’t know her if she was standing beside of me," McCurley said in the video.

Several times, investigators stopped to make sure McCurley understood his rights. McCurley kept talking.

"I haven’t killed anybody!" he said. "Like I told you the other day, I’m 77 years old and not into that kind of stuff."

More than an hour later, McCurley admitted to encountering Carla and her boyfriend inside a car. He claimed he rescued her.

"She was thankful I got her away from him. That’s what she said," he said.

 Eventually, McCurley admitted he strangled Carla.

"How did you kill her?" an investigator asked.

"I just choked her," he finally admitted.

"You guilty of raping and killing her?" an investigator asked.

"I guess," he said.

Other testimony on Monday included several DNA experts who worked on the case. The trial will resume first thing Tuesday morning.

COLD CASE MURDER TRIAL:

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