Nearly 40 years after the death of Melissa Ellison, a 20-year-old Jacksonville mother, her alleged killer appears willing to take the case to trial.
Gary Glowacz, 70, pleaded not guilty in Duval County court Thursday to second-degree murder with a weapon and burglary with assault or battery. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office had held a news conference in July to announce the charges.
Ellison was found deceased in a mobile home near Normandy Boulevard in the Jacksonville Heights West area on Dec. 28, 1987.
According to the arrest report, Glowacz called law enforcement on July 8, 2026, looking to provide information about the case. Glowacz confessed during an interview with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office that he had burglarized the trailer on the night of Ellison’s murder. While inside, he found Ellison and her 13-month-old baby in the bed and hit Ellison in the head and neck area with a wooden log.
Ellison’s body was found deceased in her bed by her two roommates. The baby was found alive, crying on the couch in the living room, allegedly placed there by the suspect.
Glowacz didn’t know for sure that Ellison died until he saw an article about the case in March 2026, according to an interview detailed in the police report. He waited until July to contact law enforcement because he wanted to avoid “ruining the holidays” for the victim’s family.
Glowacz told police he was on narcotics at the time and had broken into the home to find money or items to sell so he could buy more drugs. While he was not immediately arrested for that incident, police said he was arrested for a separate burglary in that area less than a day later.
Investigators arrested Glowacz, reporting that he recalled details of the crime scene that had never been publicly disclosed.
If convicted of the murder, he could face life in prison. His first pretrial hearing is scheduled for the end of August.