The Laurens Police Division in South Carolina carried out a joint investigation with Clinton Police, as that was the place she was final seen. As their investigation unfolded into the night on December 12, police shortly decided the case was greater than they thought.

“It turned obvious in the course of the evening that we had been in search of one thing a bit of extra than simply any individual lacking,” Laurens Police Chief Heath Copeland instructed Fox Carolina.

Because the search expanded into neighboring Newberry and Greenwood Counties, and into the subsequent morning, police caught their break after they found what seemed to be a recently-burned automotive in a wooded space in Greenwood County.

Footage shared by native NBC affiliate WYFF confirmed police towing the automobile out of the woods. Inside, they found the physique of the 18-year-old lacking teen, having suffered an obvious gunshot wound.

“What began as a lacking particular person case has now tragically become a murder investigation,” Clinton Police Chief Michael Addison instructed the information outlet. “Because of the partnerships throughout nearly your entire judicial circuit, we had been capable of quickly get to this and get justice for her.”

That justice included the arrest of Walker’s on-again-off-again boyfriend Malachi Pressley, 19, who was charged that day together with her homicide, in addition to possession of a weapon in the course of the fee of a violent crime. As reported by Fox Carolina, police consider that Pressley shot Walker in Clinton between 10 and 11 p.m. on December 11.

One other teen, Taylor Kinard, 19, was additionally arrested, with police saying she helped get rid of Walker’s physique after the crime. “She had data of it and he or she helped,” mentioned Addison. Kinard has been charged with accent after the very fact.

Each suspects and being held on the Johnson Detention Heart. They had been additionally each denied bail throughout a listening to on Saturday. WYFF reviews they may have the choice to petition common court docket within the weeks forward. Pressley’s subsequent court docket date is about for January 31.

“The whole lot I’ve heard of MyAngel has been, she was a really vivid younger girl with an excellent coronary heart,” Copeland mentioned to Fox Carolina. “It is a tragedy that ought to not occur. However we’re glad that we had been capable of get justice for that household actually shortly right here.”

“The Clinton Police Division together with the supporting businesses extends our deepest, deepest condolences to the household of associates of MyAngel Walker throughout this troublesome time,” added Addison.

It was Walker’s mom, Sade Woodruff, who revealed that her son and the sufferer had an on-and-off romantic relationship, per WOIO.

Talking on Saturday, as reported by WYFF, Woodruff mentioned, “She did not deserve that. You understand, it was positively totally different. And it exhibits you, you recognize, a number of the issues that happen out right here on this world.”

She urged, “Anyone that’s going via any sort of home dispute, being abused, something, get away. If you’re in a position, get away.”