Overview
- Hours after calling Clay County dispatch to say he had information, Gary Edward Glowacz was interviewed by Jacksonville cold-case detectives and an arrest warrant was issued the following day.
- Glowacz, 70, was charged with murder and burglary with battery and was booked into the Duval County Jail with no bond while he awaits his first court appearance.
- Melissa Ellison, 20, was found on Dec. 28, 1987 with blunt-force injuries in her Westside mobile home and her toddler daughter was discovered unharmed on the living room couch.
- Police and prosecutors credited renewed public appeals led by Project: Cold Case and First Coast Crime Stoppers, along with family advocacy, for keeping the case active and producing new information.
- Investigators have redacted what Glowacz told them in the arrest report, the State Attorney’s Office will review the evidence for prosecution, and an arrest does not equal a conviction; records show Glowacz has prior convictions and charges from the 1980s and 1990s.