Family organizes search after tip about Nashville grandmother's 2016 disappearance
Wanda Walker disappeared in October 2016. News 2 spoke to Walker's granddaughter, who said her family was given a potential new clue in the case.
'There is a picture of my grandmother, and 'Can you help?' That's the question,' Quontesa Chambers, Walker's granddaughter as she read the flyer she made.
Chambers and her family are putting together a search team in response to the tip.
FEBRUARY 2021 | Family seeks answers after Nashville mother, daughter go missing 17 years apart
'This won't be our first search, our plan is to go out twice a month in the area until we cover all the bases in that particular area,' Chambers said.
A tipster told Chambers' family they saw her grandmother in an argument with her then-boyfriend before she went missing. Chambers turned the information over to a Metro Nashville Police Department cold case detective, who confirmed to News 2 that the tip claimed there was 'word on the street' that Walker's body was dumped in the Edgehill area.
'We can go to this location just to cross it off our list because this is a rumor we have never heard,' Chambers said.
About a week after Walker disappeared, a significant amount of her blood was discovered in her vehicle, but to this day, her body has not been found.
OCTOBER 2024 | 'Something tragic happened': Nashville grandmother still missing 8 years later
'I made it up in my mind that I won't stop until we get justice,' Chambers added.
As a result, she's been using her voice, holding marches, and demanding justice.
'It's been tough for this to be the second person in our family to go missing,' she expressed.
Walker's daughter also disappeared back in 1999, but detectives believe there is nothing to indicate a connection between the two disappearances. However, Chambers told News 2 she hopes to solve at least one of the cases with the tipster's information.
UNSOLVED TENNESSEE: →
'We are going to put our hands to the plow and do what we need to do, and if we find something, we will be grateful. If not, we can cross it off the list and keep doing what we are doing,' Chambers said.
On Saturday, May 17 a group met at the Operation Stand Down parking lot to begin search efforts.
The detective on the case told News 2 law enforcement is talking with Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation, as well as the city archeologists.
If you have any information on Walker's case, you're asked to reach out to Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615-74-CRIME.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
19 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Supermarket chain tries daring new way to catch shoplifters
Shoplifting has become a growing problem for retailers partly because stores have made stealing easy. Self-checkout has made it very challenging for a retailer to know when a customer has made a reasonable effort, but an item did not scan and when the customer intended to steal the item. Accusing a person of shoplifting also has its problems, In theory, cashiers and other store personnel can do this, but that creates a somewhat dangerous situation. Related: CVS, Target, Walmart: Which sell Plan B and/or the abortion pill? In most cases, it takes multiple thefts for a person to be confronted over shoplifting. That does eliminate frequent thieves, and it's generally driven by store security, making it safer for workers, but that's only a small piece of the problem. Iceland, a grocery chain in the United Kingdom, has decided to make its customers part of the problem. The company plans to pay its customers, in the form of a credit, to report a theft in progress to staff. Iceland Executive Chairman Richard Walker told the BBC that shoppers who alert staff to a theft in progress will receive a £1 credit on their Iceland Bonus Card. The grocery chain estimates that shoplifting costs its business around £20m each year. "Walker said this figure not only impacts the company's bottom line, but also limits its ability to reduce prices and reinvest in staff wages," according to the BBC. The impact of theft isn't theoretical; it's very real, according to a research report, "The Pass-through of Retail Crime," by Carl Hase and Johannes Kasinger of Cornell University. Walker, using simpler words, said essentially the same thing. "Some people see this as a victimless crime; it is not. It's a cost to the business, to the hours we pay our colleagues, and it involves intimidation and violence," he said. "We'd like customers to help us lower our prices even more by pointing out shoplifters." Related: Target thinks cheap prices can help it win Halloween Shoplifting incidents in 2023 rose 93% compared to 2019. Losses from these incidents increased 90% over the same time frame. On average, retailers experienced 177 shoplifting incidents per day in 2023. In certain sectors, daily incidents exceeded 1,000. Violence and aggression in shoplifting: 73% of retailers reported more violent or aggressive behavior from shoplifters compared to the previous year. 91% noted increased aggression since 2019. Organized Retail Crime (ORC) involvement: 62% of retailers say multi-person theft (2-3 individuals working together) is a growing concern. 76% see ORC-linked shoplifting as a bigger issue than a year ago. Among retailers tracking ORC specifically, ORC incidents rose 57% from 2022 to 2023.2025 NRF Update: 42% of surveyed retailers reported an increase in shoplifting events involving threats or actual trend shows that 2024 mid-year shoplifting rates exceeded those for the same period in 2023, suggesting that the full-year 2024 numbers likely surpassed 2023's. The 2024 NRF report signals a dramatic escalation in shoplifting and retail crime as well as increase financial impact versus pre-pandemic levels. Violence associated with these crimes has surged, and involvement of organized retail crime has notably intensified. Early 2025 data further shows that these troubling trends continued into 2024, with rising incidents and growing retailer concern. The idea of paying people to report shoplifting has not been studied much, but a report from the U.S. Department of Justice suggests it won't. "Hundreds of innovative community-action programs have been designed to encourage citizen involvement by offering a monetary reward and anonymity to encourage citizens to report a crime," the report shared. An experiment was conducted to see how well this idea works. In the experiment, conditions of anonymity and reward were unobtrusively varied during a simulated interview conducted with 120 shoppers before they entered a large supermarket. The results