True Crime with Kendall Rae - Emma Walker: Tragically Murdered By Stalker Ex

Episode Date: April 22, 2022

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE http://www.thehotline.org/ Chat or call 1-800-799-7233 This episode is sponsored by: Cerebral Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT:  For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Have you noticed that most ice cream is now common smaller cartons? Not blue bell. Blue bell takes pride in providing our customers with full half gallons and full points of our delicious ice cream. We would never want to deny any one of all the rich and creamy goodness found in every carton. Blue bell wouldn't have it any other way. I just want to warn you guys in advance, if this one's like, they're all sad, don't get me wrong, but this one's really, really heartbreaking because it's so unnecessary,

and it's one of those ones that's gonna leave you feeling really angry and frustrated, so I like to just let people know ahead of time because this one makes me really, really upset and mad. But this is Emma Walker's story, and I think it is so important that her story is shared, so we can prevent future things like this from happening. So with that being said,

I'm just gonna go right ahead and get into it. Okay, so this is Emma Jane Walker. Absolutely gorgeous girl. She was born on March 20th of 2000 in Knoxville, Tennessee. And she grew up in a small town right outside of Knoxville. It was kind of a rural mountain town, very low key, and religious small area. Her parents are Mark Walker and Jill Walker and she also has a brother named Evan. Emma was described as being

super super sweet, very down to earth. She was known for being an extremely kind and friendly person that people just loved. They're educational stars. People the president. We're gonna eat hers. What? People who didn't know her, they were like, oh, she's like, a super pretty cheerleader, like, oh no. But then they would meet her and be like, she's the nicest person I've ever met.

People had nothing but positive things to say about her truly. She had tons and tons of friends and got along with pretty much every when she came across. Her dream in life was actually being a nurse. Not only did she want to be a nurse, she wanted to be a neonatal nurse, so working with infants in intensive care or like premature babies, so she had that kind of heart. I mean, most people who are nurses are just such good, good people. Like, you know, I feel like most of the people that I know that our nurses are just, you know,

salt of the earth, the really good people out there. And she wanted to be a nurse so that tells you a lot about her. She did tons of volunteer work and specifically she volunteered at an animal shelter regularly. And she was also really into competitive dance and share leading.

One, five. I'm gonna go up, up, up, up, up. Oh my God. You know, all Oh my god. Oh my god. You know, all of her other moves were kind of like, okay, Emma, you should probably stop now. She entered central high school as a freshman in 2014 and she tried out for their cheer team and was the only freshman who actually made it on the team. So she was very successful with her cheerleading and in high school, she was successful overall. She had a ton of different friends

and was an honor student. And during her freshman year, she met a boy named Riley. Now this is Riley Gull. Riley was two years older than her and he was a star wide receiver on the football team. Riley was actually very active in his church and he was known to be a great student and was overall just that kind of,

you know, boy next door. It on paper looked good. His friends described him as someone who was kind of a nerd growing up was really into Star Wars and then as he got older in high school, he became very, very involved with football. So Emma ended up having a pretty big crush on Riley, but at the time Riley was dating somebody else. However, it wasn't long until he broke up with that other girl to date Emma. They hit it off right away, especially because they were kind of like that, you know, storybook romance out of the high school,

perfect world, you know, he's the football star, she's the cheerleader, you know, kind of the perfect story. Now, one thing that was really weird is that even though Riley broke up with his ex-girlfriend, he promised her that he would still take her to the prom. So even though he was already dating Emma at the time, he took his ex to the prom instead of Emma junior year and then he took Emma senior year. And this made Emma's parents really concerned. They figured he wasn't like prioritizing her and they were worried about her getting hurt

by him. Now they expressed concern to her but she was very stubborn and independent and really like to make her own mind up so she kind of disregarded their concerns. So when it came to Riley there was like some tension in the family regarding the subject. So the perfect couple didn't last too long they started breaking up on and off all the time. Emma's friends started expressing concern about the fact that Riley never really seemed to interested in getting to know them or hang out with them. And that's kind of a odd thing. He didn't really want much to do with her friends. And he also didn't

