137 - A Mother's Promise - The Murder of Jamey Walker

Shaun We're nearing the end of our series on the murder of Daniel Mendoza. We've got one episode left focusing on Ron Mortenson and what finally happened to him twenty seven years after his conviction. Unfortunately, life has gotten in the way a little, with our son heading off to college and us busy packing our house for a big move. So we didn't quite make the deadline to get that last episode out.

John Because of that, this week, we're bringing you one of the Lake Mead related cases we covered last year. Because next up, we plan to cover more cases related to Lake Mead. One of the deadliest state parks in the country. We're hard at work on this last episode on the murder of Daniel Mendoza. And if you haven't listened to the first seven parts, we really recommend going back to episode one at censored dot co slash one. Twenty nine and listening to all of them. So you're ready for the last one, which we expect to bring you next week. So in the meantime, we bring you the flashback of our episode on Jamie Walker. It's a heartbreaking case, but an important reminder that what happens here happens everywhere.

Shaun Jamie Walker was a member of one of the most beloved and consequential families ever to have lived on Las Vegas s historic West Side. Her mother, her father and her grandmother were all well known and highly regarded going back to the nineteen sixties and earlier.

John On Mother's Day, nineteen eighty one, a day when Jamie planned to spend time with her mom and her grandmother, the unthinkable happened. She disappeared without a trace. Kidnapped. Gone. Her panicked family did what they were told, but they couldn't prevent the unimaginable from happening to her.

Shaun Hi, and welcome to Simpson's Survivors, a Las Vegas true crime podcast that focuses on cases involving domestic violence as well as missing persons and unsolved cases. I'm your host, Sean, and.

John I'm your co-host, John.

Shaun We're back this week with the third episode in our special series on the shocking number of crimes that have happened in and around the Lake Mead recreational area over the decades. In the past two weeks, we've covered missing persons, unsolved crimes, likely mob murders, and one man who could possibly have faked his own disappearance. Lake Mead, with its combination of lack of cell service, remote location, deep waters most years anyway, and hidden areas remains the national park area associated with a surprisingly high homicide and disappearance rate. It's not just life jackets we're talking about here, but that has played a factor in more than a few deaths on the lake. In this third and final episode, we're going to cover one of the most infamous events that ever happened on Las Vegas historic Westside. In order to give a little context to the story, we're going to talk a little bit about the historic West Side and the people who lived there and continue to live there today. There have been books written and documentaries made about the West Side, and it could easily support its own Multi-season podcast, but for our purposes, we'll stick to the basics.

John The historic Westside was formed around nineteen eleven, the same year Las Vegas incorporated as a city. It was formed from the McWilliams townsite and became known as West Las Vegas or just the West Side. It grew steadily, but the population increased dramatically in the late nineteen twenties during a resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan here in Nevada and nationally. In nineteen twenty three, the city of Las Vegas coerced African American business owners to leave downtown and move to West Las Vegas to make way for population growth and so that they could bring more businesses downtown. They even threatened not to renew their business licenses if they didn't leave. So they had little choice but to move. The West side at that time was cut off by the Clark Avenue railroad. The railroad, of course, was the reason that Las Vegas was formed in the first place back in nineteen oh four. So they were figuratively and literally on the other side of the tracks now. The real growth on the West Side began in the nineteen forties because while black entertainers like Nat King Cole and Pearl Bailey were more than welcome to perform on the strip because of local regulations, they couldn't stay there overnight. All those talented people would finish their shows, then head to the west side to hang out, eat and have what must have been epic jam sessions with other performers. Obviously, it was the strip's loss. In the nineteen fifties, black owned clubs started opening that offered the same amenities you would find on the strip, and in nineteen fifty five, the Moulin Rouge opened. That was the first integrated hotel in the United States. It was featured in life magazine a month later, but unfortunately it closed within six months for a combination of reasons. Strip casinos were desegregated in nineteen sixty after the aptly named nineteen sixty Moulin Rouge agreement, and that led to less foot traffic and revenue for the growing West Side clubs and businesses. In the seventies and 80s, there was a serious lack of reinvestment in things like infrastructure, which led to high unemployment, poverty and crime.

