{"id":345606,"date":"2026-07-20T00:45:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T00:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/345606\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T00:45:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T00:45:06","slug":"arrest-made-in-1987-cold-case-after-man-contacts-sheriffs-office-39-years-later-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/345606\/","title":{"rendered":"Arrest made in 1987 cold case after man contacts sheriff&#8217;s office 39 years later"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WKRC) &#8211; An arrest has been made in a 1987 cold case after a man contacted law enforcement decades later.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/watch\/?mibextid=wwXIfr&amp;v=1374823044539877&amp;rdid=knXoqWTTfe6iBE10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">According to a statement issued by the Jacksonville Sheriff&#8217;s Office,<\/a> a 70-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the 1987 killing of a Jacksonville woman after authorities say he contacted law enforcement and provided information about the decades-old case.<\/p>\n<p>The Jacksonville Sheriff&#8217;s Office announced the arrest of Gary Edward Glowacz in the killing of 20-year-old Melissa (Taylor) Ellison.<\/p>\n<p>According to investigators, patrol officers responded to a home on Colejean Road at approximately 4:40 a.m. on Dec. 28, 1987, after receiving a report of a deceased person. Officers found Ellison in her bed suffering from blunt force trauma.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities said Ellison&#8217;s roommates discovered her after going to check on her when they found her toddler crying on the living room couch.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Gary Edward Glowacz was arrested in connection with the 1987 killing of Melissa (Taylor) Ellison after authorities say he contacted law enforcement and provided information about the decades-old cold case. (Jacksonville Sheriff's Office)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"365\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784508305_284_1571761e-fb9e-46d3-84f6-648e5dc7771a-Screenshot20260716023954.png\" width=\"648\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Gary Edward Glowacz was arrested in connection with the 1987 killing of Melissa (Taylor) Ellison after authorities say he contacted law enforcement and provided information about the decades-old cold case. (Jacksonville Sheriff&#8217;s Office)<\/p>\n<p>Detectives with the Jacksonville Sheriff&#8217;s Office Homicide Unit and Crime Scene Unit launched an investigation, reviewing available evidence and conducting numerous interviews. Despite those efforts, the case eventually went cold.<\/p>\n<p>According to the sheriff&#8217;s office, Glowacz contacted dispatch at the Clay County Sheriff&#8217;s Office on July 8, 2026, and said he wanted to provide information about Ellison&#8217;s death.<\/p>\n<p>Glowacz was transported to the Jacksonville Sheriff&#8217;s Office, where detectives interviewed him. Authorities said an arrest warrant was subsequently issued.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Gary Edward Glowacz was arrested in connection with the 1987 killing of Melissa (Taylor) Ellison after authorities say he contacted law enforcement and provided information about the decades-old cold case. (Jacksonville Sheriff's Office)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" decoding=\"async\" height=\"364\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784508306_28_456b7df8-a433-4259-b8be-ca563c21aea7-Screenshot20260716023850.png\" width=\"648\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Gary Edward Glowacz was arrested in connection with the 1987 killing of Melissa (Taylor) Ellison after authorities say he contacted law enforcement and provided information about the decades-old cold case. (Jacksonville Sheriff&#8217;s Office)<\/p>\n<p>Glowacz was booked into the Duval County Jail on charges of murder and burglary with a battery.<\/p>\n<p>The Jacksonville Sheriff&#8217;s Office credited First Coast Crime Stoppers, the State Attorney&#8217;s Office, Project Cold Case and the Clay County Sheriff&#8217;s Office with helping keep the investigation active over the years. The case remains under prosecution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (WKRC) &#8211; An arrest has been made in a 1987 cold case after a man contacted&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-345606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345606","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=345606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}