CLEVELAND -- The murder of Gloria Pointer was a cold case for nearly 30 years. It's now in the courtroom, as Hernandez Warren, 58, faces the death penalty if convicted of the crime.
Pointer was just 14 years old when she was raped and murdered on Dec. 6, 1984.
Warren was not arrested until May 2013, when a new DNA test showed a match. He faces two counts of aggravated murder, one count of rape, four counts of kidnapping and one count of aggravated robbery.
After his arrest last year, Warren confessed to police in a taped interview, but now his attorneys want that confession thrown out of court.
Warren showed no emotion as prosecutors played portions of the interview in a pretrial hearing Tuesday.
Gloria Pointer's mother, Yvonne, stood outside the courtroom, at the judge's suggestion, while the graphic tape rolled.
"We cannot have people thinking that they can do horrendous crimes and get away with it," said Yvonne.
Yvonne has devoted her life to preventing crimes like those that took her daughter.
"(Warren) has an opportunity I think to fill in some of the gaps for me that I've had for the past almost 30 years. I've had to wonder about -- if he's willing to do that," she said.
Through the video in the hourslong interview, Warren appears at times subdued and at times explosive.
"I killed her. But why and how, I just, look me. Man I was (expletive) up. I was (expletive) up. I don't know. I swear for God I don't know," Warren said in a room with two detectives in May 2013.
"It's a long time, almost 30 years to go without knowing who did this, so that part has been answered. We may not ever get to the why. Sometimes there's no why," Yvonne said.
"On behalf of my family and I, we just want this to be over with. We would like to see more remorse coming from Mr. Warren, but it doesn't seem that is going to happen," she said.
Yvonne Pointer says she's satisfied knowing who did it, but she says if the jury needs the confession to get to conviction, she hopes it will be shown.
"This individual is accused of murdering my daughter, but he did not kill her soul and neither has he done that to mine, so, like I said, he's insignificant," she said.
Tuessday Cleveland police detectives testified that Warren was read his rights and agreed to be interviewed without an attorney. On the tape, he can be seen penning and signing a handwritten confession.
His attorneys are arguing he requested an attorney be present.