want her to have much to do with her friends. They said that he started becoming very possessive of her. And then it got to the point where he was mad if she was wearing certain things. He tried to control the way she was dressing. When she was at work, he would go to her work and just hang out there for hours waiting for her to get off. Whenever she did go out with her friend, they would do something with her girlfriends without him there. He would be obsessively calling and texting her, just blowing up her phone. Totally didn't trust her, wanting to know where she was, what she was doing at all times. So obviously that's very unhealthy in any relationship, but especially in a high school one,

like as a parent I would be very concerned as well. Have you noticed that most ice creams now come in smaller cartons? Not Blue Bell. Blue Bell takes pride in providing our customers with full half gallons and full points of our delicious ice cream. We would never want to deny any one of all the rich and creamy goodness found in every carton. Blue Bell wouldn't have it any other way. This is the smell of the leftover tuna fish sandwich you left in your lunch box over the weekend in a wimpy trash bag. Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy! Blah!

And this is the smell of that same sandwich in a hefty ultra-strong trash bag. Halty, haltty, haltty! Ah, smell the difference. Hefty ultra-strong has armen hammer with continuous continuous odor control so no matter what's inside your trash. Hmm, you can stay one step ahead of stinky. And for bigger jobs try the superior strength of hefty large blackbacks. Eventually he started sending pretty aggressive messages to her via Snapchat. One of them in particular said, you're dead to me. I'll check the obituary. Fuck you. And you would also threaten that he was going to kill himself if she did not get back together

with him. They got into this vicious cycle where they would fight, they would get really nasty with each other, and then they would make up and get back together. Everything would be good for a while. Then they would break up, fight whole thing all over again. So her parents really wanted to try to, you know, end this relationship, especially since he was so on and off, they were like, this is just better if we encourage her to end it completely. So they decided to ban him from coming to their house and they also took her phone in an effort to try to control her communication with him. However, Riley gave her an iPod touch, which is kind of funny because I did the exact same thing. I got an iPod touch that I would text my boyfriend's at at night because my parents would like read my messages if it was on my phone

So I did the double texting too. I don't think a lot of parents like know about that feature or like knew about it So they were able to still communicate without her parents knowing but after dating on and off for two years Riley ended up graduating high school and he attended Maryville College And that was about half an hour away from Emma. So her parents were happy that they had some separation But obviously it's not that much. But Emma and him decided that they were going to continue dating even after he left for school And at this point her parents felt like there was absolutely no point in this and they banned her from talking to him at all However, they still found ways to be sneaky with each other and still communicated. So her parents became so desperate

for them to break up, they had such a bad feeling about him, they banned her from leaving the house for any reason unless it was like school or cheerleading practice. And after a while this, her parents noticed that it was starting to work and Emma was really acting like her old self again and she seemed happier. But then things started taking a turn for the worse. It was right before Thanksgiving break in 2016 and Emma ended up seeing snap chats of Riley with other girls on campus and this really made her upset. So this time Emma decided to break up with Riley for good.

She decided that she deserved better than that and especially if he wasn't gonna take their relationship seriously and respect her not to, you know, taking pictures with other girls and whatever else he was doing. Her parents were very relieved. They felt like this was the time that she was like serious about breaking up with him and they were hoping to get the old Emma back.

But Riley however, did not handle the breakup well at all. Right after they broke up, he decided to commit suicide by drinking a bunch of alcohol and taking a bunch of vikin' and pills. Luckily, he did not pass away from this. So, needless to say, he was not taking things very well at all and his friends and family were concerned about him. So, then November 18th came along.

It was a Friday night and Emma's high school had won a big football game. And one of her friends was having a little after party at her house and Emma's parents decided that she would be allowed to go since it seemed like things have gotten a lot better and it seemed like she wasn't talking to Riley anymore. So she was at the party when all of a sudden she started receiving these super sketchy texts around 11.30 pm. Now these text messages were threatening her saying, I've got someone you love, I'm going to harm them, come outside if you don't want to see them get hurt.

