Dateline NBC will examine the case against Gloria Pointer’s killer, Hernandez Warren, and the decades-long investigation into the teen’s 1984 murder. The upcoming episode “A Promise to Gloria” airs on the network on Friday, January 5, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET.
According to Cleveland.com, Pointer was on her way to school one December morning in 1984 when Warren attacked her. A couple of hours later, a building custodian found her body in the back stairwell of the apartment. She had been sexually assaulted and beaten to death.
For decades, Cleveland authorities, cold case detectives, and the FBI investigated the 14-year-old’s murder case. They made a breakthrough in 2013 when DNA evidence from her clothes linked Warren, a convicted rapist, to the crime. Authorities arrested him in May of that year, following which he confessed to the crime and eventually pleaded guilty to murder and rape in 2014. He received a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
Where is Gloria Pointer’s killer Hernandez Warren now?
According to the Ohio Department of Corrections, Gloria Pointer’s killer, Hernandez Warren, is now serving his sentence at the Southeastern Correctional Institution. He will become eligible for parole in May 2043, per the same prison records.
Warren initially faced the death penalty for Pointer’s rape and murder if found guilty. However, in May 2014, months before his September trial that year, he pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated murder and one count of rape. As part of the plea deal, he received a life sentence with parole after 30 years.
In a March 2019 Fox 8 report, it was stated that afterwards, the convicted rapist and murderer attempted to withdraw his plea. But, the court denied his request, leaving him with no other options to fight.
Cleveland.com reported that before accepting the plea deal, Gloria Pointer’s killer Hernandez Warren told authorities how he murdered her. He confessed to attacking the girl on December 6, 1984, as she was walking to Harry E. Davis Junior High School. The killer told authorities that he was high on drugs when he lured her to a back stairwell of a building.
In his confession, Warren claimed that he raped the 14-year-old at the bottom of the stairwell and was leaving when she tried to follow him out. He admitted to pushing Pointer down the steps and beating her with a brick or a pipe, stated the report. Despite confessing to the crime, he said, “I killed her, but why and how, I don’t know. I was f—– up. I was f—– up.”
The outlet reported that before this, Hernandez Warren spent 16 years in prison for a rape and kidnapping in 1985. His arrest for Pointer’s murder came nearly 30 years later in May 2013 after a DNA match linked him to the crime.
According to Yvonne Pointer’s website, Gloria Pointer had left home early on the day she was murdered. She was to receive an award that day for perfect attendance. But when she failed to show up to class, the headmaster called her family to report the same. Hours later, around 10:30 a.m., a building custodian found her body in the back stairwell of the apartment.
The outlet reported that at the time, multiple witnesses claimed that they saw Pointer walking toward her school while a black male followed her. A witness even reported seeing a male wearing a brown coat and knit cap grab the girl’s arm before the two disappeared near Orville Avenue.
Dateline NBC’s episode on Gloria Pointer’s murder by Hernandez Warren will air on January 5, 2024.
