Posted on 08/27/2003 6:33:44 AM PDT by Theodore R.
Teen says father berated him BUT WHY HE KILLED MOTHER IS A MYSTERY By Tom Lasseter HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
COLUMBIA - At the age of 16, Blake Walker shot his parents to death in their home last year, emptying the clip of a 9mm rifle, because he said he could no longer stand his father's constant criticisms about his life, friends and housework.
In Adair Circuit Court yesterday, Walker, crying and shaking a little, apologized for the Dec. 8 murders.
He loved his father, Walker said, but they never got along. In a statement he wrote for the court, Walker said he'd suffered years of "verbal tirades" in which his father would "yell, scream and cuss at me for the least little thing." There was never any physical or sexual abuse, he said.
Walker, though, could not say why he killed his mother. Walker said yesterday that "she was the most loving, kind person I've ever known, and I don't know why she had to be involved."
Now 17, Walker was sentenced yesterday to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
The former Boy Scout, who loved to hunt and play soccer, who lived in a country home among the cornfields and tobacco rows, will not have the chance to leave prison until he is in his 40s.
Walker's attorney, Teresa Whitaker, asked that Circuit Judge James Weddle change the sentence -- reached in a plea agreement -- to allow for parole after 20 years. Had he gone to trial, Walker could have been sentenced to death.
Adair Commonwealth's Attorney Brian Wright opposed the idea of parole before 25 years served.
"Mr. Walker took two people's lives," Wright said.
The judge sided with Wright.
"May the good Lord have mercy on your soul," Weddle said to Walker after sentencing.
Brian Walker, the slain father, was the founder and chief of the Knifley (pronounced NIFF LEE) Volunteer Fire Department in the rural area just north of Columbia. His wife, Barbara Peterson, taught remedial reading at Lindsey Wilson College.
The couple was well-known for being former Peace Corps volunteers who had done aid projects in hot spots including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Haiti and East Timor.
Their murders last December shook the small communities in and around Columbia, a town of 3,800.
"I think most people were in disbelief," said Columbia Police Chief Mark Harris. "Why in the world would a young man do something like that?"
In his statement, Walker said that his father's scolding had gotten much worse during the prior six months. His older brother Manning went off to Hanover College in Indiana and his grandmother moved to Arizona, leaving the father and younger son alone more often.
Add to that a November DUI arrest and a suspension at school for fighting, and, Walker wrote in his statement, "My mistakes were now amplified as all of my father's attention and ire was focused on me."
His father was talking about going abroad for an unspecified amount of time -- probably to Afghanistan -- and taking Blake for the trip. Blake Walker was not looking forward to the excursion.
Prosecutors said that last December, Blake Walker was sitting on his bed with a rifle when he shot his father in the back of the head. He got up, went to the family's den and fired into his mother's upper torso.
"I have no way to tell anyone what inside of me made me pull the trigger and kill my father," Walker wrote in the statement. "Those moments are just a blur in my memory. My mother screaming still haunts my sleep each night ... It was all over in just a matter of seconds. I did not know what was going on until it was all over. I just can't explain it."
After killing his parents, Walker went into town and told friends what he'd done. Having watched a movie and chatted, he took people back to his house and showed them the proof.
By the next day, Blake Walker had fled. Police found him a week later in Oklahoma, sleeping in a car in some woods near an interstate highway.
Standing outside the courthouse yesterday, Blake's uncle, Robert Peterson, said, "We continue to pray for Blake ... we have lost Blake's parents, and we hope that Blake's life can be redeemed."
A few moments later, Peterson was in the middle of saying, "We also pray that he will be able to accept God's forgiveness," when a pair of Kentucky State Patrol troopers walked through the courthouse doors with Blake Walker.
They brushed by Peterson and made their way through a crowd of reporters, several of whom yelled questions and followed them to the patrol car.
"Blake! What would you say to your mother now?" asked one reporter.
Tears streaming down his face, Blake Walker said nothing.
Very sad case. This 17-year-old is apt to find prison life very different from what he's used to. I don't take any pleasure in pointing that out, but it's a fact.
Verbal tirades go beyond being yelled at, and can wound more than physical abuse.
I think it's a fair sentence.
I doubt it was a 9mm rifle. I also doubt it took a clip rather than a mag.
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