JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nearly four decades after a young Jacksonville mother was beaten to death, police say her now 70-year-old killer picked up the phone and called deputies in Clay County. By the end of that day, he was in handcuffs.
According to investigators, Gary Glowacz, of Middleburg, Florida, called Clay County Sheriff’s Office dispatch on Wednesday and told them he wanted to provide information about the 1987 death of Melissa Ellison.
Glowacz was taken into custody a few hours later by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit and charged with murder and burglary with a battery. He was booked into the Duval County jail with no bond.
Criminal background
Glowacz has a criminal history spanning multiple counties and several decades.
Duval County
He was found guilty of purchasing cocaine in both 1989 and 1996, and in 1998 was convicted of burglary. In 1986, adjudication was withheld on a separate burglary charge — a legal outcome in which the court does not formally enter a conviction.
Clay County
More recently, Glowacz was charged with DUI in Clay County in 2016 and later pleaded guilty.
Victim found dead in her home
On Dec. 28, 1987, at approximately 4:40 a.m., Jacksonville patrol officers responded to a call for a dead person at a home on Colejean Road. When they arrived, officers found 20-year-old Melissa Ellison lying in her bed, suffering from blunt force trauma.
Ellison’s two roommates told officers they went to check on her after finding Ellison’s toddler crying alone on the living room couch.
“I know that it’s never going to bring my mom back, but it does have a ridiculous release of closure,” she said.
The Duval County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the manner of death a homicide, with the cause of death determined to be blunt force trauma to the head. JSO’s Homicide Unit and Crime Scene Unit detectives launched an investigation, reviewing all available evidence and conducting multiple interviews. No arrests were made at the time, and the case eventually went cold.
Phone call cracks cold case nearly 40 years later
Thirty-nine years later, on July 8, Glowacz called Clay County Sheriff’s Office dispatch and advised he wanted to provide information about the death of Ellison, according to his arrest report.
What he told investigators is redacted in his arrest report, but after talking with Cold Case detectives, he was informed that he was being arrested for murder and burglary with assault/battery.
Glowacz was transported to JSO headquarters, where he was interviewed by detectives. An arrest warrant was subsequently issued. He was 31 years old at the time of the 1987 killing.
“We are thankful to our community partners — First Coast Crime Stoppers, State Attorney’s Office, Project Cold Case, and the Clay County Sheriff’s Office — who all helped keep this case at the forefront and renewed the call for information,” JSO said in a statement.
“We’re also incredibly proud of our Cold Case Unit detectives for their hard work in this case.”
JSO added that it will continue to work alongside the State Attorney’s Office to ensure Glowacz faces the consequences of his actions.