So obviously she was very concerned, but she did think that maybe there's a chance it was Riley's friends playing some type of prank on her. Shortly after she got another text that said, he's in a ditch beside her house. It's a shame you can all of this and not value someone else's life. So this is when Emma and her friend decided that they were gonna go outside and just check it out. When they went

outside they saw a man face down on the ground near the bushes near the end of the driveway of this girl's house where the party was being held. Where did you see him? He was kind of up there and you know like kind of the shrub like for those then trees are kind of laying down. And it was Riley. So Riley started waking up and acting super confused to having no idea how he ended up there. He said someone had kidnapped him, and he had no idea where he was or how he ended up there. And they said that he was just holding his head

like someone hit him or knocked him out or something. Very uneasy. She was very upset. She was crying. She really knew what to think because I'm a such. It's just like we just broke up, like, leave me alone. After he got up, he called one of his friends to pick him up

and he told his friend that someone had knocked him out, put him in a car and taken him to this house. And even his own friend didn't believe him. And he basically told me that these people knocked him out, took his car and threw him in a van and he didn't know where he was. Emma thought the whole event was super weird. She just had a feeling something was, you know,

odd about the whole thing. And she wished that Riley would just leave her alone and let her move on with her life. So the next day, it was around 10, 15 a.m. And Emma was home, actually just getting ready to go meet her mom somewhere when someone started banging on her front door. And this really freaked her out and she was home alone.

So she actually ended up texting Riley and saying that she hated him, but she needed him. And so he decided to drive on over to her house. So when Emma didn't end up meeting her mom where she was supposed to, her mom drove back to their house. And this is when she saw Emma and Riley just sitting on the driveway talking to each other. And she went over there and told him that he had to leave and he did.

So the next day was Sunday and Emma was still really shaking up about the person banging on her door, the weird text messages, Riley being kidnapped and all of it was just very intense, but it seemed like she was kind of like calming down on Sunday. She had work that day, so her parents ended up following her to and from work

to make sure she was okay. So they were clearly very concerned about her. Later that night, Emma and her dad went out and got some sonic, some ice cream. And her dad said he noticed that Emma was starting to act a little bit more like herself, definitely calming down after the weekends events, and that just overall she seemed better.

So that night, Emma got ready for bed like normal. Her dad said good night to her like normal and she went to sleep. But then during the middle of the night her dad heard a really loud banging noise. He said it sounded as if someone was in the house and slammed a door really really hard. So all of us kind of know what that sounds like And how disoriented you are when you hear a loud noise in the middle of the night, if you have cats like me, they probably knock shit over all the time. And it's startling. It's really freaky.

So he woke up and was startled. And then he heard it again. So he ran on a bed and ran to check on Emma and her brother. When he opened Emma's bedroom door, he saw her in her bed. Nothing seemed out of normal. She just looked like she was laying there asleep. So Emma's dad was just convinced that maybe he was just hearing things. I mean, I'm sure all of us have had moments like that where you

just kind of have to convince yourself that you didn't hear something because there's no explanation for it. Everything seemed normal in their house, so he just went back to bed. But the next morning around 6am, her parents were getting up, getting ready, starting their morning routine, and they went into, while her mom went into Emma's room to wake her up. And she normally was really easy to wake up. She wasn't like, you know, one of those people, like I was, who's impossible to get out of bed.

She actually normally was barely, you know, cheering the morning, kind of a morning person. So her mom thought it was really unusual that she wasn't responding to her when she first tried to wake her up. She tried bumping her leg. She called her name several times, and Emma would not wake up.

And, did her name, didn't hear anything, bumped her leg, didn't hear anything, and then went to her face and realized, she checked her pulse and couldn't find anything. And instantly her mom knew something was wrong. That's when she looked at her face and she realized that Emma did not have a pulse. So she frantically called 911. I don't remember a whole lot from that moment. I mean, I know I called 911. Where's your emergency? I can't walk her! What's going on there?

