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The NBC Dateline: Secrets Uncovered episode titled Promise To Gloria brings to light the disturbing murder case of 14-year-old Gloria Pointer from Cleveland, Ohio. After almost 30 years Hernandez Warren was arrested and charged with aggravated murder and rape in Gloria’s case. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crime.
The episode delves deep into the case as Gloria’s mother, Yvonne, and a group of investigators uncover what happened to the 14-year-old who was on the way to her school in Cleveland on the dreaded day.
Who is Hernandez Warren?
Hernandez Warren is a convicted felon who had previously spent 16 years in jail for assault and rape charges. He initially denied to the charges of rape and murder of Gloria Pointer, but later confessed to the crime. At the time of Gloria’s murder, Warren was 29 years old.
What happened to Gloria Pointer?
It was a typical day on December 6, 1984, for Gloria and her mother, Yvonne Pointer. Yvonne would recall to Dateline about sending off her daughter to school cheerfully. But Gloria never made it to Harry E. Davis Junior High School that day.
Gloria, who was about to get an award for perfect attendance, was missing at school, and the perplexed teachers called her mother to inform her. Yvonne recalled getting panicked after the phone call,
“They just said, ‘Is Gloria there?’ Because they called her name to get this award and she didn’t respond.”
The principal asked Yvonne to immediately contact the police, which she did. At the same time, the Cleveland Division of Police was attending to a call about suspicious activity at a building near the school. The police found Gloria’s body in the basement level of the building with her school identification and backpack lying next to her. Janice Abernathy, a Cleveland detective, would remember the harrowing moment,
“It was very hard to sit there and look at this 14-year-old innocent child that was on her way to school to be the victim of such a horrendous crime.”
Upon hearing the news, Yvonne was left shattered. She made a silent promise to her deceased daughter that she would find the killer no matter what. She would recall,
“I pulled the cover back and I just looked at her from head to toe and I said, ‘Gloria, don’t worry, I’ll find out who did this…I made a promise to her and grief took a backseat at that moment, because we needed to find the killer.”
Investigators came up empty handed in Gloria’s case
Gloria’s classmate remembered seeing Gloria walk behind him near the school with another person, who he assumed was her acquaintance. He thought he would later see her in school, but he did not.
One of the teachers would also recall seeing Gloria walking with a man in ‘heavy clothing’ before the schooltime. But as the town was hit by a snowstorm on that day, most of the descriptions fell short.
While they had a few suspects, there were no clear evidence against anyone including Yvonne’s neighbor, towards whom she was highly suspicious.
The Cleveland police were already investigating three other murder cases involving 14-years old girls, which took place months before Gloria was killed. Another girl was also attacked on the same day as Gloria was murdered. The girl had managed to escape and the culprit was caught. Romell Broom was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of 14-year-old Tryna Middleton. He had previous records of rape as well. But they could not find any links to Gloria’s case.
Yvonne would repeatedly write letters to Broom and other convicted criminals to know if they heard anything about the murder of her daughter. Meanwhile, she also kept following up with investigators on the case.
Finall,y Gloria’s murderer is caught
When a special cold case unit at the district attorney’s office was started, Gloria’s case was picked up. They used advanced DNA technology to get the profile of the killer but could not get any match.
However, in 2013, when the DNA profile was entered into the DNA database, they found a match. It was the profile of Hernandez Warren, a 58-year-old man who had previously spent time in jail for assault and rape.
Warren was immediately got in for questioning. He initially denied the charges, but when he was shown Gloria’s images, he confessed to the crime, haunted by the memories. As per Cleveland.com, Warren would recall to the police,
“I killed her, but why and how, I don’t know…I was (messed) up. I was (messed) up.”
He told the police that when Gloria was on her way to the school, he forcefully took her by the elbow and dragged her to the bottom of the stairs at the apartment. He assaulted her and was about to leave when she followed him. He hit her with a rod and killed her on the spot. He told authorities that he was high on drugs during the time.
Where is Hernandez Warren?
Hernandez Warren was arrested for murder and rape in Gloria’s case. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
Warren is serving his sentence at the Southeastern Correctional Institution, Ohio.
Watch Dateline on NBC
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