Shaun Historic buildings were destroyed and not replaced, and the construction of the I-15 cut the west side off further. Many think intentionally from the rest of Las Vegas, just like the railroad did originally. There are efforts to revitalize the area, and there have been going back to around two thousand, including the one hundred plan in twenty sixteen. That's the historic Urban Neighborhood Design redevelopment plan. That plan has improved infrastructure, housing and established museum plans and improved food access. We're hopeful those improvements will continue, and the West Side will continue to get the attention it deserves. Sharon Knight and her family have been advocates of the West Side and civil rights here in Las Vegas for decades. She and her husband opened a casino, which became the People's Choice, which would eventually be run by her son, James Walker. You can't read about the historic West Side without hearing about her family's activism and contributions. James Walker was married to Eleanor Knight, who was another crusader for civil rights. She was a past president of the local chapter of the NAACP, served on local civic boards and owned her own insurance business. That brings us to Eleanor and James Walker's unsurprisingly amazing daughter, Jamie, who was eighteen years old and a nineteen eighty one graduate of Clarke High School. She was described as being an eighteen year old beauty queen, and it's definitely accurate.

John Jamie was the first black prom queen at Clarke High, and according to her mom, her prom king was Danny Tarkanian, son of the legendary unlV basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, who led unlV to seventeen conference championships. She was an honor student. She was on the school executive council, and she was the head cheerleader. She was also very religious and took her faith very seriously. In an interview, her mom told reporters a story about Jamie, which shows the kind of person she was. She said that Jamie would help the less popular kids with things like fixing their makeup and hair. She was also the leader of the NAACP youth and in many respects a third generation civil rights activist. Very active in her community. She and her family were referred to as West Side royalty, and many of the articles we read, everyone who talked about her agreed. She was a great kid and a beautiful soul.

Shaun Another resident of the historic West Side we need to talk about is Willie Lee Shannon, who at sixty years old in twenty ten was living with his mother in Ellington, Florida. His neighbors thought he was just another resident, an average person who was teaching local kids about boxing, fixing bicycle chains, and going about his job as a landscaper. They said he was a nice guy who was helpful and charitable. One neighbor told a story about how Shannon would borrow his lawn mower and bring it back full of gas. Shannon was a Florida native who had a very troubled past. He was born in nineteen fifty two and grew up in Palmetto, Florida, in a house with a large and complex living situation with twenty other children. The family situation. That was the result of two divorces and it wasn't ideal. It was clear he didn't get the attention someone needs growing up. When he was sixteen years old, according to police reports, he went out joyriding with a group of older boys while they were at a gas station. They committed a spur of the moment smash and grab robbery, where they took ninety three dollars and a single pack of cigarettes. All of the people involved were caught and prosecuted. In an in depth interview with Shannon from nineteen eighty one. He shared that at the time in Florida, the state was very interested in making examples of anyone committing even petty crimes.

John Coming from a very poor family, Shannon didn't have money for bail or a lawyer, so he was held for three weeks before he was arraigned. At one point during the trial, he was told that he could be looking at three consecutive life sentences, which is insane given that no one died and the amount of money and items stolen was under one hundred dollars. In the end, he was given fifteen years in prison at age sixteen, and he ended up being paroled after nine. He served from nineteen sixty seven until nearly nineteen seventy seven. He talked in that same interview about the horrific conditions in prison. And of course, that type of sentence is pretty unlikely these days. It was a gross miscarriage of justice, a complete overreaction. While in jail, though, he went from one hundred and thirty five pounds to over one hundred and eighty five pounds, and when he got out, he was an ex-convict without an education, with limited career prospects. So he got into boxing. He started fighting locally in Florida and in September of nineteen seventy seven won his first professional fight in four rounds and then went on to win his next ten fights to nine of them by knockout. He was fighting in the heavyweight division over two hundred pounds, even though he was only one hundred and eighty five pounds. So he was routinely knocking out opponents who outweighed him by up to thirty pounds. In an interview one time, he was asked why he fought at heavyweight in Florida and he answered because they pay me more at heavyweight. In October of nineteen seventy nine, he moved to Las Vegas because at the time it was becoming the center of the boxing universe.

Shaun Willie Lee the Cannon Shannon came into the boxing scene at exactly the right time. The nineteen seventies and Eighties are considered to be the golden age of boxing. The seventies were dominated by larger than life fighters. Literally most of the biggest names then were heavyweights like Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Larry Holmes. All of them had huge personalities and fought in giant global events like the nineteen seventy one fight of the century, the nineteen seventy four Rumble in the jungle where Ali beat George Foreman and the nineteen seventy five Thrilla in Manila. Then, in the nineteen eighties, we saw the smaller welterweights becoming more popular people like sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran Thomas, Hitman Hearns and Marvin Hagler. These four often faced each other and were some of the biggest and most watched fights in boxing history. At the time, the fights were shown on the three major networks ABC, NBC and CBS and really became part of the culture. People would watch them, then talk about them at work the next day around the water cooler, the fighters were treated like rock stars, larger than life celebrities.

