Sen. John Cornyn pushes bill he says will help close cold cases
FORT WORTH, Texas - U.S. Senator John Cornyn was in North Texas to help draw support for a new bill designed to help solve cold cases.
It involves the latest technology in DNA testing.
He has the support of a Fort Worth man after it helped solve his sister's decades-old murder.
"This technology is not cheap, and it’s still at the early stages of adoption, not widely available, meaning countless cold cases like Carla Walkers remain unsolved. That’s why I’m working on a piece of legislation we are calling the Carla Walker Act," said Sen. Cornyn.
Cornyn referred to the 1974 rape and murder of Fort Worth teenager Carla Walker and the conviction of her killer Glen McCurley nearly 5 decades later.
Jury hears 78-year-old's confession to killing Carla Walker in 1974
Jurors spent several hours on Monday watching a videotaped session with investigators and Glenn McCurley. The video went from one end of the spectrum to the other, with denials, emotion, a confession and remorse.
The conviction came largely due to advanced technology and DNA analysis.
Cornyn's bill would make federal grant money available to pay for the newest and most expensive technology.
"It is an expensive process. It’s several thousands of dollars to process of one case," said Dr. Michael Coble.
Traditionally, DNA testing can link physical evidence to a perpetrator or their immediate relatives, like children, parents or siblings. Now, there is forensic genetic genealogy DNA testing or FGG.
"We can now look at second cousins, third cousins potentially even fourth cousins to be able to solve these kinds of cases without any investigative leads for a long time," said Dr. Colbe.
The discussion, led by Sen. Cornyn included medical experts at the UNT Health Science Center. Also, law enforcement leaders and Carla Walker's siblings.
"FGG quickly changes that equations. It drills down into multiple generations of families. It gives law enforcement the forensic lead they need to start crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s and bring people to justice. This is a good day for us and a bad day for the perpetrators," said Jim Walker, Carla's brother.
"We will be trying to figure out how to maximize the amount of money that’s going to be publicly available because this is just too good of technology and science to let go to waste," said Sen. Cornyn.
DNA testing is also used to identify victims and exonerate wrongfully accused suspects.
To give you an idea of what one department is dealing with, the Fort Worth Police Department says it currently has over 1,000 cold cases.