Toddler And His Mentally Disabled Aunt Disappear While Relative Takes A Nap

Diamond Bynum was 21 years old but had the mental capacity of a 5 to 7-year-old due to Prader-Willi syndrome. She walked with a limp and one arm bent, had misaligned teeth, and suffered from constant hunger. Without taking her medication three times a day, she had behavioral issues.

Diamond lived in the 500 block of Matthews Street in Gary, Indiana, with her father, Eugene, and stepmother, Susanne.

King Walker, Diamond’s 2-year-old nephew, spent the weekends at their house while his mother attended beautician classes in Chicago. LaShann Walker, his grandmother, described him as a “happy baby” and said, “he used to love for his mom to sing John Legend.”

On July 25, 2015, Susanne put King down for a nap and took one herself. When she awoke, Diamond and King were gone.

Their family believes they likely left the house for a walk and perhaps to go to the store. Diamond had walked off before due to her constant hunger. However, there was plenty of food in the house, including untouched chocolate cake.

It is important to note that Diamond wasn’t too familiar with the neighborhood as she and her family had moved there in February. It was safer for her to walk around Hammond, Indiana, where the neighbors knew her. In Gary, she wouldn’t go further than a few blocks and couldn’t have gotten far with her health issues and a 2-year-old.

It is thought that she and King got lost. One major issue is her inability to communicate. As LaShann explained,

“Neither one of them can speak very well, that was the biggest concern. If they were to meet someone, they couldn’t tell them where they live or anything.”

Diamond did know her father’s number and knew not to open the door to strangers without permission.

While hundreds of volunteers helped the family and police search for Diamond and King, unconfirmed sightings were reported in Gary, Hammond, and Chicago. Two days after the duo vanished, Lt. Thomas Pawlak told reporters they had been given food at a McDonald’s near the Gary Police Department,

“We know she stopped there and we’re thinking she’ll stop at other fast food restaurants where they’ll give her hand outs or gas stations where she may be able to get some stuff.”

LaShann revealed that search dogs tracked their scents to a GoLo Gas Station in Gary where Diamond and King were also spotted by a witness. According to LaShann, the surveillance video footage had been deleted by the time it was requested by authorities.

Days into the searches, Eugene no longer believed his daughter and grandson were in Gary,

“I don’t believe they are in Gary anymore. We’ve searched thousands of abandoned homes and buildings. It takes 10 minutes to get out of Gary, and we’re close to the border. They aren’t here."

Family members have criticized the Gary Police Department, citing a lack of communication and transparency. King’s parents, Ariana Walker and Joshua Williams, said the department did not provide them with a police report so that they could hire a private detective. Ariana commented,

“I don’t feel like they’ve been helpful at all during the whole process. It’s kind of been like they’ve been fighting us every step of the way.”

She also mentioned their refusal to issue an Amber Alert and recalled having to “fight with them” to work alongside the Chicago police after a sighting was reported.

Joshua believes the police are “trying to cover their tracks” and said,

“I really think they dropped the ball from the beginning, and that’s why they’re pushing to like not release the original police report.”

Diamond, now 28, and King, now 9, have been missing for eight years. Their family is struggling to move on because they believe the two are still alive. LaShann stated,

“I don’t feel like they are deceased or anything. As long as don’t see a body, they don’t bring me a body, I’m going to believe. No news is good news.”