Gary Glowacz, 70, was sentenced after pleading guilty to charges stemming from the 1987 killing of Melissa “Missy Taylor” Ellison.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Nearly four decades after he struck a young mother during a 1987 burglary, Gary Glowacz came forward at age 70 and answered the questions that had haunted Melissa “Missy Taylor” Ellison’s family. He had only recently learned that Ellison died from her injuries.
On Thursday, Oct. 1, Glowacz pleaded guilty in Jacksonville to second-degree murder and armed burglary with assault or battery. Under the plea agreement, a judge sentenced him to 24 years in prison.
For 38 years, Ellison’s family lived without answers. Some even suspected that her estranged husband might have been responsible. That uncertainty, daughter Casie Ellison previously told the Times-Union, caused relatives to lose “the luster and the will of life to live and the not knowing and the speculation and the hurt and the grief.”
Casie was barely a year old and lying beside her mother when Ellison was hit with a fireplace log. Because the baby was later moved to a couch with pillows placed around her, some people wondered whether her father was involved. Only a few belongings were missing from the home.
“For practically my whole life, I’ve genuinely had to lie about who I was just because of the inconvenience of the situation of who could it have possibly of been,” Casie said. “… I think that he has experienced the biggest set of relief because of that speculation. He’s had to carry that. … For him to have that weight of just feeling like people are wondering, that’s not a thing anymore. It’s like a weight lifted off of him as he deserves it. I’m so happy that’s happened in our lifetime. I truly never thought that this was going to be an opportunity.”
Mark Ellison, who had remained publicly silent until Glowacz entered his plea, submitted a written statement that a victims advocate read in court.
“We have waited almost 40 years for answers,” he said. “You took from this world not only my wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister and a friend to so many people. Your actions have changed the lives of so many people, it would be impossible to count. … Because of your actions, you have damaged relationships between loved ones, family and friends.”
“You may plead guilty to the crime and pay your debt to society, but there is nothing you or this court can do to ever come close to repaying what was taken from us,” his statement concluded.
The case also represented a long-awaited measure of justice for the family. At a “Missy’s Light Still Shines” remembrance ceremony on Aug. 29, Ellison’s sister Glenda Blandford expressed lasting gratitude to Project: Cold Case and First Coast Crime Stoppers. She later delivered an emotional victim impact statement in court. Another sister, Catherine “Sissy” Bennett, submitted a statement read by Project: Cold Case founder Ryan Backmann.
Casie was the final family member to address the court. Fighting back tears and occasionally bursting out her words, she noted that she will turn 40 next month—twice the age her mother reached.
“I’ve spent four decades grieving a relationship I never got to experience,” she said. “… There’s nothing anyone can say that fixes this.”
The pain, she said, will remain for the family, “but today for the first time in my life I don’t have to be quiet.”
What happened to Missy Taylor Ellison that night in 1987?
Glowacz lived about a half-mile from the mobile home park where Ellison was staying. According to his arrest report, he gave investigators details that had not appeared in previous media reports and that only the burglar and killer would have known.
He contacted police on July 8 after reading an article about the cold case and realizing he was responsible. Glowacz told investigators he did not know the woman had died, although he understood that her death was possible.
Glowacz was 31 in 1987 and said he needed money to buy drugs. After searching for valuables at a nearby junkyard and finding nothing worthwhile, he decided to break into a nearby trailer. He said he did not know who lived there and entered through a window.
“He walked into a bedroom and he discovered a female lying on the bed,” he said in the report. “Also on the bed was a baby. Glowacz then left the bedroom and picked up a wooden log that was by the fireplace. Glowacz then reentered the bedroom and struck the female on the head by her neck, one time with the log.”
He told investigators that he picked up the baby, carried her to the living room couch and then went back to the bedroom to search for money.
Glowacz also revealed that he was arrested 18 hours later following another burglary nearby. Court records show that he pleaded guilty in that case and received a one-year jail sentence.
He is now expected to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Editor’s note: This story was first published by our news partners, The Florida Times-Union.