Hernandez Warren is behind bars for the abduction and murder of a 14-year-old girl, Gloria Pointer, in Cleveland, Ohio.
The News-Journal reported that Gloria was a ninth-grade student and a cheerleader at Harry E. Davis Junior High School, where she was set to receive a perfect attendance award on Dec. 6, 1984, but she never made it to school.
Gloria would usually meet up with other girls at the corner of E. 114th St. and Orville Avenue, and together they would walk 15 minutes to school.
But on that dark morning, as she was getting ready for school, she realized she needed a comb for her new hairstyle. So she called her friend on the phone and asked to borrow a comb.
Gloria left her house around 7 a.m., which was 10 minutes earlier than usual, and walked to her friend’s apartment nearby.
About four hours later, she was found dead.
A maintenance worker who was responding to a noise complaint had discovered her body at the bottom of a stairwell at the rear of an apartment building on East 105th Street.
She was partially clothed, wearing a shirt and socks—the rest of her clothes were found nearby.
An autopsy showed that Gloria had been raped and beaten to death with an object.
Detectives scoured the area for evidence and clues, hoping to find the person responsible for her untimely death, but Gloria’s murder ultimately turned cold.
Twenty-nine years later, detectives got a break in the case when DNA matched a then-58-year-old man, Warren, who had lived in the same neighborhood as Gloria.
He was a convicted sex offender who had spent almost 16 years in prison for an assault and rape in 1985.
During a two-day interrogation, which was captured on videotape, Warren confessed to killing Gloria.
He said, “I killed her, but why and how, I don’t know. I was (messed) up. I was (messed) up.’’
He told investigators that he was high on drugs at the time he saw Gloria walking outside the apartment complex.
Cleveland reported that Warren attacked her, dragged her to the stairwell of a nearby apartment building, and raped her as she cried and called out to her mother.
When Gloria tried to leave, Warren said he pushed her down the stairwell, grabbed a brick or a pipe, and began beating her to death.
“I had just killed somebody,’’ he said. “I’m a punk. I ain’t got no heart. … I deserve to die. I’ve been thinking about this since I got out of the joint.’’
He went on to say that there were many days he wanted to confess to the murder, but he was scared of being killed in prison for committing such a heinous crime because the victim “was so young.”
After his confession, Warren said, “Y’all did y’all job. Just glad this is almost over with.”
On May 13, 2013, Warren was arrested and charged with aggravated murder (with felony murder specifications that allow for the death penalty), one count of rape, and three counts of kidnapping.
The following year, in May, Warren pleaded guilty to the murder to avoid the death penalty.
A three-judge panel accepted his plea later that month and sentenced him to 30 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Michael Astrab told Warren that he was “a personification of the evil that exists in this world.”
“Wherever I am in 30 years, I will assure you that you remain in an institution within the bounds of the law.”
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty released the following statement: “I am confident that today’s conviction ensures that Mr. Warren never again preys upon a child here or anywhere else.”
“His first parole hearing comes in 2043, when he will be 88, and the county prosecutor’s office will be there to oppose it if he’s still alive.”
“Make no mistake: This child rapist and murderer is leaving Cuyahoga County, never to return alive.”
After Warren’s sentencing, he filed an appeal. He claimed that he wanted to “correct a manifest injustice,” but according to Cuyahoga County prosecutors, the court denied it.