{"id":376050,"date":"2026-07-16T22:12:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T22:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/376050\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T22:12:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T22:12:23","slug":"dna-links-suspect-to-1997-amarillo-cold-case-murder-but-he-died-before-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/376050\/","title":{"rendered":"DNA links suspect to 1997 Amarillo cold case murder, but he died before arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"

AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) \u2014 The suspect in the 1997 stabbing death of Gloria Ann Covington<\/a> died before he could be prosecuted.<\/p>\n

Covington, 45, was stabbed to death Aug. 5, 1997. Her body was found by two young children in Hilltop Park, now known as Hines Memorial Park. She was naked from the waist down and had multiple stab wounds. Lt. James Clements said Covington also may have been sexually assaulted.<\/p>\n

According to Clements, Covington was taken to the park in a vehicle and was brutally assaulted inside the vehicle.<\/p>\n

At some point, she managed to escape and run across the park, but her attacker chased her down.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was an attack in the park where Gloria fought for her life,\u201d Clements said.<\/p>\n

Police never found a suspect and the case went cold.<\/p>\n

RELATED | Amarillo PD announces creation of Cold Case investigation unit<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2023, APD enlisted the help of the Texas Rangers\u2019 cold case unit and the Office of the Attorney General\u2019s cold case prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Police sent DNA evidence from four cold cases to the state crime lab. The Texas Rangers\u2019 cold case unit agreed to move forward with additional DNA testing on two of them, including Covington\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n

In 2024, DNA from a hair found in Covington\u2019s pubic area matched DNA in the Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The DNA matched Jimmy Dale McClinton. He lived in Amarillo at the time but was never a suspect and was never questioned in connection with the murder.<\/p>\n

After the CODIS hit, Sgt. Joel Hodges, a cold case detective with APD, and a member of the Texas Rangers traveled to Buchanan Dam in Llano County, where McClinton was living at the time.<\/p>\n

Clements said McClinton talked to investigators but gave them little information before asking for a lawyer.<\/p>\n

Police had a warrant for McClinton\u2019s DNA and collected a sample during the interview.<\/p>\n

The DNA sample was tested at the state crime lab. Clements said it was a 100% confirmation that the hair found on Covington\u2019s body was McClinton\u2019s.<\/p>\n

APD and the Texas Rangers presented the case to the Attorney General\u2019s Office, which agreed to prosecute McClinton for Covington\u2019s murder. McClinton died before he could be arrested.<\/p>\n

According to his obituary, McClinton died November 23, 2025 in Kingsland, 60 miles northwest of Austin. He was 73 years old<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hoping to put cuffs on him myself,\u201d Clements said. \u201cUnfortunately, time was against us on this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Texas Rangers said McClinton was a suspect in other cases as well.<\/p>\n

While McClinton was never arrested, investigators said they hope the announcement gives Covington\u2019s family some closure.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo family should have to wait decades for answers,\u201d said Lt. Jason Shea with the Texas Rangers. \u201cWhile today\u2019s announcement can\u2019t bring Ms. Covington back, I hope knowing this provides a measure of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) \u2014 The suspect in the 1997 stabbing death of Gloria Ann Covington died before he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376051,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-376050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376050\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}