I think I did wake up my daughter for school. And you will go all over the place. Paramedics got there fast. They first believed that this was some type of suicide or overdose, or that something happened to her in her sleep, some unknown cause. They had no idea what was going on though. And when she didn't show up at school, words started getting out fast. That's something had happened to her that she had overdosed or committed suicide. Something like that.

And it was starting to, you know, go around the rumor mill. And this is when Riley actually started making some social media posts about her. Emma was such a well-known girl. And such a loved girl that this just shocked people. There was a candlelight vigil held for her. There was a lot of public mourning. People just were shocked that this happened to such a young girl and people wanted to know

what exactly happened. So detectives showed up at the crime scene and at first, like I said, they thought it was something, you know, some type of accident or unknown natural cause, something like that. But then they noticed that there was a hole in the wall. Now this hole was only as wide as like a pin.

So that tells you how strong guns are. There were two bullets that were shot into the corner that her bed was in. So Detectives figured that whoever had shot a gun through the wall of the house clearly knew that that was Emma's bedroom and where exactly her bed was. So Detectives started trying to talk to her friends

and peers and ask if there was anyone out there who would want to harm Emma, who had anything against her, and guess whose name kept coming up? Riley. So, detectives went to Riley's dorm to talk with him. However, at this point, there was nothing that made police really think he was a strong suspect. And Riley's friends were actually really worried about him because he had recently attempted suicide and now a girl that he used to love is dead so they were concerned he might harm himself but then one of Riley's friends told Detective something that Riley had told them the Saturday before Emma was killed. Riley apparently told his friend

Alex that he had stolen his grandfather's gun as a way of protecting himself after he was kidnapped. So his friends were really, really concerned about him having a gun on him if he was suicidal, obviously, but he reassured them that he wasn't suicidal and he purely had the gun for protection. But by that next following Monday morning, Riley was already considered a person of interest in Emma's death. Detective started asking him about what he was up to the night that Emma was shot in her bed. So they asked him where he was that night and he said that he was at his friend Noah's house and they asked did you sleep over? And he said I'm pretty sure I did, yes.

Who else would have known what you were doing? It was just me and him. And then I think it was just me and him all night. I don't remember anybody that was showing up. And you said you spent the night? I'm pretty sure I didn't. Yes. Actually, yes, I'm positive. I did. I did spend some time. You can't remember if you spent some time at it. And I was so frustrated you could have had parents.

You would probably remember if you stayed the night at someone's house, especially if it's only been a week or so. How could he not remember something like that if it had only been a day or two? Another thing that just struck them as very strange was he didn't mention Emma's name at all. The entire two hours he was being interviewed. He would continuously describe her as the girl. The girl. She texted me. Who, which group? The one that passed away. He said during the interview they were very concerned about him because he

seemed completely emotionless and very detached. Riley ended up telling them that he kept trying to text Emma that weekend but she wouldn't reply to him and eventually just blocked him. And he claimed that she had told him that the only way she would see him is if he helped her with her paper. So Riley claimed he used one of his friend's phones to call her. I was crying and I was talking to get her to reason by being on in back together with me and she just kept saying no she said she didn't care about the relationship anymore she said you just thought you're crazy you need to get alive from the phone while we serious trouble.

I'm not as thick in her passing. Should you just feel like I'm being measured as a question, I hope to God not assess that you're dead. I hope you don't think so. Because I would be her bed girl. Did you shoot into the house? No, I'm sorry.

