The Memphis Fire Department got an anonymous call one fall evening in 1974.
The caller, a man, said some grass and weeds were on fire along YMV Road. The old industrial spot was just north of Fields Road and near the intersection with Hicky Street in the southwest part of the city. A fire truck was dispatched.
Firefighters arrived just after dark, about 8 p.m., October 16. As they pumped water onto the flames, one man started scattering a pile of burning branches and other debris with a long pole.
That’s when the body was revealed.
Forty-seven years later, the homicide case of 19-year-old Gloria P. Johnson remains unsolved but is an active cold case with the Memphis Police Department’s Cold Case Unit in the Homicide Bureau. The main question: who killed her?
Johnson was first reported to police as a missing person by her family on Oct. 6 of that year. Apparently she had been dead most if not all of those 10 days. The Shelby County Medical Examiner’s office ruled the case a homicide. She had been stabbed repeatedly. Then the body probably was moved from where she was murdered to the grassy field not far off the road and covered with sticks and anything else handy.
Now detectives are seeking the public’s help anew. The family has posted a $10,000 award with CrimeStoppers, making a total of $12,000 available to anyone with information that can help police make an arrest.
It isn’t impossible to solve a murder that took place nearly 50 years ago. That’s why Cold Case investigators comb through the case files of various felonies. As always it would help if anyone who knows something would come forward, and make a call to the MPD Homicide Unit — (901) 636-COLD (2653), or report anonymously to CrimeStoppers at 528-CASH.
“It’s never too late to bring justice in any felony case,” said CrimeStoppers executive director E. Winslow (Buddy) Chapman.
