Texas Rangers, Amarillo Police Solve 1997 Cold Case Murder

AUSTIN – Using modern forensic testing, investigators have now identified the man responsible for the brutal murder of a woman at an Amarillo park nearly 30 years ago. The suspect, Jimmy Dale McClinton, of Buchanan Dam, died in November 2025 at the age of 81. 

On Aug. 5, 1997, around 1:00 p.m., Gloria Ann Covington’s partially nude body was found by children playing at Hilltop Park. She had been stabbed multiple times, sexually assaulted and had several defensive wounds on her body. A cook at a local nursing home, the mother of four was last seen around 3:00 a.m. that same day in the 1600 block of North Marrs Street.

In the years after Covington’s death, investigators went to extensive efforts to identify her killer – but all known suspects were eliminated, and the case went cold. 

Then, in February 2024, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Crime Laboratory in Lubbock developed a DNA profile using evidence collected in Covington’s original autopsy. That DNA profile was submitted to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), leading to a positive hit: Jimmy Dale McClinton. Investigators traveled to Buchanan Dam, where McClinton was living, and obtained a warrant for his DNA to conduct additional testing. That additional testing identified him as a positive match in Covington’s case.

Through further investigation, it was learned McClinton had a documented history of knife assaults against women – including multiple incidents strikingly similar to Covington’s case. He had lived in the Amarillo area at the time of Covington’s murder but was never interviewed or developed as a suspect during the original investigation. Between 1977 and 2014, McClinton had been arrested several times in the Amarillo and Waco areas.

For the next two years, the Amarillo Police Department and Texas Rangers worked diligently with the Texas Attorney General’s Office to prosecute McClinton for Covington's murder – but McClinton passed away before the case could be presented to a grand jury. As a result, no arrests were made, and this case is now closed.

The Texas Rangers would like to thank our partners, including the Amarillo Police Department and DPS’ Crime Laboratory Division, for their years of commitment and dedication to identify McClinton and solve Covington’s case.

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(HQ 2026-081)