He then says he was so upset he left his dorm and drove to his grandparents house. And he got there around 12 30 a.m. and only stayed for about 45 minutes before coming back to his dorm and drove to his grandparents house. And he got there around 12.30 a.m. and only stayed for about 45 minutes before coming back to his dorm. He said at this point, he had an emotional breakdown. He said for the next several hours, he just sat in his car crying,

looking at photos of the two of them together. So detective started asking him about his grandparents' guns. They asked like where they were, how he had access to them, if he ever took one or had a gun on him at all. Riley, of course, said no to all these questions and claimed to not have a gun at all. However, detectives had already talked to his friends

who claimed that he showed them the handgun at school. When they confronted Riley with this information, he basically denied it still and said that he had no idea why his friends were claiming that he showed them a gun What if I told you someone told us that they saw you again? I'm all just thinking that I would wonder he said that anyway. They saw me again Alex McCarty said that you showed him a handgun

Where is I did not know you understand I've wrote us Alex has no reason to lie about something like that. Yeah, but I'm telling you, I don't know where is that. He said that you showed him the girl. You told him that you had it and you told him that you got it from your brain, but you don't have to go. I don't know why he would say that. Am I supposed to say that? In her passing. Should you just feel like I'm being measured with a question,

I hope to God, I'm not suspect in her death. Did I say you were? I hope you don't think so. Because I wouldn't have heard that girl did you shoot in the ambulance house? No, sir. So at this point, Riley is looking really sketchy, but he still continued to deny that he had any possession of a gun.

Then his friend Noah came forward and claimed that Riley had asked him if he knew how to get fingerprints off a gun. And obviously Noah said, uh, what the fuck? No? Riley told him that his roommate wanted to know, and that's why he was wondering. But obviously Noah thought this was pretty strange and told them. So as soon as Riley left questioning, he immediately texted his friend Noah and asked him why the hell he ditched on him about having the gun and the whole fingerprint thing. And his friend Noah basically said,

well man, if you didn't do anything, you should have nothing to hide. You shouldn't be worried about it. Riley ended up telling Alex that he got rid of the gun and it went back to his grandparents house. However, right after this, Riley's mom came in his room and started asking him about the supposed gun and where it is. To what she said, I don't have one. There is no gun. So at this point, Alex and Noah, his friends, are starting to feel like, well, if you're going to your mom and you're telling us a different story,

then Riley probably did this, like everything's starting to line up. And then Riley actually asked his friends to no longer speak to the police because in the meantime he needed to figure out what to do with the gun to get rid of it because he didn't want to be blamed for something he didn't do. But because Noah and Alex were pretty positive that Riley was the one who killed Emma, they decided to secretly work with the police. They decided that they would help him try to get rid of the gun while secretly working with the police. They decided that they would help him try to get rid of the gun while secretly working with the police because they knew that that was the one bit of evidence that they would need because if they're able to get finger prints or connect it, you know It's a pretty slam dunk situation. So the next day Noah and Alex go over to Riley's house to play video games and chill and just like hang out. Little does Riley know his friends are actually wearing mics

and they have a camera and a key fob that was given to them by the police. Camera was right on the tip of the key fob. I'm gonna set it down, point it right at the couch. So while they're hanging out, eventually the conversation comes up about Emma and Riley starts denying that he had any involvement again. Sorry about him, I can't, I really,

I want to be so upset and I can't because I'm sorry about him, I'm sorry. I really want to be so upset and I can't because I'm more of a getting arrested and putting away from murder that I didn't commit. Never in my life would I kill someone that will love that much. That'd be well. It sucks you gotta deal with all this man. Riley clearly had no clue about the sting. He had faith in his friends. I'm trusting you guys, like, with my life, because I mean, this is 70 years in jail.

If I get convicted of something, I didn't do. Why get you just getting them going? Just, it just needs to be gone for whatever reason. Just, it just needs to be gone. You guys don't have to come with me if you don't want to. I mean, I got you bad, man. If it's in a Tennessee River, they will never have bonded. You know, he's saying he had nothing to do with it,

and he would have never killed her. He also told them that he wanted them to take back their statement they made to the police, and just tell the police that they were tripping drugs, and that's why they were confused, and said that. And then he told them that he wanted all three of them to go get the gun and get rid of it. Of course, no one Alex are doing a good job. They're playing along and they agree to go help him get rid of the gun because he's so innocent and they must help protect him. So they all hopped in the car together and the first stop was to his step-dad's house where he got the gun. He hop back in the car and the three of them went to go grab some fast food,

and the gun was just chilling in the car in a trash bag. Meanwhile, while this was all happening, there were multiple undercover police cars falling them. No one, Alex, were also texting the police officers in a group chat, letting them know what was going on and what they were doing. We finally got to a parking lot where they were close enough to the river.

