After nearly three decades of questions and dead ends, new DNA testing has finally put a name to the man investigators say killed Gloria Ann Covington in 1997 in an Amarillo park. The answer came too late for an arrest, but police and the Texas Rangers say the forensic match, built on years of evidence preservation and fresh lab work, has at least given Covington’s family the piece of the story they have been waiting for, even if there will never be a trial.
Covington, 45 at the time, was found on Aug. 5, 1997, in a field behind the North Branch YMCA, then called Hilltop Park and now Hines Memorial Park, with multiple stab wounds and partially undressed. Investigators have said she may have been sexually assaulted. Early detectives believed some of the attack started inside a vehicle before continuing in the park as the case file slowly went cold. Local coverage of the original investigation describes how two children discovered her body and how the scene suggested she had tried to escape her attacker, according to NewsChannel 10.
How Investigators Made the Match
In 2023, the Amarillo Police Department sent preserved evidence from Covington’s case to the state crime lab for another look using more advanced testing. In 2024, analysts said a hair recovered from the victim’s pubic area produced a CODIS hit that pointed to a single name. Detectives then traveled to Buchanan Dam in Llano County, where Jimmy Dale McClinton was living, and interviewed him. After obtaining a warrant, they collected a DNA sample during that meeting.
The state crime lab later reported that McClinton’s DNA fully matched the hair, confirming the hit and tying him to the forensic evidence, investigators said, according to KEYE/CBS Austin.
Suspect Identified but Not Charged
Amarillo police and the Texas Rangers presented their findings to the Office of the Attorney General, which agreed to prosecute based on the new evidence. Investigators said they intended to move forward with an arrest but never got the chance. "I was hoping to put cuffs on him myself," Lt. James Clements said. Lt. Jason Shea of the Texas Rangers added that "no family should have to wait decades for answers," underscoring the mix of relief and frustration at the news conference.
The man identified by the tests, Jimmy Dale McClinton, died Nov. 23, 2025, in Kingsland and will not face prosecution, according to his obituary and police statements on the case. His death is listed in online obituary records at Legacy.com.
Cold-Case Unit Work Continues
The break in Covington’s case follows Amarillo’s creation of a formal Cold Case Unit and a push to re test preserved evidence with modern forensic methods. Local reporting and the police department’s own outreach describe how older case files have been systematically sent to state labs for advanced analysis, part of a broader effort to shake loose answers from long dormant investigations.
For tips or information on Covington’s case, Amarillo Police list their Cold Case Unit contact as 806-378-9446 or [email protected], according to department materials and local coverage.
Investigators caution that a DNA match can say who likely touched the victim but cannot undo the crime or the decades of uncertainty. They say they hope the confirmation offers Covington’s family at least some measure of closure after nearly thirty years and continue to urge anyone with information about unsolved homicides from that era to contact the department so other cold cases can be reviewed.
