Slaying victim's family speaks out
McKinney: Police praised; woman's online-dating postings discussed
By KAREN AYRES and TIARA M. ELLIS / The Dallas Morning News
The family of a house saleswoman killed over the weekend in McKinney said Tuesday that they were confident that police would solve the horrific crime.
Family members spoke out as police continued to follow leads involving Sarah Anne Walker's life, including postings she made on several online dating Web sites.
Sarah Anne Walker Ms. Walker, 40, who was killed Saturday in a model home in McKinney, posted a profile on MillionaireMatch.com shortly before her death, her sister confirmed Tuesday. The site showed that 58 people had viewed her profile.
McKinney police spokesman Randy Roland confirmed that police also are looking into postings on other dating Web sites.
Jackie Mull, Ms. Walker's sister, said Tuesday that she told police about the online postings. Family members said Ms. Walker was "tight lipped" about her personal life, but Ms. Mull said she doesn't believe her sister was dating anyone.
"If she was dating someone, I would have known," Ms. Mull said Tuesday at her Dallas home.
The reward in the case jumped to $30,000 on Tuesday after D.R. Horton Inc. and Craig Ranch developers each matched the original $10,000 reward offered by Schepps Dairy.
Ms. Walker had been selling homes for D.R. Horton in the Craig Ranch community on Saturday when a couple on a house-hunting trip discovered her body. She had 27 stab wounds in her upper body.
Ms. Mull and her family criticized D.R. Horton for failing to contact them or offer funds to help pay for Ms. Walker's funeral.
D.R. Horton chief executive Don Tomnitz said the company has cooperated with police and would give all of Ms. Walker's pay to her designated beneficiary, whom he declined to identify. Mr. Tomnitz said the company has provided grief counseling for Ms. Walker's 3-year-old son and has established a memorial fund to help cover funeral costs and expenses for the child.
"She was a first-class person and a top sales agent," said, Mr. Tomnitz, who added that he knew Ms. Walker personally during her more than three years with the company.
Mr. Tomnitz said the model home had a security system with a panic button, but he declined to say whether it had been pushed, citing the ongoing police investigation.
Family members said they don't believe Ms. Walker was robbed during the attack.
Stephen Mull, Ms. Walker's brother-in-law, said Ms. Walker had left behind little to no money in her estate. On her MillionaireMatch.com profile, Ms. Walker said she made more than $200,000 a year.
Jackie Mull, sister of slaying victim Sarah Anne Walker, said during a news conference on Tuesday that she would have known whether Ms. Walker were dating somebody. Ms. Mull confirmed that her sister earned a lot of money but said she spent a lot, too. Divorce records show Ms. Walker carried debt on several credit cards, including some from high-end stores like Neiman Marcus and Saks.
"She made a lot of money, and she enjoyed a lot of things," Ms. Mull said.
The MillionaireMatch.com site caters to people who want to meet millionaires. Ms. Mull said her sister posted a profile recently after her divorce in November from Randy Tate, her second husband and the father of Josh, 3.
"She was looking forward to moving on," she said.
Ms. Walker's profile on the site lists travel and water sports as her hobbies. The profile said she was looking for a Christian man with character and integrity.
Family members said Ms. Walker was quite focused and had earned several awards during her 20-year career selling homes. A graduate of Berkner High School in Richardson, Ms. Walker took online courses to earn her undergraduate degree and a master's degree in business administration.
"Right now we're still kind of dazed," said Joe Walker, Ms. Walker's brother. "She wanted nothing but the best for everyone."
Ms. Mull and other family members said the news of Ms. Walker's death has devastated the family. In addition to her son Josh, Ms. Walker leaves behind a 15-year-old son from her first marriage.
"This has been horrible," Ms. Mull said. "My mother is very ill. To have this happen, I don't know what her outcome is going to be. ... I was completely shocked when I got the news, so shocked I was screaming. My husband thought I had dropped our newborn."
Family members said Ms. Walker had not mentioned being afraid for her safety. They said they had no idea who killed her but noted that she had called police to report two incidents at her Frisco home.
The first call came on Oct. 31 when Ms. Walker reported that a friend had stolen some property. When police arrived, nothing was missing and it appeared that Ms. Walker was intoxicated, according to police. She had a bump on her head, and paramedics took her to Centennial Medical Center in Frisco.
Family members said the second call came in November when Ms. Walker told them that she was attacked in her home so severely that she was taken to the hospital. She told her family that someone had broken in, but she could not identify her attacker.
Police say they have no record of that attack, and a spokeswoman at Centennial said she was admitted after the October incident only.
Mr. Mull said Tuesday that he believes there is a connection between those attacks and Ms. Walker's death.
"It's an incredible coincidence, let's put it that way," he said.
Capt. Roland said Tuesday that McKinney police are encouraged by the amount of information they've gathered.
"Investigators are conducting lots of interviews of witnesses, people of interest, friends, family, business co-workers and trying to understand all the tons of information that we have gathered about the victim, then create a motive for some type of reason for her death," Capt. Roland said.
Mr. Tate was one of those interviewed Tuesday. He voluntarily went to McKinney police headquarters to provide a statement and answer questions, Capt. Roland said.
Police completed forensic mapping of the crime scene earlier this week. That information will provide investigators with details about the last moments of Ms. Walker's life.
"It tells a story of where the attack happened, where the killer walked and where the victim walked and laid," Capt. Roland said.
Ms. Mull said the little she has heard about the police investigation leads her to be optimistic that her sister's killer would be found.
"I'm confident there is going to be a resolution, some way, somehow, from the promise I was given by the McKinney Police Department that they will not stop."
A funeral Mass for Ms. Walker will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Monica's Catholic Church, 9933 Midway Road in Dallas.
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