The Murder of Schoolteacher Jana Carol Simpson

On August 28, 1989, 24-year-old Jana Carol Simpson walked into her portable classroom at Glen Park Elementary School in southeast Fort Worth for her very first day of teaching in the district. Not long after, she was found dying on the steps of that classroom, stabbed seventeen times in broad daylight.

Her purse and jewelry were untouched. There was no sign of sexual assault. And yet the young teacher, remembered for her warmth, hugs, and devotion to her students, had been brutally murdered on what should have been among the happiest days of her career.

This episode retraces Jana’s life, her path into teaching, and the events of that August afternoon. We follow the investigation that led police to a troubled 12-year-old former Glen Park student, the controversial interrogation that produced — and then lost — a confession, and the trial that ended in acquittal after only forty minutes of jury deliberation.

Along the way, we examine the community’s fear, the changes in school security that followed, the painful aftermath for Jana’s family, and the unresolved questions that linger thirty-six years later.

The murder of Jana Carol Simpson remains officially unsolved.

If you have information about this case, please contact the Fort Worth Police Cold Case Unit at (817) 392-4307.

Sources: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Longview News-Journal, The Marshall News Messenger, The Austin American-Statesman, The Orlando Sentinel, edweek.com

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