John Prior to the nineteen seventies, the two major boxing centers were New York's Madison Square Garden and Los Angeles. But in the late seventies and 80s, Las Vegas started to become synonymous with boxing events. It was a combination of the lights, the glamour, the high drama and the spectacle in Las Vegas at that time. The marketing was just crazy, and venues like Caesars Palace courted promoters like Don King to get them to hold major events outdoors at their pavilion. Of course, they wanted that because big fights meant Wales, the largest high rollers who would visit and spend a lot of money during the events. The Nevada Gaming Commission also worked with the promoters, making fights easy to stage and of course, with gambling being legal here in Nevada, it was a natural fit. Some of the highest profile fights ever took place here. Ali versus Holmes in nineteen eighty. Sugar Ray versus Hearns in nineteen eighty one, Hagler versus Hearns in eighty five. And of course, in the late eighties, we got Mike Tyson, who still lives here in Las Vegas and in fact goes to my gym. I see him a lot there, and it's never not surreal. Even forty years later, the celebrity persists. So this was the boxing world, and at the time Willie Shannon wanted in on it. He had the talent and the fourteen. Oh, and one record with eleven knockouts. So he came to Las Vegas to fight. He won the cruiserweight title in nineteen seventy nine. Just to note that cruiserweight sort of bridges the gap between light heavyweight one hundred and seventy five pounds and heavyweight two hundred pounds. It really seemed like he had it made in nineteen eighty one. It was on a great track.

Shaun Jamie Walker was on a very different but very promising track, too, with her activism, her popularity, her intelligence, and her empathy, her family and community knew she was destined for great things. She was headed off to college at unlV, ready to take on the world. All of that came to a screeching halt on May nine, nineteen eighty one, the day before Mother's Day, when Jaime was kidnapped right out of the home she shared with her mother, Eleanor. Eleanor and James. Her parents weren't together anymore at the time and were living their own full lives. Eleanor had a new boyfriend named Lusby Marshall, who went by Pep and her dad. James was running the People's Choice Club, later the People's Choice Casino. Of course, they were all well known and pillars of the historic West Side community, which had slowed down, of course, after desegregation, but was still vibrant. Jaime came home after a date late on Friday, May eight, nineteen eighty one, and was kidnapped early in the morning of May ninth. The circumstances were confusing. The back door to her home was ajar when her mother came home and her shoes were still there. There was no sign of forced entry, which made it seem like she might have known whoever it was who kidnapped her, letting them in. There was evidence of a struggle, though.

John After Jamie was kidnapped, the ransom calls began. Three in all. James Walker got the first call in the early morning while he was working at the People's Choice. He described the caller as African American, and he was told, I got your daughter. They demanded seventy five thousand dollars for her safe return. To confirm they had her, they let Jamie talk to her dad. She said, daddy, they are not kidding. The kidnappers told him not to call the police and they'd know if he did because he was being watched. In the second call, he heard the voice of a second kidnapper, also African American. This one pressed him on the seventy five thousand dollars ransom. When James told him that it wasn't easy to just get seventy five thousand dollars cash because the banks are all closed on the weekends, he suggested that maybe he should sell his Mercedes. Some sources we read said that the second caller also suggested that he ask Eleanor's boyfriend, Pep, for the money. In the third and final call hours later, he was able to talk to Jamie and confirm she wasn't hurt. This call got a little weird, though. This time the kidnapper told him that there had been a mistake. He said that they got the wrong girl and they intended to kidnap Eleanor's boyfriend, Pep, instead because he burned someone on a drug deal. After that, the caller promised that Jamie would be released safely the next day.

Shaun The family followed the instructions and didn't call the police, but Eleanor did call a friend of hers who worked at the D a s office who did call the police, which prompted them to start looking for her, though they didn't start searching until about ten hours after they were informed. Almost immediately, they determined that there were likely several people involved, just based on the number of voices James had heard in the ransom calls. The next day, May tenth, in the early morning, three U.S. Marine Corps sergeants were on military exercises in the Lake Mead recreational area. About thirty minutes from where the walkers lived, they discovered the body of a young woman about forty seven feet under a bridge over a wash on North Shore Road they called Las Vegas Metro, telling them they thought she might be around twenty years old. Tragically, it turned out to be Jamie. She had only been missing less than thirty hours, and it seemed like she had been thrown off the bridge. Her cause of death was a massive skull fracture on the rocks below. She'd been raped and murdered. There was some speculation that she was trying to escape her kidnappers when she was murdered, but that was never proven. One of the first reporters on the scene was George Knapp. It was his first day on the job with News Channel eight and the first murder he had ever seen. It stuck with him his whole career, and he's reported on it many times over the years. Given who was involved and the family's high profile, it was huge news.

