29-Year Amarillo Cold Case Finally Solved: Brutal Murderer Identified

After nearly 30 years, the family of Gloria Ann Covington can finally find peace knowing the man responsible for her brutal murder is identified. The twist to this story? The man died in 2025.

The Murder and Assault of Gloria Ann Covington

Around 1 in the afternoon on August 5, 1997, children playing at Hilltop Park in Amarillo discovered Covington's partially nude body.

The mother of four worked as a cook at a nursing home, and she was last seen that same day around 3 o'clock in the morning on the 1600 block of North Marrs Street.

When the coroner examined her body, they discovered that she had been sexually assaulted and sustained many wounds implying she fought against her attacker.

Her cause of death was multiple stab wounds after the sexual assault.

For 27 years, police never found the individual responsible for Covington's brutal murder—until a positive DNA match was finally made.

A Positive Match

In 2024 and with modern technology, DNA was submitted to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), and a match was found.

Jimmy Dale McClinton was living in Buchanan Dam at the time, and the Amarillo Police Department worked with the Texas Attorney General's Office to prosecute him after his name registered a positive match.

No arrest was ever made, however, as McClinton passed away before the case could be tried in 2025. He was 81 years old.

McClinton had an extensive criminal record that included several instances of attacking women with knives. He had also lived in the Amarillo area in 1997 during the time Covington was murdered.

Covington's murder was solved thanks to the combined efforts of the Texas Rangers, the Amarillo Police Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety's Crime Laboratory Division.