were not encouraging. "Results revealed a significant relationship between the subjects' behavioral intentions and reporting behaviors, and indicated that reward and anonymity do not affect the reporting of a crime. No significant increase in reporting behavior was found when a reward was offered," the experiment found. The study suggested that reporting behavior "is intrinsically motivated at a high level and is therefore not initially affected by the presence of an external thus indicate that reward and anonymity may not be as effective as the public was led to believe by community action programs." Related: Walmart workers' new benefit good for all grocery workers Question: Does paying customers to report shoplifting actually work?Answer: Research suggests not. A U.S. Department of Justice experiment found that offering monetary rewards and anonymity did not significantly increase reporting behavior. Question: Have any supermarkets tried paying customers to report theft?Answer: Yes. Iceland, a UK grocery chain, offers customers a £1 credit on their Bonus Card for alerting staff to theft in progress. The program is meant to reduce losses without putting staff or customers in What do experts say about monetary rewards for crime reporting?Answer: Studies indicate that while rewards can seem appealing, they may not meaningfully change behavior, and the effectiveness of such programs is largely unproven. The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
New York Post
6 days ago
- New York Post
Country music star Spencer Hatcher's mom stabbed to death in home invasion
The mother of an up-and-coming country star was stabbed to death after a stranger broke into her Virginia home and attacked her and her husband, according to authorities. Holly Hatcher, 62, whose son is music artist Spencer Hatcher, was murdered in her home north of Harrisonburg last Sunday by 41-year-old Kevin Moses Walker, WTVR reported. Her husband, Michael Hatcher, 65, was also wounded in the terrifying attack just before midnight on Aug. 3, but managed to shoot Walker dead after retrieving a handgun from his vehicle. Advertisement 'This is a highly unusual, apparently completely random [attack] with an individual with no known history of violent behavior of any kind, or even criminal behavior of any kind,' Rockingham County Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson told a press conference. 4 Virginia teacher Holly Hatcher (r) was stabbed to death in a home invasion on Aug 3. Holly Hatcher / Facebook Two days before the killings, Walker, of Pikesville, Maryland, rented a campsite at Endless Caverns in New Market, VA, and bought a large knife at a nearby Walmart, according to investigators. Advertisement The day before the killing, Walker's abandoned vehicle was discovered near Endless Caverns by Virginia State Police after cops say he rammed into the store there, but didn't steal anything. Patrol vehicles and a drone were deployed, but there was no sign of him, and police had no idea of the horror that was about to unfold. 4 Her son, country artist Spencer Hatcher, has canceled 3 upcoming shows. @spencerhatcherofficial/Instagram 'There was no indication of any violence or potential for any violence from the offender that the Virginia State Police became aware of throughout that investigation,' Hutcheson said at the press conference. Advertisement First responders found Michael Hatcher outside his home with visible injuries, while Walker was lying deceased in the driveway. Holly Hatcher was discovered inside the house with fatal stab wounds. 4 The killer, Kevin Moses Walker, 41, was shot dead by Holly's husband, Michael Hatcher. Rockingham County Sheriff's Office 'There's going to be questions that will never be answered, but all I can tell you is we've cried, we've hurt, and we've hugged, and we have found more love than we have ever known has existed between us, and between you,' Michael Hatcher told the press conference in an emotional statement. Advertisement Spencer Hatcher, who also appeared at the press conference beside his father, announced on social media he was canceling several upcoming shows. 4 The day before, Walker broke into a store in rural Virginia. WTVR CBS 6 'It is with a heavy heart and overwhelming sadness that – due to a monumental loss in our family — I must cancel my upcoming shows at VOA Country Music Fest in Butler County, OH (8/8) and at Rockingham County Fair in Harrisonburg, VA (8/11 &8/12),' he said in the Instagram post. Authorities are still investigating a motive for the slaying, Sheriff Hutcheson said. Holly Hatcher has been remembered as a beloved teacher in the rural Virginia community where she worked for the past 19 years. 'She poured her heart into her work, positively impacting countless students and colleagues. Her loss is deeply felt by the entire Rockingham County Public Schools (RCPS) family,' a tribute on Facebook read.
CBS News
09-08-2025
- CBS News
Walker Police: Man holding a knife shot in the arm after charging at officer, BCA investigating
The Walker Police Department in Minnesota says a person holding a knife is in the hospital after charging at an officer, who in turn shot him on Friday, prompting an investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). According to the department, a resident flagged down a Walker, Minnesota police officer just after 6:30 p.m. to report a male who was only wearing boxers and "acting erratically." Nearly simultaneously, the department says a caller reported to the Cass County Sheriff's Office that a male with the same description was in front of a business on Minnesota Avenue and was holding a knife. Additional callers said multiple vehicles, either on or near that street, had punctured tires. A responding officer found the male, who then ran off, starting a chase. Eventually, the male entered a Dollar General store and threatened to kill all the workers who were there, officials say. The officer who ran after him found the male inside the store, but the suspect then allegedly threw items at, and sprayed bug spray at him. The officer reportedly gave multiple commands to drop the knife, and that's when the suspect charged, causing the officer to fire a single shot. The suspect was hit in his left arm, according to the department, which adds the injury isn't believed to be life-threatening, and the shooting was captured on a body camera worn by the officer. The suspect, whose age hasn't been released, was brought to Sanford Hospital in Bemidji. Meanwhile, the officer is on leave for the shooting. The names of both the officer and the suspect are expected to be released at a later time by the BCA.
