Reward is increased for tips in hit-and-run
In 2020, Walker found dead on the I-10 median, west of Watson Road
More than two years after 16-year-old Anaiah Walker was killed in a hit-and-run in Buckeye, her family announced an increase in the reward for leads in her case on Wednesday at the Silent Witness Headquarters in Phoenix.
Buckeye police, in cooperation with her family and Silent Witness, said they boosted the reward for information leading to an arrest in Walker’s death to $12,000.
Her mother, Sherika Rhymes, addressed the person responsible, directing the pain that had been building since May 2020 when they found her body on the side of the road.
“You left as if my daughter was trash, and she belonged to me and I loved her very much,” Rhymes said.
On May 22, 2020, police found Walker’s body in the median of Interstate 10 near Watson Road.
Rhymes said she spent five months looking for her daughter after she went missing from a behavioral treatment center. Walker was listed as a missing or runaway juvenile by the Mesa Police Department in Decem
Rhymes made clear that the family’s anguish would linger as long as Walker’s case remained open.
ber 2019.
The last time Rhymes spoke to her daughter was over the phone while Walker was still at the behavioral center.
They talked about her plans to go into the medical field and her interest in becoming a phlebotomist, Rhymes said.
“I thought that was so interesting, so I said to her, ‘I’m gonna send you a Bible.’ I sent her a Bible and I sent her a book on Black inventors and doctors and scientists. And I said to her, I wanted her to keep up with her goals,” Rhymes said.
The medical examiner ruled Walker’s cause of death to be “high-velocity impact.” In May 2021, police announced that after extensive forensic examinations detectives narrowed down the vehicle believed to have hit her.
Based on parts found in the roadway, the car that struck Walker is believed to be a 2016 to 2018 Honda Civic LX or LE with factory color “midnight burgundy pearl,” according to police.
During the news conference, Buckeye police Chief Larry Hall explained they had increased the reward for information because the team was hitting dead ends on the leads they had been pursuing.
Information in the case led police to believe that Walker had been a victim of sex trafficking, Hall said.
“She’s being trafficked at 16 years
old. I mean, it’s just a heartbreaking situation,” Hall said. “We are seeking more information to help close this investigation with an arrest for some type of closure.”
Rhymes made clear that the family’s anguish would linger as long as Walker’s case remained open.
“It’s an unimaginable amount of pain and mourning that has happened because my daughter went from missing to dead,” Rhymes said.
She never got to see her daughter’s remains after she was found because of the level of decomposition.
“I buried a casket,” Rhymes said.
She still sees children who look like her daughter and she turns around to make sure. At times, she believes she may still get a call from Walker, telling her, “Mom that wasn’t me,” she said.
Anyone with information about the case can call Silent Witness at 480WITNESS (480-948-6377) or 480-TESTIGO (480-837-8446) for Spanish speakers to remain anonymous and potentially be eligible for a cash reward.