This is where they decided to get out and bring the gun down to the river. And this is when Riley puts on gloves and very carefully starts taking to the river. This is where they decided to get out and bring the gun down to the river. And this is when Riley puts on gloves and very carefully starts taking out the gun. So Alex and Noah text the police and tell them it's a good time to come on over to the car. It's a f**king man! It's a f**king man!

Everybody put your hands out of the here, it's a man! The police show up at the parking lot and immediately tell them to get out of the car and put their hands up. No one Alex do this immediately because they know this was going to happen. And Riley cooperated and they immediately arrested him and took him into custody. Riley was then convicted of first-degree murder as well as six other felonies.

While police were going through that trash bag that the gun was in, they also found a bunch of black clothing of Riley's from probably that night. This made them believe that Riley was also the man that came and was knocking on her door. I mean, the whole all the weird events were Riley clearly. He totally faked his own kidnapping. He was desperate in love with this girl and she wasn't interested in him and so he finally just snapped. So let's fast forward to May of 2018 this past year to his trial. Surprisingly, Riley's defense team decided to of 2018 this past year to his trial. Surprisingly, Riley's defense team decided to say that this was not a murder. It was a reckless homicide.

And this kind of actually threw the court off because they were surprised that they were actually admitting that he was the one who shot the gun. They basically said that he was hoping that the gun would scare her and she would call him and he could come like to her defense. Basically just taking the whole thing up another level. First is the big kidnapping, then it's the person banging in the door, now it's someone shooting through there. It's all a way to get attention according to his defense.

When Robert golf fired that shot in the backyard, it's crazy as it is. And it's bizarre as it is and it's bizarre that he is. He's whole that he can't do a risky. Some of us to know of that firearm, maybe it will know that if you shoot into a house that will go through the wall, some of us may not and I submit to you, Raleigh-Gal did not. However, the prosecution said that this was

total bullshit because of where the bullets actually were shot in at. Whoever shot this gun knew exactly where to shoot them to kill her. This was not to get her attention. They were clearly aimed at her. There was over 30 witnesses at the trial and it took over a week to get through everything. And then on May 8th of 2018, Riley was charged with first degree murder. And was sentenced to over 50 years in prison before he will get a chance for parole.

Now I just want to point out that this is a classic case of an abusive relationship gone incredibly wrong. It's a reminder to us all to make sure to look out for other people in our families that are in relationships that could possibly be abusive to look out for the signs. Things such as people distancing themselves from others, pulling away from a group of friends, isolating themselves to only hang out with their significant other, has to ask permission from the ex-significant other to do things or isn't allowed to do certain things that they've set rules for them. There's many other signs and not obviously every single one of these means that there's

an abusive relationship, but you know it can save a life being aware of that kind of stuff and it's touching because it's not always easy to confront someone about you know thinking that they might be in a dangerous situation, but it always ends up being worth it. And I just wanted to put that out there. Although it's hard because Emma's parents really did everything that they could. I'm sure they had no idea that he would maybe go to this level to shoot her in her bed. But poor Emma, I mean, this family, good God, the walkers have been through so much.

This is so sad to me this story because I mean who knows what Emma could have done. She wanted to work with children, she wanted to be a nurse, she would have helped so many people in the world and it is a shame that her life was basically wasted because of this jerk kid who could not be without her, who was so selfish, who couldn't just let her move on. If he couldn't have her known camera. That is going to be it for me today guys. Thank you for joining me for another without her who was so selfish, who couldn't just let her move on. If he couldn't have her known camera. That is gonna be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show

on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you wanna watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.

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