Boyfriend arrested after missing woman’s body is found in dumpster

TULSA — A man who called police Friday morning saying he had found his 19-year-old girlfriend’s body in a dumpster has since been arrested in connection with her death.

Demond Walker, also 19, called the police to report his girlfriend missing around 5:30 a.m.

He called again shortly after 7 a.m., saying he had found her body in a dumpster at the Bradford Apartments in the 500 block of E 32nd Street N, officer Leland Ashley, police spokesman, said.

Homicide detectives took Walker to police headquarters for questioning. He was later arrested and booked into the Tulsa jail on a complaint of first-degree murder, Homicide Sgt. Dave Walker said.

The victim lived at the apartment complex where her body was found.

Although the complex’s management barred reporters from the premises, Ashley confirmed that members of the deceased woman’s family were at the scene Friday morning.

“They’re visibly upset, as you can imagine,” he said. “Anyone who would discard a human body in a dumpster — you can imagine the effect on a family member to see that.”

Ashley did not know whether there were any visible wounds on the body.

The woman’s death is Tulsa’s seventh homicide since Sunday and its 46th of the year.

After the sixth homicide this week, Sgt. Dave Walker called the spike in slayings “very taxing” on the police department’s Homicide Unit, which has pushed aside several recent nonfatal cases his detectives had been working.

Spike in homicides

The last time Tulsa had at least seven homicides within a week was from Jan 4-8, 2013.

That five-day period saw eight homicides, including the Fairmont Terrace quadruple homicide that resulted in a life sentence for suspect James Poore and the impending trial of his brother, Cedric Poore.