TEMPE, AZ — Five years after Anaiah Walker’s death, her family is marking her 21st birthday with another plea for justice.
Walker was found dead along Interstate 10 in Buckeye in 2020. At the time, she was just 16 years old. Officials believe her death was caused by some type of hit-and-run crash, but that sex trafficking may have also played a role.
Walker's mother spoke out Monday at Tempe's Double Butte Cemetery to once again share her daughter's story and put out a plea for help solving the case.
In the months leading up to her death, family told ABC15 that Walker had been a ward of the State of Arizona and was enrolled in a group home that housed a specialized program to help treat and heal victims of sex trafficking in Arizona. However, she fled from the group home where she was housed.
No one knows where exactly Anaiah went after running away. Her family believed she may have been trying to get to California, where her father lived. The teen was listed as a missing juvenile in the state of Arizona. The Department of Child Safety entered her information into a national database for missing children, and the city of Mesa put out some flyers, but as is the case with most 'runaway' juveniles, no one was actively looking for Anaiah.
"I feel her death could have been prevented," Nackiya Stewart, Anaiah's older sister and best friend, said in 2021.
Her family has since started the Justice For Anaiah Walker Foundation to "continually honor her memory, bring awareness to sex trafficking, runaways, sexual trauma, and sexual abuse."
To this day, her death remains unsolved. If you have any information, please call Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS or the Buckeye Police Department tip line at 623-349-6411.
