{"id":335952,"date":"2026-07-10T17:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/335952\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T17:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:33:12","slug":"70-year-old-arrested-in-1987-florida-moms-murder-after-decades-of-dead-end-digging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/335952\/","title":{"rendered":"70-year-old arrested in 1987 Florida mom’s murder after decades of dead-end digging"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A 70-year-old Clay County<\/a> man was arrested in connection with the 1987 killing of a young Jacksonville mother, marking a major breakthrough in a case that investigators say never faded from the memories of detectives.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office<\/a> announced on Thursday the arrest of Gary Edward Glowacz in the Dec. 28, 1987, murder of Melissa Taylor Ellison, who was 20 years old at the time of her death.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a news conference, Sheriff T.K. Waters said Ellison’s killing happened during a home burglary nearly four decades ago.<\/p>\n

“Melissa Ellison’s murder occurred during a home burglary 39 years ago,” Waters said. “This case was investigated, continuously reinvestigated, and ultimately solved by dedicated detectives assigned to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit.”<\/p>\n

According to the sheriff’s office, officers responded to a home on Colejean Road at about 4:40 a.m. on Dec. 28, 1987, after receiving a report of a dead person. Investigators found Ellison in her bed suffering from blunt force trauma. Her roommates told investigators they checked on her after finding her toddler crying on a couch in the living room.<\/p>\n

Waters said Ellison “was found deceased in her home at 3611 Colejean Road” and that:<\/p>\n

it was determined that she died due to blunt force head trauma.”<\/p>\n

Because the case is now moving through the court system, Waters declined to discuss specific evidence or investigative techniques that led to the arrest.<\/p>\n

The case remained unsolved for decades until July 8, when Glowacz contacted the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and said he wanted to provide information about Ellison’s death, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. He was brought to JSO headquarters for an interview, and detectives subsequently obtained an arrest warrant.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced on Thursday the arrest of Gary Edward Glowacz in the Dec. 28, 1987, murder of Melissa Taylor Ellison, who was 20 years old at the time of her death. (JSO)<\/p>\n

Glowacz was booked into the Duval County Jail on charges of murder and burglary with a battery.<\/p>\n

Waters said the arrest demonstrates the importance of long-term homicide investigations and the persistence of detectives assigned to cold cases.<\/p>\n

“Television shows conditioned us to believe that homicide cases that are not solved within the first 48 hours will not be solved,” Waters said. <\/p>\n

That is patently false.”<\/p>\n

“Homicide investigations are very complex. Forensics can take a long time to complete, and technologies surrounding these investigations continue to advance and evolve,” he added.<\/p>\n

Waters, who spent more than a decade in JSO’s homicide unit during his 35-year law enforcement career, said unsolved killings affect both victims’ families and investigators.<\/p>\n

“Many of us carry on our hearts the weight of unsolved homicides, and today Glowacz’s arrest is a victory for not only the friends and family members who love Melissa Ellison, but the investigators who never stopped believing that justice could and would be served,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office announced on Thursday the arrest of Gary Edward Glowacz in the Dec. 28, 1987, murder of Melissa Taylor Ellison, who was 20 years old at the time of her death. (JSO)<\/p>\n

While acknowledging that an arrest cannot undo the loss suffered by Ellison’s family, Waters said he hopes it can provide a measure of closure.<\/p>\n

See also: ‘I knew him’: Man arrested after police say he helped move dead body, alter scene in WPB<\/a><\/p>\n

“While his arrest cannot fill the enormous void left in the hearts of Melissa Ellison’s loved ones, I hope that this arrest is another step in the healing process,” Waters said.<\/p>\n

He also praised the work of the Cold Case Unit.<\/p>\n

“There’s no statute of limitations for murder, and the dedicated men and women of JSO’s cold case unit also know no temporal limitations,” Waters said. “They will always keep digging, they will always keep reinvestigating, and they will consider new and innovative technologies and investigative practices so that loved ones of those taken from our community can get the answers and accountability that they justly deserve.”<\/p>\n

During the question-and-answer portion of the news conference, Cold Case Unit Supervisor Sgt. Mike Paul said information provided by community partners played a key role in advancing the investigation.<\/p>\n

“I will tell you that there’s some information that did come forward that played a pivotal role in this,” Paul said. “We’re very excited about the partnership that we have with so many agencies and folks here in town and out of town. And First Coast Crime Stoppers is one of them.”<\/p>\n

Paul also said Glowacz has “a history of burglary” but declined to discuss details about how he was taken into custody, citing the pending prosecution.<\/p>\n

Authorities said Glowacz had been living in Clay County.<\/p>\n

The sheriff’s office credited First Coast Crime Stoppers, the State Attorney’s Office, Project Cold Case and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office for helping keep attention on the case over the years.<\/p>\n

“Today, we acknowledge who committed this atrocity, and coupled with the prospect of accountability, horror is actively being reshaped into hope,” Waters said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 A 70-year-old Clay County man was arrested in connection with the 1987 killing of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-335952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}