Latest news with #CarlaWalkerAct
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Carla Walker Act: Bill to fund cold-case tech introduced in U.S. Senate
The Brief "The Carla Walker Act," aims to boost funding for advanced DNA analysis in cold case investigations. Co-authored by Sen. John Cornyn, the bill would support advanced technology to close previously unsolvable cold cases. The bill has been introduced in the U.S. Senate and has companion legislation in the House, but has not yet passed. WASHINGTON, D.C. - A bill co-authored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) would increase funding for advanced DNA analysis with the hope of helping to solve cold cases. The Carla Walker Act, introduced to the U.S. Senate on Thursday, is named for a 17-year-old Fort Worth native who was killed in 1974, but whose case went unsolved for more than four decades due to a lack of analysis technology. According to Cornyn's office, the bill, coauthored by Peter Welch (D-Vermont), would use current federal funding to support advanced technology called forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) DNA analysis. The goal of the funding is to help solve previously unsolvable cold cases like Walker's. According to the release, the advanced FGG technology that would be funded by the bill enables investigators to build family trees leading back to cold case suspects. Traditional technology examines far fewer DNA profiles than is possible through FGG, the release says. The backstory Walker went missing 46 years before her case was solved. The 17-year-old was abducted from a bowling alley in Fort Worth after going to a Valentine's Day dance with her boyfriend. Three days after her disappearance, Walker's body was found in a drainage ditch 30 minutes away from Forth Worth. While officials were able to find DNA evidence on her body, a lack of forensic technology prevented them from finding a suspect. Nearly half a century later, investigators in 2020 were able to find and match the DNA found on Walker to Glen McCurley, who was 77 at the time of his arrest. McCurley had been a minor suspect in the 1976 crime, but investigators could not find compelling enough evidence to connect him to the offense. McCurley later confessed to the murder and received a sentence of life in prison. Why you should care Walker's case was eventually solved with FGG analysis, but only after most of her remains passed away without ever learning what happened to the murdered 17-year-old. If passed, Cornyn's bill aims to bring swifter justice for cold-case victims and answers for their loved ones. What they're saying "Fort Worth native Carla Walker was abducted in a bowling alley and tragically murdered in 1974, but it took more than four decades and the advent of forensic genetic genealogy DNA analysis for her killer to be identified and brought to justice," said Cornyn. "I am proud to have authored this legislation, which would make this cutting-edge DNA testing technology more widely available to law enforcement so they can better identify and prosecute offenders, solve cold cases, and bring closure to victims' families." "Advancements in forensic DNA technology have revolutionized our ability to combat crime. In Vermont, detectives were able to use forensic genetic genealogy analysis to help provide answers to a family who thought they might never come. We've also seen how this technology can be a powerful tool in giving those wrongly accused a chance to clear their names," said coauthor Welch. "Our bipartisan bill will help investigators across the country harness the incredible power of FGG technology to crack cold cases and deliver justice to countless victims and families, and I'm thankful for Senator Cornyn's leadership on it." What's next The bill has yet to be passed by the U.S. Senate. U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) is leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives. The Source Information in this article came from the office of U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and previous Fox 4 reporting.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cornyn, Welch introduce the Carla Walker Act to help solve cold cases
May 22—WASHINGTON U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Peter Welch (D-VT) on Thursday introduced the Carla Walker Act, which would dedicate existing federal grant funds to support forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) DNA analysis and help solve previously unsolvable cold cases. The bill is named for Carla Walker, a Fort Worth native whose murderer was finally identified 46 years after her death with the help of this advanced technology. "Fort Worth native Carla Walker was abducted in a bowling alley and tragically murdered in 1974, but it took more than four decades and the advent of forensic genetic genealogy DNA analysis for her killer to be identified and brought to justice," said Sen. Cornyn. "I am proud to have authored this legislation, which would make this cutting-edge DNA testing technology more widely available to law enforcement so they can better identify and prosecute offenders, solve cold cases, and bring closure to victims' families." "Advancements in forensic DNA technology have revolutionized our ability to combat crime. In Vermont, detectives were able to use forensic genetic genealogy analysis to help provide answers to a family who thought they might never come. We've also seen how this technology can be a powerful tool in giving those wrongly accused a chance to clear their names," said Sen. Welch. "Our bipartisan bill will help investigators across the country harness the incredible power of FGG technology to crack cold cases and deliver justice to countless victims and families, and I'm thankful for Senator Cornyn's leadership on it." U.S. Congressman Wesley Hunt (TX-38) is leading companion legislation in the House of Representatives. Background: Typically, when a suspect's identity is unknown, a crime laboratory uploads the genetic material recovered from a crime scene into the FBI's national database to search for DNA matches between the forensic sample and any known offenders. While this traditional form of forensic DNA profiling only examines 13-20 Short tandem repeat (STR) DNA markers, forensic genetic genealogy (FGG) technology examines over half a million Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) that span the entirety of the human genome. It does so by cross-referencing shared blocks of SNP markers to identify relatives of the genetic profile by uncovering shared blocks of DNA. This enables criminal investigators to build family trees that ultimately help determine the sample's identity and solve cases. Carla Walker was abducted from a bowling alley parking lot in Fort Worth, Texas, on February 17, 1974. Her body was found three days later in a drainage ditch 30 minutes south of Fort Worth. The Fort Worth Police Department was able to collect a few forensic samples and clothing items from the crime scene, but law enforcement could not solve the murder due to limited forensic technology at the time. Carla's brother, Jim Walker, never stopped searching for answers and nearly 50 years later, FGG DNA analysis was conducted on the last remaining DNA on a piece of Walker's clothing, which led to a successful DNA match with the McCurley family and ultimately identified Glen McCurley, Jr. as the killer, who confessed in 2021 and died in prison on July 14, 2023. Sen. Cornyn's Carla Walker Act would create a pilot program to make this cutting-edge FGG DNA analysis more widely available to investigative agencies to: — Aid in resolving previously unsolvable cold cases; — Assist in the identification of criminals; — Seek justice for previously unidentified victims; — Help exonerate wrongly accused suspects; — And bring closure for the victims' loved ones.
