Carla Walker and her boyfriend Rodney McCoy were sitting in their car after attending a high school Valentine’s Day dance on February 17, 1974. They were parked in a bowling alley parking lot in Fort Worth, Texas, when suddenly, a man pulled open the passenger door and dragged Walker out.
The man pistol-whipped McCoy and threatened to kill him before disappearing with the 17-year-old girl. Her body was found three days later. The teenager had been raped and strangled, NBC5 reported. For years, her murder went unsolved but in 2020, DNA advances led authorities to a suspect, Glen McCurley, and further testing confirmed that his DNA matched what was recovered on Walker’s clothing at the crime scene.
McCurley was arrested and his trial took place in August 2021. As a witness to her abduction, McCoy has spoken about his final moments with his girlfriend and testified about what happened that night.
McCoy Testified About What Happened During the First Days of McCurley’s Trial
It was a night they can never forget…
The night of the Valentine’s Day dance.
McCoy testified during the first days of McCurley’s trial that he and Walker had been parked in the bowling alley parking lot after the dance and started kissing, WFAA reported. He said they were leaning against the passenger door and someone “yanked open” the car door, causing them both to partially fall out.
According to the outlet, he told the court that someone hit him over the head. “I remember I was holding her and the blood started flowing down my forehead down into my eyes,” McCoy said. “I’m not sure how many times I got hit. I believe it was more than once, according to Carla’s reaction. She screamed ‘Stop hitting him!’”
He said it was only when the attacker pointed a gun at him that he realized that’s the object he’d been hit with. The assailant pointed the gun inches from his head and “pulled the trigger three times,” McCoy testified. “And all I heard were the three clicks. Nothing came out of the gun.” WFAA reported that authorities found a magazine from a .22-caliber Ruger in the bowling alley parking lot.
McCoy Testified That the Attacker Then Dragged Walker Away & Said Her Last Words Were to Get Her Father
At McCurley’s trial in August 2021, McCoy testified that he said, “You’re coming with me,” as he pulled Walker away. According to WFAA, McCoy, 65 during the trial, became emotional as he testified, “Carla turned her face to me, and I can visualize, and said, ‘Rodney, go get dad. Go get my dad. That’s the last words I heard from Carla.”
He told the court that he blacked out at that point and when he regained consciousness, Walker was gone. “It had all become real,” he said, according to WFAA, “I was totally panicked.” McCoy said he never saw the assailant’s face and just barely caught a glimpse of the outline of his body behind Walker.
After the attack, he drove his car to Walker’s house, WFAA wrote, with blood still coming down his face into his eyes. McCoy said he pounded on her family’s door and told her family what happened and they called the police. He said he was “in shock,” the outlet reported. A few days into McCurley’s trial, he changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.
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