The Murder of Elisha Walker (SOLVED)

Elisha Walker was a transgender woman who went missing from Salisbury, North Carolina on October 30, 2014. Elisha kept in contact with her family through: text, phone calls, and social media, however they had not heard from her since October 23 of that year.

Walker was in a "six month to eight month" relationship with Angel Arias, a member of the Latin Kings gang. She was living on Celebration Drive, but according to police reports, frequently visited a home on Hemlock Drive, later shown to be the address in which Angel was living. On November 22, 2014 Elisha's 2000 Silver Pontiac was found burned in a field in Sampson County, East of Fayetteville.

From the car fire, investigators were able to determine Arias to be a suspect in the case. Upon questioning him, they discovered that he had moved from the Hemlock Drive address and returned to Johnston County. While in questioning, Angel admitted to murdering Walker in his previous home on Hemlock Drive. His reasoning for doing so was to "hide his relationship" with Elisha from family and friends, as he tried to break up with her; but she was insistent upon seeing him. Most likely in an argument, Arias killed Walker by asphyxiation and blunt-force trauma to the head, along with stab wounds.

In July of 2015 Rowan County detectives, with the use of a cadaver dog searched Arias' previous Hemlock Drive residence for Elisha's remains but didn't recover them. They continued searching in Johnston County, while Angel was being held in that county's jail on unrelated drug charges. Investigators located an area of interest as to where her remains may have been. The area was a shallow grave behind a house on Homestead Lane, outside Smithfield.

Angel was plead guilty; being charged with a lesser offense of second-degree murder in dismissal of the court charging him for another crime of stealing a motor vehicle. Angel Arias was sentenced to nineteen to twenty-four years in prison.

My own personal belief is that Elisha was an out and proud transgender woman who wanted more than to be a secret or have a "secret relationship" with Angel. Angel, being presumed as heterosexual by the people who knew him, feared he would be called "gay" by those who didn't understand, so he felt embarrassed and insecure; opting to kill Walker instead of being honest with others as to who he is.