The Case of Emma Walker

Emma Walker was just 16 at the time of her death. She was an honor student and a cheerleader at Central High School. Riley Gaul and Emma Walker were high school sweetheart. They started to date in 2014 when Riley was a junior and a football player at Central High School while Emma was a freshman. Their relationship was very rocky and toxic, and Emma’s parents did not like Riley at all. They always thought he was very toxic and not good enough for their daughter, and they tried to stop their relationship.

Emma Jane Walker was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 20th, 2000. She was described by the people who knew her as being very sweet and down- to - earth. She was extremely kind and an overall friendly person. People who did not know her at first would think she is this stereotypical cheerleader, and then they would meet her, and they would go on to say that she is the kindest person they have ever met. People all around her had nothing but good things to say about her. Emma’s dream was to become a neonatal nurse. She wanted to work with infants in intensive care or premature babies. She also did a little bit of volunteer work and volunteered at an animal shelter. She was really into competitive dance and cheerleading.

Emma Walker enrolled at Central High School as a freshman in 2014 and she tried out for the cheerleading team and she got in. She was the only freshman to get a spot in the cheerleading team, so you get the idea, she was that good and sucessful at cheerleading. During her freshman year, Emma would go on to meet a boy by the name of Riley.

Riley Gaul was two years older than Emma ,and he was a receiver on the Football team. Riley was very active in church ,and he was a good student, and overall, he was your typical “ boy next door”. He was described as a nerd by his friends. When Emma met Riley, she instantly had a crush on him, but at that time, he was already involved with another girl. Eventually, Riley would break up with the other girl for Emma. They would start dating, and they hit it off right away. Emma and Riley had this storybook romance because he was a footballer while she was a cheerleader.

At the beiginning, her parent were concerned about their relationship as they thought that Riley did not prioritize Emma as he took his ex to the prom instead of Emma and her parents were really concerned and they did not want Emma to be hurt by him. But Emma was really stuborn and she was a person who likes to make her own decisions, so she dismissed her parents concerns.

They were not this perfect couple, they were a kind of couple who would break up and get back together. Riley soon started to become very possessive of Emma. He did not like her hanging out too much with her friends, and he never cared for getting to know her friends. He even started to control how she dressed. So, in general, he became very toxic and very controlling. Whenever she went out with friends, he used to call and text her constantly. Soon, Riley would start sending these aggressive texts, especially on Snapchat. So their relationship became very abusive.

When Riley graduated, he would attend college half an hour away from Emma, and her parents were relieved that they would get some distance. However, Emma and Riley continued to date, and this left her parents no choice but to ban her from ever talking or contacting him ever again. Her parent even banned her from leaving her house. She could only leave the house for school or cheerleading practice. Her parents slowly started to notice this work, and she was becoming her old self again.

Soon in 2016 Emma would decide to end things with Riley for good when she saw snaps of Riley with other girls. She would break up with him after 2 years of dating. Her parents were relieved when they broke up. But, sadly things did not there. Riley did not take this breakup well, he even tried to end his life by drinking alcohol but he failed.

Things took a worse turn on November 18th, 2016. Emma and her friends were at a party, and Emma would get cryptic texts from Riley saying that he loves her and he would harm himself, if she did not come outside. Emma was concerned when she got these texts. I guess anyone would be if they recieved such texts from anyone. After this Emma would get this text “ It’s a shame you can read all of this and still not value someone else’s life.” At this point, Emma and her friends would go outside to check up on Riley. They would find Riley completely facedown in the bushes. He would slowly wake up, and he started to claim that he was kidnapped, and he had no idea how he got there. When Riley got up, he would call one of his friends, and his friend would tell him that he was knocked out and had been brought to this house. Emma had a strange feeling about this whole situation, and she just wanted Riley to leave her alone.

The next day, Emma was getting ready to meet her mom outside, and that’s when she heard a loud banging on her door. Emma would get freaked as he knows that she is home all alone. So she would immediately text Riley, and he would come over. When Emma did not show , her mom would come back home, and she would see Emma and Riley talking in the driveway. She would walk up to them and would ask Riley to leave, and he would leave. I wish things ended here, but they did not.

Now let’s get into the tragic events of this case. Later that night, Emma was getting ready for bed . Riley would again show up at Emma’s house, and when Emma was asleep, Riley would shoot Emma down through the wall of her house. The next day, her mom would find her unresponsive body. The detectives were immediately called, and they noticed a hole in the wall. They also noticed two bullets that were shot in a corner where her bed was. So, detectives knew that whoever shot Emma through the wall knew where her bed was. Her family and friends were interviewed, and Riley’s name regularly came up in the interviews.

One of his friends even claimed that Riley had told him that he had stolen his grandparents gun for protection from the kidnapper, and another friend claimed that Riley had asked him how to remove fingerprints from a gun. Riley became a person of interest, and he was arrested immediately.

The whole situation was that Riley was in love with Emma, and when she broke up with him, he snapped, and this led to the tragic events of this case. This case was so heartbreaking. Emma was just 16 and her life was cut short in the most tragic and heartbreaking way. She never got to fulfill her dream.

Riley’s sentencing began in 2018, and he was found guilty of first- degree murder for killing Emma Walker. He is now serving 51- year sentence.