John Initially, the police took some criticism that they didn't take any action until ten hours after they were informed Jamie was missing, and there was some speculation that they delayed because of persistent but absolutely unproven rumors that the Walker family was involved in drug trafficking. In this case, as it turned out, the criticism of Metro wasn't really warranted. They interviewed fifty five potential suspects, held dozens of lineups and ordered polygraph exams. Not only that, but importantly, they preserved evidence from Jamie's sexual assault. And I'm sure you realize by now, if you listen often that that will be important later. It wasn't only Metro that was investigating, though. Eleanor was as well. She was absolutely relentless, supplying Metro with many of the tips they acted on. She had dozens of pages of single spaced, typed notes with descriptions of people who could potentially be involved. Right at the top of Eleanor's list was, in her words, a boxer that lives nearby named Willie Lee the cannon Shannon. Eleanor explained that Shannon had met Jamie through Jamie's brother James, who was taking boxing lessons from Shannon, and that when they met, Shannon flirted with Jamie. Keep in mind that in nineteen eighty one, Shannon was twenty nine and Jamie was eighteen. Jamie wasn't having it, though. She didn't like Shannon and she didn't keep it a secret. The first time Eleanor met Shannon, it was at the People's Choice Club and she got a weird vibe from him, too. Shannon apparently warned her that it was dangerous for two women to live alone, and he told her that he was always looking out for Jamie, because there are a lot of weirdos around. On the very day of the kidnapping, Shannon reportedly came to Eleanor and Jamie's house to sign some insurance papers, but he acted very strangely just getting up and leaving, saying that he had an errand to run.

Shaun As we mentioned earlier, nineteen eighty one was when Jamie was murdered, and also when Shannon's career hit the skids and never recovered. A month after Jamie was murdered, and just after that article was written about him in boxing today, he defended his welterweight title against a fighter he should have beaten easily, but he barely won in a nine round decision in his next fight. Two months later, Shannon was beaten so badly by Marvin Camel, the WBC cruiserweight champion, that he had to be rescued from a pummelling in the third round of the fight, and he lost his title in October of nineteen eighty three. The next time he was scheduled to fight, he didn't show up for the weigh in because he had been arrested, but not for what you might think. But it's going to sound familiar. He was arrested for kidnapping and battery of a woman he was dating, and in nineteen eighty five he was sentenced to thirty years in prison for the crime. He ended up serving thirteen years and was paroled again in nineteen ninety eight. While Shannon was in prison between nineteen eighty six and nineteen eighty seven, he allegedly had several conversations with another inmate named James Phillips, where Shannon allegedly admitted to Phillips that he had killed Jamie Walker. He also repeated the allegations about the walkers being involved in the drug trade, and claimed that he gave James Walker some heroin to sell, but Walker had burned him, keeping either the drugs, the money or both. Of course, the Walker family denies any involvement in this, and there has been no proof of that. It does seem to be consistent with Shannon being involved, though, given all the allegations that the kidnappers made about someone being burned on a drug deal. So it does seem like Shannon did consistently claim this. Phillips later recanted this whole story, and because there wasn't enough corroborating or physical evidence, no charges were brought.

John After Shannon was paroled in nineteen ninety eight at age forty six, he headed back to Florida again, where he kept his head down for twelve years until twenty ten. Being a good neighbor and keeping out of trouble. The problem for him was that Metro had done a good job of preserving the evidence from Jamie's rape and murder, and there is no statute of limitations on murder. They had suspected him from the beginning for many reasons, and he was right there at the top of the file, and they were just waiting for the break in the case. That meant they could get him in two thousand and six. The cold case detectives paid Willie Shannon another visit in Florida. Another DNA test had been performed that was a partial match with Shannon due to degradation and the state of DNA analysis. In two thousand and six, the detective said he was uncooperative, which isn't really shocking. And they came away saying he thinks he's gotten away with it. The detectives had seen DNA technology steadily advance, so they knew their time would come. In twenty ten, they got their big break in the form of a five hundred thousand dollars grant to revisit cold cases where DNA was available. Having them analyzed using the newest cutting edge DNA analysis technology. Again, they submitted the DNA for analysis and got a much better match. Metro decided that it was time, and they could make the case if they could get a fresh sample to match what was left of the original nineteen eighty one evidence. The cold case detectives decided to make the trip to Florida again, with the goal of getting a fresh DNA sample from Shannon to help make the case airtight. Initially, though, it did not go well. There was an incident where Shannon's parole officer tipped him off by mistake, that the police were going to be trying to get a sample of his DNA. But they did finally succeed in getting it on November third, twenty ten. They got a conclusive match, and on December seven, twenty ten, Shannon was arrested for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Jamie Walker while he was on a job site in Palmetto, Florida. He was held in a Manatee County jail while he awaited extradition to Nevada, and finally made it to Nevada State Prison, where he would stay for the next five years awaiting trial. The trial itself was surprisingly quick. In January twenty sixteen, Shannon was offered an Alford plea, which means he didn't admit to the crime. But he did acknowledge that the prosecution had enough evidence to get a conviction if the trial were to proceed. Another tragic aspect of this case is about Jamie's mom, Eleanor. She was a tireless voice for her daughter right from the beginning, beating Metro tips and information, working with them, and keeping in touch with the cold case detectives for over thirty years. She wanted so much to see her daughter's murderer brought to justice. She was relieved when Shannon was finally apprehended, but endured five years of waiting for justice to be served to him. And sadly, on the very day when Eleanor was to be deposed in the case, she passed away. Shannon's sentencing was on March ten, twenty sixteen. Before Jamie's friends and family, dozens of them showed up for Jamie wearing justice for Jamie T-shirts showing how beloved she was. Her aunt, her uncle and her cousin all gave heartbreaking impact statements and said that although they believed it was their Christian duty to forgive Shannon, they were still working on it. Shannon was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but because his plea fell under the law at the time Jamie was murdered, he was eligible for parole almost immediately after the sentencing. He applied for parole in twenty seventeen and was denied, but he was set free just a few months later. he ended up serving only five months in jail after being sentenced for Jamie's kidnapping, rape and murder. Only five years total.

Shaun In an interview, Jamie's cousin, Gayla Walker Thornton, talked about the lifelong impact that the murder has had on her and the Walker family. She said that, of course, Mother's Day has always been a hard time for the family after what happened. Currently, Gayla is a school counselor in Las Vegas and has a daughter named Jamie. The Walker family believes just like Metro Police do, that there are still people out there who were involved with Jamie's murder and she wants them brought to justice. Shalonda Walker, Jamie's aunt, specifically said that the family believed they know who one or more of the accomplices could be. On the ransom calls, James heard three voices, two men and a woman at the scene. They didn't find Shannon's fingerprints. They did find two other sets of fingerprints they couldn't identify. This case leads us to wonder if justice was served for Jamie and her family. A young woman who was kidnapped, raped and murdered. And while one of the perpetrators was eventually caught, he was given only fifteen years and served only five, which might be the shortest sentence for murder. In any case, we've covered. It's not clear why he was offered an Alford plea, given that the D.A. had more than enough evidence to get a murder conviction, which would have resulted in a more appropriate sentence, especially given Shannon's previous violent crimes against women. Somehow, this man remains at large in Florida to this day. Jamie is buried here in Las Vegas at the downtown Palm Mortuary. If you have any information regarding the other people responsible for this horrific crime, please reach out to Crime Stoppers at seven oh two three eight five five five five five, where you can remain anonymous or to the Metro Police Cold Case Division at seven oh two eight two eight eight nine seven three, or you can email them at cold case homicide at lvmpd dot com. We also have a link to Metro's cold case website at Dot co slash. Metro cold case. Thanks for listening and please take a moment to review the podcast if you're enjoying it. It really helps us get these important stories out to a wider audience. We appreciate it. And we remind you that what happens here happens everywhere.

John Thanks for listening. Visit inspired dot co slash subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and threads at Sins and Survivors. If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at Sins and survivors dot com.

Shaun If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website and survivors dot com. Signs and survivors. A Las Vegas True Crime podcast is researched, written, and produced by your host, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, survivors dot com.

John The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance. Thanks for listening! Visit Sins podcast subscribe for exclusive bonus content and to listen ad free. Remember to like and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and threads @sinsandsurvivors If you're enjoying the podcast, please leave us a review on your podcast platform of choice. You can contact us at questions at sinsandsurvivors.com

Shaun If you or someone you know is affected by domestic violence or needs support, please reach out to local resources or the National Domestic Violence Hotline. A list of resources is available on our website and survivors dot com. And survivors. A Las Vegas True crime podcast is researched, written, and produced by your host, Sean and John. The information shared in this podcast is accurate at the time of recording. If you have questions, concerns, or corrections, please email us. Links to source material for this episode can be found on our website, Sins and survivors dot com.

John The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the podcast creators, hosts, and their guests. All individuals are innocent until proven guilty. This content does not constitute legal advice. Listeners are encouraged to consult with legal professionals for guidance.